[Bluray]

By strange coincidence my manager has just spoken to me about Les Mis - i had no idea that she is one of the very passionate fans who has seen it live three times.

On the whole she loved it but said even though she likes Eddie Redmayne she thought he was wrong for the part and there was no chemistry whatsoever between him and Amanda Seyfried.

I relayed to her to recent conversations had on this thread and she laughed and said "if people don't try something for the first time how does anyone find out if they like it or not - doesn't mean there's something wrong with them"

Exactly!

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by Lady Spice

To be fair, I didn't know if the movie was going to be completely sung through. The trailers definitely gave the impression that there was more dialogue than there actually was. I can think of at least 2 bits from trailers (Marius asking Eponine "who's that girl?" and her not singing the response, and the bishop saying "I know who you are. You're Jean Val Jean,") and neither of these were in the actual film, so if you've never seen the stage show, I can see why some people wouldn't realise. Like I said, based on the trailers, I expected a lot more dialogue than we actually got.

Not a complaint, btw. Just an observation.

You are absolutely right about the trailers. I don't remember Marius asking Eponine the name of Cosette in the actual stage musical when I first saw that trailer. Because it doesn't make sense otherwise when he later meets her at the gate and exclaims dramatically, "Oh God, I dont' even know your name!"

Also, the bits about people shunning Valjean was also misleading and not in the actual film. Actually you do have a point of the trailer kinda mis-selling the show. Because when I watched the trailers, I thought Hooper took liberty and made some parts of it spoken instead of sung.

Hooper, in his post premiere interwiews said that initially they weren't sure if it should be all sung or modified to partially sung partially spoken film adaptation, and only when they were into the shoot that they found that honouring the original musical of nearly all-sung style worked best.

[Coen]

Clearly the film of Les Mis is bringing it to a wider audience who aren't familiar with the stage show, which I would have thought can only be seen as a good thing by long term devotees?

Apparently not by the way people who ended up not particularly liking it (or even merely not knowing that much about it in advance) are labelled "ignorant" and "uneducated"!

Personally I thought it was ok but had very few memorable tunes. That Ann Hathaway one was quite good though.

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by Bluray

By strange coincidence my manager has just spoken to me about Les Mis - i had no idea that she is one of the very passionate fans who has seen it live three times.

On the whole she loved it but said even though she likes Eddie Redmayne she thought he was wrong for the part and there was no chemistry whatsoever between him and Amanda Seyfried.

I relayed to her to recent conversations had on this thread and she laughed and said "if people don't try something for the first time how does anyone find out if they like it or not - doesn't mean there's something wrong with them"

Exactly!

I can see your point. Though Les Mis was my first musical, like Eddie Redmayne confessed in his interviews, I was very moved by it when I first watched it. A year later, I watched it again and loved it even more. I had the 10th annivesary CD with the full libretto on the album sleeve too, with many original cast singing in it.

I tried to like shows like LOTR and Harry Potter. Can't abide by them at all, like I said earlier, I only watched them after reading reviews, and still it didn't help me like them more.

There is certainly nothing wrong with you not liking Les Mis, whether you know it was sung-through or not.

edit: I disagree with your manager about lack of chemistry between Eddie and Amanda.

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by Kolin Klingon

Problem: 'I don't like sung-through musicals and fully knew that Les Mis was one' - Solution: Don't go and see it!

This is a hypothesis: If my girlfriend likes a particular rom com, and I don't, and I decided to watch it with her in the movie theatre anyway, there is nothing wrong with that surely? And I believe I still reserve the right to dislike it after watching it too, am I not?

[suncity]

LOVING the music ATM.

[guestofseth]

Had a proper look at it's Oscar nominations for the first time since watching it, and I think it's been "snubbed" in all the right categories, Director, Editing and Cinematography all areas that let the film down imo. I think it earned it's Best Picture on the strength of the cast and the story, as well as the scale of it.

Anyone else seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK1um8HN6FE, it's Jason Manford (of all people ) singing 'Stars' and not doing a bad job of it, much much better than Russell Crowe.

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by guestofseth

Had a proper look at it's Oscar nominations for the first time since watching it, and I think it's been "snubbed" in all the right categories, Director, Editing and Cinematography all areas that let the film down imo. I think it earned it's Best Picture on the strength of the cast and the story, as well as the scale of it.

Anyone else seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK1um8HN6FE, it's Jason Manford (of all people ) singing 'Stars' and not doing a bad job of it, much much better than Russell Crowe.

Voice wise, he's better than Russell. But I don't think he'll be able to do the acting part like Russell did. Oh, if only it's Russell's acting and body but that he has a singing voice of Jason Manford!!!

Of course, any stage actors who did the role of Javert would have been miles better than Russell, singing wise.

[Silver Tractor]

I watched this awesome movie on our local IMAX (lite) screen today, having seen it a week ago on a conventional screen.

This is a poignant film for me (for personal reasons) and seeing it on the larger screen made an enormous impact on me.

Le Mis is an epic musical experience and if you love the show it is well worth paying the extra few quid to see the movie version in an IMAX theatre.

[alcockell]

Watching the making of thing on ITV1 at the mo... desperately looking forward to the disc release - I HATE suffering from cellulitis in my legs and therefore unable to go...

Universal - next time, PLEASE RELEASE FOR STREAMING AS WELL AS CINEMA RUN! I'D PAY FOR THE ACCESS!

[tvqueen1905]

i am watching the special too

[ironjade]

Originally Posted by Heartache

I didn't know either, so for this style of musical could someone explain the difference between it and an Opera.

The difference is that if they called it an opera no one would go and see it. Calling it a musical is better for the box office.
It's an opera.

[Helbrown]

Originally Posted by Mystical123

Again, my opinion on Bring Him Home didn't change 2nd time round. No matter how great Hugh Jackman was during the rest of the movie (and he was, for the most part, brilliant), I can't forgive the mess he made of BHH. It was just completely incongruous to the context, he was shouting when he's supposed to be saying a prayer in the eerie calm before the storm. Not good at all, and he didn't even sing it particularly well either. A huge let-down in what otherwise definitely was an Oscar-nomination worthy performance.

He might have had more of a chance without the over busy staging and camerawork. In the show Valjean is basically praying over the sleeping Marius, but Hugh was wandering round and the end shot was just so out of place. I'm not saying you can't pray wandering round, but it totally detracted from a beautiful song.

I basically loved the movie apart from that. A bit disappointed with the Thenardiers and a lot disappointed with Javert, but the many plus points more than made up for the minor disappointments.

One highlight for me was seeing the original (and best) Valjean, Colm Wilkinson again. I managed to keep calm in his first appearance but I lost it big time when he appeared at the end. A masterstroke by Cameron Mackintosh to use him to link the two mediums.

I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who doesn't get this production, or feel that they can't give it more than 15 minutes of their time. It's your loss.

[alcockell]

Originally Posted by Helbrown

He might have had more of a chance without the over busy staging and camerawork. In the show Valjean is basically praying over the sleeping Marius, but Hugh was wandering round and the end shot was just so out of place. I'm not saying you can't pray wandering round, but it totally detracted from a beautiful song.

I basically loved the movie apart from that. A bit disappointed with the Thenardiers and a lot disappointed with Javert, but the many plus points more than made up for the minor disappointments.

One highlight for me was seeing the original (and best) Valjean, Colm Wilkinson again. I managed to keep calm in his first appearance but I lost it big time when he appeared at the end. A masterstroke by Cameron Mackintosh to use him to link the two mediums.

I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who doesn't get this production, or feel that they can't give it more than 15 minutes of their time. It's your loss.

Only 15 mins? This is going to do another LOTR on disc sales...

Preorder and buy theatrical disc.
Extended version/special edition released - BUY BUYBUY

[Jonwo]

Originally Posted by SCD-Observer

Also, the bits about people shunning Valjean was also misleading and not in the actual film. Actually you do have a point of the trailer kinda mis-selling the show. Because when I watched the trailers, I thought Hooper took liberty and made some parts of it spoken instead of sung.

Hooper, in his post premiere interwiews said that initially they weren't sure if it should be all sung or modified to partially sung partially spoken film adaptation, and only when they were into the shoot that they found that honouring the original musical of nearly all-sung style worked best.

I imagine they must have shot it with both dialogue and singing to see what worked best, I think the film has actually more dialogue in it than the show but not by much, IIRC only 'Right, my girl, on your way.' and a few of Gavroche's lines are spoken, the scene where Fantine offers her pendant to the old woman is sung through but is dialogue in the film.

[googleking]

Originally Posted by guestofseth

Anyone else seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK1um8HN6FE, it's Jason Manford (of all people ) singing 'Stars' and not doing a bad job of it, much much better than Russell Crowe.

wow. THAT was unexpected!

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by Jonwo

I imagine they must have shot it with both dialogue and singing to see what worked best, I think the film has actually more dialogue in it than the show but not by much, IIRC only 'Right, my girl, on your way.' and a few of Gavroche's lines are spoken, the scene where Fantine offers her pendant to the old woman is sung through but is dialogue in the film.

The bit where Eponine was shot and when Marius asked her what she was doing, and she handing him the letter from Cosette, and up till she begins singing, "Don't you fret", they were all spoken.

When Valjean was wailing and shouting "Who am I?" in front of Marius, at one point, Marius, instead of singing, "For the sake of Cosette", he spoke it instead. That one, I have to say, Eddie's understated performance against the almost frantic Hugh actually made him (Eddie) looked so much more naunced and 'mature', acting/performance wise. Bizarre, but true.

[jaybastastic]

Originally Posted by SCD-Observer

The bit where Eponine was shot and when Marius asked her what she was doing, and she handing him the letter from Cosette, and up till she begins singing, "Don't you fret", they were all spoken.

When Valjean was wailing and shouting "Who am I?" in front of Marius, at one point, Marius, instead of singing, "For the sake of Cosette", he spoke it instead. That one, I have to say, Eddie's understated performance against the almost frantic Hugh actually made him (Eddie) looked so much more naunced and 'mature', acting/performance wise. Bizarre, but true.

Very true. Hugh's wailing and possibly whaling is ridiculous. I wonder if when he saw Anne's gush-tastic performance he insisted on going unrestrained himself. Unfortunately he is the singer that comes off worse when he goes OTT - Eddie and Anne can just keep in the vicinity of the right notes while over-emoting- Hugh not so much.

[SCD-Observer]

Originally Posted by jaybastastic

Very true. Hugh's wailing and possibly whaling is ridiculous. I wonder if when he saw Anne's gush-tastic performance he insisted on going unrestrained himself. Unfortunately he is the singer that comes off worse when he goes OTT - Eddie and Anne can just keep in the vicinity of the right notes while over-emoting- Hugh not so much.

Actually, to be fair, Anne did let it rip in I Dreamed A Dream, esp. at the second part of that song. It's fine for me personally to witness it once, but I am not sure I want to watch that scene again, it might start to grate on me on repeated viewings.

By contrast, when Anne sang Come To Me (her death), she was understated, and Hugh was gentle as he should be in that context.

On the reverse, Hugh did marvellously with HIS death scene, and there, as some mentioned here, he sang the repise of Bring Him Home (this time it's Bring ME Home), and he did it in an almost whispering tone, which was heartbreaking. When Fantine reappears, by this time she's a spirit from the other world, so she sings with pristine, clear diction in an almost angelic style. Beautifully realised moments those...

[tally]

Blimey. I feel totally OTT if someone who has seen the stage show "three times" is an avid fan. What does that make me?

But I have to agree with Bluray in the fact that those of us who have loved and seen and listened to it so we know every single word, are getting too precious about it, and aren't doing ourselves any favours.

I'm completely with SCDObserver in their views. I've adored HughJackman since I saw him in "Oklahoma" so I know he can sing far better than the film suggests. In film because of the huge amount of takes, an actor gives up control of their interpretation to the director, which they don't on stage.

I'm really upset when people don't like it, I take it personally, perhaps because it's been part of my life for so long and I can relate personal experiences to whatever production I was seeing.
Which is, of course, stupid. It gives me an insight into the look of friends who have spent years raving about Star Wars, Harry Potter and LOTR- none of which I would ever think of watching after sitting through themfor roughly 15 minutes each. They do zilch for me.
But I think the last few pages of discussion have turned a bit sour and make it us against them and a "snobby" thing to like Les Miz. It's anything but, of course.
I hate Grand Opera, but will go and see Puccini. I hate fluffy pop, but would definitely go and see Girls Aloud or Take That if I had the energy ( I think I'd draw the line at One Direction, just a bit too young for me, I think.

For me, musicals touch my soul in a way that no other medium does. Les Miz is in a league of it's own there, possibly "Martin Guerre" gave me a watered down similar reaction, and makes it very special.
I love Phantom, Wicked, Rent etc etc but none of them touch me like Les Miz which is why I think I take it personally if you don't like it.

And, f course, even writing this, let alone reading it back, makes me sound like a completely unreasonable nutter

We cant all like the same things, we don't have to have a PhD in Musical Theatre to know if we're gong to enjoy something or not. What we can do is have respect for everyone's views- love it or hate it. Isn't it why we have these type of forums?

But nobody should be pulling out the intellectual card or bandying names around just because someone doesn't like it.

I think it's just insured that the musical wont close down for years and years as so many will want o see it in it's original musical journey. (I'm afraid the book and straight films don't "do" it for me in the same way) and, having ploughed through the book years ago I don't think I could reread it, masterpiece that it is) and that's good news for me. Plus, of course, I've another cast album and the DVD sets this will spawn to keep me fresh.

So how about people give everyone the respect of their own views. Otherwise people will think us Les Miz freaks ARE total and utter tossers.

[alcockell]

Originally Posted by tally

Blimey. I feel totally OTT if someone who has seen the stage show "three times" is an avid fan. What does that make me?

But I have to agree with Bluray in the fact that those of us who have loved and seen and listened to it so we know every single word, are getting too precious about it, and aren't doing ourselves any favours.

I'm completely with SCDObserver in their views. I've adored HughJackman since I saw him in "Oklahoma" so I know he can sing far better than the film suggests. In film because of the huge amount of takes, an actor gives up control of their interpretation to the director, which they don't on stage.

I'm really upset when people don't like it, I take it personally, perhaps because it's been part of my life for so long and I can relate personal experiences to whatever production I was seeing.
Which is, of course, stupid. It gives me an insight into the look of friends who have spent years raving about Star Wars, Harry Potter and LOTR- none of which I would ever think of watching after sitting through themfor roughly 15 minutes each. They do zilch for me.
But I think the last few pages of discussion have turned a bit sour and make it us against them and a "snobby" thing to like Les Miz. It's anything but, of course.
I hate Grand Opera, but will go and see Puccini. I hate fluffy pop, but would definitely go and see Girls Aloud or Take That if I had the energy ( I think I'd draw the line at One Direction, just a bit too young for me, I think.

For me, musicals touch my soul in a way that no other medium does. Les Miz is in a league of it's own there, possibly "Martin Guerre" gave me a watered down similar reaction, and makes it very special.
I love Phantom, Wicked, Rent etc etc but none of them touch me like Les Miz which is why I think I take it personally if you don't like it.

And, f course, even writing this, let alone reading it back, makes me sound like a completely unreasonable nutter

We cant all like the same things, we don't have to have a PhD in Musical Theatre to know if we're gong to enjoy something or not. What we can do is have respect for everyone's views- love it or hate it. Isn't it why we have these type of forums?

But nobody should be pulling out the intellectual card or bandying names around just because someone doesn't like it.

I think it's just insured that the musical wont close down for years and years as so many will want o see it in it's original musical journey. (I'm afraid the book and straight films don't "do" it for me in the same way) and, having ploughed through the book years ago I don't think I could reread it, masterpiece that it is) and that's good news for me. Plus, of course, I've another cast album and the DVD sets this will spawn to keep me fresh.

So how about people give everyone the respect of their own views. Otherwise people will think us Les Miz freaks ARE total and utter tossers.

In addition, some of us (like me) think more cinematically than "stage", and I work best with musicals on film rather than stage.

Less BIG HAM moments as well...

Personally, if the box-office is good enough -I'm looking forward to Cameron mackintosh working with others to bring Miss Saigon to the screen as well as having waited for this one...

I hadn't had the opportunity to see Les Mis on stage - but I wou;dn't fit into the tiny theatre seats anyway..

[tally]

Originally Posted by alcockell

I hadn't had the opportunity to see Les Mis on stage - but I wou;dn't fit into the tiny theatre seats anyway..

Yup, I've had that very same problem with the size of the seats over the last 27 years. I do wish they wouldn't keep ripping the seating out to get more people in.




ps, whether it's because I was going through personal crisis when I saw Miss Saigon, or not, I've never loved it in the same way. I think it'd transfer to film brilliantly though. There's the epic evacuation of Saigon which would translate to a cinema audience, not to mention the wedding scene/fall of Saigon being filmed on location. The only raves I had for it, when I saw it, was the 18 year old Lea Salonga. I saw it a further couple of times and thought Jonathan Price wasn't as great as "The Engineer" as he thought he was

[tracystapes]

I wonder when we'll get news on the DVD. I know it's being impatient but I am gagging to see the DVD extras. I am praying for a director's cut.

I need to see more Anne Hathaway as Fantine! As well as Samantha Barks as Eponine too!

[tellyadict]

I saw the film on the IMAX and really enjoyed it. The sets and CGI looked fantastic and the close up shots looked amazing on such a large screen. I am glad they did not overdo the barricade size and showed it for what it was, a small uprising.
As for the singing it was much better than I expected but I agree with others the orchestra was quiet in parts.
Overall It's a great addition to the other adaptations.

Personally my favourite is the 10th anniversary concert. Virtually no weak performances and a fantastic orchestra and backing choir.

[Irma Bunt]

I have adored Les Mis since I saw it in the West End more years ago than I care to remember. I can't recall how many times I've seen it, but it must be more than 20. For me, it has the greatest score in musical history and touches the soul like no other show.

So I approached the movie with some trepidation. Is it as good as the show? No, not for me. But it's still possibly the finest movie musical I've seen. The direction, set design, cinematography were superb. And in some areas, it actually improves on the original. Eddie Redmayne's Marius is the best I've seen; for the first time, Marius isn't a wet blanket. "I Dreamed A Dream" finally eradicates memories of the ghastly SuBo's massacring of it. And placing On My Own before One Day More actually makes more dramatic sense.

A final thought on Russell Crowe. I've heard the part of Javert sung better. I don't think I've ever seen it acted better.