2013: A Movie Odyssey (Year in Review Part 3)

This is the final instalment of my three-part review of 2013. Part 1 can be read here, in which I complain about the fifteen worst new films I saw last year, and part 2 can be read here, where I talk about the twenty films in the middle of the pack. Today it’s on to the big guns – the best of the year. So sit back (but not so far back that you can’t read the screen) and enjoy what I believe are the best new films I saw from the past 12 months. Continue reading

Les Miserables

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has worked his last day of nineteen years of slavery, all for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family, and subsequently  trying to escape. Upon his release he is informed by policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) that he will be on parole for the rest of his life, so Valjean flees and tries to make a life for himself anew. Some years later, Valjean has become a successful businessman, but Javert remains on his tail, which distracts Valjean at a key moment, which in turn dramatically affects the future of one of Valjean’s employees, Fantaine (Anne Hathaway), and her young daughter Cosette. Some years later, and on the eve of the French Revolution, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) becomes the object of affections of Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a young but prominent revolutionary, who is himself adored by Eponine (Samantha Barks).

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