Les Miserables (directed by Tom Hooper)

Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s epic musical dramarama is a marmite movie, it is a story which commands a long running time to encompass its multi strand narrative, however with the sole emphasis on singing spectacular and no dialogue, the film would test the patience of the non converted. There is much to admire, from the use of live on set performance (though this is not the first time this has been done, despite misconception) with all the actors giving full blown commitment to their potentially po-faced roles. Hugh Jackman provides the film’s backbone as Jean Valjean, the doomed man who tries to permanently outrun his ill fated past, however his nemesis, Russell Crowe’s Javart falls flat and induced unintentional laughs with his wobbly rock vocal tendencies. Anne Hathaway shakes and breaks as the fatal Fantine but her vocal prowess is no surprise to those who know she likes to hog the microphone at any opportunity. The real revelation here is newcomer Samantha Barks as Eponine, who despite being saddled in between the limp love triangle with Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) and Marius (Eddie Redmayne) manages to take her moment to shine and provide sincere heartbreak. The film continues to be at odds with itself, at times it looks pokey and staged but then becomes vast, flying from one crescendo to the next. It is a movie on the edge, the edge of high drama, each song becomes more turbulent, when you felt this was no longer possible. Les Miserables will delight many, who will relive and rejoice in the beloved musical being brought to the silver screen, a legion of readymade fans waiting to lap it up. It did not convert me however, I somehow was immune to succumbing to the elevated tragic spectacle, and a feeling of exhaustion came over me by the time the end credits rolled. The question is simply, for Les Marmite, which side of the barricades do you stand on?

Django Unchained (directed by Quentin Tarantino)

Tarantino is not a director who does things by halves, and in a week of long running times, tests the patience of his audience with his overlong, overindulgent but entertaining new offering Django Unchained. Tarantino’s Southern Western has all the hallmarks of his classic films- sharp dialogue, devilish characters, an eclectic storming soundtrack and (literal) lashings of violence. However in previous films, Tarantino has managed to balance the absurd with the sadistic, in Django the films serious subject matter sits ill with the droll creations perpetuating the scenes. The film never knows what it wants to be, one minute we have comedic Klu Klux Klan moments, the next we witness the brutal fate of a slave ripped apart by dogs, and so becomes Tarantino’s most problematic film to date. There are performances to saviour through the midst of the moral mind field. Leonardo Di Caprio relishes the chance to be the malicious Calvin Candie, the plantation owner and evil boy emperor. Samuel L Jackson is his conniving loyal house slave Stephen who plays it like an evil version of Uncle Ben. But the film’s true ace though is the never bad Christophe Waltz as bounty hunter Dr King Schultz, a charming, ruthless character who elevates every scene he is in. Waltz can go to each end of the persona spectrum but never loses any inch of charisma. The question is with Django whether you can look beyond the idea that slavery has been (pulp) fictionalised and purely accept it for cinematic purposes. And if you can you will be entertained, take a trip to Candie land and leave your conscious compass at home.