Amazon has the soundtrack for $5 this week so I was thinking of picking it up to add to my other three versions of the musical. Then I noticed it doesn't have Do You Hear the People Sing? on it. I know it's just a "highlights" album and not the full soundtrack, but seriously? How is DYHTPS not a highlight?

 

solojones Hah your input on that was exactly what I was waiting for. Even with I Dreamed a Dream, it was just TOO claustrophobic for me.

 

Yeah I could see you knew what I was going to have to say about it

 

Just saw this today -- for the most part I agree with y'all's comments.

I guess I'm so used to the stage versions that it was weird hearing major movie actors belt out the same lines. Or in Crow's case, serious-sorta-mutter lines. Crow was a good Javier, just... not a melodious Javier. And while I doubt it was his fault, Wolverjackman's lines often ran together a little too quick for my taste. But then again, I'm used to the stage versions, so that complaint might not be justified. Maybe if I hear it again it won't sound so off.

Everyone else did a fairly good job. Barks was a good Epinone. Marius was the pricky Glee-reject that he ought be. I wasn't aware Borat was playing Thenardier so that was a bit of a shock.

 

I thought it was good. I agree with the criticisms of the closeups, though.

 

What did they say about this film?



Because it's clearly where he's drawing from, and I think it works beautifully.

 

Carter's been 'stuck' playing crazy/weird since Fight Club.

Anyway. Loved it! Was kinda surprised that there were no dialogue scenes; was expecting at least some. I grew up listening to the stage version during PBS pledge drives, so it was kinda weird hearing other people sing them

Not really much to say about the individual actors. I really don't see how you could screw this up-you've got a century and a half of prior versions to draw on, after all. Crowe isn't much of a singer, but he tried pretty hard, so I'm giving him credit.

 

going to go see this in the morning with some old High School friends as a reunion type thing for I club I was in. No real idea what I'm getting into so we shall see what this is all about.

 

Saw the movie and liked it a lot. Only knew the fate of Cosette's mom and that's it. Great movie. Going to have to go back and watch it again.

 

I really liked the movie. My only complaints were, as others ave mentioned, the shaky cam and the close-ups. And my friend and I got there late and were sitting too close, so between that and the shaky cam, I got a little sick But I'm sure it'll be fine on DVD.

 

Oh, as I said, it worked absolutely wonderfully for "I Dreamed a Dream". My complaint was that Hooper then shot almost every other solo song in the exact same way, which makes all of them collectively less effective. It robs that beautiful scene of its power because it's no longer a unique moment in the film. And just makes it really seem like he couldn't think of anything else to do.

Different scenes and songs require different approaches. "On My Own" shouldn't have been almost all close ups; the whole notion of the song is that Eponine is walking around this city but feeling isolated, that it's filled with strangers, that she has no one close to her besides Marius, and even that's one-sided. It's kind of like Tom Hooper wasn't listening to the lyrics of that song when he shotlisted the scene.

 

No one else in my family picked up on the close-ups, especially in On My Own and I Dreamed a Dream, but that bothered me. Also, I went in with high expectations for Jackman, and low ones for Crowe. Subsequently, I was somewhat impressed with Crowe, but disappointed with Jackman, especially in Bring Him Home. Overall, though, I loved it.

The biggest letdown for me was Master of the House. I've seen several theater performances much more raucous and fun than the movie. It was rather understated, and went for gross-out humor (popping out eyeballs, chopping the tail off a cat and putting a prosthetic leg in the "meat") that I didn't appreciate. That, and the addition of Fantine selling her teeth. I'm really squeamish when it comes to things like that, and I ended up leaving the theater for a few minutes.

Edit: another small disappointment: I was looking forward to hearing Anne Hathaway and Samantha Banks sing together in the finale. Not that it makes much sense for Eponine to appear to JVJ, but I always liked that harmonization.

 

I liked Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russel Crowe as Javert, Amanda Seyfried and Isabelle Allen as Cosette and Samantha Barks as Eponine. They made the movie for me. Anne Hathaway as Fantine and the two inkeeper's were great as well.

 

Jackman did Bring Him Home in his normal range instead of doing any of it falsetto, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I mean, that's a really tough song in general and I've seen a lot of decent Valjeans who can't hit it.

I kind of agree about Master of the House. I was expecting something a lot more outlandishly fun and raucous. It wasn't that I thought it was gross, that didn't really bother me. It was more just that it's the one time in the show you can really totally let loose and I felt they slightly missed an opportunity. It was okay, but it could have been a bit more boisterous.

 

Glad someone else picked up on the (rather overt) Dreyer influence.

Sometimes it doesn't work, but for me it was the chief reason that it didn't feel like a filmed stage adaptation. The only thing still tethering it to its roots is the fact that either Valjean or Javert seem to be in the same location as the other for no good reason other than the fact that that's how the music works.

Her last collaboration with Hooper says otherwise.

 

Just got back from seeing it. I wish I hadn't read your guys' comments before hand or I might not have focused so much on all the close ups. Aside from that all my complaints are really just nitpicky things that probably don't bug most people.

I didn't like Enjolras with fluffy hair, not the substitution of his red vest for a red coat. I missed Grantaire's verse in "Drink with Me" and wasn't fond of Gavroche. He was too cutesy with his lisp and everything. I didn't really mind any of the changes or rearranging except Eponine's storyline and "On my Own." I agree that "Master of the House" was a little underwhelming, but I liked a lot of the visual humor with the picking pockets and whatnot. Finally, I found that I had such low expectations for Crowe that he actually surpassed them.

Other than that, no complaints.

 

What did you guys want to see in Master of the House? I actually thought it was quite funny.

 

The Santa Claus was hilarious. Did it get a bit gross? Yes but that did make it pretty funny. I have not seen the play so I can't comment on that.

 

I liked the montage aspect of "Master of the House." Obviously something that's impossible on stage.

 

Okay, so I saw it. First the good: Colm as the bishop gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. Jackman has now given by far his best performance; he definitely needs a nom for Best Actor. All my doubts about him, which I've been quite op . .en about, proved utterly groundless. Thank you, God. Anne Hathaway is justly praised for Fantine; her I Dreamed a Dream is absolutely devastating. I've said nothing new there, but it needs to be said again and again for all time. Eddie Redmayne is someone I'm not familiar with, but he was absolutely fantastic. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was . . . just outstanding. I mean, he killed it, absolutely killed it. Cohen and Carter were great as the Thenardiers. And all the problems I'll talk about below don't really add up to anything; I was still a frigging mess at the end of this movie. The climax (by which I mean, everything after the wedding sequence) is my favorite part of the musical and it didn't disappoint. They knocked the climax out of the park; I was weeping audibly. At the end of the day, the emotional power of the story and the music overcame the weaknesses.

Now, as to those weaknesses . . .

Okay, yes, Crowe needed to be better than he was. The Confrontation really didn't need to be a frigging sword fight; plus, they cut the best part of The Confrontation, which is that quiet moment of the two characters making their vows: "I will be there." That's one of my favorite moments in the musical and I missed it a lot. Next, God, Jackman butchered Bring Him Home. I mean, that was butchery. He did better when he returned to the melody in the death scene, probably because he was actually singing it quietly, the way the melody is meant to be sung instead of bellowing at the top of his lungs. I mean, Bring Him Home is the last song in the musical you want to make bombastic, but that's what they did with it.

The closeups? It worked beautifully quite a lot of the time, really letting you get in on the performances. Hathaway's I Dreamed a Dream, Redmayne's Empty Chairs at Empty Tables and Jackman's What Have I Done all worked really, really well with the extreme closeup style. You got to see every single twitch of emotion and I found those three in particular incredibly moving. What shouldn't have been shot that way was a lot of the other songs. The point of the revolutionary songs is that they feel epic. The Red and the Black and Do You Hear the People Sing? both needed more epic treatment than they got, though Hooper tried a bit with Do You Hear the People Sing? but muffed it because of how slow everyone was moving. On My Own, despite a very good performance by Samantha Barks, also needs the treatment already described here. And Stars too, I think, needs a feeling of an epic. I think you need to really feel the expanse of space and the stars moving above Javert and everything to really get the point of the song, which is that Javert feels himself in exactly the proper place in the universe. Even if he'd just split the difference on a couple of them. Like do On My Own half and half; half extreme closeup so we really get Barks' performance and half more expansive so that you feel the emotion of the song. Stars would have worked that way too. And let's not even talk about how muddled One Day More was. I realize there are only so many ways to film such a scattered number, but it really had no cohesion at all, which is too bad as that's definitely one of the highlights.

As to Master of the House, it's hard to dislike it since it's one of the few moments when Hooper filmed a musical number in a different fashion than extreme closeup. It's also pretty witty and both Cohen and Carter are really great in it. At the climax, however, I wish things had gotten a bit larger. I mean, I wanted more of a sense of this incredibly raucous bunch of drunks all bellowing along and we didn't quite get there. But at least it was different.

But as I say, on the whole, I really enjoyed the movie.

 

I bought tickets for my mother as a Christmas gift and we both enjoyed it. Hugh Jackman was excellent, as were Eddie Redmayne and Anne Hathaway. I Dreamed a Dream was heartbreaking.Master of the House was fun, especially the horny Santa Clause, and Red and Black and Do You Hear the People Sing were suitably stirring.

The only thing that disappointed me slightly was Russel Crowe as Javert. He was good in that he was able to stay on key, but unlike Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne and Anne Hathaway, who all have trained voices, Russell Crowe doesn't and you can tell the difference. Just listen to I Dreamed a Dream, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables or Bring Him Home, and then listen to Stars. When performed by a properly trained singer with the right voice, Stars is breathtaking.Russell Crowe was better at the end when Javert kills himself. but it takes him the whole movie to get there.

 

I liked it. The performances were great. Jackman was great, and Hathaway was brilliant in her "Dreamed a Dream" scene. Both deserve the nominations coming to them. The live singing was hit or miss for me and the songs weren't as catchy as I would have liked. Don't know if that was because of the live singing or what. And there were times when I felt I was getting the cliff notes version of the story.

Was this all of the play on screen, or is there a whole lot more? I felt I should have felt more for some the character then I did. Like Marius buddies and Eponine. She gets her part, sings her song, and then she dies. She comes off as a bigger character than she's portrayed in the film to me. Does the play show more of her?

 

Looking on Wikipedia some of the songs got switched around and some got cut. Plus the novel has a lot more stuff in it.

 

No. They definetly cut stuff out. The unedited stage musical is well over three hours long. For example, when Gavroche dies at the barricade, they reference Little People, except that Gavroche doesn't sing Little People anywhere in the movie. So Gavroche's death has kind of an odd vibe, partially because they're referencing a number that we don't get to see, because Little People is one of the few numbers in Les Mis that's light and fun, and because you know that you're about to witness the coldblooded murder of a child.

 

UNDERSTATEMENT.