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david_craig8
Reviews
Don't Be a Dick About It (2018)
Great slice of life movie
Low budget but enjoyable and endearing. About a real brotherly relationship and all the petty drama and heart and humor that go with it. One of my favorite movies of the last few years.
Les Misérables (2018)
Passable adaptation
More faithful to the book than the recent musical film, Dominic West does a tremendous job as Jean Valjean. It falls on him to carry the film both because of his character's centrality and because of the relative weakness of most of the supporting cast, and he gives an admirable performance.
Oyelowo's Javert is a bit weak, mostly due to the writing. Here's he's presented as an entirely two-dimensional character obsessed to an absurd degree with JVJ. It actually became comical at times, as when the police are preparing for the fomenting rebellion and Javert just wants to talk about JVJ. You get the impression that when he can only find half a pair of socks, he's convinced JVJ has snuck into his house and stolen the missing sock just to spite him. Regardless of how much it differs from the book, it undermines his character and frankly makes no sense.
On the other hand, this version of Thenardier by Adeel Akhtar is great. Olivia Coleman is also good as his wife, but he has the larger role to fill.
The younger actors and characters are adequate but uninspiring. The students mostly come across as obnoxious poli-sci students who won't stop whining about capitalism in a corner at an otherwise decent party, but by the end, their conclusion is affecting.
Direction is mostly lifeless but settings are good and feel real and lived-in.
Not a bad adaptation, largely thanks to West and Akhtar, but not a must-see. The recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace was much superior to this in my opinion.