Les Miserables

I've spoken to those greatly interested and informed on musicals and have been given an implicit warning - if you don't know what your talking about, don't pretend. So, I'll do my best to review this film constantly with that in the back of my mind, and encourage anyone to tell me when I'm just being ignorant in relation to the art.

Les Miserables is a bit of everything. We have a constant chase, a character study, a love story, a story of triumph, of an uprising and a revolution. It's a story about class, and comedy, morality, legality, death and song. We follow Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, The Prestige) from his stand off with the jailer Jarvet  (Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind) on ending his imprisonment through to forming another identity and trying to live his life with his new found faith in God. His story intersects with that of Fantine (Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises), a woman desperately attempting to feed her child anyway possible now the child's father has left them. Oh yeah, and this all happens around the 1832 Paris uprising.

Let's start with the cast, as far as I'm concerned, it was perfect. Hugh Jackman belongs on a stage, he should always be singing and dancing. Anne Hathaway, with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" had me welling up - and not many songs or films for that matter can do that. It was heart-wrenching and seemed honestly distraught and defeated. Russell Crowe has been slated for his performance, but I see no problem their at all. He was reserved, but riling when he needed to be. Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Eddie Redmayne also put in fantastic performances. Helena Bonham Carter is also not half as annoying as usual! Hats off to the casting department, is all I can say.

Now, the singing and the direction of the musical pieces. Wonderfully Tom Hooper's (The King's Speech) choice to use on-set singing paid off. You could hear in each note that the actor's weren't just mimed, but were felt and made in the moment. The ability of the camera to get into the faces of each character just added to this, notably on the bearded and broken Valjean. The scene where he is troubled by his calling to God, and is pacing in front of a church's alter just allows every nuance of his face to be realized in a way even the greatest stage presence could not portray. Subtlety is key.

I don't know if the build up and the praise rather showed my hand, in that there is a huge "But..." coming. I want to use this, otherwise fantastic, film of the year quality film to make a point. Can we stop using CGI for entire sets and backdrops, please? Why does anyone think this is a good idea? It looks tacky, and it looks silly. It pretty much ruined this movie, just making it seem cheap, modern and silly. The scenes on the barricades looked iconic, and looked beautiful in parts; it just makes you wonder why it couldn't all look that way. If it can be done on a stage, it does not need these tremendously terrible, computer generated, scenic shots. Just Stop It.

Over all, I really enjoyed the film, even when it was being silly, and even when it didn't make sense, well that didn't matter. I can imagine such a better film, and all it needed was for some cost cutting on CGI. It doesn't seem much, but really it is a major problem in this film, and in general.

Go and see it. Make your mind up for yourself, but I must say I'll be watching it again. And again. And again.

Jack Reacher

There's something about Tom Cruise!
I have no idea what it is but every time I see that self-satisfied looking grin I get shivers down my spine. I think this is mainly because it's not really smug, or arrogant, or anything. It's a fake smile. Just look at the hollow eye. The man has no joy. Ever.
Basically, he's perfect for this part.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise, Top Gun) is an ex-army cop who discovers how easy it is to just disappear into America, and becomes addicted to no one knowing where he is (Okay, Dead-Behind-The-Eyes Cruise is perfect for this). Then two years after the last trace he left, he turns up apparently to the aid of cut-and-dry mass murdering sniper who opened fire on 5 random people on the street. Along the way, Reacher has to deal with the fantastical The Zec (Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man) - that means "The Prisoner", by the way.

Problems?
Bad story, badly told. Had nothing interesting to say, no real connection to the characters, not much fun either. Really, it wasn't the worst movie ever, but it was no where near good. It also wasn't nasty or cynical, so there's no need to scream about it. It's just adding to the increasing decline in cinema..........

Due to this film's incredibly below average story line, however there are several scenes I think must have been picked out of an entirely different movie. To begin with, the first section of the movie is pretty horrible. The sniping sequence in an other movie would receive horrified applause from critics. Along with that, there were lots of fight scenes, and every one was hard, slow and sore. No background music and no over the top sound effects. Not good enough to move the film above a four out of ten, but somethings I like to see when I go to cinema.

Not a recommendation Not at all. But, then again, not all bad.

Coming Soon...

2012 was great fun for movies and it looks like we might get the same come 2013.

Here's the Top 5 Movies I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
(In no particular order)

1. The World's End - For me, this film has been a long time coming. After Edgar Wright's absence from the trio that brought us Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz we finally have the closing peice of the Corneto Trilogy. A Horror, a Buddy-Cop movie and now a pub crawl. I'm sure (hoping like hell) they will not disappoint.

2. Now You See Me - This film was tailor made for me, we have magicians using "magic" to pull off a fantastic heist. The Prestige meets Leverage? I hope so. Plus, a pretty impressive cast calls in, fronted by the all-grown-up looking Jesse Eisenberg.

3. Star Trek Into Darkness - Very much hoping for as good a fun film as the original. We've got a good cast now joined by the joyful Benedict Cumberbatch and hopefully a nice engaging story (though I'm doing my best not to hear what that is.)

4. Les Miserables - I know nothing of this film, but I know it is a classic novel, so just looking forward to learning the story.

5. Zero Dark Thirty - A ten year hunt for the most wanted criminal (possibly of all time) who orchestrated the killings of hundreds of Americans ended in his death last year. I'm actually surprised it took this long for the film to come out. I really want it to be interesting, and I really want it to be good.

Other than that there is a list of films that I simply can't wait for. In hope, here's my list.

The Impossible, Gangster Squad, Django Unchained, The Sessions, Lincoln, Bullet In The Head, Warm Heart, Hitchcock, A Good Day To Die Hard, Cloud Atlas, Carrie (remake), Evil Dead (remake), The Great Gatsby, Man of Steel, Kick Ass 2, The Wolverine, White House Down, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Hopefully this year will see as many of these films as possible reviewed in full on the blog. All in all, I'm sure some will be better than others, but hey, with that selection there ought be some great trips to the cinema in 2013.