Les Miserables

[Lakov_Sanite]

Surprised there isn't a thread for this yet.  Going in I had no idea what the story was other than sad and jesus that was a powerful fucking film.    If anyone didn't think Jackman could act because of his previous roles than this will prove without a doubt he has chops. 

[Morat20]

Surprised there isn't a thread for this yet.  Going in I had no idea what the story was other than sad and jesus that was a powerful fucking film.    If anyone didn't think Jackman could act because of his previous roles than this will prove without a doubt he has chops. 

You should see the stage production. (Technically you just sorta did -- but you know what I mean). :)

Also, the book is well worth reading. The abridged version. Seriously, the abridged version. Never read Hugo unless someone has edited it. (The man was paid by the word, and you can tell).

[eldaec]

Haven't seen it though I'm quite certain the people in this will have done a good job, but just doesn't seem like something there was any point transferring from the stage.

Interested to hear if anyone who sees it feels that turning it into a movie added anything.

[Venkman]

Haven't seen it though I'm quite certain the people in this will have done a good job, but just doesn't seem like something there was any point transferring from the stage.

Probably not the other 9 times either 

I want to see this, but as a rental. I saw it on Broadway thrice. It's a moving production.

[Morat20]

Haven't seen it though I'm quite certain the people in this will have done a good job, but just doesn't seem like something there was any point transferring from the stage.

Interested to hear if anyone who sees it feels that turning it into a movie added anything.

For people who can't see it on stage? Or won't? For when the Broadway run, inevietably, ends and it goes into hiatus for a decade or three until someone resurrects it?

Admittedly, i'd prefer them to film one of the better productions -- Netflix has a really good filmed version of Phantom of the Opera (filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, concludes with something like four or five of the better known male leads singing a sort of encore with Sarah Brightman. Strangely, Michael Crawford is there but is NOT one of the ones singing, despite being on stage. Must not have been able to sing.)

The stage version is fantastic. (I love the moving set). I'm just glad this version apparently does some justice to the source.

[Trippy]

Haven't seen it though I'm quite certain the people in this will have done a good job, but just doesn't seem like something there was any point transferring from the stage.

Interested to hear if anyone who sees it feels that turning it into a movie added anything.

I haven't seen it but the singing is different in the movie version. They were allowed to "act" through the songs (sung live while filming) so the performances are different than if you listen to one of the many stage production recordings. Some of the songs actually don't sound as good listening to them without watching the actors as well cause the melody can sound choppy or whatever. You can get an idea of what they did by watching the First Look clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgQjfg0hZw

[KallDrexx]

The stage version is fantastic *BUT* it won't make full sense if you don't know the story.  I read the book back in college, grew up on Les Mis (saw it on broadway when I was 13) and when I saw the play again last year with my wife I was perplexed at how anyone who didn't know the story knew what was going on.  To my non-surprise I later found out my wife was pretty confused on a lot of the major details that happen in between segments, and the significance of certain characters. 

One of our friends with us didn't really know exactly everything that was going on either because he didn't know the story when he went to see the play.

[Ingmar]

This was really not good if you have any love for the stage version. There's something wrong with almost every aspect of it.

Direction: bad. They had all these great costumes and sets but spent 75% of the time in extreme closeups (unflattering on most.) Seriously distracting and annoying.

Musical direction: bad. Someone was in love with telling the singers to do that stupid speak-the-last-line-of-the-phrase dramatic "acting" thing and most of the solo numbers felt out of sync with the background music, presumably because they weren't actually singing with live musicians.

Book changes: almost uniformly wretched. They cut out verses of most choral numbers and chopped the instrumental intros and outros off of tons of songs to make room for new music and scenes which were at best boring and unnecessary. I could go on and on and on about this stuff; the only changes they made that weren't stupid were adding the teeth thing to Lovely Ladies and making Eponine's death more like the book. The new song (the semi-creepy one Wolverine sings to young Cosette in the carriage) is at best boring. They should have left more of the original, better music in. They changed lyrics for the worse, changed the order of events for no reason, failed to make Valjean old enough at the end, etc. etc. etc.

Casting: wildly uneven. Crowe is awful as Javert - wooden and doesn't really have the range. The 2nd most important part in the show has to be better than that, shit I'm pretty sure I can do better and I can't hit the high note in Stars.  Wolverine can sing, and his acting was fine, but his interpretations are cheesy as fuck and he gets way too far off the written rhythm (director here again too). He's the worst offender in the 'get to last line of phrase, talk instead of sing' crap. There are notes on that page for a reason, dude. Borat is ok-ish but is obviously faking his way through singing, as is Bonham-Carter, who totally undersells her section of Master in a bad way. Cohen is also for some reason the only person in the movie with a French accent and it is really distracting. Seyfried can't really handle Cosette's stuff, her voice is too thin. On the plus side Hathaway can really sing (though they told her to spend too much time coughing and crying instead of singing during the deathbed scene), Eponine is great (since they cast, you know, an actual singer) and the students are all good (unfortunately Marius is the ugliest guy on screen, which kind of makes him an iffy romantic lead and this is compounded by how much time he spends in extreme close-up.) The little girl was not horrible, which is a blessing because Castle on a Cloud has the potential to be AWFUL. Gavroche always sucks because his songs suck and this was never going to be able to solve that, so I call that even. Casting Colm Wilkinson as the bishop was a nice touch.

Also, a slap for the recording engineer who decided that everyone's breathing needed to be really high in the mix. It sounds horrible.

And ONE THING MORE: they managed to totally blow it with One Day More with the shitty way it cuts and jumps around to different singers. They very badly needed to figure out a way to keep people on screen together for this, even a Brady Bunch split screen would be an improvement.

Even with all that I still tear up every time they wave the damn flags around, of course.

[Malakili]

Saw it and thought it was actually quite good.  I've seen it on Broadway, and it clearly wasn't as good as the staged version but I liked it nonetheless.  Marius and Eponine were probably the best, and as I understand it they both came from staged versions.   

I think Ingmar is being far too harsh on it.  Crowe as Javert was more distracting than anything to me, because every time he appeared I thought "Hey, look, that's Russell Crowe."  I was bit disappointed with Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter, they didn't have the charisma of the actors I saw in the staged version. I thought Seyfried actually pulled of Cosette better than I expected, but I was expecting bad.  I agree on the point about some odd re-ordering of things, but it didn't detract a ton.

Overall, I liked it, and I'll buy the DVD, though not the soundtrack - I'll stick to my copy of original for when I just want to listen to the music.

[Sir T]

I'll just leave this here

One Grain More!

[Sjofn]

The main thing I agree with Ingmar about is that I pretty much hated 100% of the book changes. I can think of a few I didn't hate, but none that I actually liked, and that made me crabby. That plus the obsession of being right up everyone's nose instead of backing the fuck off and letting us see the actually interesting shit (when you COULD see the sets and costumes, they were actually really cool) and an absolutely terrible Javert (he's my favorite character, and he's GOT to be as good as Valjean in this show, for God's sake) made this a fail for me.

[Surlyboi]

Seen the stage version in four countries in three languages. Hell, saw Lea Salonga as Eponine and I thought she was the best Eponine I'd ever seen. The movie version almost matches her. The rest of it, as has been noted here is woefully uneven. Crowe is distracting. Jackman is indeed a bit hammy and Seyfried falls flat for me. The Thenardiers seemed a little more gleeful than desperately "fake it til you make it" like they were in the book and the stage productions. I did like Hathaway too, though. Her ability to sing surprised me.

[Draegan]

[Trippy]

Link failure.

[Trippy]

Seen the stage version in four countries in three languages. Hell, saw Lea Salonga as Eponine and I thought she was the best Eponine I'd ever seen. The movie version almost matches her.

Samantha Banks who plays Éponine in the movie was Éponine in the 25th Anniversary Concert and played her in the London stage production prior to that.

Samantha Banks, On My Own, 25th Anniversary Concert

Lea Salonga, On My Own, 10th Anniversary Concert

[Trippy]

Wolverine can sing, and his acting was fine, but his interpretations are cheesy as fuck and he gets way too far off the written rhythm (director here again too).

Jackman was doing musicals before he became Wolverine and he won a Tony Award for his role in the musical The Boy from Oz.

On the plus side Hathaway can really sing (though they told her to spend too much time coughing and crying instead of singing during the deathbed scene)

Hathaway was also singing before she became an actress, though she doesn't have the extensive musical theatre experience Jackman or some of the other actors in the movie have.

[Sir T]

Some previous manly Wolverine singing

Oh what beautiful morning!

Oklahoma!

He does have a great voice, has to be said.

[Ingmar]

Wolverine can sing, and his acting was fine, but his interpretations are cheesy as fuck and he gets way too far off the written rhythm (director here again too).

Jackman was doing musicals before he became Wolverine and he won a Tony Award for his role in the musical The Boy from Oz.

I'm aware. I still hate his interpretations.

[Sjofn]

I think part of my issue with Jackman was that a lot of his Acting! would've worked perfectly well on stage and been less wtf on film if he wasn't in EXTREME CLOSE UP so often.

[proudft]

I have to say seeing the movie made the plot much more clear to me.  I've seen the musical twice, but never read the book, and seeing little teeny people on a stage a hundred feet away singing words that I can't really wholly make out, that had been a "welp, I'll sit back and listen to the music" experience rather than being able to make sense of anything.  I am terrible at hearing lyrics anyway, so basically, I suck at musicals.

I should just probably read the book at some point.

Musically, as soon as Russell Crowe opened his mouth, I was underwhelmed.  He was just... weak.  Late in the movie in one song (I forget which) he actually had a few strains (ha ha) of lower parts that sounded decent, so I dunno why he was singing all constricted for most of it.  I had thought Javert was pitched fairly low, too, so if they had raised it for some reason that was an odd choice.  Oh well.

I had seen reviews beforehand complaining about Jackman doing his talking-instead-of-singing (in SF Chronicle I think), but that actually didn't bother me that much.  Nor the camerawork, I kinda liked the closeups until we were up in Wolverine snot at one point.  And I don't know the musical well enough to really tell if/when things are changed from the original.  Weak Javert was my biggest complaint.

I actually liked the Thenardiers.  It seemed like Sasha Cohen had two accents going on- cockneyish with his associates/wife and french to the customers to, I dunno, class the place up.  The only musical thing I really noted actually was the missing Overly Loud Trombone Slides (tm) in Master of the House.  The music seemed really quiet overall for some reason.

[Sjofn]

Yeah the French accent thing I thought was a deliberate "he is affecting this to class up the joint" thing, as he ONLY did it in Master of the House really, so didn't bother me either.

And yes, proudft, you should read the book. I think you'd like it.

[eldaec]

I think part of my issue with Jackman was that a lot of his Acting! would've worked perfectly well on stage and been less wtf on film if he wasn't in EXTREME CLOSE UP so often.

Jackman does STAGE! ACTING! in everything. Doesn't matter so much if he's playing wolverine, kind of worked in The Prestige, can't stand him in anything else.

I had thought it would be OK in this, not least as using a singer beats using Russell Crowe.

[Paelos]

My sister went to see this, so I will give you her version over the holiday discussion we had on the subject. Note that she loves loves loves the stage version, and she's a choir singer. Overall, she thought it was laughably bad due to the actors attempting to sing when they had no business singing. Things she brought up:

1 - Russell Crowe is a total disaster as a singer, an actor, and generally should not be in this film. He's awful.
2 - The best part is Anne Hathaway's emotional singing, which you can actually feel the heart-wrenching part of her performance beating out her technical abilities as a singer.
3 - Helena Bonham Carter was funny and well cast.
4 - Sacha Baron Cohen was bizarre as a choice. The mental block of prior work made her keep wondering why Borat was in this film.
5 - The accents create a mush-mouth effect on the words. It doesn't work, and they don't annunciate well throughout.
6 - We see your nose hair.
7 - Jackman isn't good enough to save this.
8 - Amanda Seyfreid was a horrific choice for such an important role.

Funniest thing about this, was that my sister wouldn't have seen it if not for my brother in law wanting to go. He loves historical fiction, he'd read the book recently, and wanted to see the movie. Considering that he NEVER wants to see musicals, my sister asked no questions and got the tickets. As they are sitting in the theatre, she finally asks him why he wanted to go see a musical. His response, "THIS IS A MUSICAL?"

[HaemishM]

His response, "THIS IS A MUSICAL?"

And THAT is why I can't see this. Other than Wizard of Oz, I fucking hate musicals with a passion. Otherwise, I'd be interested in seeing this.

[proudft]

I hate most musicals, too (other than South Park), but for some reason, the fact that this is entirely sung/recitative somehow makes it palatable to me.  My brain I think shifts from my usual reaction of 'oh gawd they're breaking into song now' to thinking of it like an opera or concert that sort of happens to have a plot.

[Sjofn]

8 - Amanda Seyfreid was a horrific choice for such an important role.

I am amused by this, simply because while yes, technically Cosette is the ~soprano~, her role is totally lame and inconsequential in the grand scheme and I don't know why anyone would want the stupid part.

[Tale]

[Trippy]

The French take their bread *very* seriously.

[Paelos]

8 - Amanda Seyfreid was a horrific choice for such an important role.

I am amused by this, simply because while yes, technically Cosette is the ~soprano~, her role is totally lame and inconsequential in the grand scheme and I don't know why anyone would want the stupid part.

Guess what my sis sings.

[Ingmar]

Lame or not (I would agree the role is pretty boring and I don't especially care for the songs) the songs are fairly difficult, and she wasn't really up to them.

EDIT: I mean, she was on pitch at least, but there's no meat at all to her voice and it all just sounded kind of thin and washed out.

[Paelos]

I believe the term my sis used was "reedy"

[Ingmar]

Yeah, that's a good description.

[Sjofn]

Guess what my sis sings.

Yeah, not surprised. Guess which part I am nowhere near being able to sing! Hell, even Valjean goes too high for me sometimes. :(


(I would be an awesome Enjolras, though)

[Mrbloodworth]

4 - Sacha Baron Cohen was bizarre as a choice. The mental block of prior work made her keep wondering why Borat was in this film.

Likely, because he is not a terrible actor and is quite talented? Bottles of champagne, not withstanding.

[Surlyboi]

Never liked Cossette. Always thought Eponine was the more interesting character, even missing teeth and drunk a lot like she was in the novel.

That said, I just realized that the bishop that convinces Valjean to go straight was played by Colm Wilkinson. Awesome.