Great and Terrible

The Blue Lamp: An interesting ethnographic document about a now-lost time in British history, a society traumatized by WWII, in which both law enforcement officers and traditional criminals fear the rise of new, young and violent juvenile offenders. Oh, and Dirk Bogarde shoots Jack Warner at one point.

Les Miserables: I'm impressed. A cast that size, and not a single one of them can sing and act at the same time. Likewise, who casts Sacha Baron-Cohen as Thenardier and then gets him to underplay the role?

Oz the Great and Terrible: Actually neither great nor terrible but sort of banal, being Generic Disney Plot #48 (self-aggrandizing liar gets into trouble by lying, but redeems himself by admitting that he's lied and learning to Just Be Himself) mapped onto Oz, and lacking the weird surrealism of the original novels, the charming Freudianism of the film, and the witty revisionism of Wicked. Also, insert rant here about movies in which, at the end, The Hero Wins The Girl, as if The Girl is some sort of award to be given out for good behaviour. I think having more movies in which the hero's personal development turns out to be its own reward would lead to much less confusion and disappointment when its juvenile audience gets to relationship age.

Movie count for 2013: 37