Les Miserables

Oh wow, I couldn't believe there was no topic for this. It's a movie adaption of the musical based on the book by Victor Hugo. There have also been two other movies and a mini-series based on the book.

Les Miserables is about a convict named Jean Valjean who in prison is called 24601. He stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister's son and gets nineteen years. He goes on parole after he's "free". He breaks his parole though and tries to start a new life for himself. He is constantly being sought after by an officer named Javert..

And with that said...oh my gosh. I sobbed at the end. Seriously. After Valjean dies and Fantine starts singing and Valjean walks towards the Bishop who is also singing...the tears exploded.

My mom told me she won't see it with me ever again because of how much I cried...

I thought Anne Hathaway was great, loved Samantha Barks, of course, was impressed by Amanda Seyfried, fell in love with Eddie Redmayne and enjoyed Aaron Tveit.

I didn't like Russel Crowe at all. His singing anyway, after seeing it three times his appearance works for me, I just don't like his singing through most of the movie. I liked Hugh Jackman well enough but then his singing at times was...not my cup of tea.

I love that they added back in "Eponine's Errand" and "The Second Battle/Gavroche's Death". I also love that they moved "I Dreamed A Dream" to after Fantine is a prostitute. It suits a lot better.

I hate that they took out Gavroche's second verse in "Paris/Look Down" even if they gave him another one. I hate they cut down "On My Own", "Drink With Me", "Turning", and "The Robberty".

I like that they had Gavroche deliver the letter instead of Eponine but don't care for the moving of her song "On My Own".

They shortened Eponine's part a lot which I didn't like. I loved that Colm Wilkinson, the original Valjean on the West End and Broadway and was also a special guest on the 25th anniversary, played the bishop. That was just amazing. And at the end when Valjean walks towards him and he sings instead of Eponine, it's just so great. They were genius for doing that.recording. I guess it's been done in other productions of Les Miserables though from what I heard.

Okay, that's all I have to say right now. :) I've seen the movie three times already. I love it.

This movie finally comes out over here in the UK on Friday. I'm so excited, I absolutely adore Les Misérables!

Everyone seems to dislike Russell Crowe's performance, but I've got high expectations...I've heard his version of 'Stars' on Youtube and thought it was beautiful, so I have every hope that his performance will live up to my expectations.

@ Joey Jordison

You shouldn't be disappointed. I love it even with all the things I don't like about it.

I have a friend who feels the same way about Crowe and disagrees with me.. She's seen both recordings, seen it live in London and another place, I think, and she thinks he's going to do well.

I've just got back from the cinema and oh my gosh I THINK MY HEART HAS SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES.

Jackman was great. I think it will be a travesty for him to not win awards for this performance, but at the same time, DD-L is so amazing in Lincoln (apparently, it's not out in the UK for another two weeks) that I don't think he'll win. But he deserves it. His vocals were a bit flaky sometimes, but usually at emotional parts and it was totally forgivable. When he dies at the end, I was bawling, when he finally got peace and freedom. So beautiful.

I've heard so much criticism of Russell Crowe because of his role as Javert, and I honestly don't understand why. I thought he was perfectly cast as Javert. Yes, his singing wasn't as strong as some of the others (Jackman, Redmayne, I'm looking at you) but that didn't matter. He made it possible for you to sympathise with a character most people love to hate. His version of 'Stars' was one of the highlights of the film, and one of the best versions I've heard of the song. I don't understand the criticism, for me he was the perfect Javert. The noise when he died was disturbing though.

Hathaway was surprisingly better than expected. Her version of 'I Dreamed A Dream' was absolutely beautiful, and I fully expect her to win the Oscar next month for her Fantine. I'm not a massive fan of the character, and think Hathaway has been better in other roles, but her Fantine was brilliant, she deserves all plaudits going.

I would love to marry Eddie Redmayne after watching this movie. His Marius was beautiful, his vocals were probably the biggest shock of the movie (did not expect him to sound so good), and even though I hate Marius for not picking Eponine, I really felt his emotion when she died. It was just beautiful really. Samantha Barks was amazing, but I expected that. I felt she was really underused, but all things considered, her role did a great job of getting across the spirit of Eponine and how much she truly loved Marius. Wasn't the biggest fan of Amanda as Cosette, I think she really struggled to hit some of the higher notes, but it was still a nice performance. The young Cosette, Isabelle Allen, was adorable.

Gavroche was so adorable, such a cheeky little chap. Enjolras was great. All of the revolutionaries were amazing, I really hoped they would be successful, even though they aren't. The whole cast was brilliant - I especially liked how Colm Wilkinson was the Bishop of Digne, subtle nods to the musical were really nice.

The new song 'Suddenly' was lovely, and I thought it fit really well into the film. Even though some of the songs were out of order or cut down, I thought it flowed really well. The entire score was stunning, it brought me to tears on so many occasions. I could ramble on about the film so much, I've already planned when I'm next seeing it. Just amazing

I say it on Christmas Day in the US and I loved it.

Though the only other time I've seen it was the 25 Anniversary Concert and I adored it. I've been trying to read the book on my Kindle.

I thought the entire cast did absolute fantastic job, I give props to any who can sing songs from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, both works are extremely hard to sing.

I love Anne Hathaway a lot and she actually surprised me in the whole singing. Never knew she could sing to begin with lol. Her voice is beautiful along with Samatha Barks, Eddie Redmayne, and Isabella Allen. Plus Helena and Sacha did a great job as well.

My mother and I cried like a baby and the only the last time I cried like a baby was when watched War Horse. I'm really rooting for the movie during the Award shows.

I don't know what else to say since you all took most words from my mouth.

Breathtaking.
simply
breathaking

I left the cinema and was still crying ten minutes after; I didn't even think I liked musicals.

If Hugh Jackman and/or Anne Hathaway do not win Oscars for this, I will kill somebody. Maybe that's a bit far, but still.

Hugh Jackman won a golden globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture and Les Miserables itself won Best Moetion Picture, Comedy or Musical.

yayyy. I saw it twice in a row again Friday afternoon and night. It still gets to me. The ending, oh gosh...v.v Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop was genius. Gen-ius.

I love how Gavroche swings through that guy's carriage. Lol. That's so funny. I need to own it on dvd! I want to watch it everyday. Literally everyday...

We'll remember that night and the vow that we made...
A heart full of love...

Oh gosh, let me stop before I start crying again.

I love the movie so much... Went a little overboard on the close-ups though. Oh my gosh. Frances Ruffelle played one of the prostitutes. She was the original Eponine<3 She's the one in the yellow from what I've read on IMDB.

I have so much to say but I can't find the words to say it...

@ Joey Jordison

Ah, no. Don't hate Marius for not picking Eponine. I meant. My bad. Messed up that original post...

Victor Hugo wrote in the book “The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in. Few people dare now to say that two beings have fallen in love because they have looked at each other. Yet it is in this way that love begins, and in this way only.”

It's so beautiful. :( I want to read the book. I need to get another Amazon card...

@DarkestStorm

Marius should be with Eponine! She was my favourite female character in the book (my favourite character overall is probably Javert) and I've always wanted her and Marius to be together - not a fan of Cosette as a character. I don't think the film did Eponine any favours (such a small role, really), but they got some elements of her and Marius' relationship, which is nice.

I agree with you on the close-ups as well. Sometimes it was really distracting, especially when people were singing - instead of focussing on the vocals, we were treated to shots of their nostrils, which was weird.

I'm glad Hugh and Anne won the Golden Globes, though I think Hugh will have a much harder challenge to win the Oscar (I think Anne has her Oscar in the bag, unless there's another shock like there was a few years ago). The film really is brilliant, it deserves all of the awards it receives.

I think I enjoyed young Cosette's 'Castle on a Cloud' and 'Can You Hear the People Sing' the most, other than 'I Dreamed a Dream', of course. I also thought 'On My Own' was really well done.

However, I was underwhelmed by the film and thought the second half was much better than the first. I can't wait to read the book.

@ Joey Jordison
I wish they did more open area shots. They had all of "Paris" to work with now, come on. I loved the opening shots of the Look Down/Prologue and At The End of The Day. I like how they did wide shots when going through time. Like after What Have I Done? With the paper going through the sky then landing on the ground during ATEOTD, I loved that.

I really like Cosette. Amanda Seyfried did a really good job in my opinion. She made Cosette seem like a person. I don't blame Marius for not picking Eponine, in the movie/musical, he only saw her as a friend. Or even a younger sister, Eddie Redmayne said when he was asked about their relationship in an article.

@ druscilla ever after
I love the opening. I actually really liked the first half a lot. Especially Look Down/Prologue, Who Am I?, What Have I Done, and the Bishop sequence especially...I liked Fantine's downspiral too. It was great. I just love it all. I can't decide which half I love better.

I love Valjean's redemption so much and it sets the second half up. Then I love the revolutionary storyline too.

I wish they had added an extra 10 minutes so there wouldn't have been any cuts in the songs they did...

And it's "Do You* :)

Oh my, I love ABC Cafe/Red and Black, Do You Hear The People Sing, One Day More and The Epilogue the most. Those songs are great. Especially One Day More, Eponine was amazing in that song. I wish they hadn't toned her singing down though...

I've seen the film six times now, and I still manage to cry during the finale every time. Personally, the only low point for me was Hugh's "Bring Him Home". It felt too loud and screechy. The way Russell played Javert made him my favorite character.

And everyone else did a fantastic too. Anne deserves an Oscar. I especially loved seeing all the West End actors in the film as some of the Barricade Boys. And the treatment of Enjolras and Grantaire's relationship was beautiful.

New favorite movie. :)

I've seen it five. :) I still want to see it a few more times...Well, technically I've seen it six times...five in the theater though. I want to see it a couple more times in theaters though.

I didn't like the way Jackman kept pronouncing "God" in "Bring Him Home" and the "Epilogue". It kept coming out like Gout. It just ruins messes up the scene for me a little bit.

I wish Samantha Barks had gotten more screen time but eh, they added two scenes of her, technically three for Eponine (Castle on A Cloud, Eponine's Errand, scene in Marius' room/house).

I liked Aaron Tveit a lot. :)

Valjean's redemption is probably my favorite part of the film. Mostly the scene with the Bishop. That's just precious.<3 In addition to the ending. One of my favorites anyway...

I love this movie so much. seeing i've seen it 28 ish and i have all soundtracks on my ipod because they were amazing

i would say what my favourite parts where but there was so many i could be here for hours but when Eponine and Marius were singing a little fall of rain, I touched me so much and when Javert but his medal on Gavroche when all their bodies where lined up...
but my favorite song was when Eddie Redmayne (Marius) sang Empty Chairs At Empty Tables.

but i think all the actors played their characters so well and powerful...and Anne Hathaway as Fantine had to be overall one of my favourite characters in the entire film

My official number of times of seeing it in the theaters is eight. The first with my mom, the last with my cousin, and during all the others I was On My Own. :)

I have the 2010 Cast Anniversary recording on my ipod and I may or may not have ripped some of the songs from the 2010 anniversary at the 02 London Arena to my ipod.

I hate how they cut ALFOR. :( and On My Own, though I understand why they cut the first verse out of that song.

Question for you guys, if you have ever seen or listened to Les Mis before the movie (like anniversary recordings, recordings in general, etc), does it change the order that you listen to the songs now?

I know I generally listen to I Dreamed A Dream after Lovely Ladies and listen to On My Own before One Day More now.

My friend Kevin is really into Les Mis and he took me to see it in theaters.

OH MY SWEET FLEEB THAT MOVIE JUST OH MY GOD I CAN'T MY FEELS MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT COHERENT RIGHT NOW

I cried so damn much during that movie. The beginning was a little slow for me but maybe that was just me being impatient and wanting to get to the good stuff.

Fantine. Oh, Fantine broke my heart. I tried so hard not to cry when she was singing 'I Dreamed a Dream'. I was getting a killer headache during that part because I was trying so hard not to cry. Then when she died I just stopped caring and just let all the tears out. Her part was just so touching. I love the emotion she put it into it. It was utterly heartbreaking and I think Anne Hathaway's best performance ever.

I think I cried at every sad part in this movie and then some. It was just...so amazing. So many emotions filled me through that movie. I don't think I can put many of them to words.

I have to say though, I really enjoyed Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen really livened up the movie. They brought a welcoming hilarity and mischief to an otherwise tragic movie. It was refreshing to see them and have my face dry for a little while before going back to the depressing world of the other characters.

This was such an awesome movie and I really need to get it on DVD so I can cry in the comfort of my own home. It was funny because when the movie was over Kevin asked if I was ready to go and I kind of sniffled a little and said I needed a minute. Haha, I had to take a minute and just shake it all off before I could re-enter the outside world. The movie had a very lasting effect on my and I could still feel it on my when we went to get something to eat.

I love Valjean's redemption. The first half an hour was just great. Then once we hit the Paris scene I'm just in love throughout almost the rest of the movie. I'm watching it now. Hahaha. Oh gosh, i'll write more after this scene.

Oh okay, I'm done now. :) Watching that scene (One Day More). So after Valjean's redemption, and multiple viewings I was just ready for Fantine's arc to get through with (after Valjean came and talked to Javert) so I could get to the Revolution arc. I sobbed at the ending the first time. And the second. Kind of during the third...and fourth...

During my fifth and sixth times I was just crying a little at scenes. (The Bishop's scene, Fantine's death, Eponine's death, when Javert gives Gavroche his badge...though that was mostly because Eponine was laying right beside him.

God I love Eponine so much. Love her. So much. Like...Like she's about to die and I'm about to cry. Oh god... I'll have to quit watching halfway through...