OMG OMG OMG Les Mis!

broom yes its singing not voices in my head

Just come back from Les Mis. The main feeling that I came away with was that it is an extraordinary piece of musical writing and has stood the test of time very well.

I have to say though that Javert (Russell Crowe) was very weak vocally and this detracted from the whole film - it is such a high budget film that they needed to get a really strong singer in that key role. His singing was
wooden - he sounded what he was - an actor who had had a bit of singing coaching.

The film is very moving and the revolutionary anthem is a very astute piece of composition - all the right rhythms and rousing intervals - very clever. And the ensemble singing is right out of Mozart in its conception.

It is a very different experience from the stage show which is also moving, but there is a sort of detachment because of the distance from the stage and the fact that there is applause after the main songs. The film is much more "in your face" and pretty overpowering.

There is some superb singing from Marius - his songs were definitely the high spots of the film.

Take a few tissues if you go to see this!

I quite liked Russell Crowe. The only singing issue I had was with 'Bring him home' which I think needs a specialist trained singer to really do properly. It can be so moving. Otherwise I loved the film though. They didn't fall into any of the traps that could have wrecked it. Great job! (Unlike warhorse which I thought was terrible)

Isn't that strange broom as I preferred warhorse! Loved music but felt this was much better in play imo

I loved the play of Warhorse but didn't like the film. I sort of felt that the puppet horses were more real than the real ones in the film oddly.

I did not see warhorse play broom loved film made me cry!

I could imagine someone off screen in the War Horse film telling the horses what to do, and they behaved a bit 'Champion the Wonder Horse'ish [let's get him to paw the ground and then rear up guys] whereas the 'puppets' were just, well, horses. It's on in Birmingham in October in case anyone wants to see it but not travel to London.

I went to see Les Mis last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.I thought I was going to find it over-long but the time just flew by.I didn't really know much about the actors as I am not into celebrities (not meant critically) but I got totally caught up in the storyline.I have seen the stage version twice but engaged much more with the film probably because at the theatre we were right up in the gods but in the cinema we were in the fourth row from the front and really into it.The reference to horse meat in the mince was topical and raised a snigger from the audience .The rest of the time people were totally engrossed.
Got to have the music now.

Yes; I felt I wanted to go back to the beginning of the film and watch the first part again. Maybe the film producers felt that most people would know the story.

We listened to our CD of the original cast of Les Mis after seeing the film and now my old man is reading the book. I.m not sure I want to go that far though!

I hadn't realised how long ago the book was written [@ 1860's?]. For some reason thought it was more recent. A friend told me it was one of his favourite books so must be a good read.

It's very long. The first forty pages or so are the bishop before you even get to Jean Valjean or Fantine.

I was overwhelmed by the whole thing- got totally involved. My DM -Missus?
didn't want to see it, I went with friends. "Les Mis" is one fantastic experience,
Only prob , nearly three hours (with adverts) no interval!! Moral- empty out before going in, or not too much to drink beforehand!

Quartet - A very good film, excellent characters based on real people. Three "F" words, which are not misused in my opinion. Don't be put off by this though!
Wonderful acting by well known artists!
GO SEE IT!!

Haven't see this film, but thought it would be worth watching, waiting for its circulating to our are!

I can't believe that Skyfall won the best British film award instead of Les Mis. We just watched Skyfall and thought it was okay but with a daft plot and lots of cliche action.

I've now seen it at last. I really enjoyed it, but wish I'd seen it on my own because the friend I was with was rather disparaging about it. It rather takes the shine off it if that happens. Her husband and other friend who were also with us did enjoy it. Musically speaking, I preferred the stage version, but the film gave it an extra dimension of intimacy with the characters.

I've just seen it too and I really enjoyed it, but wouldn't see it again though, I think I was spoilt by the stage version, although you really can't compare as it's two totally different mediums. I did enjoy it and Anne Hathaway blew me away.

I thought Russell Crowe was a bit like the bloke down the pub letting rip singing but it was just about passable. My friend went to see it a few weeks ago... apparently when he was walking along the ledge and belting out his swansong... someone in the audience apparently shouts out "For God's sake, jump!"

One funny fact... the week before I went to see Les Mis... I was walking along in Bath near Pulteney Bridge. A week later watching the film, Javert was looking down at the three tiered weir I thought to myself 'gosh that looks like Pulteney Bridge in Bath'... I got home from the cinema, googled it and yes it was!

That's just how I felt about Russell Crowe in that scene .

I just hated it I had to close my eyes at the dirt and violence I wished I had never gone .

Eleanorre - if you had your eyes shut, are you absolutely sure it was the same film everyone else has been posting about?

I likes dirt and violence, I does.

Just been to see Life of Pi. I thought it was excellent, really true to the book.