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Scant days ago, in that chilly time after Christmas, I strolled into our local theatre in the expectation of being entertained by an established well-loved musical that had just been rendered to film. I had no idea I would emerge from the darkness three hours later a scarlet-eyed blubbering wreck. Having bargained for diversion, I instead reaped a bounty of cinematic moral lessons wherein intense human ugliness runs headlong into the arms of sublime beauty and breaks our aching hearts in a fair exchange. Welcome to the spectacle of Les Miserables. In retrospect, one could not ask for a more...

Les Mis is back! Deadline reports that Universal has won the bidding war to develop a "full-blown musical adaptation" of Les Miserables, based on Victor Hugo's seminal classic published in 1862, with Oscar winning British director Tom Hooper of The King's Speech looking to direct. While anything could happen with the director over these next few months, since he is getting offers left and right now, Deadline states "this is the first film he's begun negotiations on since winning the Oscar" but were told "it would definitively be his next film." From King's Speech to Les Mis! Cameron Mackintosh, who...