Les Misérables (2012)

[Betsy Speicher 0]

imdb.com listing for Les Misérables (2012)

Movie suggested for rating by Betsy Speicher.

[Betsy Speicher 0]

I can hardly wait to see this.

[Jim A. 0]

Me, too! What's the release date?

[JohnRgt 0]

Christmas Day.

[Arnold 0]

It wasn't that long ago that this came out with Geoffrey Rush as the inspector. Prior to this there was a version with the French actor (dupreve? sp). I an surprised to see this done again.

[darnoconrad 0]

Love the theme song and the harmonies.

[darnoconrad 0]

However, the lyrics in the theme song are really depressing. Do these lyrics capture the theme of the story? Why should I watch this film?

[Betsy Speicher 0]

However, the lyrics in the theme song are really depressing. Do these lyrics capture the theme of the story? Why should I watch this film?

That is just one song from a magnificent, dramatic, melodic score. From the tragedy of Fantine, who sings that song, comes the triumph of Jean Valjean, a giant of a man, who heroically builds his life and character from nothing and against tremendous odds.

[darnoconrad 0]

However, the lyrics in the theme song are really depressing. Do these lyrics capture the theme of the story? Why should I watch this film?

That is just one song from a magnificent, dramatic, melodic score. From the tragedy of Fantine, who sings that song, comes the triumph of Jean Valjean, a giant of a man, who heroically builds his life and character from nothing and against tremendous odds.

So you're saying that it's a benevolent story?

[Betsy Speicher 0]

So you're saying that it's a benevolent story?

Oh, yes! And one of Ayn Rand's favorites.

[darnoconrad 0]

Are there any previous versions that you enjoyed?

[Betsy Speicher 0]

Are there any previous versions that you enjoyed?

None as much as the musical. Les Miserables is a huge book and none of the other half dozen or so movie versions I have seen have captured the essence of the characters and the conflicts as well as the musical. All that and the soaring, memorable, melodic songs.

[JohnRgt 0]

The actors are singing live on set, not miming to a pre-recorded soundtrack:

Imagine the logistics.

[Betsy Speicher 0]

Newly released clips

[Betsy Speicher 0]

[Betsy Speicher 0]

[Betsy Speicher 0]

[Betsy Speicher 0]

[JohnRgt 0]

Live singing makes all the difference. Now if we could just convince Broadway of that fact . . . (They lip-synch all the time, in defiance of union rules that are meant to drive their salaries up.)

[JohnRgt 0]

I Love Him is the song. Here's Barks at the 25th anniversary concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQCPf55uoK4

[ruveyn ben yosef 0]

Can Russell Crow really sing?

ruveyn

[JohnRgt 0]

Can Russell Crow really sing?

No, he just does what you heard in the video clip . . . (he plays in a band, I think.

[jasonlockwood 0]

I haven't looked forward to a movie nearly as much as this one in I don't know how long. It opens on Boxing Day in Australia.

[JohnRgt 0]

Here's a better performance of On My Own:

[Bill Bucko 0]

The characters in VICTOR HUGO'S novel do NOT sing (well, except for Gavroche). Excerpts I've heard of the musical "version" appalled me; i heard 100% Hollywood and 0% Victor Hugo. Artistically, this offends me enormously. I believe Victor Hugo himself would disown the musical, as only a few levels above Disney's desecration of Hunchback of Notre Dame

What would you think of a musical "version" of Atlas Shrugged? Of The Fountainhead? Of The Man Who Laughs? Of Quo Vadis?

There WAS a 1973 musical version of "Cyrano de Bergerac," worth hearing not for Christopher Plummer's interpretation of the title role (disrespectful), Anthony Burgess's "translation" adding existentialist Angst (disgraceful), but for Michael J. Lewis's music -- though that music is an ODD mixture, half of it appropriate for the original 1600s Cyrano's madcap antics, the other half appropriate for Rostand's exalted lover.

Of the 5 film versions of "Les Miserables" I've seen, undoubtedly the best is the 1935 version starring Charles Laughton as Javert. All 5 versions were disfigured in various ways by pretentious mediocrities who thought they could "improve" on Victor Hugo. They couldn't.