Comments on Les Miserables movie- Page 9

[Vanessa4]

Posted: 12/1/12 at 1:06pm

So went last night to the screening at the tv academy. 3 minutes into it their digital feed died ( rain related issues I guess). . Audience was sent home. . Will try again on Tuesday.

[theaternut]

Posted: 12/1/12 at 7:46pm

With all these industry screenings I guess everyone in NY, LA and Chicago will have seen it before opening day?

[Iris Chacon]

Posted: 12/2/12 at 9:15pm

Yes

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/3/12 at 2:15pm

I absolutely loved Argo and think it stands a strong chance. My fiance thinks that Les Mis will take the Oscar, though. Haven't seen Lincoln yet.

[sueb1863]

Posted: 12/3/12 at 7:43pm

Well, that 1992 ad was only off by twenty years. :)

[EponineThenardier]

Posted: 12/9/12 at 2:13pm

Don't know if this has been posted: interview with Hugh, there's a tiny clip of Soliloquy which i haven't heard yet. Around the 1:22 mark


Hugh

[willep]

Posted: 12/9/12 at 2:38pm

Cool, I hadn't seen that one yet. Thanks for posting

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 12/9/12 at 7:07pm

If you're in NYC check fandango..there may still be tickets available for the 19th up at Lincoln Center

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 12/9/12 at 7:19pm

^ That screening is at the AMC Loews at Lincoln Square. You don't want to end up going to the wrong theater. :P

[HBP]

Posted: 12/9/12 at 8:09pm

Has anyone been to a recent screening? I feel like we haven't heard any info on "Suddenly," yet.

[p.s.]

Posted: 12/10/12 at 10:09am

Has anyone been to a recent screening? I feel like we haven't heard any info on "Suddenly," yet.

Remember all the criticism four years ago that the music of A Tale of Two Cities sounded stolen/copied from Les Miserables?

From the little I hear in this featurette - "Suddenly" sounds musically like an unused song written for ATOTC, now being used in the Les Miz movie.


p.s. I'll be at a screening Wednesday night in Washington D.C.
Featurette on

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/10/12 at 11:01am

^So by the associative property of musical scores, since the score of ATOTC sounds like a collection of Les Mis trunk songs, and as Suddenly sounds like an ATOTC trunk song, then Suddenly must also sound like an Les Mis trunk song.

Albeit perhaps something further down in the trunk because it didn't even make it into ATOTC?

Is that what you mean?

[p.s.]

Posted: 12/10/12 at 3:24pm

Is that what you mean?

No, it is not what I mean.

Certainly not all of the songs of ATOTC sound like copies of Les Miz songs. From the very little bits of "Suddenly" that I heard, however, my thoughts went back to "Little One" and "Let Her Be a Child" and even "If Dreams Came True."


p.s. I love both shows. I am not knocking Les Miz. But, then again, I didn't agree with all the criticism that ATOTC got at the time.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 12/10/12 at 3:54pm

Got it. Thanks.

[Colle]

Posted: 12/14/12 at 1:28pm

For those who have seen the movie, for each of the main or supporting actors, what clips of them would you show at the Oscars if they get nonimated?

Updated On: 12/14/12 at 01:28 PM

[ChanceEncounter]

Posted: 12/14/12 at 3:06pm

Saw an awards screening Wednesday and was COMPLETELY UNDERWHELMED. The direction absolutely destroys everything. A musical and is broad and sweeping is boxed in at every turn. I was bored "I Dreamed a Dream" even began. Hooper did not serve the material well.

[HBP]

Posted: 12/18/12 at 8:14pm

Anyone going to the screening tomorrow at AMC Loews Lincoln Square? What time do we think people will be lining up for a 7:00 movie?

[MikeInTheDistrict]

Posted: 12/18/12 at 10:00pm

I wrote a very long fan review of the film on IMDB. I won't post the whole thing, because it's long (it includes a ranking among other Les Miz films and includes a list of song changes/cuts for those interested) and few will want to read the whole thing, but here is the first paragraph that sums it up:

Contrary to what you’ve heard, this is not an adaptation of the world-famous stage musical. This is a film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel that unfolds through the medium of song. Screenwriter William Nicholson seems to have consciously eschewed any memory of Trevor Nunn and John Caird’s wildly popular staging, and used Boublil/Schönberg/Kretzmer’s libretto as an apparatus through which to convey Hugo’s vast and socially-conscious five-volume novel. The familiar songs are all here. Valjean still has his dark night of the soul, Fantine still sings of lost innocence and love, Javert about celestial orbs, and Marius about a deserted cafe. The students still contemplate the colors of their flag, and the dead still ask us who are living if we will join in their crusade. But the context and settings have been completely and poignantly reimagined. Nicholson’s screenplay, combined with Tom Hooper’s up-close-and-personal direction and a cast who throw themselves headfirst into their roles result in a film that is paradoxically smaller than its stage counterpart, and yet more punctuated in its pathos. Though this meeting of Hugo’s vast and sweeping narrative and Hooper’s stubbornly intimate direction is somewhat uncomfortable at times, I enjoyed every minute of this film.
The Full Review on IMDB

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/18/12 at 11:53pm

I saw it tonight and it was more or less exactly what I'd hoped it would be. I don't think I would have noticed the excessive use of close-ups if there hadn't already been so many reviews kvetching about it, but for the first twenty minutes or so it was hard not to focus on the close-ups. Because of all the brouhaha about the live singing I found myself focusing on what happened with the voices when shots were switched within a song. And maybe it's just me, but there were certain songs that didn't quite have that same "live" feel, most notably "On My Own." It may just be that Samantha Barks is a more proficient singer than most in it, but something about that song didn't quite sound like it was as live as the rest of the singing.

That said, I really can find very little to complain about. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, particularly if you don't like wall to wall singing or if you're expecting a note for note translation of the stage show. I've always been a fan of the musical, but I'm not so dedicated to it that the various cuts and changes affected me. I've also not listened to a complete recording of it in a long long time, so while I could pick out cuts in verses in some of the big songs, I can't really speak to a lot of the stuff that got cut in some of the lesser moments.

I know a lot of the negative remarks about it have been about Russell Crowe, and I don't know if I was expecting a lot worse due to his mixed reviews, but while I wasn't blown away by his voice, I didn't find him detrimental. I liked "Stars" quite a lot. Most the actors don't have particularly great voices, but that's nothing that irritates me in a movie musical unless they are supposed to be singers. And while this may get me banned, I didn't think Hugh Jackman was particularly strong in much of his singing, particularly anything that required him to go high. Again, it didn't bug me. I thought the best voices by far were Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks.

I think the film is going to divide people, musical and non-musical fans alike, but I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see it again.


Updated On: 12/18/12 at 11:53 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 1:37am

I too saw a screening tonight and I absolutely loved it. Every rave about Anne Hathaway is deserved.. such a devastating performance

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Amanda Seyfried as Cosette. I didn't quite like her in the clips but for some reason I enjoyed her in the movie... weird... her acting is also a big plus and she just feels very natural in the role (if that makes sense).

Eddie Redmayne is fantastic as Marius

now I enjoyed Russell Crowe as Javert... I think he sang it the way he acted it... this is a guy who is not supposed to have emotion and is a man of the law... i think his singing was perfectly suitable and I enjoyed him.. his suicide was superb

i enjoyed the changes to suit the film... a bit jarring a first when you're singing a long in your head... but i thought it was well done..

and i am one of those people who didn't quite like the way too many close ups.. it got old after a while... which is why i loved the non camera movement for I dreamed a dream

i hope to see this again

[broadwayfever]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 4:04am

@Mike

I just read your entire review...that was amazing! It was the most detailed and thorough review I've read so far.

Thanks for all the insight.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 6:38am

So disappointed. I was supposed to go to a pre-screening tonight (someone I knew won tickets) but was turned away due to full capacity.

[singer73192]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 8:22am

Could someone explain what the deal is with the screening at AMC Lincoln Square? Is the public able to get tickets via Fandango? How? THANKS!

[My Oh My]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 9:22am

Mike, I know where you're getting at with the claim that this film adaptation isn't one of the stage musical but rather one of the original novel and all, but I don't buy it.

There is absolutely no question that this film adaptation is mostly one of the stage musical, with details and other larger bits of the novel incorporated. Not being anything like the stage version is the very definition of an adaptation; the film took the shape it did not because it intentionally went in with mostly the novel in mind, but because the medium allows a lot of scenes from the novel to work alongside the musical material. I'm sure everything they added and even rewrote that came directly from the novel was incorporated because it strengthened, deepened, clarified, or enhanced the existing musical material and not for the sole purpose of reinventing anything, as they've claimed in a mostly marketing ploy.

As for the rest of you, I don't know which fans you're referring to when you say that the show's biggest fans will have a problem with this and that cut, snippet, or edit. And there isn't a single diehard fan I've met who insists the film be a clone of the stage musical.

Mike mentioned it, and so have a few others on these boards, that the film completely does away with Trevor Nunn and John Caird's concept and has taken directions never before taken.

Again, it is an adaptation of the stage musical, so of course they aren't going to take the same direction that Nunn and Caird did and their concept wasn't too far from the film's concept, anyway. The difference between the two is one allows a greater amount of detail to be added, while the other works best in a more streamlined fashion.

[gcal]

Posted: 12/19/12 at 11:16am

I saw a preview of the film last night and generally loved it. I got completely swept up in the story and the emotion of the whole thing.

A few minor quibbles:
"On My Own" seemed to come out of nowhere.
I sighed a few times when Hugh Jackman started singing again. Couldn't they have lowered the keys?

And really... that's about it. I thought it was pretty wonderful.