Posted: 12/31/2012 7:29:24 PM EDT
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Watched it in the theater with my two daughters. Its a great story and I have seen the movies with Liam Neeson and Gerard Depardieu, respectively, in them. This was the musical adapted to film and was great in my opinion. I never liked musicals but this one has me wanting to see Les Miserables on stage live now.
It was a little corny at times to me with them singing at one another - my not really liking musicals and therefore not tuned into that sort of thing - but once I settled in it was very well done and enjoyable. Anyone else want to admit to seeing it? 
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The best movie I've seen all year, easily. I've seen the stage version twice, and this screen version is in many respects much better.
It's admittedley not perfect (nothing ever is), and takes a little patience at times, but I was blown away by what a fantastic job they did with very difficult material to adapt to the screen. 
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My Man Card is topped off, I'll play.
My wife and I spent NY Eve watching this at the theater. PROS Good casting, great production values GREAT story: sin & redemption, power of love, etc. I REALLY LIKED that it was 99% musical, a little something different out of Hollywood It is long but it's captivating, so you don't mind the time CONS The singing was good, not great. If you know the story, I think you'll love it. If you're a Les Mis noob, I'm not sure. I was stunned that my wife did NOT know the story. She loved it, but ... she's a girlie! |
I saw it a couple days ago. As far as it's value as a film, it leaves alot to be desired. I personally didn't connect with any of the minor characters who, (SPOILER!) subsequently die in about 30 minutes!  Tom Hooper chose to let the music and performances tell the story and stay truer to the opera, (yes, it's an opera not a musical), and the natural flow of the story paid for it alot IMHO. That said, the music was great, (I loved the live recording aspect of it) save for Russell Crowe's performance. Hugh Jackman goes back to his pre-Wolverine roots of musical theatre and totally makes this film work for me. The final act really tug at my heartstrings, making up in the last 20 minutes all the issues I picked up the time before. I also liked Eddie Redmaine's performance; I thought he did a great job on it. It was also the quietest audience I've ever been to; the only comic relief was Sacha Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham Carter's characters, and they both took me out of the film any time they were singing, though their acting performance was great. I think there were only about three places I heard anything but whispered sobs from fellow audience members!
One thing I would not recommend is watching the 1998 film the night before! As a film, following the three-act traditional method of storytelling and flow, it is vastly superior. Still, one of the best movies of the year and worth watching if you can sit through a 2.5 hour opera!
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I went to see it a couple of nights ago. Excellent movie, and I don’t say that lightly. Possibly the best movie I've seen in years.
I saw it on stage and the movie was far better. One thing I really liked was the fact that that singing scenes weren’t shot and then overdubbed. They didn’t run the vocals through “the box” to make sure every note was perfectly in tune. The actors sang while acting each scene. It made the whole thing much more realistic; as realistic as a musical can be, anyway. Highly recommended. |