Les Miserables: Even the thread will make you cry - Part 2

[danoyse]

Impossible to go Christmas Eve/Christmas Day because of all the family stuff all day long (Christmas Eve 10 p.m. I would just fall asleep!), and I have stupid work Wednesday, but I'm planning to go to a 7:10 p.m. show, basically get off the train and go right to the theater (note to self, eat a big lunch since there will be no dinner).

Meanwhile, B.O. report:
http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/fir...bles’-2-django-opening-huge-on-christmas-day/

I had so much family stuff yesterday and today, but I'm going at 3:00 tomorrow. My mom and I kept singing One Day More all day today. And Tomorrow...which also worked, since we're going tomorrow and because she also got us tickets to see Annie for Christmas. t:

 

[danoyse]

Just saw 'Les Mis' trending on Twiiter.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Just saw it. It was ok but having them sing 99% of the dialogue just got on my nerves and it took away from the actual big songs for me.

 

[danoyse]

Just saw it. It was ok but having them sing 99% of the dialogue just got on my nerves and it took away from the actual big songs for me.

The stage musical was all sung too.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Never saw the musical. But it just didnt do it for me and really took me out of the film and I usually love musicals.

But the funny thing for me was everyone gasped when Helena B-C came on screen, she and SBC were my most favorite scenes.

And when I left the theatre, the two girls in front of me didnt enjoy the film, the two girls behind me were gushing over the film like little school girls.

 

[JP]

Can't believe Danny and Narrows have yet to see it!!!!!!!!


Gonna try for #2 tomorrow morning.

 

[danoyse]

Can't believe Danny and Narrows have yet to see it!!!!!!!!


Gonna try for #2 tomorrow morning.

Damn our families!!!

Actually, considering that I got some particularly awesome Christmas presents from these people today, I can't really complain.

 

[WildcatNC]

I liked it. Really moving and emotional. Hathaway, Barks, and Redmayne gave the best musical performances imo. Jackman did a fantastic (and I mean that, amazing) acting job but struggles with the singing at times. "Bring Him Home" fell flat, he just couldn't hit it. Crow and Seyfreid were solid but didn't stand out. Crow sang better than I thought he could, though he struggled at times with notes. Its a long movie but I didn't notice as I was really drawn into the lives and suffering of the characters. I also preferred the emotional performances here over the belting powerful stage renditions in some ways.

 

[Lotus]

Jst came back from it. Any complaints I have are too petty to even be acknowledged. It exceeded my expectations in every way. For those who have seen it and are curious, the biggest tear-jerkers for me were [BLACKOUT]the new lines in Fantine's death [/BLACKOUT], [BLACKOUT] when Javert gives Gavroche's body a medal [/BLACKOUT], and [BLACKOUT] Cosette's absolutely grief-stricken face after Valjean passes away [/BLACKOUT]. I also can proudly announce it made all my friends in attendance cry atleast once, including some men who just don't cry.

 

[Quasimod0]

"i dreamed a dream" was some of the best acting ive ever seen.

 

[jacobed]

"i dreamed a dream" was some of the best acting ive ever seen.

Yep

 

[narrows101]

I NEVER go to movies (or anywhere else for that matter unless absolutely necessary!) at night during the week, I'm too exhausted from commuting and don't get home untnil 6:30. But we're going to a 7:10 show tonight (freaking work and having to coordinate with clustermates for days off!).

HO HO HUGE! #1 ‘Les Misérables’ Opens To $18M And #2 ‘Django Unchained’ $14M On Xmas By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday December 25, 2012 @ 10:15pm PST


TUESDAY 11:15 PM, 4TH UPDATE: It may be Christmas Day quiet in the malls but it’s busy, busy, busy in the multiplexes around the U.S. and Canada. My sources say this turned into a supersized Christmas Day for domestic filmgoing. That’s a great year-end gift for Hollywood after keeping the budgets of these debut movies minimal. Audiences repaid the favor by giving all three new wide releases movies no less than ‘A-’ scores to help their word of mouth. Leading the pack is Working Title/Universal’s Les Misérables debuting #1 in 2,808 theaters and receiving a coveted ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences. The musical lived up to both Fandango’s and MovieTickets’ reports of huge advance online sales. (It was the #1 advance ticket-seller among all Christmas Day releases, surpassing previous record-holder Sherlock Holmes in 2009.) The studio was hoping Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the world-reknown musical would open to $10+M. Well, my insiders say today’s grosses looked like a big $15M to $20M — now more like $18M — for the PG13 film that runs 2 hours and 37 minutes and stars Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Russell Crowe. (Speaking of the latter, may I never again have to hear Crowe sing like a cat being strangled. I hope he lip-syncs in that rock band of his&#8230 Of course, Christmas Day tends to have higher mix of presales, especially for the openers, so these numbers could change a lot by Wednesday and Thursday. But as one studio exec analyzes, “Christmas Day has very unique play patterns by genre, region of the country, ethnicity, and target demo. You won’t really know where films are headed until Friday. But that’s a fantastic number for Les Miz.”

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/fir...ables’-2-django-opening-huge-on-christmas-day


Meanwhile, there are two IMDB posters who are pretty well informed and sound like insiders. They have been very informative and one of them said they think that it could reach $200M DOMESTIC if WOM and repeat business are strong through awards season.

 

[Kansiov]

I actually found this much better on a 2nd viewing (went with my parents to a sold out theater). My dad actually said this was the best musical he's seen since Jesus Christ Superstar... Lol.

Anyway, after my second viewing, I can safely say that I'll be rooting for Jackman to stage an upset over DDL (who frankly is extremely overrated in Lincoln)– I really think he deserves it for the effort he puts in and how down to earth his performance was. This compared to DDL who just feels like an empty caricature from Disney's Hall of Presidents.

 

[narrows101]

Anyway, after my second viewing, I can safely say that I'll be rooting for Jackman to stage an upset over DDL (who frankly is extremely overrated in Lincoln)– I really think he deserves it for the effort he puts in and how down to earth his performance was. This compared to DDL who just feels like an empty caricature from Disney's Hall of Presidents.

I LOVE that remark about the Hall of Presidents! Just because he's DDL everyone is already giving him the Oscar and I am secretly hoping that Hugh's name will be called instead - I think the actors know what he put himself through to do this role (judging on reports from the SAG and Academy screenings) and DDL already has two Oscars. Well, that's the way it will happen in my mind anyway....

 

[The Guard]

This compared to DDL who just feels like an empty caricature from Disney's Hall of Presidents.

 

[Kansiov]

Facepalm all you want. Lincoln was an overrated slog. The whole movie plays like an 8th Grade History video, filled with superfluous exposition right from the beginning when black and white soldiers started reciting the Gettysburg address to each other. The whole movie feels so scripted– too much telling and not enough showing– even then, the telling isn't even historically accurate .

Come to think of it, what exactly is the point of Lincoln? It doesn't dwell into Lincoln's personal relationships with his family. It doesn't dwell into the evolution of Lincoln's stance on African Americans. It doesn't dwell into how he outwitted his political rivals within the Republican Party in the 1860 Convention (which by far was the closest Primary in American History). All it does is tell us what we already know and sugarcoating it with needless dramatization– over an amendment that was poised to pass after a landslide defeat of the Peace Democrats in 1864. The whole movie is Oscar baiting at it's finest.

One of my favorite biopics of all time was Der Untergang because it portrayed Hitler as a human being (a deeply flawed one) and not the spawn of Satan. Lincoln is no Der Untergang. DDL is no Bruno Ganz.

 

[X Knight]

tried to see it yesterday for the afternoon showing, but IT WAS ALL SOLD OUT!!!

will go this weekend instead.

 

[danoyse]

My show doesn't start for another 3 hours, but I'm ready to just leave now anyway.

I'm actually wearing the Les Mis shirt I got when I saw the show in London...which was in 1998, but I think this is maybe the third time I've worn it.

 

[Earthland]

Great interview with Tom Hooper. He talks about close-ups: http://movieline.com/2012/12/25/tom-hooper-interview-les-miserables-defends-close-ups/

I have high hopes for LM Best Picture win. I haven't seen all the front-runners yet, most notably I haven't seen Les Mis itself, but it's been in my thoughts from the last year's September, it feels as if I knew almost everything about it.

Hugh Jackman's Oscar hope is somewhat more troubling. I believe he has considerable chance but I doubt that Academy voters have no prejudice. If it's going to be between DDL playing "the greatest American president" (I'm from Estonia, I don't know about that stuff...) and a Wolverine star playing a fictional French character who sings .... well, you can see the point. This is absurd, of course, awards go to actors not to characters. And, after all, Jean Valjean is not JUST a fictional singing french character, he is one of the greatest characters ever made. So I keep hoping for Hugh.

 

[Earthland]

+ I heard that Twitter "explode" somehow. I don't have Twitter, could anyone hint what exactly are people saying?

 

[danoyse]

Twitter response was really positive, from what I saw last night and this morning.

 

[narrows101]

Hugh Jackman's Oscar hope is somewhat more troubling. I believe he has considerable chance but I doubt that Academy voters have no prejudice. If it's going to be between DDL playing "the greatest American president" (I'm from Estonia, I don't know about that stuff...) and a Wolverine star playing a fictional French character who sings .... well, you can see the point. This is absurd, of course, awards go to actors not to characters. And, after all, Jean Valjean is not JUST a fictional singing french character, he is one of the greatest characters ever made. So I keep hoping for Hugh.

The Oscars are voted on by the different branches, so hopefully the acting branch will realize what Hugh did in this movie re losing weight, deglamorizing, singing live while acting, and Jean Valjean is pretty much a big fictional character that is very hard to portray, what with all the emotions and aging and is pretty much the role of a lifetime. Lincoln I think is more makeup than anything else, plus DDL already has two Oscars. Hugh is also known as the "nicest guy in Hollywood" and has hosted the Oscars to great acclaim, so hopefully some of that factors in.

 

[Quasimod0]

Hugh definitely deserves the win. He was incredibly like able. Even loveable. It's rare that I ever care for characters so much

 

[JP]

Even better the second time. y showing was packed at 11:45! And coming out there was a giant line for the next showing, and when I looked at the screen, it was sold out.

 

[narrows101]

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily: The Case for Les Mis

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2012/12/26/the-case-for-les-miserables/#more-59510