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Yesterday, you could say, came in three acts.
Act 1 was attending![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
claxman's Dune game at Modern Myths' Mythos game space, which after a couple of sessions playing in there I quite like, though note to self - bring sweaters. It's a bit chilly up there. Nonetheless, fun was had playing a Bene Gesserit Witch as they say and employing powers of minute observation I don't actually have. Whee. It's a pity what happened to that system, as I do rather like it and the game mechanics for it, and I don't think it would have worked well as a d20, so it's a good thing that the proposed retool never made it to production. Still. Ugh.
Act II was meetingdrowningdeep and heading to Les Miserables. Being that it is Les Miz, my thing for late eighties early nineties Broadway (which was when Dad was pretty much dragging everybody to every show ever open every weekend, this movie was a Big Deal to me.
Pros:
The opening shot coming up through water and up over the boat being pulled into dry dock.
Nice nod to the original production with Colm Wilkenson as the Bishop. Actually there were a lot of callbacks to the stage production that I liked - a lot of the costuming choices were as I remembered them, there are a lot of rotating shots that echo the rotating stage design, and that shot of Enjolras' body upside down with the flag fallen next to him. Well done.
While there were bits where he was obviously straining a bit, Hugh Jackman on the whole made a rather excellent Valjean. Anne Hathaway and the Thenardiers slayed as well. All of the Thenardiers. Master of the House was fantastically over the top, Eponine = yes, and where did they find that kid for Gavroche, he was perfect.
Wee Cosette was adorbs as well. Don't hurt that they found a kid that looked exactly like the poster.
Despite all the excoriation, I didn't think Russell Crowe was That Bad. I'm not as invested in Javert as most people apparently (I have no use for rigidly Lawful Good alignments being as it always ends up coming off as self-righteous douchiness) but I thought he was decent enough and his voice actually had less overstraining issues than Jackman. Also his Batman-like habit of strolling along the ledges of high places was an amusing touch, as was how you could mark the passage of time by the differences in his uniform from shot to shot.
Enjolras. UNF.
I normally have no use for Marius - no matter what format you encounter this story, he is and will always be a complete and utter twit, and for reasons above and beyond his preference for vapid and shallow Cosette to generally pretty badass Eponine. However, his one big number, the Most Feeltastic Ode to Survivor Guilt Ever, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" gets me every damn time. I had not a tear for Fantine or Eponine or even Gavroche up until that point. "Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me/why I live and you are gone" POW. Done. Sobbing. Fuck.
Not only were there callbacks to the stage, I also like that there were nods to the original book as well, stuff that's normally left out of the musical. The elephant. The escape to the convent, and how the man Valjean rescues from the cart comes back to help him. Fantine also selling her teeth as well as her hair. Gavroche being the littlest Thenardier (usually this relationship is completely lost in the play, it's rather more strongly hinted at here). Why Valjean actually shows up at the barricade. (it's a little random that he pops up there in the show.) Marius actually being a rich kid on the outs with his grandfather.
The finale. Just, yes.
Cons:
Cosette was going to get hated on no matter what honestly, I dislike her as an adult in any format. Amanda Seyfried's performance underscored everything I hate about the character and added nuance with her weird warbly notes, oversized bonnets and dead, wet eyes.
Mostly having listed to the score end to end too many times as a kid, i was hyperaware when they made cuts and lyric changes. Most of them made sense and I could forgive them. Castle on a cloud was disappointingly short and I sorely missed Thenardier's cynical "Dog eats Dog" number, not to mention the bit where he and his wife strongly imply that Valjean may be a child molester when trying to get more money out of him.
I don't have as much of a hardon for "Bring Him Home" as most seem to, but it was the low point of Hugh Jackman's performance. It was probably the only point in the movie where I sorely missed Colm Wilkenson's smoothness of tone and effortless higher registers.
WHY WAS THE WHOLE MOVIE SHOT IN CLOSE-UP OH GOD PULL BACK THE CAMERA ONCE IN A WHILE I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN ANNE HATHAWAY'S FLARING NOSTRILS KTHX.
Unsure if want that "Suddenly" number in the carriage. Was that written for the movie? It seemed so... extra.
Overall though, yes, I was quite pleased. Will probably grab it once it hits DVD.
Act III was dinner at Osaka's hibachi tables, which are.... BOISTROUS... on Saturday nights. I've only done hibachi in the afternoon, when its quiet and dead and at most three people are sitting around it with maybe some kids, but the place was packed and it was evening so we had the addition of the chefs punctuating their routines with pulling out giant ketchup squirters full of sake and shooting booze into diners' mouths while they and the table chanted "SAKE! SAKE! SAKE!" Um. And these weren't kids around the tables making a rumpus either, there were no less than three parties of older professorial types at the various tables loading up repeatedly on sake in this fashion and getting all sorts of giggly and inebriated. I didn't escape the sake hose myself when my time came - for not intending to drink at all this evening I left that restaurant more than a little buzzed and soaked in rice wine. More sake, more fun indeed. Or as the phrase got morphed at our table MORE SAKE MORE BABIES. (don't ask me why, we were sitting for some charmingly stoopit late twentysomethings.) Anyway. Food was delicious, hibachi was entertaining as always, and the evening was capped with an utterly divine milkshake at Herrells so I have no complaints at all.
Today my only agenda is a party at Drew's folks for a while, beading, and ripping yarn out of my hair. But now, back to bed. I've been up since 5 for some reason; I think I'm sleepy enough to try catchig some more shuteye.
Act 1 was attending
claxman's Dune game at Modern Myths' Mythos game space, which after a couple of sessions playing in there I quite like, though note to self - bring sweaters. It's a bit chilly up there. Nonetheless, fun was had playing a Bene Gesserit Witch as they say and employing powers of minute observation I don't actually have. Whee. It's a pity what happened to that system, as I do rather like it and the game mechanics for it, and I don't think it would have worked well as a d20, so it's a good thing that the proposed retool never made it to production. Still. Ugh.Act II was meeting
drowningdeep and heading to Les Miserables. Being that it is Les Miz, my thing for late eighties early nineties Broadway (which was when Dad was pretty much dragging everybody to every show ever open every weekend, this movie was a Big Deal to me. Pros:
The opening shot coming up through water and up over the boat being pulled into dry dock.
Nice nod to the original production with Colm Wilkenson as the Bishop. Actually there were a lot of callbacks to the stage production that I liked - a lot of the costuming choices were as I remembered them, there are a lot of rotating shots that echo the rotating stage design, and that shot of Enjolras' body upside down with the flag fallen next to him. Well done.
While there were bits where he was obviously straining a bit, Hugh Jackman on the whole made a rather excellent Valjean. Anne Hathaway and the Thenardiers slayed as well. All of the Thenardiers. Master of the House was fantastically over the top, Eponine = yes, and where did they find that kid for Gavroche, he was perfect.
Wee Cosette was adorbs as well. Don't hurt that they found a kid that looked exactly like the poster.
Despite all the excoriation, I didn't think Russell Crowe was That Bad. I'm not as invested in Javert as most people apparently (I have no use for rigidly Lawful Good alignments being as it always ends up coming off as self-righteous douchiness) but I thought he was decent enough and his voice actually had less overstraining issues than Jackman. Also his Batman-like habit of strolling along the ledges of high places was an amusing touch, as was how you could mark the passage of time by the differences in his uniform from shot to shot.
Enjolras. UNF.
I normally have no use for Marius - no matter what format you encounter this story, he is and will always be a complete and utter twit, and for reasons above and beyond his preference for vapid and shallow Cosette to generally pretty badass Eponine. However, his one big number, the Most Feeltastic Ode to Survivor Guilt Ever, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" gets me every damn time. I had not a tear for Fantine or Eponine or even Gavroche up until that point. "Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me/why I live and you are gone" POW. Done. Sobbing. Fuck.
Not only were there callbacks to the stage, I also like that there were nods to the original book as well, stuff that's normally left out of the musical. The elephant. The escape to the convent, and how the man Valjean rescues from the cart comes back to help him. Fantine also selling her teeth as well as her hair. Gavroche being the littlest Thenardier (usually this relationship is completely lost in the play, it's rather more strongly hinted at here). Why Valjean actually shows up at the barricade. (it's a little random that he pops up there in the show.) Marius actually being a rich kid on the outs with his grandfather.
The finale. Just, yes.
Cons:
Cosette was going to get hated on no matter what honestly, I dislike her as an adult in any format. Amanda Seyfried's performance underscored everything I hate about the character and added nuance with her weird warbly notes, oversized bonnets and dead, wet eyes.
Mostly having listed to the score end to end too many times as a kid, i was hyperaware when they made cuts and lyric changes. Most of them made sense and I could forgive them. Castle on a cloud was disappointingly short and I sorely missed Thenardier's cynical "Dog eats Dog" number, not to mention the bit where he and his wife strongly imply that Valjean may be a child molester when trying to get more money out of him.
I don't have as much of a hardon for "Bring Him Home" as most seem to, but it was the low point of Hugh Jackman's performance. It was probably the only point in the movie where I sorely missed Colm Wilkenson's smoothness of tone and effortless higher registers.
WHY WAS THE WHOLE MOVIE SHOT IN CLOSE-UP OH GOD PULL BACK THE CAMERA ONCE IN A WHILE I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN ANNE HATHAWAY'S FLARING NOSTRILS KTHX.
Unsure if want that "Suddenly" number in the carriage. Was that written for the movie? It seemed so... extra.
Overall though, yes, I was quite pleased. Will probably grab it once it hits DVD.
Act III was dinner at Osaka's hibachi tables, which are.... BOISTROUS... on Saturday nights. I've only done hibachi in the afternoon, when its quiet and dead and at most three people are sitting around it with maybe some kids, but the place was packed and it was evening so we had the addition of the chefs punctuating their routines with pulling out giant ketchup squirters full of sake and shooting booze into diners' mouths while they and the table chanted "SAKE! SAKE! SAKE!" Um. And these weren't kids around the tables making a rumpus either, there were no less than three parties of older professorial types at the various tables loading up repeatedly on sake in this fashion and getting all sorts of giggly and inebriated. I didn't escape the sake hose myself when my time came - for not intending to drink at all this evening I left that restaurant more than a little buzzed and soaked in rice wine. More sake, more fun indeed. Or as the phrase got morphed at our table MORE SAKE MORE BABIES. (don't ask me why, we were sitting for some charmingly stoopit late twentysomethings.) Anyway. Food was delicious, hibachi was entertaining as always, and the evening was capped with an utterly divine milkshake at Herrells so I have no complaints at all.
Today my only agenda is a party at Drew's folks for a while, beading, and ripping yarn out of my hair. But now, back to bed. I've been up since 5 for some reason; I think I'm sleepy enough to try catchig some more shuteye.
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 04:11 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 04:47 pm (UTC)From:"Suddenly" was written expressly for the movie, but I liked its placement in the story; there had just been a lot of frantic singing/action/revelation, and I felt like it was a sentiment that Valjean would probably have at that moment, and it helped the pacing. (It's probably a grab for the "Best Original Song" in this year's Oscars...)
I had my problems with Marius, too, mostly because in the book, Victor Hugo basically says, "You know that guy who got Fantine pregnant and abandoned her? Marius is exactly the same, except a little more idealistic." (Copious paraphrasing, but...) However, the guy in the film did have a fantastic voice and that song got me, too.
All that *and* a Herrells shake?? I'm so envious! XD
no subject
Date: 2013-01-06 05:57 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-01-08 01:05 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-01-08 11:55 am (UTC)From: