Les Miserables and Twilight
So after watching the epic awfulness of Breaking Dawn Part 2, my sis broke out her Les Mis DVD so we could regain some brain cells.
I had really hoped to catch Les Mis in the theatre, since I've been craving a film version of this musical for ages. But it never worked out, so this was my first viewing. Kind of glad I missed the theatre release now...
Samantha Barks was perfect as Eponine. The three kid actors were brilliant. Though I didn't like Gavroche's hair cut, his singing made that easy to overlook. The Bishop was good.
Unfortunately the rest of the casting was either awful or ill used. And the director seemed to have forgotten this was a musical and thus should have music as a central element...with actual singing. They talked their way through far too much, whispered things that should have been belted out in passionate tones. I could understand that some songs need to be truncated for time constraints, but they changed a lot of lines inside songs that were pointless or worse for the change, and kept a lot of weaker musical moments that should have been cut. The camera stood still when it should have moved and moved random places when it should have stayed still.
I got the feeling that the director and some of the actors had absolutely no clue what Les Mis is about. There were guns in the heavenly chorus for pity's sake!
I'm not saying the actors were bad, but the casting and direction were...the film couldn't find a consistent balance between realism and stylization. I would have been okay with either approach, (though I admit I'd have preferred a more realistic/historical take), but the bouncing between the two was off putting.
I need to read the novel... I would have found some changes more acceptable if I knew they were trying to bridge novel elements back in...
I had really hoped to catch Les Mis in the theatre, since I've been craving a film version of this musical for ages. But it never worked out, so this was my first viewing. Kind of glad I missed the theatre release now...
Samantha Barks was perfect as Eponine. The three kid actors were brilliant. Though I didn't like Gavroche's hair cut, his singing made that easy to overlook. The Bishop was good.
Unfortunately the rest of the casting was either awful or ill used. And the director seemed to have forgotten this was a musical and thus should have music as a central element...with actual singing. They talked their way through far too much, whispered things that should have been belted out in passionate tones. I could understand that some songs need to be truncated for time constraints, but they changed a lot of lines inside songs that were pointless or worse for the change, and kept a lot of weaker musical moments that should have been cut. The camera stood still when it should have moved and moved random places when it should have stayed still.
I got the feeling that the director and some of the actors had absolutely no clue what Les Mis is about. There were guns in the heavenly chorus for pity's sake!
I'm not saying the actors were bad, but the casting and direction were...the film couldn't find a consistent balance between realism and stylization. I would have been okay with either approach, (though I admit I'd have preferred a more realistic/historical take), but the bouncing between the two was off putting.
I need to read the novel... I would have found some changes more acceptable if I knew they were trying to bridge novel elements back in...