Les Misérables: So, what did you think?

I know there are countless threads on the Les Miz movie right now, but I don't see any official spot where people have started to chat it up in terms of what they thought post-opening.
I just saw a 10 PM showing of it, and it honestly took my breath away. I can't post my thoughts just yet, because I'm still kind of recovering... that said, I absolutely adored it. Beyond moving, and beyond gorgeous.

Also, a highlight of the film for me was "Master of the House." Absolutely hysterical. Sacha and Helena freaking killed it.

I'll be back to see it again within the next two days.

When I saw it last week I had the same experience as you in that I couldn't put it into words for a while.

I found it astonishing. Honestly, everything that the few detractors have complained about, I find absolutely compelling. The editing, the camera work, etc.

Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, and Hugh Jackman deserve every praise, nomination, and award they (should) receive.

My only minor complaint is Seyfried, but being Cosette, she's hardly there anyway.

Cannot wait to see it again.

I'm still processing what I saw, it was simply stunning. Not a dull moment or weak link. The Bishop at the end during Finale had me crying.

I saw it in Imax and it truly is an experience.

Excuse me Kirby Cat-did we see the same movie?--Master of the House was a complete mess-there was nothing hysterical about it.The camera was on a roler coster trying to be oh so clever catching every bit of slight of hand/pick pocket-Artful Dodger stuff and that revolting making mince out of a wooden leg-as if, that you weren't even aware of that show stopping song that demanded a reprise on stage.Don't get me started on Russell,Amanda,Samantha,Helena-with so many to choose from-this is the best they could get??Even Hugh had a tough time and only Aron and Eddie and of course Colm made me sit up and take a real interest.Closed my eyes for all the close ups and the CD is DEFINATELY not on my Christmas list.

I thought the movie was amazing. Eponine and Fantines death made me cry. The part with Santa Claus made me laugh. I had no issues with Russel Crowe. I thought Ann Hathaway was perfect for the role of Fantine. The battle scenes were a little boring, but I sat through it. I think I might want to see it again!

I loved it. I thought it was perfect.

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I thought it was a mess. Anne Hathaway deserves the Oscar and Eddie Redmayne probably deserves a nomination, but Crowe was an embarrassment and Jackman was very weak. Samantha Barks was as good as I expected, Aaron Tveit a little less so. Gavroche was great.

There were too many weird cuts in weird places (I understand the need to trim for the film, but this did not feel organic), awkward orchestrations in their attempt to match the music to the "singing" after the fact, and weird lyric changes that erased rhymes ("Come in sir for you are weary/and the night is cold out here/though our lives are very humble/what we have we have to..." sheer? Also, "Come on ladies, settle down/I am the mayor of this town/I run a business of repute" ruined the scansion of that part). There were some stunning scenes, but much of the filming felt amateur--not every song needs to be a three-minute close up, Mr. Hooper. The sound mixing was not great. The new song was boring. Of course it managed to wring tears out of me, but much of the movie felt flat (as did some of the singing).

I've been avidly following this movie ever since the 25th Anniversary showing announced that it was forthcoming, and I was fully prepared to be blown away. Even after I was unhappy about some of the casting I tried to keep an open mind. I went to see it today hoping that the musical I knew so well had been immortalized in a film I would like to see again and again. That was not the case. I would have liked to have shoved Javert into that river thirty seconds into "Javert's Suicide". Oh, well. Time to go rewatch the anniversary concerts.

I'm spending Christmas watching FLOWER DRUM SONG and FINIAN'S RAINBOW. Can't miss. Merry, merry, everyone!

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Updated On: 12/25/12 at 03:49 PM

Say Hello to this Year's Oscars "Best Actor/Best Actor/Best Film" Nominations. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Les Miserables!
For me...the wait is over! Saw this epic at 10am.

Quick review: Overall totally wonderful production! Will everyone agree? Probably not...but this one has WINNER written all over it, IMO.

Probably one of the best musical movies I've ever seen. True to the book. Leads were all excellent, made the roles their own portraying each iconic role extremely well. Hugh Jackman (Valjean) Ann Hathaway (Fantine) are a shoe- in for Oscar noms. Russell Crowe (Javert) very effective but needed to show more anger in his pursuit of 24601. Gavroche was very well cast! Thenardies were perfectly matched with a fresh gritty wit. Aaron Tveit's Enjolras was rivetting while Eddie Redmayne's Maruis was not as impressive, other than his great singing voice.

Vocally: This are NOT an all "classically trained Broadway voices" to my knowledge. So one needs to go in not expecting to hear a Craig Schulman, Terrance Mann,Judy Kuhn.

But the whole cast moves the story line through their songs. Never feels like staged solos, even Fantine's money song stayed in character,but filled the screen! Standout songs "I Dreamed a Dream" and” On My Own" being the biggest heart breakers. Jackman's "Bring Him Home” was heartfelt but he appeares to use every vocal trick to push out the song. Crowe's "Stars" was poignant as was his acting throughout but lacked any vocal WOW factor. (Insp. Javert rarely shows much emotion, and Crowe followed suit with this character). What fun to see Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop. His love if being part of this shines in his face.

Samantha Barks (Eponine) vocally, emotionally perfect and rose to the top . Amanda S.(Cossett) sweet but thin voice reminded me of Minnie Mouse a bit too much.

Cinematography and Direction: Simply brilliant! From the massive city scenes, the sewer, the street people, to the gritty Inn and the clever logistics of the barricade scenes. Yes, it was an "in your face" of many solo vocals, but I think this is just what they(actors/director) were aiming for and hit their target. One unfixable fault...Valjean never ages much more than a little "Grecian formual" run through hair.

If you didn't get a lump in your throat through the heartbreaking songs from Fantine & Eponine, Jackman's dying scene will do you in! The One Day More ending scene is well done and leaves you totally satisfied.

Pati Buehler - BWW "Philly" writer

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Updated On: 12/25/12 at 05:11 PM

I loved the movie and I feel that if I was a fan of the musical there isn't much more I would ask for. I can't wait to see it again. I agree with Tom Hooper who (I think) said in a Q&A that there is no one else in the world who could play Hugh Jackman's role. An A-list actor who is both a great actor and a good singer, it was a great fit and I hope he is nominated for an Oscar. The one real weakness in casting for me was that Russel Crowe just wasn't very threatening. He kind of looked and sounded like an aged bunny rabbit.

But at the end of the day, I think the writing (of the musical) limited the film. I thought there was often very obvious rhymes, boring recitative singing and just general cringeworthyness. ("Suddenly you're here, suddenly it starts, can two anxious hearts beat as one..."the world seems a different place, full of grace")...does anyone really like that kind of fluffy disney language? I cringed so hard when Hugh Jackman's character was singing in that trio about how he knew he couldn't keep Cosette for himself forever. Urgh. Could it get any more cliché?

Sweeney Todd was intensely more thrilling and moving if only because of Sondheim's wonderful music and lyrics.

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Updated On: 12/25/12 at 05:32 PM

Sadly, Jordan, it's one of my favorites of the modern movie musical era because at least it doesn't futz around pretending to be anything but a musical from the start. Les Mis does the same, thankfully, with none of that po-mo winking "trala we know singing is soooo implausible" crap. But where Sweeney may have hacked and slashed too much (and definitely suffered from vocally inadequate leads), Les Mis might have been too respectful of the musical's score. Cutting more might have given the remaining songs some room to breathe.

I just got back from it, and personally, I found it to be tremendous. Granted, I've been a fan for 25 years and not nearly close to an "average" film goer on this one, but it met every expectation I had.

Honestly, I loved the editing. Things that are skimmed over in the show actually made more sense in the movie. The performances were across the board fantastic. Hathaway deserves an Oscar. Jackman should get nominated, as should Redmayne.

The only quibble I had was some of Hooper's shots were bizarrely placed - pushing people into the corners of the screen for no real reason. There weren't THAT many shots like that, but enough that it was noticable.

Overall though - easily my favorite movie of the year, and definitely one of the best musicals of all time.

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Overall, I thought it was very good. Not amazing, but very good. I'm going to see it again tomorrow, so I'd definitely say it was successful overall. But I do have my qualms with it.

Cinematography/Directing/Editing: These are the categories I know/care the least about, so I haven't got a lot to say. I echo the sentiments of people saying that the close-ups for every. single. solo. did not work well at all after the first couple of songs. It became repetitive and dull, and I found myself saying "OK, he/she's going to turn or walk around or move a bit or something." I think "On My Own" was one of the most effective because Samantha Barks was allowed to move around, so that even though the camera was basically up in her face the whole time, there was some sort of movement. "ECAET" was the worst in this regard, I think- I kept expecting us to get to see a different angle of the cafe, Marius looking out into the street, anything to change the scene a bit. There were two moments of cinematography I really loved, the change from the "Soliloquy" to "At the End of the Day" and the transition between "Javert's Suicide" and "Turning."

Plot Changes: I think they only work if you've read the book. My parents, who don't really know the plot, both thought they crammed too much in what seemed like only one night during "Lovely Ladies" for Fantine. I agree that up until we meet the Thenardiers the show felt rushed, probably because they went through more locations than the stage show does. There was more physical movement of the characters than there is in the stage version. My dad asked "Who?" when I asked if he was confused about Marius' grandfather, but I thought it was very emotional when Marius woke up after being shot and saw his grandfather. So they don't really detract, but if you don't come in with knowledge of the book, they don't mean much, either. Although I think having Eponine get shot saving Marius was a great addition, and the audience did a collective gasp when I saw it.

Song Changes: Again, for the most part, it was OK. There were a couple of spots here and there, like someone said earlier, where they seemed to have rearranged lines for no reason and they tried to cut things out, which is fine, but sometimes it was done awkwardly and the next line became jarring. I thought the new placement of songs was VERY effective, except for "On My Own." I didn't like how it transitioned into "One Day More," and it made Eponine's entire story jumbled into a very tiny bit of time. The new song was alright, it fit in well with the other songs, but eh, it didn't do much for me. Loved the reprise of "DYHTPS" at the barricades, though cutting "Drink With Me" down so much made it seem random and unnecessary.

Sets/Lighting: The sets were beautiful, both the locations and the sound stages. The shots of Digne were astounding, it was exactly like I pictured. The Bishop's sanctuary was also gorgeous, and I liked the repeated imagery of the candlesticks. The lighting was good all-around, and it stuck out especially in the sewers and "Who Am I?" They made it dark without it making it difficult to see, and the lighting during the barricade scenes gave it a true open-air feel.

Sound Mixing: No. Just...The orchestra was a ghost for half the film, it didn't grow when it needed to grow, maybe because the dynamic range of the mix itself was too compressed to allow for too much variation in the crescendos and decrescendos. There were a couple of moments when they switched between ensemble singing and a solo singer that were jarring, seemingly mixed or recorded with different equipment. I will say that the ensemble itself sounded amazing, and the vocals were well recorded- it was just the mixing that I had issues with.

Orchestrations: I was very, very, very disappointed with these, but I don't completely blame the orchestrator. It seemed like everyone either couldn't belt or was told not to, which negatively affected the orchestrations. You couldn't have the full, epic brass sound that I associate with many of the songs, and I thought the low brass especially was not nearly as present as I wanted it to be. And where was the percussion? Xylophones, suspended cymbals, timpani...I missed all of them. Too many strings, not nearly enough variety in the instrumentation. This was the most disappointing of the film for me.

Performances: The only ones I was truly disappointed with were Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. I seriously disliked "Bring Him Home"- he strained most of the time, had to belt, and diminished the impact that the final verse usually has when the actor DOES finally belt. The whole time I felt he was "acting," not "being." He was trying so hard, and it showed too much. Russell Crowe I thought was amazing in every respect except for his two big solos, which were huge let-downs. The whole time I liked his constrained, monotone singing, but "Stars" and his suicide should have been more emotional. Anne Hathaway I thought was very good until her death, which was a bit excessive and over-the-top. Amanda was fine, and she turned me into a mess during the Epilogue. She was a sweet Cosette, and she and Redmayne played off each other well. Redmayne, Tveit, and Barks were the true stand-outs for me. It helped that they didn't seem to be concentrating on being "gritty" or the singing, they just went for it. Redmayne was amazingly sweet as Marius, and he seemed truly conflicted over his place in the world. Tveit was both angelic and scary, perfect for Enjolras, calculating yet passionate. Barks had so much written across her face, she didn't even need to open her mouth for you to know what she was feeling. She and Redmayne gave one of the best "ALFOR" renditions I've ever heard. Overall I was pleased with this film, and I will probably be buying it when it comes out on DVD.