Les Miserables - The Musical Movie

[Jeff Lebowski]

Exactly why there should have been less singing! I'm glad someone else is coming around to this position.

I think there are two ways to do the movie: tell the story straight up with no singing or do it as a musical. If you are going to do it as a musical, they a direct big screen adaptation of the play is the only way to go. I don't think a mixture would have worked.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I'm still on the side of thinking that better singing wouldn't have made that a great film, and I'm not sure it would have even helped much. To me more of the film's problems stemmed from the underlying musical than anything. Secondarily I think better choices could have been made by the director in adapting. But I think I'm the only one on my side.

No, you aren't. This guy is saying the same thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson/review-les-miserables-201_b_2293632.html

Ironically, while Chris Columbus' Rent made us question our love for the source material by cutting crucial second-act songs (basically everything Mark-centric), Tom Hooper's Les Misérables diminishes the impact of its own story out of a ruthless fidelity to its source material. If the play is perhaps flawed, then it was the filmmaker's job to make it better, to emphasize what's good and fix what doesn't quite work. As it stands, the film's ultimate achievement is merely to make us question why we loved the original show in the first place.

OK, maybe you are a great critic.

[LA Ute]

The New York Times and Boston Globe reviews do a good job capturing the strengths and weaknesses of the film, IMO:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/12/25/movie-review-les-miserables/DBGVULryIKTSxsZMBzVudO/story.html

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/25...kman.html?_r=0

(Sorry if already posted. I'll pay the fine.)

Neither review makes as much of the vocal performances as folks here on CUF do. I simply enjoyed the movie and the gems it contains, and don't think we need to obsess over whether it is an epic or will be considered the next "Lawrence of Arabia."

[SteelBlue]

... and don't think we need to obsess over whether it is an epic or will be considered the next "Lawrence of Arabia."

When LA Ute speaks, the thinking has been done.

[LA Ute]

When LA Ute speaks, the thinking has been done.

It's true, my opinions are awesome and pretty much unassailable, but I still hope they will stimulate some useful discussion and thinking in others who are still striving to reach the same heights of logic and good taste.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Neither review makes as much of the vocal performances as folks here on CUF do. I simply enjoyed the movie and the gems it contains, and don't think we need to obsess over whether it is an epic or will be considered the next "Lawrence of Arabia."

lol. Alrighty then. Let's shut this thread down.

[LA Ute]

lol. Alrighty then. Let's shut this thread down.

I can see that once again I have spoken too soon. I try to wait to the right moment before killing a thread. Never mind; carry on, please.

[Indy Coug]

lol. Alrighty then. Let's shut this thread down.

That's only something a gay Nazi would do.

[MarkGrace]

This is from the NY Times link:

The director Tom Hooper can be a maddening busybody behind the camera, but this is one number in which he doesn’t try to upstage his performers. Maybe he was worried that Ms. Hathaway would wolf him down too. Whatever the case, he keeps it relatively simple. Moving the camera slightly with her — she lurches somewhat out of frame at one point, suggesting a violent, existential wrenching — he shoots the song in a head-and-shoulder close-up, with the background blurred. By that point, with her dignity and most of her pretty hair gone, Fantine has fallen as far as she can. She has become one of the abject castaways of the musical’s title, a wretched of the earth.

Interesting comments about that camera work, because I actually thought the way that scene was framed with Hathaway moving at times out of the shot and captured to the far right of the screen with nothing giving depth in the center to be one of the more awkward aspects of that scene.

[Northwestcoug]

Before the thread dies, I just want to remind you of what I said a few days ago, seemingly before anyone else:

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showpost.php?p=935124&postcount=199

[LA Ute]

Before the thread dies, I just want to remind you of what I said a few days ago, seemingly before anyone else:

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showpo...&postcount=199

You should have used a larger font. Maybe people would have paid attention and devoted their time to another more useful discussion.

[MarkGrace]

Very true, but it is also true that seyfried's character is, ironically enough, one of the least important. Javert has more water to carry.

He may have a more important role, but I think the in terms of the characters and the way the story is told, it's easier to be less forgiving of his singing than Cosette. But I think we're just going in circles now as I seem to recall saying this at some point already. ha.

btw, I'm probably sounding like too much of an apologist for RC. He's obviously not a great singer, and like JL said above, I'm not sure how great his acting is in this either. I just think the hate is a bit overstated when Seyfried to me was the bigger mistake.

[MarkGrace]

No, you aren't. This guy is saying the same thing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson/review-les-miserables-201_b_2293632.html

OK, maybe you are a great critic.

That was an interesting review. I hadn't read any full reviews until this one and those LA linked. I had read some of the snippets on RT, and my first comments in this thread after seeing it were that I related a lot with the people who thought the biggest problems in the movie stemmed from the source work. Principally, there are some crappy characters that upset the tone of the story (Thernadiers), a lot of the music just isn't that great despite who might be singing it (this was mentioned in two of the three reviews that were just linked), the narrative is at times disjointed and often feels like two separate stories that don't blend together in a successful manner (in part because of its confusing political message which hinges in part on celebrating the people vs. the bourgeois classes but ultimately only ends up celebrating characters of wealth), etc.

All of that holds the movie down before you even start to talk about how good the singing is. A movie, even a musical, is not just about how well the people sing the songs. And then when you talk about the adaptation, if you're going for realism by casting actors and doing live-take vocals, I just think things could have been done better to match that (actual dialogue where the singing is effectively just dialogue anyway, set pieces to match the realism instead of looking like fake stages transported to screen, etc.).

[Northwestcoug]

You should have used a larger font. Maybe people would have paid attention and devoted their time to another more useful discussion.

Thanks
DO YOU HEAR ME SCOTTIE?!? TOO MUCH oh forget it.

[bluegoose]

During the Jean Val Jean and Javert fight scene, when Val Jean shouts out, "I'm the stronger man, by far...." Am I the only one here who questioned whether that is actually true? I mean, he was Wolverine and all. But Javert was a freaking Gladiator. And a damned ripped one, at that.

If anything, I think it would be a pretty even match, and to say he is the stronger man by far is a bit of a stretch.