Les Misérables

[Beate]

His voice was ok but what Cosette saw in him when there was that cute blond curly-haired one right next to him I'll never know.

this one ? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3117836/ just had to look him up as soon as I got home too

Oh yes. He was almost unrecognisable from Ugly Betty where I think he played Claire Meade's son that she had given up for adoption.

[Locky_football]

Pretty sure everyone got in at Norwich paper or not, how ridiculous, I remember doing this in the past several years ago with Heat and other mags/papers and was only once ever asked for the page (think it was the Star Trek film), they gave in at 6.15pm when only around 6 or so actually had the paper and let the rabble "paperless people" in. Quite frankly they couldn't really hold out until just before the start and ruin it for the "paper people". Anyway my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the film, although we both agreed that at various points in the film we thought yeah ok, we get the drift of the song, move on to the next bit please, thought the little boy was lovely and Russell Crowe was a real surprise. Wouldn't watch it again or at home though. 7/10 from me.

Yeah, it looked like there were still some empty seats at the front in Norwich. The Odeon guy said that the film was supposed to be in a small screen but they'd moved it to a bigger one as they were expecting so many people.

I quite enjoyed it and after having seen the theatre show, the film helped me understand what was going on! Some of the singing did seem to go on a bit and they could have done some of it as conversation I felt. They seemed to really zoom in on the people when they were singing, which was a bit disconcerting!

[Locky_football]

Back from a pretty full Braehead though they were seats left. About 3/4 of the audiences didn't have the paper. Odeon did explain they received an email at 17:30 from their head office to ask for the paper. Must come from the shambles from Saturday I guess.

What happened on Saturday? Were they asking for the paper then?

[Yinster]

What happened on Saturday? Were they asking for the paper then?

When the code went viral before the paper even left the press.

[newdot]

I thought this was terrific.

All leads were superb (including the much maligned russel crowe), but film stolen by the heartbreakingly good ann hathaway.

Never seen the stage musical, & now do not want to, as it cannot beat this.

Will probably p*y to watch again on release.

10/10

[elski]

Back from a pretty full Braehead though they were seats left. About 3/4 of the audiences didn't have the paper. Odeon did explain they received an email at 17:30 from their head office to ask for the paper. Must come from the shambles from Saturday I guess.

What happened on Saturday? Were they asking for the paper then?

no we code the code on saturday but the paper with the actual code came out on sunday so they knew lots of people would have tickets without ever having b*ght the paper.

[Locky_football]

Back from a pretty full Braehead though they were seats left. About 3/4 of the audiences didn't have the paper. Odeon did explain they received an email at 17:30 from their head office to ask for the paper. Must come from the shambles from Saturday I guess.

What happened on Saturday? Were they asking for the paper then?

no we code the code on saturday but the paper with the actual code came out on sunday so they knew lots of people would have tickets without ever having b*ght the paper.

Oh yeah, sorry, totally misread that!! I thought you meant Wreck-It Ralph!

[canadian_turtle]

Also saw this at Odeon Covent Garden, thanks Beate for sorting it all out as I read about Norwich asking for the paper about 15 minutes before I got to the cinema and it had me worried. Btw, friend and I got in before 6pm and were still stuck in the 2nd row, it was manic busy! Agree with the bleeping phone during "I Dreamed a Dream", bloody nuisance.

Anyway, the film... So many feelings! I saw the stage show for the first (and only) time early on last year and despite being a musical lover an this being a well-loved show by so many it didn't do anything for me. In fact, looking back on it I started to like it less and less and really didn't understand the hype, so to speak. But this stunning film has finally shown me what this show is all about and I appreciate it much more now. Though I do think the film is better (and it rarely happens that an adaptation surpasses the original!).

Loved the way this film was shot, Javert in particular has some gorgeous scenes, loved the epicness of it all, spotting familiar West End faces in the "ensemble", the crazy "Master of the House" scene (Sasha Baron Cohen was fab, but I start to dislike Helena Bonham Carter even more with every ridiculous role she does) was funny and disturbing, and I even got used to Eddie Redmayne's high choir boy voice (though I agree that his buddy, Trip from Gossip Girl btw, was much more appealing to the eyes).

Also, I have to disagree with just about everyone regarding Russell Crowe as for me he had the stand-out performance. Yes, Hugh was good but I didn't expect any less from him (in fact I expected a little more, but that's more to do with my high hopes of him than any fault in his performance) having heard him sing numerous times before and him being a seasoned musical actor. Anna Hathaway was really good too but none of the female characters (Fantine, Eponine, Cosette) have a big enough role to "steal" the show sort to speak, it really is all about Jean and Javert. And Javert was phenomenal, both acting and singing wise. And despite being such a dick Russell made me fall in love with the character.

In short: I really loved this and I didn't feel it was too long at all.

9.5/10


And now I am off to listen to "Do You Hear the People Sing?" on repeat. The cast recording I've had on my computer for ages will finally get some play time <333

[donna]

MINDBLOWING FABULOUS!
This film was absouletly amazing! The best film i have seen in ages, performances were excellent from everybody. At the end i felt like standing up and clapping as it was so moving!

[Beate]

Also saw this at Odeon Covent Garden, thanks Beate for sorting it all out

I was at Greenwich. My telepathic powers are a bit patchy...