On Christmas day, two movies come out. Les Miserable and Django Unchained.
In one, you have a story of redemption. The other is a story of revenge. With a big body count. This is a clear choice that will show where we are culturally.
I’m thinking we live in a Tarantino country but we could sure use a little Les Miz right now.
Which one do you think will earn more money that first weekend? For me, I’ll hit Les Miz at some point in the first week and I won’t be seeing Django. What about you?
December 20, 2012 at 1:52 am
I find the combo of Django, Foxx, and Tarantino much more compelling. Les Miz feels recycled. The women in my life will all go see it, leaving me alone with my violence and revenge.
December 20, 2012 at 1:52 am
Durango should be boycotted. Tarantino only makes obscene movies.
December 20, 2012 at 1:53 am
Django not Durango
December 20, 2012 at 1:57 am
Les Mis will be better.
December 20, 2012 at 3:26 am
I'll see Les Miserables, and as always will root for Javert.
December 20, 2012 at 5:25 am
Les Miserables!
December 20, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Les Mis, but not on Christmas Day.
December 20, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Webster Bull: Since I have not and will not be seeing Django, let me ask you to realize that there is a difference between revenge and retribution, between mindless violence and poetic Justice, and I trust you will find the truth.
Jonathan: Val Jean asked for the bread and was refused by someone who was capable of charity to save his niece's life. Val Jean was justified to steal the bread to save life. Any law can be broken to save life. The penalty imposed on Val Jean was not commensurate with his crime as there were extenuating circumstances. Javiet is the personification of “a state of no mercy” which no one, absolutely no one has the authority to impose, since our God is the God of mercy. Javiet is the personification of no mercy with no justice, both virtues, and of a virtueless and Godless society. Listen closely and learn to choose what you would want for yourself, Justice and life or death without dignity, that is the repudiation of the human soul.
December 20, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Les Miserables. Hugh Jackman has adopted children as his own.
December 20, 2012 at 3:21 pm
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December 20, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Reward Anne Hathaway for exposing herself? No, thanks.
December 20, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Les Mis was on the Index. Why not (gasp) spend some quality time at home with your family instead? If you can't stand that, there's always The Hobbit…
December 20, 2012 at 4:54 pm
I don't know that I'll see either, but if I had to choose, I'd watch Les Miserables.
December 20, 2012 at 6:27 pm
I don't think going to the movies is so bad. My family always went on Christmas day while my mother got dinner ready.
December 21, 2012 at 1:11 am
Les Mis 'cause all the chicks will be digging that. 😉
I can see why the book was on the Index. Hugo had some very unflattering things to say about churchmen of the time. HOWEVER, the bishop who saves Valjean and the nuns who hid him and Cosette and who took care of the dying Fantine are treated very well by Hugo because of their simplicity and imitation of Christ. Perhaps the placement on the Index was more retribution than anything?
December 21, 2012 at 10:24 am
As the brother of a fan of the original spaghetti Western series Django, I'm boycotting Tarantino's version—that series needed a reboot, but then he had to get his braindead blaxploitation fetish all over it.
Les Mis is sorta old hat, since my family's been obsessed with that musical since the mid-90s. In the Japanese production, the guy who played Valjean was Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef. Yep.
December 22, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Django is nothing but revenge porn.
December 23, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Isn't Les Mis an anti-Catholic screed underneath? The French Revolution, which the play/movie is contextualized in, was certainly a Holocaust on Catholics and the inspiration of the Communist takeover of Russia.
December 24, 2012 at 6:24 am
Les Mis is not set during the French Revolution. And while I understand the novel contained anti-Catholic/anti-religious elements, those did not translate into the musical. The one visibly "religious" character in the show, the cardinal or bishop or whatever, is portrayed as a saintly man, whose generosity & mercy spark Valjean's own conversion.
December 25, 2012 at 5:56 am
Le Miserables for sure!! 😀