Helly77

Adrien Brody was fantastic as the frazzled teacher trying to live despite the world seemingly going mad around him. Sami Gayle was also impressive as Erica. Despite the rather depressing subject matter, the quality acting made it so believable and Henry so endearing that I have fallen in love with this film. Brilliant!

I love motor-sports. I usually find Will Ferrell hilarious. So combining the two should've been heaven right? WRONG!!!! I didn't laugh once throughout this film I found the characters really irritating rather than endearing or amusing and I found myself having to get to the end just to see if it got better. It did improve when Amy Adams arrived in earnest in the bar talking to Ricky, but the improvement was slight and short lived. It quickly descended into corny unfunny cliches. The only reason I have given it any points at all is because of the racing scenes which were mildly entertaining if not slightly far fetched. Ugh

This was the first time I had seen "Les Mis" in any for, and I have to say I loved it. I've read review with people complaining about the close camera work feeling suffocating, but i think that was the entire point. Being so close to the characters enhanced the despair and made you feel it with them. As for why did Valjean go to prison for 19 years for stealing bread... HE DIDN'T! He was imprisoned for 5 years for the original crime, the rest was for trying to escape. Yes it was excessive, but that's how the French did it back then. The acting, especially Hugh Jackman, was fantastic. I was moved by the whole thing and by the end I was almost in tears. I am certainly looking forward to seeing it again, and again.