(no subject)
My journey to work really wasn't too bad. A few problems getting out of my parking space/road and then a slippy slide-y idiot on an A road trying to overtake everyone in a lane that hadn't been cleared but really they worst bit of the whole journey was walking from the car park (I decided paying to be under cover was worth it) to the museum because I didn't spot a patch of black ice and nearly went flying in front of a queue of people outside the post office!
Thankfully the wall caught me *rubs elbow*
On Saturday I actually went to the cinema (which is still a pretty rare occasion for me considering my theatre habit... or rather possibly it's explained by my theatre habit *g*) but seeing Les Miserables felt like an inevitability...
So all the reviews I read beforehand were pretty much accurate in that it's very good but with a handful of unavoidable flaws.
Starting with the flaws I still don't understand why they cast Russell Crowe! He does his best poor man but he struggles with any high notes and he seems incapable of acting and singing at the same time leaving him looking constantly slightly bewildered which works in his final song but I'm not entirely sure I'll ever forgive him for that rendition of Stars :-/
Similarly Amanda Seyfried hits every notes bit with such a thin and weedy voice it made me almost dislike Cosette because, against Eddie Redmayne and particularly against Samantha Barks it just sounded ridiculous. She's a great actress though just... stop it with the musicals please?
The rest of the main cast I liked. Well. I had a horrible ten minutes or so worrying about Hugh Jackman because he has the weirdest accent at the start and sounded to be stretching but I'm wondering if that was either deliberate character stuff or just because he'd lost so much weight for those scenes (and that does make a difference) because he improved no end. He's not the best Jean Valjean out there clearly but he does a very creditable job.
(oh and the new song? very sweet but the two people with me who hadn't seen the show both picked it out)
Eddie Redmayne was brilliant and I loved the way they did Empty Chairs At Empty Tables starting without music (which was apparently his idea?) and Samantha Barks was the best singer of the lot though I will say Anne Hathaway? Really very very good.
Sacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham-Carter were hilarious and perfect and I still get the giggles when thinking of Thénardier calling Cosette Courgette :D
Generally, great though the main cast were, there was a definite problem in that it was noticeable when one of the West End-ers was cameo-ing because suddenly you could hear how it shouldbe sung. Hadley Fraser's cameo particularly- even my non-theatregoing friend picked him out as clearly a musicals person when we were chatting after the film!
Speaking of which I do need to see it again just to catch all the cameos I missed! Though I did catch Adrian Scarborough who I wasn't expecting to see...
I loved the epic sets, I liked the little nods to the stage show (Enjolras' death being the main one) and, yes, I did cry.
To be honest just the thought of all that barricade stuff makes me choke up anyway. The first bar of Red The Blood of Angry Men gave me chills and by the time they were singing Drink With Me? I had a very large lump in my throat (oh and Gavroche! That kid was brilliant and I'm sad they cut down Small People so much though they used what they left in effectively)
I didn't actually cry though until the very end and Valjean's death.
I guess already loving the musical I was bound to enjoy this unless they really wrecked it? And they definitely did that. It was one of the better modern film musicals I've seen I think. Though I'd still say go see the stage version *g*
I'm off to read all the Les Mis fic I can find :-P
Thankfully the wall caught me *rubs elbow*
On Saturday I actually went to the cinema (which is still a pretty rare occasion for me considering my theatre habit... or rather possibly it's explained by my theatre habit *g*) but seeing Les Miserables felt like an inevitability...
So all the reviews I read beforehand were pretty much accurate in that it's very good but with a handful of unavoidable flaws.
Starting with the flaws I still don't understand why they cast Russell Crowe! He does his best poor man but he struggles with any high notes and he seems incapable of acting and singing at the same time leaving him looking constantly slightly bewildered which works in his final song but I'm not entirely sure I'll ever forgive him for that rendition of Stars :-/
Similarly Amanda Seyfried hits every notes bit with such a thin and weedy voice it made me almost dislike Cosette because, against Eddie Redmayne and particularly against Samantha Barks it just sounded ridiculous. She's a great actress though just... stop it with the musicals please?
The rest of the main cast I liked. Well. I had a horrible ten minutes or so worrying about Hugh Jackman because he has the weirdest accent at the start and sounded to be stretching but I'm wondering if that was either deliberate character stuff or just because he'd lost so much weight for those scenes (and that does make a difference) because he improved no end. He's not the best Jean Valjean out there clearly but he does a very creditable job.
(oh and the new song? very sweet but the two people with me who hadn't seen the show both picked it out)
Eddie Redmayne was brilliant and I loved the way they did Empty Chairs At Empty Tables starting without music (which was apparently his idea?) and Samantha Barks was the best singer of the lot though I will say Anne Hathaway? Really very very good.
Sacha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham-Carter were hilarious and perfect and I still get the giggles when thinking of Thénardier calling Cosette Courgette :D
Generally, great though the main cast were, there was a definite problem in that it was noticeable when one of the West End-ers was cameo-ing because suddenly you could hear how it shouldbe sung. Hadley Fraser's cameo particularly- even my non-theatregoing friend picked him out as clearly a musicals person when we were chatting after the film!
Speaking of which I do need to see it again just to catch all the cameos I missed! Though I did catch Adrian Scarborough who I wasn't expecting to see...
I loved the epic sets, I liked the little nods to the stage show (Enjolras' death being the main one) and, yes, I did cry.
To be honest just the thought of all that barricade stuff makes me choke up anyway. The first bar of Red The Blood of Angry Men gave me chills and by the time they were singing Drink With Me? I had a very large lump in my throat (oh and Gavroche! That kid was brilliant and I'm sad they cut down Small People so much though they used what they left in effectively)
I didn't actually cry though until the very end and Valjean's death.
I guess already loving the musical I was bound to enjoy this unless they really wrecked it? And they definitely did that. It was one of the better modern film musicals I've seen I think. Though I'd still say go see the stage version *g*
I'm off to read all the Les Mis fic I can find :-P