The Syndicate

I saw A Cure for Wellness and Fist Fight. Thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

I should add that I regard Javert as one of the greatest, most interesting characters in all fiction, so I was perhaps more invested in the portrayal than I otherwise would have been.

Golden wrote:

thellama73 wrote:Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories and one of my favorite musicals, but I was very unhappy with Russell Crowe's interpretation of Javert. I feel he missed the point of the character entirely.

Did you? well, what would you say is essential to the character of javert?

Javert's whole deal is that he has been brought up to believe that the law is everything. Absolute enforcement of the law is the only moral good. If you break the law, you are bad and must be punished. No exceptions. The amazing conflict in the character comes when his experience with Jean Valjean is utterly irreconcilable with this view. The man who is so unambiguously noble and good, who is willing to sacrifice himself to save others, who spares Javert's life when he has the opportunity even though he has spent most of his life being pursued and persecuted by him, presents a shattering conflict with his entire worldview. He can't handle that, and it ultimately destroys him. Javert is not an evil villain, but someone who has spent his entire life pursuing what he believes is the ultimate good, only to be forced to recognize that he may have been wrong.

I can't remember all the details of Crowe's performance. It's been a while since I saw the movie. But one scene in particular I thought was indefensible. Javert witness the death of the young boy Gavroche in the revolution, and sheds a tear for the lad. This was apparently added at the insistence of Crowe, not the screenwriter, and it's completely out of character. Javert would have had no sympathy for a revolutionary killed defying the law. He would have regarded the outcome as just and right. That Crowe wanted to add that to make the character more sympathetic indicates to me thta he missed the whole point.

Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories and one of my favorite musicals, but I was very unhappy with Russell Crowe's interpretation of Javert. I feel he missed the point of the character entirely.

I saw the Founder on Saturday. I intend to write a detailed review of it tomorrow, but I liked it. It was refreshingly complex and defies a one-sided interpretation.

a2thezebra wrote:Three or so weeks ago I finally saw the entirety of Once Upon a Time in the West (before that I had only seen the last twenty minutes as a kid and didn't remember what happened) and now that some time has passed and I can safely say with confidence and conviction that it is my new favorite film.

I also really love that film. I can also say that I've revised my above opinion of Shock Treatment and now really like it.

The last movie I saw was Shock Treatment, the spiritual sequel to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It wasn't very good. The plot was largely incoherent, the acting was generally substandard, the characters were unlikeable, and the ending was unsatisfying. The songs were pretty catchy though.

Just saw a documentary called The Imposter about a guy who pretends to be a missing kid from Texas. Chilling.

I don't go to see new movies much anymore because I have become hopelessly snobbish and hate everything. However, I went to see the indie film Kon-Tiki and quite enjoyed it. Some of the editing is sloppy, but overall it's a really enjoyable adventure story. 7.5/10