Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: LES MISERABLES now on blu ray

This is topic LES MISERABLES now on blu ray in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=001030

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-22-2013, 04:24 PM:

Count me among those who love the recent film version of LES MISERABLES. Slightly less than three months after it had opened in movie theatres on Christmas day, the movie was released on blu ray today and I already have my copy. Of all of the special editions offered by major retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Walmart, I got the Target edition because it came in a very attractive slipcover containing the discs in a blu ray case, a beautiful illustrated booklet featuring and articles about the film production and cast bios, picture post cards of the principle cast members and a DVD featuring additional bonus features. Best Buy's edition has the two disc set in a Steelbook case. Walmart has the discs with a twenty song soundtrack CD in a oversize box.

Can't wait to watch the movie tonight

-Claude

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-22-2013, 08:29 PM:

That's kinda stupid that they put the bonus features on a DVD. Why not a BR ?

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-22-2013, 08:47 PM:

The bonus features on the DVD are only the exclusive stuff that is part of the Target special edition. All of the actual bonus features are in high definition and is on the 2nd bd as well as part of disc one with the movie.

I have no problem with the Target stuff in standard definition on a DVD considering the fact that the price of the Target exclusive edition was tthe same as the regular set.

-Claude

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 03-22-2013, 09:49 PM:

The music from the original Broadway cast recording is better.
[Razz]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-22-2013, 11:34 PM:

I agree with you Booby and thst was the reason I did not consider getting the Walmart set. I have the complete Symphonic edition and I am very happy with it.

After checking my LES MISERABLES bd set I had purchased from a a Target store this morning, I discovered the 2nd disc was a dvd and not a blu ray. Beside the movie in high definition, there are four exclusive bonus clips on the bd. They include THE WEST END CONNECTION, LES MISERABLES ON LOCATION, BATTLE AT THE BARRICADE and LES MISERABLES SINGING LIVE. The bonus standard definition clips in addition to the entire movie are THE STARS OF LES MISERABLES, CREATING THE PERFECT PARIS, THE ORIGINAL MASTERWORK: VICTOR HUGO'S LES MISERABLES plus four additional clips that are exclusive to the Target edition on a separate dvd.

-Claude

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-23-2013, 12:16 AM:

It just seems kind of stupid to me that that would put ANYthing on a DVD, unless it's another copy of the movie itself. The cost of mastering and etc. can't be that much different from one to the other. Or if it is...make the price reflect the costs. Those idiots should quit bastardizing the product in the name of being the lowest-priced, and instead concentrate on making a product that makes sense.

Not that it matters to me, I guess... I hated that movie and it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever see it again! [Smile]

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-23-2013, 03:17 AM:

I said there is a copy of the entire movie on the DVD.

I is unfortunate you dislike the movie because you are in a very small minority that do.

-Claude

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 03-25-2013, 03:23 PM:

I saw enough of it to know I wasn't gonna like the movie. I'll stick with the Broadway version.

(Same goes for "Rent")

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 03-25-2013, 06:46 PM:

Not just Mike hated it. My town must have hated it. Only 63 Lonely folks bothered to attend the week we played it.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 03-25-2013, 07:37 PM:

You are all still in the minority! I saw it the day it opened on Christmas Day at Regal 's Pearlhighland 12 in the large 800 seat house and it was a sold out performance.Before LES MISERABLES, I heard people applaud a movie only once and it was a 70mm presentation of WESTSIDE STORY during a matinee showing on New Year's Eve, December 31. 1961 at the Grauman''s Chinese Theatre. I am sure people applaud a movie in that Hollywood theatre a lot but In all my years of attending movies in Hawaii I have NEVER HEARD anyone ever applaud a movie here until that opening day showing of LES MISERABLES at the Peal Highland. Unlike WESTSIDE STORY WHEN people applauded at the end of the movie, some people clapped their hands at various part of the movie most especially after Anne Hathaway sang " I Dreamed a Dream".

-Claude

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-25-2013, 09:21 PM:

It did quite well in the Seattle eastside suburbs. Although I do recall one guy constantly coming out for smoke breaks saying it was the worst movie ever, but his girlfriend apparently loved it and most of the crowds I remember looked like they liked it quite a bit (including the guys).

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-27-2013, 08:11 PM:

Some films seem to have that kind of a bipolar personality if you will. And I've come to see that this is almost always true with musicals. People either love them or hate them. I think it's because you have to have a certain mindset to accept people breaking into song for no apparent reason except, here's where the song is supposed to go. Although with LayMiz, sometimes you want to say, "Were does the DIALOGUE go?!

Maybe you need to have a special ability to allow for suspension of disbelief to a much higher level to enjoy a musical, especially if the musical is done in a realistic style....breaking into song certainly strains realism to a new level.

I remember some people who I usually see eye-to-eye about films, hated MOULIN ROUGE, yet I thought it was fine. Some films seem to have that kind of a bipolar personality if you will. And I've come to see that it is almost always true about musicals. People either love them or hate them. I think it's because you have to have a certain mindset to accept characters who otherwise are in a realistic setting, breaking into song for no apparent reason except, this is where the script says the song goes. Maybe you need to have a special ability to allow for suspension of disbelief to a much higher level to enjoy a musical.

I was reminded of that disconnect that people just today when my boss told me that he loathed THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Now I know that during the 70s and 80s it was very fashionable for young people in general and rock and rollers in particular to ridicule the film, but even though that has subsided to some extent, people still seem to be really turned off by it. But as films go, it really isn't a TERRIBLE film by any standard. Maybe a bit too cute (although the Nazi Anschluss isn't exactly a cute topic), maybe even without the songs it stretches credulity, but come on, a film worth of total distain? Not in my book, unless someone only knows it from watching this Todd-AO classic on a 19in TV set in a Pan-&-Scan attrocity as so many people did year after year when it was trotted out like some Hollywood circus freak on TV and peppered with enough commercials for it to play in a 4 & half hour time slot. Ah, the indignity of it. Come to think of it, it's no wonder so many people hate it.

Then again, this may I will be forced run the gawdawful "Sing-a-long" verson of the Sound of Music nightmare. Like the film or not, NO film should be subjected to that indignity, especially not one that to this day still keeps making money for Fox, not to mention that it bailed them out of practically going under after CLEOPATRA. Still making money after half a century and it only cost Fox 86 million.

LayMiz isn't bailing any studio out and it will never be rated by AFI as 40th of the Greatest Films of All Times either.

It didn't work for me, btw. Not a fan with 3/5 and a barely a 3 at that.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-27-2013, 08:30 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
Some films seem to have that kind of a bipolar personality if you will.

So important that you said it in two different paragraphs. [Wink]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-11-2013, 11:54 AM:

I got a pretty good laugh from a special sign the management at Hastings Books Music & Video posted above all the Blu-ray rental disc copies of Les Miserables. It was a warning basically saying this movie has very little dialog and the characters sing nearly all the time and asking the customers to take that into consideration before making their rental choice.

I suppose the sign was placed there in reaction to lots of returns from very stupid rental customers. Yes, I said stupid. What the hell kind of movie were these dip-shits expecting? It's a musical! There's been all sorts of marketing promotion on this movie adaptation, based on a extremely successful stage musical. The trailers and TV commercials had been playing for months. Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for her performance as Fantine. It's a good thing I'm not the manager at our local Hastings store. I literally would have been laughing at those customers. Get some damned culture, morons!

I can understand someone simply not liking movie musicals. But I'm not going to give anyone any slack at all for blindly renting a copy of Les Miserables expecting it to be a conventional action movie/love story.

IMHO, musicals do tend to work better on the stage. Portions of the show are abstracted, leaving it up to the audience to fill in certain blanks whereas movies can "paint in" the entire reality of a scene for the viewer. The stage provides more of a concert/performance paradigm. A character breaking into song in that kind of venue is more acceptable.

I think movie musicals would work better if they weren't so rooted in a conventional appearance of reality. Music videos seem to work really well. On a fundamental level they're not too different from a movie musical. However, music videos can bring in all sorts of unconventional visuals (special effects, motion graphics, various types of art, etc.) to better illustrate feelings, internal monologue, etc. I liked the movie version of Les Miserables alright, but I think it could have been better if it had used some of the tools that make the best music videos work so well.

I can't be too hard on Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and some of the others whose singing talents are not of the elite Broadway stage level. They make up for that with the acting performances, seen in close-up angles you can't see in any stage play. Stage Actress Randy Graff did a much better technical job singing I Dreamed A Dream. Anne Hathaway brought an emotional level to that performance, one that wasn't there in the play. In the end it's kind of an apples to oranges comparison. Hugh Jackman did an excellent job. He really knows how to sing.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-11-2013, 03:43 PM:

[quot3e]I suppose the sign was placed there in reaction to lots of returns from very stupid rental customers. Yes, I said stupid. What the hell kind of movie were these dip-shits expecting? It's a musical! [/quote]
"Stupid" is not a fair term. People just might have been unaware that 100% of the vocals in this movie are sung. Just because it's a huge live-theater hit doesn't mean people know all the details about it. I myself knew next to nothing about Les Miz before we played it.

Very few musical movies have ALL of the dialogue sung; that's a relatively recent phenomenon. Most people, when they think about a musical film, think it's going to have a song here and there with the majority of the acting done in non-singing.

That 100% "singing" approach was probably my biggest reason for hating this particular movie.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-11-2013, 04:15 PM:

Very little of the "dialog" in Les Miserables was out of song form. Some lines of dialog were spoken, but not much. In some respects I kind of prefer that. The performances stay rooted in the musical realm rather than ping-ponging from a conventional film (spoken dialog) reality into song. Honestly, that's what gets me laughing more at musicals than anything. You have a character speaking to other characters in a reality rooted situation and then he or she breaks into song. That can come off pretty damned silly, even if an animated talking animal or tea pot is doing so. Les Miserables actually avoids that silliness by keeping the performances in musical realm.

Moulin Rouge is one of the few musicals whose blatant silliness worked because Baz Luhrmann and his actors embraced the approach to the maximum. Plus he used some of the better approaches I see used in music videos to embellish the visuals beyond a plain, conventional reality.

quote: Mike Blakesley
"Stupid" is not a fair term. People just might have been unaware that 100% of the vocals in this movie are sung.

I doubt that's the issue. Generally speaking, most people either like or really hate musicals with very little in-between. I suspect the disgruntled customers are probably running more along the lines of this scenario:

quote: stupid Hastings customer
Oooo, dude! Check it out! It's a revolutionary war movie starring Wolverine and Gladiator! Let's rent it!

I doubt I'm far off the mark in my judgment. Lots of people will blindly rent movies based solely on which actors they see on the cover -which is also a big reason why current movie posters and movie disc box art sucks ass so badly. Customers can't be bothered with actually picking up the movie disc case and reading a little about the show. Reading? Who's got time for that!

I think most people, at least over age 30, are aware of Les Miserables being an well established, successful stage musical. For all I know there's still live productions of it running somewhere.

I can forgive younger people (teens & college age adults) not being aware of the musical Les Miserables, much less the original novel by Victor Hugo. Still, one could at least bother to read the disc packaging before renting or buying a movie.