Les Misérables - in three very short paragraphs

[August1991]

First, Anne Hathaway/Tom Hooper will rightly put the song ("I Dreamed A Dream") in its proper perspective and entirely change your wife's view of the Simon Cowell youtube version, and you too will wonder, as Victor Hugo intended, about life.

Second, Russell Crowe (in "Les Mis", as it is now known) can sing far better than Pierce Brosnan (in Mamma Mia). (BTW, IMHO: Crowe should have been cast as Valjean and Jackman as Javert.)

Third, this movie will certainly be in the 10 short list for Best Picture, and it may well win.

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I saw the movie with French subtitles. They're very good, more poetic than the spoken/sung English, and I wonder whether they follow the original libretto.

Edited December 30, 2012 by August1991

[Merlin]

I had planned on seeing this soon. Good to know that this movie is good. it looked great in the adverts. Thanks for no spoiler.

[RB]

I bought the novel to read - so having a go at it.

Russell Crowe played in a band before the big screen - no wonder there is a good review for him - I saw Anne Hathaway on SNL last night I thought she carried on well.

I love all genre of musical so it will be a pleasure for me to watch when I ready

[Black Dog]

I knew it was a musical. I didn't know they sang the whole goddamn thing. Worst three hours of my filmgoing life. Yes, worse than Avatar.

[Guest American Woman]

I hated it when I saw it on Broadway, as did my daughters (the oldest was fortunate enough to fall asleep during the second half), but have heard good things about the movie - including from said daughters. Still, it's the only Broadway musical I've ever seen that I didn't like, so I'll wait until it comes out on tv to watch it. I loved the soundtrack, so I was surprised when I didn't like it. At all. Will be curious to see if I like the movie or not ..........

[sharkman]

I knew it was a musical. I didn't know they sang the whole goddamn thing. Worst three hours of my filmgoing life. Yes, worse than Avatar.

Worse than Avatar? That would take some doing!

My wife and her sister wanted to see this and of course they took their mother and me. I really had no idea what I was in for and I kept waiting for the singing to stop. No such luck, but I remember thinking after the rebellion was put down, "I guess it's all over but the singing!"

However, the movie had an affect on me, it kind of stayed with me for the next day or two. I really did think about life and how it was so unfair for some but not others. Weird, but a couple of days later in Revelstoke, a native american was outside a restaurant looking to sell some art or get a ride or both. I don't usually do this but gave him some cash and later wondered how it was that his life turned out the way it did, stuck half way between Bassano and Lumby, doesn't own a car and has booze on his breath at 1 in the afternoon. I saw us as equals except for the circumstances that favored my life instead of his.

Edited January 1, 2013 by sharkman

[cybercoma]

I knew it was a musical. I didn't know they sang the whole goddamn thing. Worst three hours of my filmgoing life. Yes, worse than Avatar.

It's an opera, not a musical.

[cybercoma]

However, the movie had an affect on me, it kind of stayed with me for the next day or two. I really did think about life and how it was so unfair for some but not others. Weird, but a couple of days later in Revelstoke, a native american was outside a restaurant looking to sell some art or get a ride or both. I don't usually do this but gave him some cash and later wondered how it was that his life turned out the way it did, stuck half way between Bassano and Lumby, doesn't own a car and has booze on his breath at 1 in the afternoon. I saw us as equals except for the circumstances that favored my life instead of his.

That was Victor Hugo's intent when he wrote the story, but why do I get the feeling you're kidding?

[sharkman]

No, no kidding, although I didn't particularly enjoy the movie.

[August1991]

I had planned on seeing this soon. Good to know that this movie is good. it looked great in the adverts. Thanks for no spoiler.

No spoiler?

The story was written over a century ago, and it is among the most endearing of Western literature. (Indeed, the movie is a crazy, fast-forward version so you may benefit from a few plot hints. Don't complain of spoilers.)

I bought the novel to read - so having a go at it.

It's a wonderful novel, a page turner. IMHO, Hugo wrote the first Block Buster, saga, multiple character, OTT novel. Victor Hugo invented the genre.

Michener, Rowlings are derivative, even Tolstoi.

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RB, I read the novel years ago in Sri Lanka. (In the Livre de poche edition, there are three books. I ran around Colombo desperately looking for Volume II until I happily found a bookstore with an "international" section. IOW, once you start, it's a page turner.)

PS. Reading Les Misérables in Sri Lanka was a revelation. It made me understand 1840 France, and 1960 Ceylon, better.

Edited January 3, 2013 by August1991

[cybercoma]

August, you can be a crusty, crusty man sometimes.

[RB]

August, you can be a crusty, crusty man sometimes.

I think you can't never be too sure about your assessment based on these write ups by anonymous contributors

[RB]

RB, I read the novel years ago in Sri Lanka. (In the Livre de poche edition, there are three books. I ran around Colombo desperately looking for Volume II until I happily found a bookstore with an "international" section.

Thanks August, I have a terrible affection for reading, I feel good even at the sight of the books - I will let you know of my thoughts once I sit down and have go...I got too busy

[August1991]

Thanks August, I have a terrible affection for reading, I feel good even at the sight of the books - I will let you know of my thoughts once I sit down and have go...I got too busy

Affection for reading?

Hugo is the kind of writer who would use 300 words, a long paragraph, to explain a glance of a woman's eyes. And you would read further, to know.

Dickens, Tolstoi imitated Hugo.

August, you can be a crusty, crusty man sometimes.

I was once Left. Now, I'm Right. Edited January 20, 2013 by August1991