"Les Miserables"

[Worf101]

Just spent 2 plus hours enduring "Les Miserables". My eyes are sore from dabbing and crying... my ears are sore from listening to R. Crowe singing!! Actually he wasn't as bad a folks lead me to believe... Not to bad for a man with no range and little voice. Hugh Jackman tore that chit up though. DD Lewis was good but Jackman was better.
Worf

[Hyfi]

I watched this several months ago. I never saw the play and had zero knowledge as to what the storyline was. If I had not watched it with people who saw the play and knew the story, I would still have no clue what it was about. I don't mind a movie with some songs, but when every spoken word is a song, it's anoying. Specially when you can't make out the words or know what's happening.

Jackman did a pretty good job and Crowe was as lifeless and boring as he is in every movie he is in.

3 Hours I will never get back

[JohnMichael]

As soon as it was released I was at the theater. I loved it and it was incredible on the big screen. No not everyone's singing was as good as others but still a great film. The movie was not filmed in Paris but I thought the painted backdrops rather good. Having walked the grounds where the Bastille stood and a monument is now in it's place made it all enjoyable for me. The French struggled many years for their freedom. I thought the movie was a good portrayal of some of the struggles.

Now I want to see it again.

[ForeverAutumn]

I still haven't seen this movie, but I'll be seeing the play for the fifth time this fall.

I also started reading the book a while ago, but the chapters are so short I decided that it would be a good book to read while I'm in school and only have time to pleasure read in short spurts, so I've put it off for another month. I've read about 1/6 of the book and so far I find it fascinating to see how they took such an intricate story and pulled out the main events to build the play.

[markw]

My wife made me watch it. Meh. I liked POTO, though.

Crowe was totally unimpressive (Worf nailed it) but Anne Hathaway knocked me out.

For me, Sasha Baron-Choen and Helena Bonham-Carter made this movie watchable. Two points of levity in an otherwise unbearably depressing movie.

[JohnMichael]

I still haven't seen this movie, but I'll be seeing the play for the fifth time this fall.

I also started reading the book a while ago, but the chapters are so short I decided that it would be a good book to read while I'm in school and only have time to pleasure read in short spurts, so I've put it off for another month. I've read about 1/6 of the book and so far I find it fascinating to see how they took such an intricate story and pulled out the main events to build the play.

I sadly have not seen the musical. I am going to watch and see it the next time the traveling company brings it to Columbus. I have Victor Hugo's book down loaded on my Kindle. I need to start reading.

[ForeverAutumn]

I sadly have not seen the musical. I am going to watch and see it the next time the traveling company brings it to Columbus. I have Victor Hugo's book down loaded on my Kindle. I need to start reading.

John, if you have not seen this video you should waste no time ordering it.

It's spectacular!

[ForeverAutumn]

I have to share this video also...from the DVD that I recommend to John in the above post. It's funny that when we think of Broadway type plays, we usually think of them in English. This video is 17 Jean Valjeans from all over the world singing in their native languages. It's quite amazing, I think...



It's just coincidence that Michael Burgess, from Canada (a great guy who I have met and have a very cool story to tell if anyone is interested), is the cover frame.

[JohnMichael]

John, if you have not seen this video you should waste no time ordering it.

It's spectacular!

I think I shall order it. Sadly in DVD format. I do not adopt new video technology very quickly.

[emaidel]

"Les Miserables" is my all-time favorite show. I've seen it twice on Broadway, once in Canada (with Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean - the originator of the role in England and on Broadway) and again recently in a local theatre in Hendersonville, NC. I saw the film almost immediately upon its release and enjoyed it thoroughly, but with a few criticisms:

Russell Crowe did a decent job, but would never pass singing live on a Broadway stage. Nevertheless, his acting was perfectly spot-on. The Thenardiers, in all the stage versions, are hilarious, offering wonderful moments of comic relief after some tragic scenes preceding their appearances. Unfortunately, Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were just plain evil and mean, with none of the hilarity.

On the brighter side, having all the actors do their own singing marked a milestone in the making of film musicals, and the one actor who impressed me the most was Eddie Redmayne as Marius. His singing of "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" all but destroyed me. Normally, it's "Bring Him Home" that's the show-stopper, with floods of tears all over the floor in the audience, but in the film, "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" took that place.

Certainly the best Hollywood musical in decades (as several critics called it) and a terrific movie.

[JohnMichael]

I was also impressed by Eddie Redmayne. I could listen to his voice all day. He has been in a number of movies I would like to see.

[ForeverAutumn]

The Thenardiers, in all the stage versions, are hilarious, offering wonderful moments of comic relief after some tragic scenes preceding their appearances. Unfortunately, Sasha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were just plain evil and mean, with none of the hilarity.

This sounds more in line with the book. In Hugo's story The Thenardiers are completely deplorable people. There is no hilarity in the things that they do. I believe that the characters were changed for the stage version in order to add a little humour to an otherwise terribly depressing story.

I also saw Les Mis with Colm Wilkinson (and in Phantom of the Opera), but my heart will always belong to Micheal Burgess as Jean Valjean. <3

[emaidel]

I was also impressed by Eddie Redmayne. I could listen to his voice all day. He has been in a number of movies I would like to see.

I corrected my initial post when I referred to him as Eddie "TRE"mayne, instead of "REDmayne.

He was in a long-winded TV series called, I believe, "Pillars of the Earth," which was awful and so was he. His performance in "Les Miz" was a welcome change.