Producer Friend: “I have to say that I’m stunned that you liked Les Miz. I really thought that our tastes were in synch. Not always, I guess. Did you see Todd’s Hollywood Reporter review? I expect many of those to come. Zero Dark Thirty is the movie of the year (along with The Grey, which stands not a chance).”

Me: “I didn’t ‘like‘ the film exactly. Certainly not as a gathered-together whole. I was swept up and intensely moved by the last 40 minutes. There’s a difference between giving the entire film a pass and succumbing to the final act, I think.”

Producer Friend: “The truth is that Tom Hooper‘s use of constant close-ups, the dutch angles and the wide-angle lenses were very odd choices. I was bored to death by much of it. I thought Cohen/Carter were silly and over the top and that Russell Crowe was just dismal. Kudos to Anne Hathaway, though. When I nominate do you recommend that I put Les Miz ahead or behind Zero Dark Thirty?”

Me: “Zero Dark Thirty is a far more rooted and relentless film of our time than Les Miz…please. It is genuine instant history, and so on-the-stick.”

Producer Friend: “Duh, I was joking.”