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Sir_Dancealot
Reviews
Les Misérables (2012)
Les Miserables, honest review
A tale of a prisoners' trials upon release and his struggles to do what is right in difficult circumstances and harsh times.
I had read a couple of reviews of this before hand and also had my Mum (Normally a good yard stick for my own views) wax lyrical about Tom Hooper's latest film.
I saw the stage musical when I was very young and had luckily forgot the story and plot before watching. I had high hopes for this as I thought The King's Speech was superbly crafted and Mr Hooper got some great performances from his cast. I watched it at The Ritzy in Brixton and it went out of sync a couple of times, but I will put that completely out of mind for the purposes of this review.
I thought it was great film making, again. The acting was first rate and I got emotional at all the (hopefully) right bits. Shooting close ups of the cast is a way of immersing you into the narrative in a way a stage musical doesn't.
My only problem was with some of the voices. Hugh Jackman was outstanding as Jean Valjean and I would find it hard to think if anyone else as him from now on. But he had a tendency to sing through his nose, and it grated on me, the other person who I thought wasn't up to the singing was Amanda Seyfried (Cosette), again great acting, but her voice was shrill and if you compared her to Samantha Barks (Éponine) as her love rival, I wondered why on earth Eddie Redmayne (Marius) would chose Cosette over Éponine. Although Mr Redmayne's (Again, brilliant acting) voice rubbed me up the wrong way when hitting the strong notes.
I think a very honourable mention should go to Daniel Huttlestone great as the 'little tyke' Gavroche. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were also superb and their comic timing is fantastic.
I put spoiler alerts on this for two reasons. One because I have given away a small plot line, but the other is because I didn't want people to be listening out for the voices that I didn't like, if you can watch it without them grating on you, you are in for 9 out of 10 movie. I can't and it did spoil it for me a bit.
Blue (1993)
Surely this should have been a radio play?
I'd have to agree with some of the other comments and say what a bad idea this was. Tedious to the extreme. For a start, cinema should be full of visuals however good or bad, that's the whole point of a visual/audiable medium. It just seems like a self indulgent piece of art. (Though I suppose all films/art is just that) I genuinely thinkthis would make an interesting radio play. But as a cinematic experience it is VERY poor. Watching a blue screen continually for 2 hours would make anyone shuffle in their seat. Can't imagine what the edit must have been like!!! Even the voice over seems a strained and boring though, like someone reading from a book for the first time. A lack of passion almost for the material.
For radio 6 out of 10. For Film 3... and that's at a push.