Le Miserables - Review

DO you hear the people sing ?! ..no but i hear Anne Hathaway is good ..

I have to admit when I heard abotu Le Mis i wasnt that excited, i love musicals but i thought three hours of non stop singing was going to be dull and tiring more then anything, honestly

 I was like this is going to be a rental job. Then all 

the singing live on set and what not came out so then I had to see it just to see if it actually made a difference.

Or was it the whole 3D new world once more.

To the amazement of my cynical heart t he answer is an overwhelming yes, 

you sit there wondering why on earth this wasnt how we always did it, 

more difficult im sure but the connection you feel is just so 

much more real. The usual feeling that someone has turned an ipod on isn't there either because the

 music is more integrated and it feels more like a way to communicate and just really captures the point of singing instead of speaking (which believe it or not is not for a good backing track).

Now music aside, the film itself. The thing I noticed most was just  how beautiful the whole film was. Everything was shot in bright contrast constantly and the world was just that edge of surrealism that made a huge difference because it stopped you from being drawn out of it. Also the lack of blood was really good because again it added to this slightly more amazing world and not gritty realism (like in pirates of the caribbean almost, the lack of blood really helped  it too). The whole filming in close up near constantly meant that the zoom out made for some really memorable shots because they were the novelties of the film, an angle i dont know to be taken by anyone to that extent before.

You will not hear me say that Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe( a very pleasant surprise  weren't excellent they did there parts and tried to cature emotions

 but i feel the films own grandeur was its downfall. 

I was so interested in the live singing and the beautiful sets and how technically interesting it was that I failed to connect to the characters. Fantine (Anne Hathaway for you le mis newbies) is a really tragic character and the moment that struck me as most emotional was a moment of silence when only her face was in light. It was really memorable to me but it was skimmed over almost in the rush

 to get to the songs and the battle and the excitement. 

Its as if Tom Hooper in his excitement forgot the value of silence and the power of simple moments.

Now you might fairly say its a musical its not supposed to have silence but I would disagree, live musicals too do pauses and allow for silent frozen moments and again these are some of the most thrilling parts of a musical and just add so much to the whole plot. 

So I left le mis the first time dry eyed (small miracle for me, i cry at  everything including ice age) and I thought maybe I had been just overwhelmed and that the fault lay with me because I had heard it was so emotional and that second viewing i would connect more. 

But honestly I didnt again I could sit back and go this is a really sad scene but I wasnt bonded to the characters in any real way, I may be alone in this I know others find it heartbreaking but maybe because I knew the story before so no shock? I haven't decided yet.

Final Words:

I really really liked Le Miserables and it was really stunning but at the same time I understand why so many were disappointed in the industry (the reviews may praise but the awards are the real truth in film and how many awards for best picture did le mis win again ?)

Tom Hooper could have done a lot more with this and made it more of an epic then it is but I would counter what he did he did really well. So there will be parts not to your taste but if you accept that this is le mis the Hooper addition I think you will still love it.

9/10

My top films of 2012

hey lorna isnt this a bit late it being 15 days into the new year and all ...

yes well its here now isnt it, enjoy and remember the total bias of it being my favorite of what I saw
(didnt see batman so no go, my apologies)

10. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 

So starting off the list is the film which was dubbed red 2.0 in that it featured old actors still acting.. like that was the only similarity between this and the spy movie.. anyway i knew going in the acting would be great and it would probably be quite funny but it really outdid itself. The humour was classic british dry humour which I love and everyone played their parts very well but the reason it made it was its the first film i've seen thats addressed the life of the aging without having an overriding tone of "ah bless the old folk". It showed these people as actual human beings and not just elderly stereo types and it looked into the idea that you never know who you are, not even past pension. It was really well handled and dealt with problems without ever just dwelling on how they were old people and I was just really impressed.

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

This is one of the few on this list who came out while i was doing reviews so the link to that is here: http://thedreamingchild.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-perks-of-being-wallflower-review.html

If you have seen it you will know my review was kind of luke warm towards this but I have to credit to the character acting of this film. Emma Watson Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman all did really wonderful jobs and created entirely different characters to any I had seen them in before and serious credit should be given to them all.

8. Pitch Perfect & 21 Jump Street

review of pitch perfect: http://thedreamingchild.blogspot.ie/2012/12/pitch-perfect-review.html

Is it a cop out to do two in one, absolutely. Am I going to try decide, nope. These were just both really good comedies and while one is in music they both have this continual of really blatant and really subtle humour and I just really enjoyed them as comedies, not serious, no message, just good fun.

7. Killer Joe 

I went in to this having no idea what it was about and left not being able to look at fried chicken the same way. The acting in it was just fabulous like Matthew McConaughey went above and beyond creepy and for this outrageous tale the cast carried it and made it terrifying and twisted but also completely unforgettable.

6. The Hobbit

Another review if your interested: http://thedreamingchild.blogspot.ie/2012/12/the-hobbit-unexpected-journey-ie-first.html

It was always going to be up lets be fair, this is just such a huge work and it was so well done. I think anything of that size that actually still had character, plot and humour and didnt just rely on its size to carry it deserves acknowledgment. Plus it brought back everyone to middle earth which was really nice.

5. This is not a Film 

It is one of those films I saw, loved and then completely forgot about. I was reminded of it while thinking of this list and i cant believe i didnt remember it. Defiantly one of the better works of subtly and implication, the director dosnt hide his feelings and because it truely is him their is nothing forced about this. Unlike most documentaries its not trying to be flashy and create a surrealty to real life, its simply honest.

4. Chronicle 

This was i think the first film I saw of 2012 and it remains one of my favorites. I have never seen any super hero film where it didnt have most of the people with power being self righteous "good" characters and one rouge bad guy, none of whom were real, they were emblems of something always, never really humans with this power. So i guess until chronicle i never considered how damaging and twisted a power was. It did that so well and the cast did amazingly well. 

3. Monsieur Lazhar 

By far one of the most elegant films I have ever seen. Its calm and understated, beautiful and simple.

It tells of a teacher who arrives after the last teacher commits suicide in the classroom. It deals in a realistic way with what grief is and how it controls and haunts a person. The only word that comes to mind when i think of it is elegant, really just excellent.

2. Moonrise Kingdom 

I really love West Anderson, this bizzare world is just so fabulous and with moonrise kingdom he really went all out in this beautiful alternate world., the kids were really great in it as well 

and i dont really know what i can say to express why i love his style so much. If you havnt seen his stuff  you are missing out on it all.

1. Argo

I finally had to give the award to Argo, It was just the perfect combination of all I look for in a film. It had a great plot and brillliant acting, the story wasnt dull but it was defiantly hopeful. The shooting was really gorgeous while not trying to detract from the story and the style was unapologetically optimistic. The pace in it was really just perfect and it had this bizzare humor was really excellent.

2012 in film: So the first half of the year was a bit of a write off, it had this grey blur of unexciting films that few remember and less want to. Then summer rolled round and suddenly films were competing with each other as they are supposed to and from them to oscars we have had so many hits. I didnt see some of the  big block busters like skyfall and batman but overall i think that both small film and large were really on top form and with things like great gatsby coming out we may have hope that hollywood has started listening 

... that being said this was the year of Pihranna 3DDD 

xxxx