For Rudeboyelvis- Crowe & Jackman

GenuineRisk · #1 12-21-2012, 09:56 PM

In case you hadn't seen- the two Aussies did a live performance of "The Confrontation" at a club in NYC:

http://www.newnownext.com/les-misera...-live/12/2012/

Rudeboyelvis · #2 12-23-2012, 08:39 AM

That's very funny - hugely talented guys

GenuineRisk · #3 12-30-2012, 08:58 PM

Speaking of, saw the movie today. What did you think? I am mixed.

Rudeboyelvis · #4 01-01-2013, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Speaking of, saw the movie today. What did you think? I am mixed.

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

Danzig · #5 01-01-2013, 06:01 PM

i loathe musicals, so i'll never see it. love the book tho!

bigrun · #6 01-01-2013, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

Fell in love with her in Prada, can't imagine her horrible in anything..

GenuineRisk · #7 01-02-2013, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Never made it...stayed in and watched movies at home. The next day I spoke with 3 people who did go, and they all relayed a similar experience... principally that the singing, while impressive considering it was the actors performing, was noticeably lacking and would have greatly benefited from professional singers overdubbing their lines, and that Anne Hathaway was horrible (which surprised me) - so it went straight to my "wait for it on HBO" list.

I've seen the musical twice- once when I was 16 and then again at 22, and adored it as a teenager (a lot of teenage girls really fall in love with it) so I owned the original cast album, blah blah blah. So, I was surprised to find I didn't love it as much as I'd hoped, nor hate it as much as I expected.

I didn't love Anne Hathaway, because she did something that I just hate. There's an old saying, "Tears on stage means dry eyes in the audience" and I think it's really true.I spent "I Dreamed a Dream" thinking, "Wow. She is sure crying hard. I'm impressed she can still sing while crying so hard." I like her, but I think she's a Julia Roberts- she's just better in lighter material.

Thanks to a friend who mixed the show and got me in to see previews, I saw Hugh Jackman when he did "Back on Broadway" and he's an amazing, amazing musical theater singer/actor, but his voice is all wrong for Valjean. He gets really nasal in the higher parts, which sounds great in Rodgers & Hammerstein, but not in Les Mis. In my opinion, anyway. He had to shout "Bring Him Home" which really takes away from what the song is.

I felt like Russell Crowe was working so hard to hit all of Javert's low notes that he forgot to act. I did think he was pretty good in his last song, though.

I really, really do not like Sacha Baron Cohen and yet I thought he was AWESOME in this. I usually find the Thénardiers boring and he turned them into my favorite part of the movie. Knock me over with a feather. I think because he was one of the few actors in the film who was always trying to get or to do something, rather than just FEELING.

And the guy who played Marius was really good, even if he has a frog mouth. And the Enjolras was hot, though I think that's required in the casting for Enjolras. He can climb my barricade anytime.

The big mistake Tom Hooper made in the singing live thing, and the main reason I think you can certainly wait for HBO is that he couldn't do any big grand wide shots during the songs because... you would have seen the microphones! My sound mixer friend went with me to the movie and pointed that out as soon as the movie was over. So the cinematography is not great because it has to be all in the actors' faces the whole time.

And yet, it's Les Mis, and, even as cynical as I am, "A Little Fall of Rain" will still never NOT make me cry. Because I am a cynical sucker.

GenuineRisk · #8 01-02-2013, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

i loathe musicals, so i'll never see it. love the book tho!

I love musicals, even though I very seldom choose to see new ones, because most of them are crap. But it's really a very great art form, and one that I think is so extraordinarily American, because we (well, Rodgers and Hammerstein) were the ones who finally figured out the songs needed to advance the action of the story (musical theater can be divided into "Before 'Oklahoma!'" and "After 'Oklahoma!'" That show was really an incredible milestone in American theater). Though, before that, oodles and oodles of popular songs came from musicals- "The Lady Is a Tramp," "My Funny Valentine," "I Got Rhythm," etc. Jazz standards and musical theater standards are inextricably linked.

Ironically, as the structure of musical theater improved (linking the songs to the action), the influence of musical theater on popular music declined. Other than "Hair" there really hasn't been a successful rock musical on Broadway (I loved, loved, loved, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" but it only ran Off-Broadway and it was over ten years ago. Jesus Christ, I'm old.).

What bothers me about musicals now is that a lot of the songs seem to be about vocal pyrotechnics and not story.

Danzig · #9 01-02-2013, 09:49 AM

just not my thing...too many viewings back in the day of 'the sound of music'?? my mother watched it every time it came on.....that and seven brides for seven brothers, the music man (she just loved robert preston).
when the musical sweeney todd came out, my daughter put it on. i couldn't watch it. she said 'but it's really good'. i told her i'm sure it was!

GenuineRisk · #10 01-02-2013, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

just not my thing...too many viewings back in the day of 'the sound of music'?? my mother watched it every time it came on.....that and seven brides for seven brothers, the music man (she just loved robert preston).
when the musical sweeney todd came out, my daughter put it on. i couldn't watch it. she said 'but it's really good'. i told her i'm sure it was!

Musicals are very hard to translate successfully onscreen. As Les Mis reminded me. Christopher Plummer referred to "The Sound of Music" as "the sound of mucus." He was not a fan.

I do love "The Music Man" a lot. Meredith Wilson (the author) wanted to play with sound leading into song, and it's really cool the way it works in the opening number- the salesmen all speak in the rhythm of the train chuffing along and how the sound of the books being stamped in the library leads into "Marian the Librarian." Great sound design. The Beatles did a nice cover of "'Til There Was You."

I've never made it through "Seven Brides." Long dance numbers on screen make me sleepy.

"Chicago" is a pretty darn good adaptation of a musical; I recommend that one a lot. And I liked the film of "Hedwig" though it's very, very different from the play (necessarily so).

I do think musicals written directly for the screen can be pretty great ("Singin' in the Rain," "Victor/Victoria").

Danzig · #11 01-02-2013, 12:40 PM

i love victor/victoria. but to me, it's not a typical musical-she only sings onstage, which makes sense. i don't know, i just never randomly break into song during the typical day, so i guess i don't 'get' why characters do!!!

GenuineRisk · #12 01-02-2013, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

i love victor/victoria. but to me, it's not a typical musical-she only sings onstage, which makes sense. i don't know, i just never randomly break into song during the typical day, so i guess i don't 'get' why characters do!!!

Heh. Chicago might work for you then, as the songs all take place inside characters' heads.

We all have the point at where we can't suspend disbelief any more. I remember the summer Face/Off and Air Force One were both out. I groused that Air Force One was totally unbelievable because it hinges on a single Secret Service man going rogue, and in fact, in real life, they travel in pairs for exactly that reason- so no one can do that. Of course, in Face/Off I was TOTALLY willing to buy John Travolta and Nick Cage switching faces and no one noticing. Hee hee. Call it the John Woo effect.

Danzig · #13 01-02-2013, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Heh. Chicago might work for you then, as the songs all take place inside characters' heads.

We all have the point at where we can't suspend disbelief any more. I remember the summer Face/Off and Air Force One were both out. I groused that Air Force One was totally unbelievable because it hinges on a single Secret Service man going rogue, and in fact, in real life, they travel in pairs for exactly that reason- so no one can do that. Of course, in Face/Off I was TOTALLY willing to buy John Travolta and Nick Cage switching faces and no one noticing. Hee hee. Call it the John Woo effect.

that was a rotten film. i do have difficulties at times when things are just too unbelievable. that's usually when i say 'i'm out' and leave the room. like the batman scene where he wrecks the car, and the remains become a motorcycle. that's the only part of the movie i saw, or will see! my son said come here, watch, it's great. yeah, i disagree.

hi_im_god · #14 01-02-2013, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danzig

that was a rotten film. i do have difficulties at times when things are just too unbelievable. that's usually when i say 'i'm out' and leave the room. like the batman scene where he wrecks the car, and the remains become a motorcycle. that's the only part of the movie i saw, or will see! my son said come here, watch, it's great. yeah, i disagree.

i get this.

but you missed heath ledger as the joker? you could take out every scene he's not in and i'd still want to watch what's left. his best supporting actor win wasn't just a sympathy vote. he was amazing in that movie.

GenuineRisk · #15 01-03-2013, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hi_im_god

i get this.

but you missed heath ledger as the joker? you could take out every scene he's not in and i'd still want to watch what's left. his best supporting actor win wasn't just a sympathy vote. he was amazing in that movie.

I second that. I remember seeing the 1989 Batman after hearing weeks of hype about Jack Nicholson's performance and thinking it wasn't all that (while it was fun, it wasn't this mind-blowing performance I'd been expecting). Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight was not overhyped one bit. My husband is a big comics geek and he really, really loved Ledger's performance (his grouse with Nicholson was that he wasn't playing the Joker. What can I say, comic book nerds have strong opinions about these things.

)