Escape to the Movies: Les Miserables
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
A fair assessment. Since this was my 'first' exposure to Les Mis, I really liked it. Though, you do have a point that I liked it more for the songs than for the staging.
But I thought Russell Crowe was miscast as Javert.
But I thought Russell Crowe was miscast as Javert.
Your accent slipped out a lot more than usual this time Bob,it's kind of unsettling and creates inconsistency.
EDIT: I'm not saying Bob's accent creeps me out,quite the opposite,I'm saying the quick jumps between his normal speech and broadcasting voice just distract me.
EDIT: I'm not saying Bob's accent creeps me out,quite the opposite,I'm saying the quick jumps between his normal speech and broadcasting voice just distract me.
Damnit Bob, pick an accent and stick w/ it! This back and forth shit within the same review hurts my ears.
If anything, he shouldn't be in the movie.DVS BSTrD said:
<spoiler=Two video at once>
<youtube=fB1OgS0MuBs>
<youtube=TN9SQAcW5Dw>
THAT is how you perform Jarvert.
<youtube=Iz13cWUokOs>
Here's the whole concert. Guess the guys like it up on youtube or something.
why does everyone act like bob is not allowed to dislike things... its a review show...thats his review... suck it up
Okay, so I'm going to not quite disagree with you on this one(if that makes any sense). As a Hollywood blockbuster, a movie designed to be watched and enjoyed by people that tend to watch and enjoy movies... yeah, this doesn't quite work. And maybe that's enough to condemn the movie. Speaking personally, I grew up on film adaptations of musicals and Nelson Eddy/Jeanette McDonald movies. And from that standpoint... well it's still not perfect, but overall I am glad that I saw the movie.
I think that the biggest problem with Les Miserables is that it needs a break from the singing. You are not wrong about the Cliff's Notes feel. It actually kind of reminded me of the recent big screen Berserk adaptation in that it felt like a movie running in fast forward the whole time. I loved most of the scenes in Les Miserables, but it lacked glue to hold those scenes together.
I'm not sure that I would recommend the movie to anyone, but I wouldn't try to talk them out of watching it either. My wife and I both liked it overall(which initially surprised me since my wife is Japanese until I learned that she had read a translation of the book when she was younger).
I think that the biggest problem with Les Miserables is that it needs a break from the singing. You are not wrong about the Cliff's Notes feel. It actually kind of reminded me of the recent big screen Berserk adaptation in that it felt like a movie running in fast forward the whole time. I loved most of the scenes in Les Miserables, but it lacked glue to hold those scenes together.
I'm not sure that I would recommend the movie to anyone, but I wouldn't try to talk them out of watching it either. My wife and I both liked it overall(which initially surprised me since my wife is Japanese until I learned that she had read a translation of the book when she was younger).
It's nice to know that the mainstream critics seem to agree... if any part of this movie wins anything besides Anne Hathaway (I can stomach her winning an Actress Oscar) I'm giving up on the old men's club that is the Oscars. I still think it will probably be Lincoln.
This was the first time I've seen anything Les Miserables, and overall I did enjoy the movie. Absolutely LOVED the songs, saw some really good performances, and I really liked Jean Valjean as a hero.
That being said, there was something that did bug me about the movie and I'm not sure if it's the same in the theatrical production or not (someone tell me if it is). The first half of the movie with Valjean I thought was great. It painted how fucked up France was during the time period, and watching Valjean, Fantine, and Cossette's plights was a great way to illustrate it.
But when we moved to the second half with the revolution itself, it felt really rushed. If everything we've seen before is supposed to lead up to these climactic battles, then why breeze through it all? It's like, "Oh, here is everyone now, GO FIGHT!" How can I sympathize with Valjean's struggle as a concerned father figure when I barely know how Cossette is like as an adult other than the fact that she's in love with Marius? Hell, why should I care about Marius at all? I see that Eponine is a beloved character and all, but I just couldn't get into her struggle since I really didn't give two shits about the guy she's in love with.
I kinda can't help but feel as if this should have been 2 movies, this way we could get more details and more attached to the characters before and during the revolution. But if that's how the stage version was then I guess we can't really do that. Or maybe I need to read the book.
That being said, there was something that did bug me about the movie and I'm not sure if it's the same in the theatrical production or not (someone tell me if it is). The first half of the movie with Valjean I thought was great. It painted how fucked up France was during the time period, and watching Valjean, Fantine, and Cossette's plights was a great way to illustrate it.
But when we moved to the second half with the revolution itself, it felt really rushed. If everything we've seen before is supposed to lead up to these climactic battles, then why breeze through it all? It's like, "Oh, here is everyone now, GO FIGHT!" How can I sympathize with Valjean's struggle as a concerned father figure when I barely know how Cossette is like as an adult other than the fact that she's in love with Marius? Hell, why should I care about Marius at all? I see that Eponine is a beloved character and all, but I just couldn't get into her struggle since I really didn't give two shits about the guy she's in love with.
I kinda can't help but feel as if this should have been 2 movies, this way we could get more details and more attached to the characters before and during the revolution. But if that's how the stage version was then I guess we can't really do that. Or maybe I need to read the book.
The flow of the movie you described is the same as the musical. I have seen it once and been dragged to it 3 more times. Bob, I am assuming you have not seen the staged version, but it is basically listen to pretty song and move on. You get to fill in the blanks with how things flow. Example, Valjean gets sliver from the bishop, he is told his soul has been bought by God. Next scene we are at a factory and Fantine is getting fired and then Valjean appears, she dies, he now is on a quest to find a kid. Oh, and Javert pokes his head in on occasion to sing about how he is going to track Valjean to the ends of the earth. (In an awesome Baritone voice) Remember, it is a musical. You are just suppose to take girls to them so you can get blowjobs.
Because they already did...like...a bunch of times. Hell, there are even Anime Adaptions. You can pretty much pick by country and length.Mr.Tea said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Les_Mis%C3%A9rables
...I don't like the notion of "I don't like musicals" though, because i very much think to hate Musicals in General you either gotta hate Singing or Movies.
I love Little Shop of Horrors, Repo, Once, The Rocky Horror Show, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (wich 1: Shut up, it's totally a Musical and 2: Is in many ways a Parody of Les Miserables as much as it is one of Disney Movies), Reefer Madness and Perhaps Love as much as i H A T E Moulin Rouge, Nine, Cats, Rent, Glee, Mamma Mia and Rock of Ages. Even those wich i like oftentimes cannot be more different from one another, so yeah, i think saying something like that seems like a rather uninformed opinion.
To me, the problem isn't that he hates things. It's that his attitude is so often "if you disagree with me, you're an idiot." See also: Amazing Spider-Man (which, while far from being a classic, I thought was at least decent), any given FPS (more true in the Game Overthinker than here).Devin Barker said:
For the record, I thought Hooper's direction during the solos was boring and sleep-inducing, even when the actor was giving a good performance. Uninterrupted solo close-ups get tiring after the first 2 minutes. More or less everything else, I really liked. Except Russell Crowe, of course, that almost goes without saying.
