Film

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Les Misérables

Haters of movie musicals everywhere, I beseech you! Give this one a chance! Lovers of this musical, unite! The movie is a blast! For me, Les Misérables, based on the Victor Hugo novel set in 19th century France has always been the epitome of big show musical done right. When I saw it on Broadway, I remember thinking something along the lines of “No way in hell anybody could ever put this on the big screen in respectable fashion. It’s too big, and it’s too hard.” To mount a production worthy of the musical, you would need a big budget, and you would need big stars with box office allure that can sing like no other. I’m happy to report that director Tom Hooper found stars that can not only sing, but make you freaking cry when they sing. They are that good. Hooper (The King’s Speech) gathered his glorious cast, and then he went and made things even more complicated. The actors and actresses in this muscular musical sing live on set. No comfy sound booths with fancy mineral waters, conveniently prerecording songs for lip-synching. What you see and hear in this movie is the product of live takes. And it’s absolutely remarkable. Hugh Jackman in the central role of notorious bread thief Jean Valjean is more than Oscar worthy— his work here requires an Oscar. His physical presence is appropriately commanding, and his voice is miraculous. This is a role that could turn to schmaltz instantly in the wrong hands. Rest assured that what you’re seeing from Jackman here is one of musical cinema history’s greatest, most uncompromising performances. Shockingly, his is not the best performance in the movie. That honor goes to one Anne

Hathaway as Fantine, the betrayed factory worker turned prostitute desperately trying to care for daughter Cosette (played by the sweetly voiced Isabelle Allen as a child). Hathaway delivers “I Dreamed a Dream” in one devastatingly beautiful take that will drop many a jaw into many a lap. No doubt, some will point to Russell Crowe’s Javert as the film’s weak link, and in some ways it is. Crowe’s voice doesn’t compare to the likesby Bob Grimm of Jackman and Hathaway, but I submit that his diminished vocals help make his Javert more bgrimm@ pathetic. newsreview.com Javert, the dogged lawman who destroys his life unrelentingly pursuing the fugitive Valjean, has long been a literary loser, and Crowe brings5 a marked sadness to him. The fact that his voice isn’t so grand just makes his Javert lonelier and bleaker. I was expecting something more booming for Javert, but this interpretation grew on me. Admittedly, it took a second viewing for me to gain more appreciation for Crowe’s efforts. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are appropriately disgusting as innkeepers Thenardier and Madame Thenardier. Amanda Seyfried, after the failure of Mamma Mia!, gets to put her capable voice to a better test as the grown Cosette, while Eddie Redmayne (My Week with Marilyn) gives a breakthrough performance as her suitor, Marius. The coveted role of Eponine, for which Taylor Swift was once rumored, has gone to Samantha Barks, who was featured in the acclaimed Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary. Hooper made the right choice here. Her rendition of “ALittle Fall of Rain” qualifies as the best I’ve heard, and I’ve heard a few. Hooper does more than put a bunch of great actors and voices in play. His staging of the musical is superbly accomplished. When Daniel Huttlestone emerges from a huge elephant statue and delivers “Paris/Look Down” from the back of a moving horse carriage, it’s pure movie magic. The costuming, art direction and sets are all impeccable. The movie has a gigantic scale that looks as great as it sounds. Les Misérables is so much more than a worthy adaptation of a long cherished musical. It’s a masterful game changer when it comes to movie musicals. I could go on and on about how great it is. My words of praise can’t possibly do it justice. See it, and see why it puts many past movie musical to shame. Ω

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands!”

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VERY GOOD

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3Flight Denzel Washington stars and Robert Zemeckis directs this uneven film about an airline pilot with mad flying skills and a mad problem with alcohol and drugs. Washington is Whip Whitaker, a man who ties one on the night before a flight that first requires him to pilot through a horrible storm and then results in a spectacular crash. Whip performs miraculous feats as the plane goes down despite an alcohol level off the charts. Washington is great in the role, keeping the movie worth watching even when it gets a bit trite. The first half hour of this movie is a powerhouse. The remaining nearly two hours are OK, but nothing like the punch of that flight sequence. Sure to score Washington on Oscar nomination. A decent return to live action for Zemeckis, who had gotten all caught up in those creepy motion capture animation films like The Polar Express.

3Hitchcock While this isn’t the Oscar bait its studio was hoping for, it’s still a good time at the movies. Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins in a fat suit) risks it all to make the slasher film Psychoas wife, Alma (Helen Mirren), struggles with their marriage and helps with the little things, like writing and co-directing with no screen credit. Director Sacha Gervasi throws some weird ideas into the mix, like Hitchcock having hallucinatory conversations with Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), the serial killer on which Norman Bates was based. Scarlett Johansson and James D’Arcy are well cast as Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, and there’s a great Ralph Macchio cameo to boot! The movie is just a little too goofy to be taken seriously, but it’s fun watching Hopkins navigate the role. As showy as he is, it’s the Mirren performance that winds up being the most memorable.

2The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Oh damn, this one hurts to write. Damn! I waited and waited for Peter Jackson to return to Middle-earth. I so wanted to see this film that its previous lack of existence in my life has probably contributed to a myriad of social problems I just can’t explain right now. And after all that waiting, we get this, a nearly three-hour mess that lacks focus and anything resembling pizzazz. Jackson, as we all know by now, has stretched a relatively small book into what will be somewhere in the neighborhood of nine hours after three films and, so far, it’s a big mistake. Martin Freeman is fine as Bilbo Baggins, the little hobbit who decides to go on an adventure. In the book, that adventure is a quick, crisp, wonderful thing. In this movie, it’s a bunch of indistinguishable dwarves acting all goofy and stuffing their faces for half the running time, and then a bunch of battles that have no sense of meaning. Smaug the dragon doesn’t really factor yet—Jackson is leaving that for Part Two—and Bilbo gets lost in the shuffle. The movie achieves its only true great heights when Gollum (Andy Serkis) finally shows up for a game of riddles. Until then, the movie doesn’t catch fire, it meanders. And, brother, I’m heartbroken over it. I watched this in standard 3-D. I’ll try to see it in the much debated 48fps— twice the normal film speed and definition—and give an update on how this looks at a later date.

5Life of Pi This is an amazing achievement in filmmaking. It’s one of the year’s best movies, and easily one of the best uses of the 3-D medium. Director Ang Lee is a creative force that cannot be deterred or stopped. Life of Piis his most splendorous and enchanting film to date, and this is the guy who gave us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Suraj Sharma plays Pi, a young man who winds up on a lifeboat with a tiger after a storm sinks a ship carrying his family and its zoo animals. Pi must learn to appease the tiger, the tiger must accept or eat him, and that’s the plot of the movie. The story is told in flashback with an older Pi (Irrfan Khan) being interviewed by a writer (Rafe Spall). This is a great screen adventure full of countless magical moments and a sure contender for Best Picture. 2Lincoln I love Steven Spielberg, I love Daniel Day-Lewis, but I do not love this movie. In fact, I don’t even like it. While Day-Lewis is astoundingly good in the title role, the movie around him is a drab, lifeless retelling of the final days of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Spielberg makes this a darkened room political potboiler, chronicling how Lincoln and his staff managed to get slavery abolished in the waning days of the Civil War. Sally Field is cast as Lincoln’s troubled wife. While Mary Todd’s plight deserves a movie of its own, it’s not given much consideration here, nor is the life of Lincoln’s eldest son (an utterly wasted Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The movie’s final act treats the death of Lincoln like a strange afterthought. They would’ve been better off ending the film before his assassination. I expect Day-Lewis to be in the Oscar hunt. He could actually win for this movie, a film that doesn’t live up to his magnificence.

4Skyfall This officially stands as my all-time favorite Bond film. That’s coming from somebody who really hasn’t cared much for the Bond films. Daniel Craig had been my favorite Bond since Sean Connery and, with this fine entry, has actually become my favorite Bond. Sam Mendes directs this installment with a depth and level of excitement I haven’t detected before in the series—although Casino Royalecame close— and Javier Bardem, as a former British agent gone bonkers, is a Bond villain for the ages. Great action scenes, fun homages to the series and a nice supporting turn from Judi Dench as M make this a Bond to be reckoned with, and truly enjoyed. Also stars Ralph Fiennes and a decent song from Adele. I don’t know how many Bond films Craig has left in him, but I hope it’s a lot.

4This Is 40 Writer-director Judd Apatow spins off his own Knocked Upwith the further family adventures of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann, Apatow’s real-life wife). The two characters prove worthy of their own movie thanks to the appeal of Rudd and Mann, who make for a great screen couple. Debbie is not interested in being 40 on her 40th birthday, and Pete wants to eat cupcakes without persecution while trying to get his independent music label up and running. Apatow pits the two against each other, and great comedic arguing ensues. Rudd is always a pleasure to have around, while Mann continues to prove herself as one of Hollywood’s funniest actresses. The supporting cast includes Melissa McCarthy (who steals the movie in her few scenes, including a hilarious closing credit outtake), Jason Segel, Albert Brooks and John Lithgow. They are all in top form, as is Apatow.

1The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 And with this, the suffering of discerning moviegoers finally ends. No more Bella pouting, no more Edward swooning, no more Taylor abs (OK, I admit the Taylor abs are wonderful). Bella is now a super vampire capable of taking down mountain lions and sitting in a chair real fast. The head vampires of the world hear that Bella has had a baby— and a weird-looking CGI baby at that—and they look to start a vampire war with Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen as their overacting leaders. The previous film showed some promise, but this one (both directed by Bill Condon) tosses that promise aside and reverts to the awfulness that pervaded the earlier films. Stephenie Meyer has hinted the saga could go on with Taylor’s Jacob and the grown up Bella Baby. No, this needs to stop. It needs to stop now.

Reno

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