i dig a lot of old movie musicals, but broadway-style musicals never did it for me
uh h4a these used to be basically the same thing until culture died.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 27 December 2012 12:34 (eleven years ago) link
Crowe's rock background is kind of obvious in this clip - dude stands like they're singing Evanescence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fB6LIsntpg
― da croupier, Thursday, 27 December 2012 13:24 (eleven years ago) link
yeahhhhh i noticed that haha
― k3vin k., Thursday, 27 December 2012 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
for all the shit gerard butler got for his singing in phantom, crowe was way, way worse
― k3vin k., Thursday, 27 December 2012 21:15 (eleven years ago) link
I saw this, it was pretty OK. Considering how lame some of the songs are ("Bring him home", "Empty chairs") they did a great job, both actors and performers
I'm willing to admit that the 3 minutes of Anne Hathaway singing "I dreamed a dream" was the most moved I've ever been by anything since prepubescence
I liked also how gross it was, from Javert breaking his back as he fell to the snot and eye-boogers and shit and thing, it kept the pathos in the Real Zone
The whole second half has some dreadful songs though, some of them so bad I'd forgotten they'd existed
Russell Crowe wasn't as bad as people say, he just sings like a trombone. His death scene was good
― capital in ruins, thousands dead (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 28 December 2012 05:29 (eleven years ago) link
ah now cmon, spoilers
― banlieue jagger (darraghmac), Friday, 28 December 2012 05:37 (eleven years ago) link
lol @ "sings like a trombone"
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 28 December 2012 06:18 (eleven years ago) link
His last sound going over should have been the "wah-wah-wahhhhhh" noise.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 28 December 2012 09:52 (eleven years ago) link
this fucking owned
― k3vin k
http://img.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/kevin-keller2__oPt.jpg
― buzza, Friday, 28 December 2012 10:06 (eleven years ago) link
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/531902_10151404089977783_1793876027_n.jpg
― Mordy, Thursday, 3 January 2013 23:46 (eleven years ago) link
Denby opens a can of whupass, has rehab suggestions for you Les Shizzies:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/theres-still-hope-for-people-who-love-les-miserables.html
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Friday, 4 January 2013 18:20 (eleven years ago) link
Wherever Valjean goes, Javert shows up; he’s everywhere at once, like the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” who was at least intended to be a fanciful creation.
Would like to shake the hands of whoever stuck a "Based on true events" on Denby's copy of the novel.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 5 January 2013 09:31 (eleven years ago) link
this was much, much better than i'd hoped for. crowe did struggle for air but tbh javert's just an awful part, even sung well, it's just continuous tuba notes going nowhere.
Hathaway, jackman and guy playing marius were all great. Bring him home was terrible tho, disappointing considering he did well with everything else asked of him.
Cosette sang like a cartoon mouse. HBC's singing was awful.
Whole thing looked amazing.
― let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-ilxors (darraghmac), Saturday, 12 January 2013 02:56 (eleven years ago) link
the songs are all really boring and awful songs even for a broadway-ish joint except for "i dreamed a dream" which is amazing, it's weird.
― fiscal cliff paul (k3vin k.), Saturday, 12 January 2013 03:09 (eleven years ago) link
well i love 'bring him home' and the one or two ensembles bringing all the motifs together can be great too (lacked something in this tho, maybe too much focus on individual vocals i think)
― let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-ilxors (darraghmac), Saturday, 12 January 2013 03:18 (eleven years ago) link
Wait, you liked it but you hate the music? Not a dig, just wondering how you can enjoy a completely sung-thru musical and hate all of teh songs!
― NINO CARTER, Saturday, 12 January 2013 14:17 (eleven years ago) link
I agree that "Dream" outshines everything else, but "On my own", "Master of the house", "Do you hear the people sing?", "Castle on a cloud", and to a lesser extent "Look down", "Bring him home" and "Empty Chairs" are all good-to-great megamusical fare
And "Red & Black" is the best example of megamusical recitative that I've heard
But yeah, then there are five or six other songs that suuuuck
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:03 (eleven years ago) link
Re: "bad singing" I liked it, actually, every actor had their own kind of not-great singing style and it a) contributed to the snot and shit stylization of the whole thing, and b) it made every singer so individual and different. I actually was left the least moved by the "pro" stage singer (Eponine) just 'cause she seemed so out of place in an otherwise filthy and fucked up production
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:06 (eleven years ago) link
Like when Amanda Seyfried started singing and she sounds like a theremin I was like of course girl sounds like a theremin
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:07 (eleven years ago) link
Biggest head scratcher I've read about is that Sacha Baron Cohen sings/acts with an exaggerated French accent, despite the fact that the no one else in the movie has a French accent, even though it is set in France.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:17 (eleven years ago) link
Because Thernardier is a racist, obv
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:21 (eleven years ago) link
fortunately I've only met one gay who knows more than one verse of "It Was All A Dream, I Used to Read Word Up Magazine" or whatever
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:22 (eleven years ago) link
I was so upset by the banality of the music that I felt like hiring a hall and staging a nationalist rally.
or David Denby's Dream Life.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:23 (eleven years ago) link
About a month ago, my neighbor's elderly father from the middle of nowhere Texas came to visit, with one goal being a chance to see "Les Mis" on stage, which he's wanted to see for 25 years. Found it so weird that in 2013 there were still people anywhere who have really wanted to see this musical for 25 years. I can't remember the last time I saw someone in a "Les Mis" sweatshirt.
How long until the CGI-enhanced "Cats" movie?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
See I'm just amazed that Les Miz is getting all this crap piled on it, like, are these people aware of the hundreds of other horrible "musicals" that exist?
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:32 (eleven years ago) link
Yea but none of them are currently films atm
― NINO CARTER, Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
And none of them are a) the scientifically-proven best musical of all time, brought to you now in singovision b) the musical in the thread title.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 12 January 2013 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
― NINO CARTER, Saturday, January 12, 2013 9:17 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah there were a couple other good ones i was exaggerating a little
― fiscal cliff paul (k3vin k.), Saturday, 12 January 2013 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
No I know I was talking about the sweeping cultural indictments that I've read elsewhere (some of which are linked to from this thread)
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 16:13 (eleven years ago) link
That said I didn't pay any attention to any drubbing that Schumacher's Phantom received so nm
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 12 January 2013 16:16 (eleven years ago) link
Speaking as someone who runs in musical theater circles, truuuuuuuuuuuust me, other musicals get eviscerated much, much worse than this incarnation of Les Mis. Theater aficianados can be a tough crowd to win over (even those favorites like Rent and such win over only a certain, youthful faction of the community).
― NINO CARTER, Saturday, 12 January 2013 20:02 (eleven years ago) link
i never realised how much south park the movie ripped on this
― let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-ilxors (darraghmac), Saturday, 12 January 2013 23:50 (eleven years ago) link
Ah so, Nino, I don't run in musical theatre circles I just end up seeing these 1975-present megathings with sentimental family members and get soooo frustrated with 95% of them.
Re: South Park. Les Mis features so many cliches of the genre that any send-up of megamusicals is gonna appear to be a direct parody. Kind of like the way people thought Mars Attacks was a parody of specifically Independence Day
― friday goodness thank it's (flamboyant goon tie included), Sunday, 13 January 2013 00:08 (eleven years ago) link
..well that's just "the world didn't exist before 1985."
(see also "ILX action film poll")
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 13 January 2013 01:07 (eleven years ago) link
"goddamn kids"
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 13 January 2013 01:13 (eleven years ago) link
no, ignoramii
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 13 January 2013 01:14 (eleven years ago) link
nice hypercorrection there morbs
― autistic boy is surprisingly good at basketball (silby), Sunday, 13 January 2013 01:39 (eleven years ago) link
vigilance is my watchword!
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 13 January 2013 02:10 (eleven years ago) link
i dig the heck outta 'do you hear the people sing' thats some rousing ass shit. a lot of the gooey numbers were dull to me, but maybe it would've helped to have heard some of them before
― turds (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, 13 January 2013 02:13 (eleven years ago) link
"I Dreamed a Dream" the standout number at the time, but the thing that's stuck in my head is the "daa daaa daaaa daa daaa daaa daaaa-ah" motif that everyone sings a thousand times, I don't even remember any of the words they sang just dahha hdhdhh dhdhdhdhhdhdh
― autistic boy is surprisingly good at basketball (silby), Sunday, 13 January 2013 02:29 (eleven years ago) link
idk if all that's for me, but if the whole 'la resistance' sequence from SP The Movie isn't a direct & obvious LM ref then i dunno what. If every musical before 1985 (if there even were any? Idk, there prob was, prob books and movies and music too, tho it seems strange to think it.) has a french guy leading a resistance through song while threading the motifs of most of the previous songs together i wouldn't know, I'm only 32, we poor creatures can't be expected to do anything but grasp for the familiar in the comforting patterns of our limited youthly experience and hope for the kindness of our betters and elders to guide us.
― let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-ilxors (darraghmac), Sunday, 13 January 2013 02:59 (eleven years ago) link
idk if all that's for me, but if the whole 'la resistance' sequence from SP The Movie isn't a direct & obvious LM ref then i dunno what
haha yes that is exactly what that us
The whole idea of an ensemble number that weaves together a ton of different themes from the show didn't start with Les Miz though; there's a huge number in West Side Story that serves the same function and interpolates "Tonight" with a new theme that pushes forward some narrative strands right before the rumble.
― DJP, Sunday, 13 January 2013 05:03 (eleven years ago) link
is this the point in the thread where I can rant and rave about how much I hate the film of West Side Story
― autistic boy is surprisingly good at basketball (silby), Sunday, 13 January 2013 05:09 (eleven years ago) link
because I can go on about that for some time
I thought I loved the movie until I saw it in high school; it really can't compare to the stage show.
― DJP, Sunday, 13 January 2013 05:14 (eleven years ago) link
The movie is fine except for that it ruins all the slow songs by taking them at thrice the speed. Literally the worst version of "Somewhere" ever.
― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Sunday, 13 January 2013 07:47 (eleven years ago) link
I also think it works better to switch "Cool" and "Krupke."
― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Sunday, 13 January 2013 07:48 (eleven years ago) link
don't think i've seen the movie, but i saw the most recent National tour twice and loved it
― NINO CARTER, Sunday, 13 January 2013 10:38 (eleven years ago) link
djp- don't you start
― let's bitch about our stupid, annoying co-ilxors (darraghmac), Sunday, 13 January 2013 11:46 (eleven years ago) link
― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Saturday, January 12, 2013 11:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Also turns that song into a sex duet instead of sung by an anonymous girl during the Nightmare
― autistic boy is surprisingly good at basketball (silby), Sunday, 13 January 2013 16:54 (eleven years ago) link