bickypeg

Too Darn Hot was a highlight for me! I love me an extended dance sequence!!

Of course there's nowt wrong with solo eating or theatregoing - as I told the patronising woman who felt compelled to disturb my meal (and my book) with her pity, I wouldn't see half the things I do if I had to organize a companion every time for fear of spending a few hours on my own!

100% in favour of solo theatre-going; less keen on the solo dining issue, but I have given it a good try.  Plus, as a previous poster mentioned,  there's the cost to consider and I can't afford both at present anyway, so tickets take priority.  But when I do eat out alone pre-theatre, I agree that Wagamama is a safe bet:  speedy, reasonably-priced and staff don't bat an eyelid if you say you're on your own.

Laughingmonsta, on 15 January 2013 - 10:40 AM, said:

Heartwarming.  Students eh?  What did students ever do for Les Miserables?

poster J, on 15 January 2013 - 01:13 PM, said:

Haha. Sorry I missed the 'far'. I didn't like his voice much or his mouth, plus I just think he didn't look right. To quote my friends 'he was the most English looking person ever.'

poster J, on 15 January 2013 - 08:08 AM, said:

Hardly a ringing endorsement . . .

They had a great all star, big name cast.  I wish they'd compromised on Javert and gone with one of the numerous principally stage actors who could have done justice to the role.  Then again, Hugh in my books was only adequate so maybe a strong Javert would have increased mixed reaction to him.  I thought Hugh did a great job of acting the role but his voice was no Ramin Karimloo, John Owen Jones, Alfie Boe, Geronimo Rauch... everybody will have a better voice to nominate.

MrBarnaby, on 15 January 2013 - 01:38 AM, said:

No I didn't like Eddie's voice either. His mouth is extremely odd when singing too, but we can't hold that against him.

I think the 2008 Menier production of A Little Night Music would have made a great film. I know there's been an ALNM film already, but it wasn't as great as it should have been (although I appear to be one of the very few people who still enjoy it!).

As excited as I am about an Into the Woods film - and I'm very excited about it - I think it would really suit a Tim Burton-style animation (like Corpse Bride and Nightmare Before Christmas).

To your point Cactus, I guess I am referring to how I've seen Grantaire played of late by Adam Linstead.  He definitely is quite attached to Gavroche and I always thought it was a small point that evolved the character from little more than a drunk with an unexplained but deeply evident attachment to Enjolras.  It fleshed the character out and I thought gave it a depth the 'second string' student characters generally don't benefit from.  In the flim, I didn't get a particular sense that any of the students paid particular attention to Gavroche... he always seemed to be hovering around and inserting himself into the action but he I didn't get a strong sense of connection with anybody.  

Interestingly my companion at the film was seeing the story pretty cold - she'd seen in on stage ten years ago - and she felt the movie better explained much of the story, which I think was down to the La Marque funeral sequence.  I did think that was genius.  

I was thinking about it this morning and I wonder if the sung through musical doesn't work as well on screen as the dialogue and song musical.  I do think the live singing contributed tremendously to the strengths of this film version.

The Plague coming on fast seemed rather silly to me, too.  I assumed the plague in Europe was long done by the early 1800s and it was - the last outbreak in France was in Marseilles in 1720.  Hardly a deal breaker but nonetheless doesn't make a lot of sense.

I think I have to see it again to see if my initial impressions still hold.

Jon, on 13 January 2013 - 02:21 AM, said:

I agree Martin Guerre should be a UK tour. Oh I miss it!

I am relieved to see The Scorpion's review because I saw it for the first time tonight and was slightly disappointed.  

What I loved/liked/admired:

Samantha Banks.  Enough said.  Oh, OK.  How marvellous to see a relative unknown make such a stellar impression.  Well done, Samantha Banks.

Eddie Redmayne.  He gave it his all and I really admired all of his effort.  The Empty Chairs scene:  he was giving it!

Amanda Seyfried.  I could listen to her sing all day.  It's a total taste thing but I love her voice (which I gather puts me in a distinct minority.)  I thought she put a real stamp on In My Life.  There was a little bit of anger and frustration there.  I thought Cossette came across as having some strength and backbone than I'd ever seen and somehow, Seyfried seemed to play her as Valjean had done an exceptional job of raising and grounding her.  One thing I think made it easier for Amanda was that Isabelle Allan (Allen?) was so strong as young Cossette.  The little girl made a real impression in character and I think that laid the foundation for Amanda's work as the grown up Cossette.

Hugh Jackman.  He did the best talk singing I've seen.  The acting was terrific.  He impressed me more than I expected he would, as am not particularly a Hugh Jackman fan.

The Bishop of Digne's silver.  Lots of it.  Finally enough bling that you could see Valjean pawning it for a stake in life.  (I've always assumed M. Madeleine International was founded on the proceeds of the honest Bishop's silver tea service.)

The Thenardiers' relationship.  By my interpretation it was really some kind of twisted love match and by my interpretation Madame was actually the brains behind their nefarious operations for the most part.  Though overall HBC and SBC did well with the characters I've seen much stronger Thenardiers on stage.  I thought she was much stronger than him on film.  I did giggle at wee Eponine laughing it up with Daddy while they scammed more money out of people.  That was amusing to me.

Whoever played Grantaire. Hubba bubba.

The raw emotion from whoever it was who collected Gavroche's body.  It was the only point in the whole film I was moved to tears.  (I would have, should have been moved by Anne Hathaway, but we've all been so exposed to her I Dreamed a Dream already that it was more of a confirmation of all the hype.)

Anne Hathaway:  just lovely, just fantastic.  I worry she won't get the Oscar because bloody Hollywood will vote for somebody else out of spite and fatigue.  (Though I did think Fantine was a bit too touchy feely with the dying Valjean.)

The introduction of the La Marque funeral into the narrative.  Worked so well.  Launched the action so genuinely.  The use of Do You Hear the People Sing? as a literal and figurative rally of the crowd toward action was brilliant.

The movement of many of the songs.  Some very good calls.

What left me more disappointed than enthralled:

As almost everybody has pointed out, the sound.  The orchestra sounded as if it was two theatres down Shaftesbury.

The Steady Cam, which should be renamed the Shaky Cam.  Seriously, twice I had to shake my head to refocus.  I didn't mind the close ups, though I noticed Hugh Jackman had an ingrown hair pimple in one scene.  But I found the editing, when they cut away from the eternal close up, was terribly choppy.

The edits to the narrative/songs.  To me it felt like they cut short a lot of the lines that made sense of most of the characters and some of the action or built mood or context.  And the new sections I thought didn't strengthen the film at all.   For example, Grantaire just seemed like a guy who happened to be drinking during the proceedings, not the conflicted drinker who stayed with his friends but really wanted to be somewhere else or at least getting the I am going to die in the flower of my youth part of the proceedings over with fast.  In the last stage version I saw, Grantaire had an affection and protective attachment to Gavroche.  That was sacrificed.  As was Drink With Me, which with the movie cast, might have been quite an effective scene.

Was A Little Fall of Rain reduced?  It felt it but at one point I decided to stop reciting the lyrics in my head and just go with the show.  Still I was often left with a sensation of 'isn't it a bit longer?'  Also, I thought it should have started raining sooner.  All of sudden Eponine and everybody else was soaked.  Which technically isn't a little fall of rain, in my books anyway.

Master of the House.  Shouldn't have been cut down.   Comedy was sacrificed.  

Same with the dire ruin of Beggars at the Feast.  Very sorry about that.  Though it was funny watching the two of them pull their carriage entrance switcheroo and then later being removed bodily.  I am still confused as to why Madame was in possession of Tom Petty's glasses.  A weak exit for what should have been a totally memorable turn.  

Suddenly.  If you have 2:33 for that - and all that emotion was pretty fucking sudden relative to where the song popped up in the script - give me that 2:33 in the lines you cut.

The Grandfather.  Waste of time.

The orchestrations:  I don't know the technical term, but it felt to me like a lot of the bridging music was lost, to the detriment of the flow.   Scene after scene just seemed to be stitched abruptly to the other.

Javert decorating Gavroche.  Totally out of character.  The two barely interacted previously, bar Gavroche outing Javert as per usual. It should have been a great and moving moment, but Javert never gave nor was given an opportunity to give a hint there was anything in him that would secretly find little Gavroche valourous.  

Hugh Jackman's singing:  it was fine, but we've all seen, if I may presume, far superior Valjeans.  That said, his facial expressions were awesome and it was a strong, strong performance in my view.  Marvellous interpretation of the internal conflict, grief, bitterness and regret after the silver.

Russell Crowe.  He did not do a bad job.  He just didn't do a particularly good one and his voice - in addition to making me think of Gordon Lightfoot the whole time - was not up to Javert's job.  There's wound tight and then there's wooden.  There's stoic and then there's stone.  There's a whole raft of memorable Javerts and then there's Russell.   He was miscast.  Not his fault.  He delivered well with what he's got to offer.  But when I recall the number of Javerts who've gone wild with confusion and anger leading up to taking the plunge, it just didn't do it for me.  They obviously invested a lot in terms of the script and story in emphasizing the lifelong hunt/hunted relationship between the two men.  An opportunity was missed.

I suppose making this film was a hopeless task.  The material is so well known and over the years so many massively talented people have left their mark on it.  It's hard to push up against that.  Still, and overall, the piece felt rushed to me with many unhelpful eliminations of well known material that strengthened the richness of the story and the experience.  They seemed to want to have it every which way.  Part the musical, part the book, part 'well you all know it cold anyway so you know what you need to know when we do this, even if we're not actually showing it on screen.'  Well, what about the people who don't know it that well?  

That said, maybe I am one of those who knows it all too well.  And certainly they weren't setting out simply to transpose the stage musical to the screen, that was evident.   Even so, the movie version served for me as a reminder of how powerful and marvellous the stage musical is and I look forward to seeing that again.  And again.  And again.  The movie - I probably will see it again before it exits theatre - be worse on a television screen I think - but I haven't got a firm date in mind.

There was considerable applause, briefly, from the audience at the end.  None at any other point.  I heard people griping about both Jackman and Crowe's singing... not bitterly, but a number of people were underwhelmed as I heard them exiting.

6/10 and I'm sorry to say it.

The Scorpion, on 12 January 2013 - 11:09 PM, said:

Much of that is the  directors choice - not inherent in the material/lyrics. Some seems to have changed since the leaked script.  Many of the points reviewers have thought lacking - like depth in the Thenardiers, and the retationship between Thenardier parents and daughter,  and reasons for love at first sight between Marius and Cosette - have been clearly and beautifully filled in by some recent actors at Queens. Comic panto Thenardiers, unrelated Thenardiers,  and insipid Cosettes there have been on stage too, but there's also been people who have filled in the detail, and provided characters who were large enough to fill the needs/potential  of the plot. The current cast (or last week's cast did anyway) actually fills in many  of the gaps people have noted in reviews  I have read of the film,  and arguably other recent casts  tied up questions most people will never think of. The film seems to be driven by time available,  and possibly by changes to make it more politically acceptable to US cinema audiences that might find its religious and political themes more difficult. You could argue the film  dumbed down a bit, avoided being a musical masterpiece, and watered down its story and  message, or you could argue thats what you have to do to staff it with known stars, condense it enough, and not stir any political or religious  hornets nests.

The Scorpion, on 12 January 2013 - 11:09 PM, said:

But she didn't really belt it out, half of it was much more muted than it usually is on stage.  And even the bits she did belt were understandable - it's a song of frustration, anguish and heartbreak, not the same as some of the other solos - Bring Him Home being a prayer, for example.  Having all of them muted and toned down would have been a wrong directional choice as they're not all the same.  I didn't agree with a lot of Tom Hooper's directional choices, but I don't think he can be criticised for not having all the solos muted.  The actual cinematography of the solos on the other hand...

Loved it once they got to Paris. Eddie was astonishing and I loved Aaron and all our westend boys. Sam was wonderful. Wish we could have had more of Drink with me than some of  Russell Crowe's stuff, I didnt mind him as much as others but they could have cut things differently.