Les Misérables: So, what did you think? — Page 12

Chewey, you see that chess board in your icon? See that piece way over to the left and down a bit? The one that's alone?

That's you in regard to this topic.

"But all of Europe and its colonies (think Washington and Bolivar) reeled in the wake of the Revolution of 1789,

The French Revolution came after the American Revolution. In fact, the French were inspired in part by the Americans to revolt."

Stagemanager, I caught my admittedly ridiculous oversight before you did and corrected myself. I changed Washington to Juarez.

Read more: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1054750&page=11#ixzz2GNBrGPI9

Just got home! I really liked it but overall I think the story is just too difficult to translate to film. The story holes in the musical were more obvious in the movie.

All of the acting was great except for Russell Crowe IMO--I feel like he was too busy trying to sing to really act. Amanda Seyfried wasn't that great IMO until the end, but she did a great job in the last scene. Anne Hathaway was fantastic.

The love story was really difficult for me to sit through, moreso than usual. It just seems so insipid compared to the rest of the story, although I know that we're kind of supposed to think that.

Singing-wise... everyone was pretty good except for Amanda Seyfried, although I actually found her bearable at times. Eddie Redmayne's jaw tension drove me crazy but he sounded good. Russell Crowe was very meh, it wasn't painful for me to hear but I thought his singing lacked emotion. Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks were the standouts, of course. Colm Wilkinson sounded less "Sean Connery"-ish than usual.

I agree that there were too many close-ups but I thought that there were some great moments in the direction, too. The beginning scene in the shipyards was really well-done, and I liked some of the transitions.

I also liked some of the nods to the novel, like Valjean giving Cosette the doll when he takes her from the Thenardiers.

It definitely beat the Liam Neeson version, though!

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Updated On: 12/28/12 at 05:14 PM

So I had a weird and serious question. The scenes before and after "On My Own", there was not a single glimpse or thought of rain, but during it, there was a huge STORM..WTH? Was that just a scattered shower?

SM2 correct! Just seemed out of place...maybe that is why I felt that it was filmed like a music video to single out the song!

The rain! Yes, it drove me nuts in both instances.

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Sorry, Stagemanager, you are mistaken.

As you can see from my post I last updated it at 10.02 a.m. Your post correcting mine was at 10.52 a.m. What do you think I'm lying? I actually wrote that post, got on the subway, thought about it, realized I had misstated that the American revolution postdated the French Revolution and, embarrassed, corrected it as soon as I got back online.

When you update your posts, it doesn't update the time as well, inexplicably. For instance, your original post was posted at 10:02am, but the update is also listed as 10:02am, which is not possible 'cause, by your own admission, you took took a subway ride, pondered, realized your mistake, and corrected it when you were able to get back online. All that would've taken a long time. In the meantime, I saw your mistake and corrected it in my reply post, before you were able to go online again. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered if you had beaten me to it 'cause I wouldn't have seen it. But I did.

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Apology accepted.

Here's the Nostalgia Chick's review of the film for anyone who's interested:

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/specials/37785-les-miserables-2012


Here's the video she and her friends did last year about the musical, which she mentions in passing in the review above:

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/team-nchick/nostalgia-chick/31204-les-miserables-the-musical

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WTF! ROFLMAO.

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Saw it. Loved it. The film is much closer to the LES MIZ I always saw in my head while listening to the recording--as opposed to the stage show, which I found overly mechanical.

I agree that Seyfried wasn't great, but isn't that the major problem with the show as a whole? That the focal character (not the main or central character but the character with whom the main characters are concerned) is rather insipid and undeveloped?

I love Eponine, but I think it's a major dramaturgical problem in the musical that she takes up the time and music when we should be getting to know and forming an attachment to grown-up Cosette.

The film didn't solve the problem, but it didn't make it any worse.

And FWIW, watching it I finally understood what was being "barricaded". On stage, there just seemed to be a mountain of broken crap for the actors to climb while I was left to wonder why they called it a "barricade" rather than a "pile".

For the same reason that this takes place in France and everyone has British accents.