Les Miserables

[temery]

I rented it yesterday, and was disappointed. I liked it, but it would have been much better if every freakin' word wasn't sung.

 

[geordi]

Well, welcome to musicals. You might try reading the book. There is no singing there.

 

[meyers7]

I rented it yesterday, and was disappointed. I liked it, but it would have been much better if every freakin' word wasn't sung.

Agreed. It was ok, but not what I expected. I imagine the Broadway production is a much better experience.

Well, welcome to musicals

Not all musicals. Actually a majority of musicals have dialogue. And then they break out into song.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Well, welcome to musicals. You might try reading the book. There is no singing there.

Book is pretty good actually.

 

[meyers7]

Book is pretty good actually.

Actually they made a movie out of it (maybe a couple) without singing. I saw parts of one, it was from the 50's? Maybe even 40's?

Actually looking it up, there seems to be about a dozen of them dating all the way back to 1909.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Made a movie out of it 15 years ago with Geoffrey Rush and Liam Neeson.

I thought the 2012 movie was excellent with one exception: Russell Crowe. Great actor, but since he basically has no spoken words in the movie, and two key solos, you would think they would start the casting call with actors who could actually sing. He is a terrible singer. The solo on top of the building is really important, and his voice is not only wooden but hard to understand when he is singing.

Eddie Redmayne will be the next Colin Firth unless his agent completely screws it up. He is a great actor.

Amanda Seyfried is cute, but Samantha Barks is the kind of hot that men kill each other over. Barks did a great job as Eponine, but if she is going to be the rejected suitor, she can't be twice as hot as Cosette. Seyfried was good in the movie, but I always have the same reaction when i watch Seyfried, which is "who could they have cast that would have been better". She has a tendency to disappear in the middle of the screen.

Barks was fantastic. I think Barks has to follow the path of all serious actresses and take her top off on camera. I think that would be a great career move, and I know I would enjoy it.

Hathaway was very good. Not Oscar worthy in my opinion, but very good. I thought Cohen and Carter were awesome in the movie. Those over-the-top type characters can often cross over into absurd, which is exactly where I expected Cohen to go, but both kept it under control.

 

[meyers7]

Made a movie out of it 15 years ago with Geoffrey Rush and Liam Neeson.

I thought the 2012 movie was excellent with one exception: Russell Crowe. Great actor, but since he basically has no spoken words in the movie, and two key solos, you would think they would start the casting call with actors who could actually sing. He is a terrible singer. The solo on top of the building is really important, and his voice is not only wooden but hard to understand when he is singing.

Eddie Redmayne will be the next Colin Firth unless his agent completely screws it up. He is a great actor.

Amanda Seyfried is cute, but Samantha Barks is the kind of hot that men kill each other over. Barks did a great job as Eponine, but if she is going to be the rejected suitor, she can't be twice as hot as Cosette. Seyfried was good in the movie, but I always have the same reaction when i watch Seyfried, which is "who could they have cast that would have been better". She has a tendency to disappear in the middle of the screen.

Barks was fantastic. I think Barks has to follow the path of all serious actresses and take her top off on camera. I think that would be a great career move, and I know I would enjoy it.

Hathaway was very good. Not Oscar worthy in my opinion, but very good. I thought Cohen and Carter were awesome in the movie. Those over-the-top type characters can often cross over into absurd, which is exactly where I expected Cohen to go, but both kept it under control.

Actually, nice review.

 

[temery]

Going into the movie, the only thing I knew about the storyline was one guy stole a loaf of bread, and was hounded by a cop for the rest of his life. Oh ... And some middle aged Welch lady sang the play's signature song on English TV, and surprised that annoying Simon guy.

With that, I found the story nearly impossible to follow without dialog.

I saw a cute chick lose her job, hair, a tooth, and innocence, and then sing a great song about how her life sucked. The bread guy stealing from a priest and given a second chance, which he lived up to spectacularly. The cute chicks daughter grows up hot. Some other hot chick sings a song or two, but I had no idea who she was.

Some little kid sang a couple songs I liked. War. Some more war, I guess. The little kid died. The cop, realizing he backed the wrong side, kills himself. The cute chicks hot daughter meets a guy she apparently likes. Credits. Then the beep sound my TiVo makes when the movie is done.

An impressive openning scene, a few good songs, and a whole bunch of senseless singing dialog that makes the storyline nearly impossible to follow without having already read the book. I am assuming there was a book.

BTW - Seyfried is much cuter than Barks. She was adorable in Mamma Mia - A musical I was able to follow because they didn't sing every freaking word.

Made a movie out of it 15 years ago with Geoffrey Rush and Liam Neeson.

I thought the 2012 movie was excellent with one exception: Russell Crowe. Great actor, but since he basically has no spoken words in the movie, and two key solos, you would think they would start the casting call with actors who could actually sing. He is a terrible singer. The solo on top of the building is really important, and his voice is not only wooden but hard to understand when he is singing.

Eddie Redmayne will be the next Colin Firth unless his agent completely screws it up. He is a great actor.

Amanda Seyfried is cute, but Samantha Barks is the kind of hot that men kill each other over. Barks did a great job as Eponine, but if she is going to be the rejected suitor, she can't be twice as hot as Cosette. Seyfried was good in the movie, but I always have the same reaction when i watch Seyfried, which is "who could they have cast that would have been better". She has a tendency to disappear in the middle of the screen.

Barks was fantastic. I think Barks has to follow the path of all serious actresses and take her top off on camera. I think that would be a great career move, and I know I would enjoy it.

Hathaway was very good. Not Oscar worthy in my opinion, but very good. I thought Cohen and Carter were awesome in the movie. Those over-the-top type characters can often cross over into absurd, which is exactly where I expected Cohen to go, but both kept it under control.

 

[meyers7]

BTW - Seyfried is much cuter than Barks. She was adorable in Mamma Mia - A musical I was able to follow because they didn't sing every freaking word.

Agree she was just adorable in Mamma Mia. And the music there fit her voice better (or vice versa).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Going into the movie, the only thing I knew about the storyline was one guy stole a loaf of bread, and was hounded by a cop for the rest of his life. Oh ... And some middle aged Welch lady sang the play's signature song on English TV, and surprised that annoying Simon guy.

With that, I found the story nearly impossible to follow without dialog.

I saw a cute chick lose her job, hair, a tooth, and innocence, and then sing a great song about how her life sucked. The bread guy stealing from a priest and given a second chance, which he lived up to spectacularly. The cute chicks daughter grows up hot. Some other hot chick sings a song or two, but I had no idea who she was.

Some little kid sang a couple songs I liked. War. Some more war, I guess. The little kid died. The cop, realizing he backed the wrong side, kills himself. The cute chicks hot daughter meets a guy she apparently likes. Credits. Then the beep sound my TiVo makes when the movie is done.

An impressive openning scene, a few good songs, and a whole bunch of senseless singing dialog that makes the storyline nearly impossible to follow without having already read the book. I am assuming there was a book.

BTW - Seyfried is much cuter than Barks. She was adorable in Mamma Mia - A musical I was able to follow because they didn't sing every freaking word.

I guess I did have an advantage in that I saw the Neeson/Rush movie, with Claire Danes and Uma Thurman in the roles played by Amanda Seyfried and Anne Hathaway respectively, so I knew more or less what the movie was about before I saw the musical version.

I think the lack of dialogue wasn't too bad in the beginning, but I agree the July revolution was very hard to follow. All Marius' friends seem to have important roles but I can't tell one from the other than they look different. I know enough about the history of the actual event to know that the 1832 Revolution was short and failed.

I don't know how a fugitive in early 19th century France was able to live a middle class lifestyle in a society were roughly 50% of the population didn't have enough food.

I didn't read the book. I have a problem with Hugo, Dumas, Dickens, and all those 19th century writers who initially published their novels through serials in magazines. They were basically paid by the chapter, so they strung out their novels until they already had the next one started. I tried to read the Count of Monte Cristo, and got about 200 pages in before I realized that there were way too many meaningless chapters. Very well written and a great story, but way too long and too much filler.

 

[coachcap]

Going into the movie, the only thing I knew about the storyline was one guy stole a loaf of bread, and was hounded by a cop for the rest of his life. Oh ... And some middle aged Welch lady sang the play's signature song on English TV, and surprised that annoying Simon guy.

With that, I found the story nearly impossible to follow without dialog.

I saw a cute chick lose her job, hair, a tooth, and innocence, and then sing a great song about how her life sucked. The bread guy stealing from a priest and given a second chance, which he lived up to spectacularly. The cute chicks daughter grows up hot. Some other hot chick sings a song or two, but I had no idea who she was.

Some little kid sang a couple songs I liked. War. Some more war, I guess. The little kid died. The cop, realizing he backed the wrong side, kills himself. The cute chicks hot daughter meets a guy she apparently likes. Credits. Then the beep sound my TiVo makes when the movie is done.

An impressive openning scene, a few good songs, and a whole bunch of senseless singing dialog that makes the storyline nearly impossible to follow without having already read the book. I am assuming there was a book.

BTW - Seyfried is much cuter than Barks. She was adorable in Mamma Mia - A musical I was able to follow because they didn't sing every freaking word.

"Some other hot chick sing a song or two, but I had no idea who se was..." I realize that your commentary is flippant, but, in case you're actually serious, the "other hot chick" is the now grown up daughter of the nefarious innkeepers.

 

[Scalito]

I thought the 2012 movie was excellent with one exception: Russell Crowe. Great actor, but since he basically has no spoken words in the movie, and two key solos, you would think they would start the casting call with actors who could actually sing. He is a terrible singer. The solo on top of the building is really important, and his voice is not only wooden but hard to understand when he is singing.

Barks was fantastic. I think Barks has to follow the path of all serious actresses and take her top off on camera. I think that would be a great career move, and I know I would enjoy it.

Les Miserables is the only Russell Crowe movie I walked away from saying that Crowe did a poor job performing in, regardless of whether the movie was good or bad, because he simply lacked sufficient talent as a singer.

Barks, on the other hand, was fantastic because she was the most talented songstress on the show. She was, in fact, the token actress plucked from the Broadway cast to star in the film (I am not sure if she was playing Eponine at the time, but if you ever see the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables on PBS, you'll notice that Barks is on the stage).

 

[Scalito]

I rented it yesterday, and was disappointed. I liked it, but it would have been much better if every freakin' word wasn't sung.

The problem wasn't that every word was sung, but that the producers added small scenes, songs and verses to the original play that made it longer, choppier and harder to follow. The lack of consistent musical talent affected the presentation too.*

The stage version is much, much easier to follow. I highly recommend seeing it on stage if you have a chance. I've seen it four different times, loved it each time, and would never recommend the movie as an introduction.

*Anne Hathaway was the only big name star who pleasently surprised me. Her version of Fantine was the only improvement on the stage versions I've seen (not that I think the role was big enough to justify an Oscar).

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think Eddie Redmayne was awesome. He isn't necessarily a big name, but he has been in a fair amount of stuff. Jackman was excellent too.