Les Miserables (2012)

Nah, it's all pretty terrible, OP.

Then Russell Crowe arrives....

So you haven't even finished the first hour yet?

No I've only got about a half hour left. Kermit just sang Empty Chairs and now Amanda Seyfried is squealing A Heart Full of Love. Cosette is such an annoying character. I'll say that Jackman is sounding better now as Old Man Valjean.

Valjean's songs are too high for Jackman's voice.

It starts again on a different HBO in 20 minutes. Do I punish myself through the first 30 minutes just to see AnnE?

Hugh Jackman is not a singer. Not in real life. He's a broadway performer the same way that Nick Jonas is. It hurts me to hear them talk about their "singing" as if they really can sing.

How can you watch the film and miss Anne Hathaway though OP? She wasn't bad. It's just a terrible film. Samantha Barks is fantastic as always, but they don't let her be.

I don't understand why they don't make musicals with singers. Wicked is a semi shitty musical that would translate very well to film. Could be a great movie. But they'll cast Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone.

Anne Hathaway is the best thing about Les Miz. Don't take that from her. But it's very misguided what they did with Fantine.

Oscars for everyone!!!

Even for you, Kid-who-plays-Gavroche!!

You're 8 years late and apparently missed the first half hour of the movie. But, by all means, create a thread to post your "hot take".

Sam BARKS. She's not Sutton Foster but she's a hell of a lot better than anyone else. Give this girl a great big broadway show.

Seyfried warbles

I remember seeing this in cinemas and it was pure torture. It seemed endless.

[quote]You're 8 years late and apparently missed the first half hour of the movie. But, by all means, create a thread to post your "hot take".

I tuned in (8 years and) 45 minutes late. I looked for an old discussion to make my comment but couldn't find anything. Since it's on right now I though others might be willing to discuss it again.

I'm watching from the beginning now. AnnE was good, a few weird facial tics notwithstanding. But she's definitely been the highlight. Lovely Ladies wasn't bad but Hooper frames everything so strangely it's not very entertaining to watch. There's just something lifeless about the whole thing. It's hard to imagine how they could make Master of the House completely uninteresting but it just plods along with little energy.

R6 Let Samantha Barks be what?

When did it become a rule that Enjolras was played by the hottest guy in the cast?

If that sunken cheeked creature is the hottest in the cast...

It could have been a terrific movie... IF THEYD JUST DONE A DECENT JOB WITH THE MUSIC!!!!!! Honestly, how fucking hard was that to figure out? It should have taken the director two days max, to realize that most of his cast sound like shit live.

Because other than that, it's not a bad movie. It looks good and the actors are all good actors, even if only one of them should ever sung live

From memory, Russell Crowe wasn't all that far off Pierce Brosnan (in Mamma Mia) in terms of vocal performance. He's a pub singer on his best day.

A movie that is an exact recreation of a stage show is worthless. The actors are not supposed to be belting out showtunes like they're on a stage. Then again, I've always disliked movies where they break out in songs. I've always thought that the songs movie musicals should be like hearing the characters' inner thoughts and emotions, not a performance spectacle.

However, even with that caveat, Russell Crowe is terrible.

I like AnnE's rendition of I Dreamed a Dream. Samantha Bark's Eponine singing A Little Fall of Rain is also good.

I don't understand why Hathaway talked though I Dreamed a Dream. She can really sing! The film looked good, but lacked the heart and magic of the original Broadway production, which I loved!

Best Musical with non-singers: Chicago. I was impressed with all the performances.

Remember when Taylor Swift was revealed to be on the shortlist for Eponine? I think it was Taylor, Lea Michele, and Scarlett Johansson. Then Samantha Barks was cast out of nowhere (thankfully)

[Quote] The actors are not supposed to be belting out showtunes like they're on a stage.

And Sally Bowles shouldn't sing well.

Love her or hate her, AnnE really was the only highlight of that shitfest. She slayed that shit. The little kid who died on the barricades was good too. Give it another 10 years and hopefully someone else will give it a try. I'd be fine with a cast of unknowns that can handle the notes. Jackman was so wrong for this on so many levels. One Day More really was a huge fucking letdown. I did, however, really enjoy him in Greatest Showman.

[quote]Nah, it's all pretty terrible, OP.

[quote]Then Russell Crowe arrives....

His death scene was great!

Samantha Barks had been in the 25th anniversary stage show and killed it, so that's why she got to reprise her role in the movie. The anniversary show was also the one where Nick Jonas totally failed as the young man whose name escapes me. Just pitiful. But Ramin Karimloo was amazing as Enjolras and makes Aaron Tveit look like a limp dishrag in the movie. Alfie Boie as Jean Valjean was also very good.

[Quote] I'd be fine with a cast of unknowns that can handle the notes.

The people putting up the money wouldn't be.

Excrement is putting it mildly . Having seen the show 15 times with different casts ,the worst one was infinitely better than that turd of a movie.

I've got so much time on my hands these days that I watched all of Linsday Ellis's lengthy evisceration of Cats (nothing against her, I just normally wouldn't be interested in anything to do with Cats.) Her ultimate conclusion was that Hooper is terrible at directing musicals and should never again be allowed near one. I don't remember hating his Les Miz but I can't really remember anything good about it. Actually I can't remember it, period.

Not that it would have saved it, but I think it would have been more interesting if Crowe and Jackman played the other role; Crowe as Valjean and Jackman as Javert.

[quote]I'll say that Jackman is sounding better now as Old Man Valjean.

Really? I thought "Bring Him Home" was by far his worst singing in the movie, really painful. Not that the other stuff was much better. I'm kinda surprised Jackman didn't know his vocal limitations well enough to turn down the role, but I guess it was just too tempting.

Who else would have played the role? There aren't many movie stars of Jackman's ilk. (And I agree that the songs don't suit his voice.)

They should have pre-recorded the vocals and fixed them up in the studio (like Chicago). With a good vocal producer the vocals could have still sounded natural and realistic, but pleasant to listen to.

The problem with making movie musicals nowadays is that the underlying rationale is "people hate musicals, how do we get around that?" Star ensembles (regardless of suitability) is one tactic they use. The Les Mis strategy was to go "edgy" ("none of this frilly, fruity shit"), and that included the vocals, unfortunately.

"One Day More really was a huge fucking letdown. I did, however, really enjoy him [Jackman] in Greatest Showman. "

Jackman just doesn't have an attractive singing voice, and singing live on the set for day after day horribly overstrained it. He sounded like shit and I blame the director for that and not Jackman, because dubbing or fixing the vocals would have improved the entire film immensely.

He sounded fine in "Greatest Showman", because in that film they gave him the audio help he needed. And since Jackman produced "Greatest Showman", we can conclude that Jackman learned something from "Les Miz", and director Hooper did not.

Jackman was the worst part of Showman R33 . He looked like shit and he can not sing .

Whereas Zac Efron sings like a lark...

Toni Collette killed the audition for Roxie in the movie Chicago. Her auditions for that part are legend. Rob Marshall was over the moon and Zeta Jones was already a go. But a man once known as Harvey Weinstein insisted that his star gymnast and "protege" Renee Zellweger be giving the part. This is well known. I love Rene, but lets not pretend she wasn't Harvey's whore. And a coke whore back then. Chicago could have been great - don't think that CZJ can't sing and dance a full number full out without a zillion cutaways. Miss Zellweger required a whole different direction.

Hugh Jackman is minimally talented as a musical performer. He can sing, but his voice is unappealing. He can shake his ass, but it keeps on shaking.

I love the songs too much to completely hate the film, honestly.

Crowe and his nasally voice work really hard to try to kill the musical (fortunately, it's made of tougher stuff). He sounds like he's constipated while holding his nose. And that splat at the end of his fall? Who does that? That was camp on the behalf of the sound people which went unnoticed by the director (or he didn't care). I mean, seriously? It's funny, but disrespectful to the composers.

The budget for this was $61M, but I would have preferred double that and a different director. I get why they did it "on the cheap," though (it certainly was profitable).

Tom Hooper is a white dude who comes from privilege with absolutely no edge. He decided he wanted to be a filmmaker, and he was born into circumstances which made it quite easy for him to do so. I find his films lifeless. His Dutch-angle schtick would be better employed more economically and I don't connect with any other of his "stylistic" choices. I didn't like The King's Speech or The Danish Girl. Cats was just bad. I don't want to watch The Damn United, which I imagine is his best film. Still, he's the kind of "serviceable," milquetoast type the Academy goes for and he rode out his reign directing three actors to Oscars. Hopefully, he'll just remain in the TV-world for now on. He doesn't deserve any more chances with film.

But, the songs are still beautiful. They're full-proof.

100 proof?

R9- Barks was already given a big Broadway show, PRETTY WOMAN last season, and it flopped. And she didn’t get a Tony nom.

R39 Maybe she just wasn’t pretty enough.

Samantha Barks is fine, nothing special.

Maybe she deserves more than one shot at it. She's special.

Samantha Barks and Aaron Tveit should date. They could make some uninspired children.

[quote]He sounded fine in "Greatest Showman", because in that film they gave him the audio help he needed. And since Jackman produced "Greatest Showman", we can conclude that Jackman learned something from "Les Miz", and director Hooper did not.

And, of course, the music for his role in THE GREATEST SHOWMAN requires about one tenth the voice of his role in LES MIZ. I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention that.

The only good thing about this is that they fixed the ending to make sense. It never made sense that Eponine and Fantine escorted Val Jean to Heaven. The movie fixed that by having the priest (Colm Wilkinson) who Val Jean attempted to steal from, sing that part.

Maybe Jackman learned not to overreach, R44!

But the thing is, Jackman SHOULD have been terrific casting. I mean, to put Valjean on film they needed an actor who was tall and muscular, was good at both musicals and dramatic acting, who photographed well even when filthy and haggard, who can play period roles (many actors can't), and who can sing the role. Jackman is the only well-known film actor who hits all of those points, and all he needed to knock the role out of the park was a little help covering his vocal limitations. Which is the one thing he didn't get, and which ruined the fucking film.7

[quote]and all he needed to knock the role out of the park was a little help covering his vocal limitations.

Hey, I did my best, but Hugh just wouldn't sign off on it.

I thought it was okay, but certainly not as good as Mamma Mia!

I was obsessed with the musical back in 1986-87 (whenever it first came to the Kennedy Center). The film didn't touch me at all, which I found particularly frustrating because Aaron Tveit has been on my top 5 ISHC list ever since he played Tripp Vanderbilt on Gossip Girl.

Huh. He never had cheekbones.

Does no one agree with me that Aaron Tveit's face often photographs as not very good looking at all, even kind of goofy and unattractive, as in the screen cap at R49?

How old is Tveit? Those wrinkles on his face are huge.

Well from ya’ll experience you obviously did not heed what the title was telling you, I think it was an excessive case of truth in advertising, so it’s your own damn fault.

[Quote] Does no one agree with me that Aaron Tveit's face often photographs as not very good looking at all, even kind of goofy and unattractive, as in the screen cap?

Did you miss r15?

Tom Hooper is and always was a truly subpar director.

THE KING'S SPEECH, despite good performances, was vastly overrated. THE DANISH GIRL is banal and largely terrible. Hooper has no real visual style to speak of and no clear understanding of music on film and yet has directed two ot the biggest (and most disappointing) musicals over the past decade.

Perhaps CATS will send him back to British TV, where he belongs.

I thought it was tremendous.

R51

He looks best with the Enjolras hair in Les Mis. I was disappointed when I looked him up and saw how he does his hair normally.

Bros.

Is Satine a hardbitten madam?

It's far from the worst movie musical, but singing live take after take is difficult even if you're a Broadway pro used to doing 8 shows a week. Hathaway could have easily sung that song and sounded great in the first few takes, but I think I read where they had her do it so many times until they got what ended up on film which, while it's lacking in vocal quality, does have a certain drama to it.

Hathaway is easily the best part and deserved her Oscar for making me feel something during that overdone song. I thought Seyfried did about as much as anyone could with a shitty role like Cossette, but her voice was totally wrong for the role. She can mostly definitely sing, but not in that register. Yes, she technically hit the notes, but it was obviously not a comfortable range for her. I thought Redmayne was great, too, and loved his take on Empty Chairs.

I wished they'd let Samantha Barks really belt On My Own instead of doing it in such a tentative way. That really held her back and I know that wasn't her fault.

If you liked Russell Crowe in “Les Misérables”, you might want to hear Jasper the gorilla pass a kidney stone!