Escape to the Movies: Les Miserables

[Dalisclock]

I'm already biased since I fucking hate... nah, what's stronger than hate? Oh, I megaloathe musicals. But seriously, why couldn't they make a real movie with this?

Because they already did...like...a bunch of times. Hell, there are even Anime Adaptions. You can pretty much pick by country and length.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Les_Mis%C3%A9rables

I will say that one should avoid the Liam Neeson version as it pretty much becomes a train wreck the farther along it goes. Among other things it involves Javert holding a gun to Cosettes head and Valjean seeing Javert commit suicide(by walking into the Seine...from the riverbank) and then walking off with a big-ass grin on his face.

 

[Ashley Blalock]

A film adaptation of the book might have been interesting to me. Kind of a cool time period and perhaps a really bright writer could adapt the film to something fitting modern taste. But a film adaptation of a Broadway musical just isn't my thing. About the only musical I can stand is Rocky Horror even if musicals are an important part of film history.

The film just feels too much like a money grab than something Hollywood did as art.

 

[lockgar]

I'm already biased since I fucking hate... nah, what's stronger than hate? Oh, I megaloathe musicals. But seriously, why couldn't they make a real movie with this?

And then it had to star Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman... I don't think they could have made this film less appealing to me.

Edit: OH! And then there's having to listen to anglophones keep pronouncing French names... Oh how much better it (and indeed any movie) would have been with Cristoph Waltz.

Well because they already technically did made it into a normal movie. About 12 times before. With the 1998 version having Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean. It was pretty good I thought. Then again that was 12 years ago so I can't say for sure.

Point is, there are superior versions out there.

 

[search_rip]

I just really wish people stop calling Les Misérables "Les Mis" other than that I don't really care about this movie...

 

[Trishbot]

I think Bob would have liked the movie more if Zack Snyder directed it and Cosette was dressed like Babydoll from Suckerpunch...

 

[EeveeElectro]

I'm still going to go see it. I'm taking my mum because she loves the musical. (Had to tell her she can't sing along really loudly in the cinema and start telling me everything that's happening).
I've never really had any interest in it but I love this cast list. Hathaway, Jackman and Bonhem Carter are some of my favourite actors so I really want to see it.
This will be the first time I've seen it. It'll be interesting to see what my mum thinks of it because she's seen it about 3 times on stage in London and every DVD version.

 

[Saviordd1]

I'm already biased since I fucking hate... nah, what's stronger than hate? Oh, I megaloathe musicals. But seriously, why couldn't they make a real movie with this?

And then it had to star Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman... I don't think they could have made this film less appealing to me.

Edit: OH! And then there's having to listen to anglophones keep pronouncing French names... Oh how much better it (and indeed any movie) would have been with Cristoph Waltz.

Because the musical is more popular and there are way more people who really like musicals than not.

OT: That's a shame, was thinking about seeing it. Maybe I'll watch it after its out of theaters.

Captcha: Make haste. No, I don't think I will.

 

[PunkRex]

1:43 - 2:30
Dear christ, WHAT! I thought Bob's comic summarys got convoluted.

 

[emeraldrafael]

the only thing I have against this movie when i was watching was I got bored during (though I got bored right around the same time in the book and when i saw it on stage) and it was a slow to get into for me. I liked the start well enough but once they got to anne hathaway I checked out till right around the point where the students are starting to prepare for battle and doing all their meeting stuff.

other than that it was pretty good.

 

[Saviordd1]

...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.

Growing up in a town where our main attraction is our children's theater and our high school shows its odd to hear people NOT be obsessed with musicals half the time; when you've grown up seeing and being in pretty much every musical in existence its simply hard to believe someone can't like musicals.

I find it as hard to understand as racism.

...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.

Musicals are like going to a bar. I never really get the urge to go, but once I get dragged there I have a good time. For me, the music heightens the emotion of the scene and has a tendency to "lock it in". Hearing the song in the future brings back the emotional state of the acted scene pretty easily.

As an old straight dude, this frightens me more than I can say.

Love your avatar by the way! Scary Smash! Joss was a real sport for squatting through that one.

That's the best part of musicals, a good stage actor/singer can convey emotions ten times better through singing than anyone can through voice.

It sends shivers up your spine, in a good way.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Oooh, MovieBob doesn't like a piece centered and adapted from a stage musical, how edgy! What a bold defiance of expectations!

Seriously, Bob? You're complaining that a film adaptation of a musical highlights the songs too much? Do you complain that the beach has too much water? Yes, the film is long, but it's not exactly a short piece to start with. If the intent was to focus on them actually singing their lines, why would they need to putz about with visual flair when all the the flair they need or want is that this is a musical, where the audience wants to see and hear them singing. Cosette and Marius do kind of just fall together, but if you're seriously perturbed that the "true love at first sight" thing happens in a dramatic piece as a plot device to get the characters together in a piece where the romance isn't anywhere near the biggest thing going on, then I would suggest that you're projecting your occasional boorish attitude towards Amanda Seyfried onto a film that doesn't want it. Yeah, I get it, you're a film critic, and you're judging this as a film. Newsflash, bucko, anyone who actually wants to see it isn't going to see it the same way they see other films.

 

[otakon17]

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.

Seems to only happen with movies he feels are really crap. I noticed it too, the more agitated he gets about talking about a bad movie the more the accent slips. Oh well, adds a bit of realism to the review if you ask me. Am suddenly reminded of Ted though.

As for the movie, my mom actually wanted to go see this. I'll have to dissuade her and suggest another, like that new Del Toro horror flick coming out.

 

[Markunator]

snip

You still need a good director (and a good script) to make a good movie out of it. Your comparison doesn't even make any sense.

 

[Itchi_da_killa]

I knew that this version would stink. The only film adaptation of this story I liked was the one that came out in the 90's staring Liam Neeson.

 

[Wandrecanada]

I'm already biased since I fucking hate... nah, what's stronger than hate? Oh, I megaloathe musicals. But seriously, why couldn't they make a real movie with this?

And then it had to star Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman... I don't think they could have made this film less appealing to me.

Edit: OH! And then there's having to listen to anglophones keep pronouncing French names... Oh how much better it (and indeed any movie) would have been with Cristoph Waltz.

While I am in agreement with your statement I couldn't help but enjoy your Dr. Cox (Scrubs) reference. I'm just surprised you didn't drop a Hugh Jackman quote in there beside it.

Also... Why would you cast Hugh Jackman in that role? He's never had the chops to pull off a role as strong as the lead in Les Mis. At least get some kind of European actor to lend a little gravitas to his dialogue.

 

[shintakie10]

I'm already biased since I fucking hate... nah, what's stronger than hate? Oh, I megaloathe musicals. But seriously, why couldn't they make a real movie with this?

Because they already did...like...a bunch of times. Hell, there are even Anime Adaptions. You can pretty much pick by country and length.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Les_Mis%C3%A9rables

I will say that one should avoid the Liam Neeson version as it pretty much becomes a train wreck the farther along it goes. Among other things it involves Javert holding a gun to Cosettes head and Valjean seeing Javert commit suicide(by walking into the Seine...from the riverbank) and then walking off with a big-ass grin on his face.

Odd you say that since I adore the hell out of that version.

 

[Aureliano]

Poor fans of musicals. More than fans of most genres, they seem to be stuck in the quagmire of: "You didn't like this musical? Then you clearly hate musicals and therefore I don't have to listen to your criticism of this musical!" That's not a productive argument, people.

 

[Dastardly]

Les Miserables

See if MovieBob thinks that Les Miserables is really that miserable.

Watch Video

To be fair to the work done on this film, I think what we have are a handful of performances that are absolutely masterfully done... just done masterfully in the wrong medium, perhaps. However, there are non-artistic concerns to consider here:

1. These movie adaptations are often intended to restore interest in their properties. It's basically an advertising campaign, in a sense. And there's nothing wrong with that, really.

2. Tons of people have no time, money, or local opportunity to catch these things on stage, and recordings of live performances of the musical are often pretty awful... so much that it's intimidating for people to wade through the bad ones in hopes of catching a good one. This allows those people the opportunity to see the full musical with (for the most part) a great cast.

3. It is entirely possible to praise a work of art in one regard and hate it in another. Consider a song with incredible lyrics but dreadful music (or vice versa). Many of us feel the movie is phenomenal "for what it is," which I know is a phrase you dislike. But there is occasionally a value in engaging a work in its own terms, rather than measuring yards with meter sticks and complaining when things come up short.

Now, critiquing it as a musical movie, I'd have to say:

- Russel Crowe was a complete and total mistake, as he brings no redeeming qualities to the role. He looks, sounds, and performs badly as Javert.

- Samantha Barks plays it safe on the ONE NOTE that every girl dreams of singing on Broadway. That's nigh-unforgivable, even given how great the rest of her performance was.

- The "in yo' face" camera technique, I agree, was a waste of good opportunity. Only Hathaway and Jackman got their mileage out of the extra face time.

- But Jackman was his least expressive during Valjean's most expressive song ("Bring Him Home"). I think Jackman was too worried about the range, and forgot to act there. This stands out only because of how stellar the rest of his work was.

- Hathaway. Fucking. Killed. I've loved that song for years, but I have never cried at it. I bawled this time around. Finally, someone that was willing to make it the ugly, desperate cry it was written to be... but still maintain the beauty and fragility that make it resonate rather than repel. Definitive rendition.

 

[Plinglebob]

I'm sorry Bob, but this was a badly done review. While I've no doubt the film has a number of faults (and knowing the stage musical that's not a surprise) you're review went straight past all that and instead targeted things that don't seem to deserve its.

First of all, you were reviewing the film as an adaptation of the book instead of an adaptation of the stage play. Considering it was determined 25 years ago that the script is a bad translation from the book (seriously, look up West-End reviews from when it was released) all it did was make you seem either out of touch, a tad stupid or willfully ignorant in an attempt to seem edgy.

Secondly, you complain that in a musical adaptation of a musical they focus on the music and singing. Thats like going to New York and complaining that all the buildings are too big. If you don't like musicals, fine, say so to give viewers fair warning of your bias. Like him or not Tom Hooper made the directorial decision to have the actors sing live altering the songs as they saw fit. Would you cut away during someones emotional monologue?

Thirdly, no matter how much you try, saying something is "Oscar Bait" is not a negative criticism and does not automatically make a part/performance bad and/or irrelevant.

Finally, it wasn't an entertaining review. You've done reviews of bad films in the past that have been funny and you've done ones in the past that are intelligent. This review was just mean. Like the Spiderman review, you appear to have gone in expecting (dare I say wanting) to hate the film and you came out happy.

Edit: Do they pronounce Thenardier in the film like Bob did in the review? If yes, wow that's a shock as the versions I've heard use a hard T. If not, it doesn't help Bob's case.

Edit 2:

Each time you mention the name of Cosette, I shiver, do they really pronounce it like that in English material ?

In the English version, its usually done as COR-sette (similar to the old fashioned underwear) rather then the "K-sette" Bob used. Just checked the film soundtrack and there they have a long 1st syllable.

Edit 3:

Heehee, laughing at the people losing their mind over Bob's changing accent.

Is it really that big of a deal?

Personally it was the only thing I liked in the review.

Edit 4 (Damn thats a lot of edits): I think this the first time I've heard someone use "BBC mini-series" as an insult.

 

[iniudan]

Each time you mention the name of Cosette, I shiver, do they really pronounce it like that in English material ?

I read some of the original book in my French class a few years ago, and then we watched a movie based off of the book rather than the musical. It focused a lot more on Jean Valjean's transformation, and a lot of characters such as the inkeepers and Eponine (is that her name?) got all but written out.

HTF to you write out Thénardier from the story, especially when focusing on Valjean ? He's his foil.

Has for the name you ask, Éponine, she is Thénardier's elder daughter. If the story focus on Valjean she could indeed be easily ignored.