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Les Misérables (2012) (2 Viewers)

Dave Miller

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GMpasqua

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[COLOR= rgb(55, 96, 146)]History repeats itself:[/COLOR]

[COLOR= rgb(55, 96, 146)]The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino (Oscar Best Director) follow up - Heaven’s Gate[/COLOR]
[COLOR= rgb(55, 96, 146)]The King’s Speech - Tom Hooper (Oscar Best Director) follow up - Les Miserables[/COLOR]


"Les Mistake" bring Dramamine

98% of the film is shot on a steady cam! (sloppy film making)
Hopper used the 3 second rule:
No shot shall last more than 3 seconds, many only last 2 seconds


The title song from "Singing in the Rain" (probably the most famous musical sequence on film) last 4 minutes and has 9 edits. If Hooper directed it it would have 80 edits..."Singing the in Rain" was less than 2 hours, "Les Miz" is almost 3 hours..a good time is not had by all

I can't comment on the acting, to much camera work took me out of the film. I have heard the CD...this is not a musical (well, maybe for the tone deaf) save your self the trouble, watch the 25th anniversary concert version instead: Better singing, better editing: better experience
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Steve Tannehill /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017424
Actually, it's Tom Hooper.
oh, sorry, hey that rhymes with pooper (that'll make it easier to remember)
 

Kenneth_C

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GMpasqua said:
Hopper used the 3 second rule:
No shot shall last more than 3 seconds, many only last 2 seconds
Riiiiight. :rolleyes:
"I Dreamed a Dream" was done in a single shot. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" in (maybe) 4-5. Ditto "On My Own". Ditto "Bring Him Home". Ditto "A Little Fall of Rain". Ditto "Who Am I?" Ditto.... You get the point.
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Kenneth_C /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017443
Riiiiight.
"I Dreamed a Dream" was done in a single shot. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" in (maybe) 4-5. Ditto "On My Own". Ditto "Bring Him Home". Ditto "A Little Fall of Rain". Ditto "Who Am I?" Ditto.... You get the point.
I must have left some of my post off:
3 second rule: no shot shall last more than 3 seconds
Unless: the shot is a song where we will use one shot - but film it with a hand held camera so the frame will not be steady. Using a hand held gives the illustion of movement...yeah, the background's bouncing up and down. Can't have a still shot - the audience doesn't have the attention spand for that anymore

...98% of the film is shot with a hand held

some won't care, most tv is shot with a hand held nowadays - they are used to it. I personally do not like it, I get sea sick. I prefer a camera to be stationary and move only for tracking shot/crane shots etc - but it cost more to film that way

do you get my point?

Read the New York Times review if you do not get my point
 

Kenneth_C

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GMpasqua said:
I must have left some of my post off:
3 second rule: no shot shall last more than 3 seconds
Unless: the shot is a song where we will use one shot - but film it with a hand held camera so the frame will not be steady. Using a hand held gives the illustion of movement...yeah, the background's bouncing up and down. Can't have a still shot - the audience doesn't have the attention spand for that anymore
Which is why you actually broke down the number of edits in "Singing in the Rain": Because you were intending on exempting the low shot # songs from your post? Riiiiight.
Also, the camera is fairly stationary in all of the numbers I mentioned. (Does it move at all during "I Dreamed a Dream"? I can't be sure, since I was completely mesmerized by Anne Hathaway's performance.)
GMpasqua said:
Read the New York Times review if you do not get my point
I don't need to read a review to make up my own mind. But thanks, anyway.
 

mattCR

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017444
I must have left some of my post off:
3 second rule: no shot shall last more than 3 seconds
Unless: the shot is a song where we will use one shot - but film it with a hand held camera so the frame will not be steady. Using a hand held gives the illustion of movement...yeah, the background's bouncing up and down. Can't have a still shot - the audience doesn't have the attention spand for that anymore

...98% of the film is shot with a hand held

some won't care, most tv is shot with a hand held nowadays - they are used to it. I personally do not like it, I get sea sick. I prefer a camera to be stationary and move only for tracking shot/crane shots etc - but it cost more to film that way

do you get my point?

Read the New York Times review if you do not get my point

This was not as good as I wanted it to be, but still solid. And there are a LOT of stationary shots... it's a 3 hour film, basically so that's not at all accurate. Ditto the comment about a handheld.
It will fall outside of my Top10 this year, but it's not terrible.
 

Tino

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It got an A cinema score from audiences and opened huge with close to 20 million yesterday so the future looks pretty bright for Lez Miz. Seeing it this week
 

Ronald Epstein

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Came here hoping to read some early member reviews on Les Mis.

Looking forward to seeing it, but really concerned over the wealth
of bad critic reviews criticizing the camera work. Wasn't as much
about the handhelds as the constant close-ups.

I am certain fans like myself will still be happy with this film.

Looking forward to your reviews.
 

I've never seen the musical and I was excited about seeing this. I didn't like it. Anne Hathaway was, by far, the best part of the film. Unfortunately, the music is just non-stop, which I usually like, but there is no time to catch your breath. The direction is very pedestrian and the cinematography is flat and ugly. It has terrible pacing...I felt like I was there for six hours. The performances are mostly very good, except for Russell Crowe. I thought he was awful. The film started out promising, but after the first thirty minutes or so, it fell apart for me and by the time of the Revolution, I had lost all interest and just wanted it to be over. The bad thing is that it was far from over. It just kept going on and on and on. No quiet moments to soak in what you were seeing...just singing leading into singing. I don't want to sound like I'm not cultured. I love opera and the symphony. I also love musicals, but this was too by the numbers. Even the scenes that should have been comedic, fell flat because the timing was off. There was no chance to laugh, because you didn't have time to get the joke before the next cut. "I Dreamed a Dream" was the high point for me. After that song, it went downhill. It's one of the most unattractive and claustrophobic movies I have ever seen. I almost walked out. This is not a film I will be revisiting. Hathaway deserves the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. "Without Her" this would have been a complete mess for me. If you are a fan of the musical, you will probably love it. I doubt much of anything was cut from the score. I just wish it had been more inventive and fresh. Every song was just a standard shot of the singer. That was fine the first five or six times, but it got old quickly.

Acting: A- (Everyone was great except for Crowe)
Directing: C (only because of the performances; the pacing was awful)
Cinematography: D
Editing: D
Costumes: C
Set Design: D
Musical Score: B
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Kenneth_C /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017457
Which is why you actually broke down the number of edits in "Singing in the Rain": Because you were intending on exempting the low shot # songs from your post? Riiiiight.
Also, the camera is fairly stationary in all of the numbers I mentioned. (Does it move at all during "I Dreamed a Dream"? I can't be sure, since I was completely mesmerized by Anne Hathaway's performance.)
I don't need to read a review to make up my own mind. But thanks, anyway.
I hated the way the film was shot, you can't argue that.
If you love this film fine, but you can not change my opinion (or the opinion of many of the newspaper reviewers)

"the camera is fairly stationary in all of the numbers I mentioned"
fairly stationary is not stationary - the whole film was filmed with a hand held - sorry but it's just a style of film making that turns me off.
 

Wayne_j

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I just got back from seeing this, the film was much better than I expected after hearing the soundtrack, but Russell Crowe's voice still annoyed me to no end. Songs were out of order for no apparent reason and they changed a major plot point.
Instead of Eponine delivering the letter to Cossette, it was Gavroche.
I liked in the end when:
The Bishop (Played by the original valjean, Colm Wilkinson) greeted Valjean into heaven.
 

Chris Will

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Saw it tonight and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It works much better on screen then on the soundtrack album. I'm also still not a big fan of Crowe's voice but it didn't ruin the movie. Camera work didn't bother me at all, if it wasn't for this thread I probably wouldn't have even noticed. Been a while since I listened to the Broadway album, which songs where moved around? I know "On My Own" was moved and I actually thought it worked very well where they placed it. I like the bishop at the end as well and I think that would be a good change for the stage versions to adopt.
I'm not a fan of the new song, just doesn't feel right to me. Guess they just had to have a song that was eligible for an Oscar.
 

Wayne_j

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In the stage show Fantine sings I Dreamed a Dream immediately after being fired from the factory and not after Lovely Ladies.
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Chris Will /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017791
Camera work didn't bother me at all, if it wasn't for this thread I probably wouldn't have even noticed.
That's because (and no offense to you personally - honestly) you and many others have become desensitized. You accept the hand helds, the watermarks, the scrolls at the bottom of the TV shows, the commerical tv's at the gas pumps and grocery stores, the pop up ads on the Internet, and scrolling mesages that run acrross the screen as you read news atricles. You have been brought up on this and has planned (or should I say hoped) it has become second nature

You have allowed your self to become brain washed in the new age media. Even the 50th anniversary airing of Mr. MacGoo's Christmas Carol was edited for time: Because there were less commercials per hour 50 years ago than today (there were people on other chat sites that complained about this)

As a result at only 45 years of age, I've stop watching TV, and going to most films, and avoid many Internet sites.

I hoped "Les Miz" would be different but it wasn't. Was I disappointed - no , I went in expecting the worse and Tom Hooper delivered as expected.
 

Brandon Conway

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I do find the notion that just because one can enjoy steadycam and modern editing (that wasnt anyway close to what I'd call rapid quick) that somehow they ignorantly are ok with scrolling text, tv logo bugs, etc., somewhat insulting.
I enjoy filmmaking in many styles. I thought Les Mis was shot very well, had a nice balance of long close-up takes and multi-edit takes for the numbers, and was generally great. Some of the vocalizations were not musical theater quality, but I wasnt at a musical theater performance. I was watching a film, and I felt everyone did fine to excellent. I enjoy many musicals from the 1930s on, just like enjoy films of other genres from the same (and earlier). Gangster films, dramas, action films, etc. - they are ALL shot differently than their "classic" counterparts. Musicals should not be exempt from this, IMO. I watch a film from 2012 to see a film from 2012. Others may prefer older style films, but I dont feel constricted to limit myself in those terms. But it certainly isnt because I've been psuedo-brainwashed by terrible tv presentations, you know?
 

Jason Charlton

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017881
That's because (and no offense to you personally - honestly) you and many others have become desensitized. You accept the hand helds, the watermarks, the scrolls at the bottom of the TV shows, the commerical tv's at the gas pumps and grocery stores, the pop up ads on the Internet, and scrolling mesages that run acrross the screen as you read news atricles. You have been brought up on this and has planned (or should I say hoped) it has become second nature

You have allowed your self to become brain washed in the new age media. Even the 50th anniversary airing of Mr. MacGoo's Christmas Carol was edited for time: Because there were less commercials per hour 50 years ago than today (there were people on other chat sites that complained about this)

As a result at only 45 years of age, I've stop watching TV, and going to most films, and avoid many Internet sites.

I hoped "Les Miz" would be different but it wasn't. Was I disappointed - no , I went in expecting the worse and Tom Hooper delivered as expected.




This'll be fun...
 

mattCR

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Originally Posted by GMpasqua /t/321163/les-miserables-the-musical-hits-the-big-screen/30#post_4017881
That's because (and no offense to you personally - honestly) you and many others have become desensitized. You accept the hand helds, the watermarks, the scrolls at the bottom of the TV shows, the commerical tv's at the gas pumps and grocery stores, the pop up ads on the Internet, and scrolling mesages that run acrross the screen as you read news atricles. You have been brought up on this and has planned (or should I say hoped) it has become second nature

You have allowed your self to become brain washed in the new age media. Even the 50th anniversary airing of Mr. MacGoo's Christmas Carol was edited for time: Because there were less commercials per hour 50 years ago than today (there were people on other chat sites that complained about this)

As a result at only 45 years of age, I've stop watching TV, and going to most films, and avoid many Internet sites.

I hoped "Les Miz" would be different but it wasn't. Was I disappointed - no , I went in expecting the worse and Tom Hooper delivered as expected.

I don't know. LIke I said, it wasn't perfect but it is what it is. And, it's funny in some ways how we romance the past far too much. I mean, it's great to say "things as they were 45 years ago.." because then you had TV shows that you're right, didn't have a scroll but were outright paid for by soap companies (thus soap operas) and nightly programs that were subsidized by tobacco and other companies. So, you're right, they didn't have scroll bars, but it doesn't mean they weren't hocking you.

In the end, it's up to the viewer to watch a program and check it and see and decide what they like.

We all can enjoy what we wish, and make our own decisions.

(FYI, the McGoo Christmas special is frankly pretty terrible, and if they cut it by another 20 minutes I don't think it would help it much, but again, that's just my opinion)
 

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