And now: Lowering expectations
But first a new photo of Jean Valjean on parole (enlarge it; the rez is great!)
Indiewire.com: Will Critics & Audiences Sing For 'Les Misérables'? Both the "for" and "against" writers seem to be writing "against" pieces. Both are so ill-informed and dismissive -- they say Les Mis is just for old white people (according to them it's a "white people-palooza" and "a White People Totem") -- so I'm calling both of them beer-swilling, moron jocks. (ETA: read the comments they're a hoot!)
All that said, actually I'm happy Les Mis is getting some bad press. Expectations need to be lowered a bit if the film is going to have a chance at making anyone happy. So on that note we have:
Jeff Wells of hollywood-elsewhere.com, who has issued a challenge: "stop Les Miserables".
I obviously haven't seen Les Miserables, and it may well deserve to win at the end of the day. But you know what I mean. Everything else is getting marginally discredited for this and that reason and nothing else seems to "fit" the paradigm, and I'm starting to feel already that the fix is in. Obviously I don't mean that in a Chicago Black Sox sense. I mean that people want a certain type of classy, carefully poised but lowest-common-denominator emotional-bath film to win, and guys like Tony Angelotti know that and it seems as if the scheme is slowly falling into place and it's not even Halloween yet.
Esquire: Eddie Redmayne puts on a good show:
On Les Miserables:
"It's been an amazing time shooting; however, it's been equally difficult in some respects. For the musical numbers, I had a mic hidden inside my costumne and an earpiece in my ear during shooting. I would have to sing in tune with an electric keyboard that was behind the wall. We would then shoot a second time in conjunction with a live orchestra and record the number again... I felt like the only thing I did was sing [laughs]."
Indiewire.com: Will Critics & Audiences Sing For 'Les Misérables'? Both the "for" and "against" writers seem to be writing "against" pieces. Both are so ill-informed and dismissive -- they say Les Mis is just for old white people (according to them it's a "white people-palooza" and "a White People Totem") -- so I'm calling both of them beer-swilling, moron jocks. (ETA: read the comments they're a hoot!)
All that said, actually I'm happy Les Mis is getting some bad press. Expectations need to be lowered a bit if the film is going to have a chance at making anyone happy. So on that note we have:
Jeff Wells of hollywood-elsewhere.com, who has issued a challenge: "stop Les Miserables".
I obviously haven't seen Les Miserables, and it may well deserve to win at the end of the day. But you know what I mean. Everything else is getting marginally discredited for this and that reason and nothing else seems to "fit" the paradigm, and I'm starting to feel already that the fix is in. Obviously I don't mean that in a Chicago Black Sox sense. I mean that people want a certain type of classy, carefully poised but lowest-common-denominator emotional-bath film to win, and guys like Tony Angelotti know that and it seems as if the scheme is slowly falling into place and it's not even Halloween yet.
Esquire: Eddie Redmayne puts on a good show:
On Les Miserables:
"It's been an amazing time shooting; however, it's been equally difficult in some respects. For the musical numbers, I had a mic hidden inside my costumne and an earpiece in my ear during shooting. I would have to sing in tune with an electric keyboard that was behind the wall. We would then shoot a second time in conjunction with a live orchestra and record the number again... I felt like the only thing I did was sing [laughs]."