Les Miserables (2012)

Running Time: 158 minutes.
Media: Cinematic release (Hoyts Broadway)


True story, when I was seven, my mother had a number of books in French that I was interested in reading... There was Around the World in 80 Days, The Three Musketeers, From the Earth to the Moon, and Les Miserables. I couldn't help asking my mother "Who's Les? He's got a pretty awful surname...?"

Alright, you can stop laughing... I did think it was a pretty unfortunate surname. And I never thought to see the musical until recently, and now that I have seen this adaptation, I would love the opportunity to see this once it makes its way back to Australia... that and Avenue Q, but I digress...

I was really happy about seeing this widescreen, and I knew that being a 2½-plus hour movie, the category of "EPIC!" would consistently flash in my head as I watched it, I made myself comfortable. Being a late session there weren't many people around... in fact I would have been surprised if there were no more than ten people in this particular cinema. This made for a wonderful viewing session.

Moving on, Les Mis has managed to garner nine (count them, nine) BAFTA Awards, including Best Film, Best British Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role and eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Now given that Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway have already won Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively, the odds of them bagging an Oscar each this year are quite high... I wouldn't be surprised if this movie gets a clean sweep.

For those living under a rock, Les Mis, is the story of the struggle of one Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman), who has made a promise to a former and now dead worker of his to look after her illegitimate daughter. Valjean is also on the run from parole after serving a nineteen year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread... Times were harsh back in pre-revolutionary France. Valjean's nemesis is a prison guard, Javert (played by Russell Crowe), who has made it his life's work to hunt Valjean down and bring him back to jail for breaking parole.

Cosette, played by the ever adorable Amanda Seyfried is the adopted daughter of Valjean, with her mother, Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway. The musical is such that very little of the script is spoken, it's sung through pretty much from beginning to end... which kinda reminded me of how it was with Evita. The music is wonderful and it captures your heart, because it is bubbling with raw emotion... especially from Jackman and Hathaway... all other characters kinda pale in comparison... Russell Crowe less so, seeing that a number of critics have said that his only real musical experience stems from his involvement in his band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, and an assortment of random appearances... But you know what? He pulls it off just fine, I like his performance as Javert. Javert is a very troubled character, and as a result, the singing must follow in a similar manner to reveal the character through their music. Valjean is hurried and passionate and loving and determined for survival, and his singing conveys that. Javert's character is focused and troubled at the same time, with an obsessive streak with finding Valjean and bringing him to justice, and Crowe's singing conveys this too.

Hathaway's... just... extraordinary, I had to shake my head in disbelief in how beautiful and heart wrenching it was... It put Susan Boyle's rendition to shame. Fantine (Hathaway's character) is only focused on one thing, not herself, but the life of her daughter, Cosette. She's literally sacrificed herself so that he daughter could live. I believe her portrayal of Fantine. I wanted to cry, I really did.

Jackman, though said by a number of critics as "not as good" as his 1985-1987 London production counterpart, Colm Wilkinson, is actually remarkable, he embodies that role... and he's quite believable. What I was surprised about though was how he managed to shape up for the role. He actually lost 15 pounds (6½ kilos), to become the gaunt and emaciated ex-convict Jean Valjean, and gained 30 pounds (13 kilos), to become the mayor, Monsieur Madeleine, the new identity adopted by Valjean. Jackman is known for the vigorous regimes he undertakes for certain roles. He had a similar regime when he underwent a high intensity weight training regimen to improve his physique for the role of Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He altered the training program to shock his body into change and also performed cardiovascular workouts. So that shot of him as Wolverine rising from the tank after having his bones infused with adamantium - no digital touches whatsoever.


Rusty's portrayal of Javert is complex, but you kinda feel sorry for him after realizing he (Javert) is only just trying to do his job... He's taken a lot of flack for his performance, and I can see why some people may think that way, but I feel he gave it his all in this role; and while though that may not be enough for some, without Javert there can be no Jean Valjean. For those who don't care, look towards the end of the film at Javert's final scene where his soliloquy kinda makes you understand why he spent all that time chasing Valjean, and the inevitable demise thereafter, but prepare to cringe at the very moment.

There are a few surprises scattered here and there throughout the film. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter play Monsieur and Madame Thénardier; and they previously starred together in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, so their ability to work together musically is surprisingly upbeat. Bonham Carter looks like she tends to, a bit necrotic... She does star as a number of unusual roles, doesn't she? But she works well as Cohen's husband on-screen. Cohen works wonders as Monsieur Thénardier, and I think kinda steals the scenes he's in. He's a hidden jewel in the movie... a built in "easter egg" of sorts.

Who else, oh yes... For those playing at home, the Bishop is indeed Colm Wilkinson, the original Jean Valjean from the London production back in the 80's. I hear there's also a cameo of Frances Ruffelle as a prostitute who harasses Fantine, but I have yet to find her. I almost squealed in my seat when I did, not that the other ten or so audience members noticed... Being a late session I enjoyed this movie without much interruption, and I enjoyed it so much, I almost came close to singing along... But I didn't, but any musical that makes you feel like doing so must deserve some sort of credit for moving you.

That is why I am giving Les Miserables a 4½ star rating. It comes very close, but there's a feeling that it doesn't quite give you the opportunity to sit back and take in the performances, it's almost as if it wanted to finish a lot sooner than expected. I may also be docking the ½ a star due to the slight tranquilizing effect that Crowe gives as Javert in certain scenes. Although he does well for what I believe is his first musical, he doesn't bring it home. Sorry Rusty, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed your performance, but I feel that somehow you seemed a little subdued in the final edit; that could very well have been to direct our attention to Hugh, who knows? Four and a half stars.

The Hunger Games

Running Time: 142 minutes.

Media: Blu-Ray.

A friend of mine decided to do something rather silly for me when he loaded the Blu-Ray for the first time. Having not seen the movie on the big screen, I looked forward to seeing the film. My friend decided to switch the subtitles to Hungarian... Thus turning "The Hunger Games" to "The Hungarian Games"... I know, it was a bad joke, but to be honest it had no change to my thoughts on the film.

I have to confess, this movie was intriguing. It's medieval and at the same time, it's futuristic. It's full of normal people and also filled with... "freaks" for the lack of a better word... This clash of old and new, young and old, past and future... it pulls you in and grabs your attention.

The Hunger Games put simply is what would happen if the game "Mortal Kombat" had mated with the reality show "Big Brother". The film is set in what seems like a post-apocalyptic world where twelve districts in the nation of Panem every year send two tributes each in a fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen, played by the very youthful and very ravishing Jennifer Lawrence is one of the latest tributes to have been recruited into the Hunger Games, an annual fight to the death competition forced on twenty-four randomly picked kids, after volunteering herself to compete in place of her sister when she gets picked. Katniss is somewhat an anti-hero in this film, she doesn't want to be famous or be anyone's savior, she just wants to survive, live well with her family and grow old.

Lawrence, who is a blonde, dyed her hair dark to play the role of Katniss, embodies the role with all her being... I'm guessing she's read the books prior to starring as her nuances are pretty much how I had pictured as I read the first book. She's only 22, and already has managed to star in not only this movie, but a number of others including X-Men: First Class, The Poker House, and the somewhat controversial Mel Gibson movie, The Beaver. Some would say that Mel finally cracked with that movie because he's talking through a puppet... But I digress. Lawrence does hook and reel you in, and you find yourself living the Hunger Games themselves, as though you were an observer from within the playing field. I can see this movie franchise raking in big in the upcoming sequels based on her performance alone, with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire currently in post-production, and coming out later this year.

Josh Hutcherson, who plays the male lead in the film, Peeta Mellark, is a bit of an enigma; and I think this is simply because he's starred in a rather diverse miasma of B-grade films. I don't mean this in a bad way, but it's these films that have built up his filmography extensively; The Polar Express back in 2004, RV starring Robin Williams, Zathura, Bridge to Terabithia, and most recently the new Red Dawn remake, which is not so B-grade, but has so far collected a modest 43 million in the box office. Mellark, Hutcherson's character is the other tribute from Katniss's region of whom she despises at first but then kinda warms up to slowly once it's revealed he has a thing for her. And how complex does it get when someone who likes you ends up being someone who has the possible option of killing you in a forced competition in a post-apocalyptic Earth? If can get pretty complicated indeed. But somehow, Hutcherson pulls Mellark's character off rather well, albeit making him seem like a fairly timid but strong character within the film.

Secondary characters such as Haymitch, their mentor, played by Woody Harrelson give a little meat to the film. Harrelson in this film looks like Aragorn straight out of the Renaissance. I actually pictured the character from the book to be a bit older, uglier and crueler; but somehow Woody wins me over with his performance with his lax and somewhat inebriated character portrayal. Elizabeth Banks, who is an absolute hottie off-screen, is probably the closest thing to comedy relief as playing the part of Effie Trinket, Peeta's and Katniss's chaperone, who attempts to go one over Lady Gaga with her outlandish hair, makeup and wardrobe... She seems to represent the upper class in Panem's Capitol, but I think her entire goal throughout the movie is to not be taken seriously, which isn't hard to do... I found myself stifling bouts of laughter every time she came on the screen... I have to admit, it's rather sad to see her like this. I absolutely adore Elizabeth, she's talented, witty, and an utter babe - but this role kinda undermined her true talent.

There is a somewhat obligatory casting of Donald Sutherland as yet another person high up in the food chain with a slight hint of evil in his agenda... You know, I hate to say this, but Donald's been cast a lot in these types of roles of late, and when I say "of late" I mean, even before he played the role of X in JFK back in 1991. What is it about him that attracts these kind of roles? He's a strong silent type, granted, but is it the way he looks? He plays the part of President Snow, a somewhat elderly gent who is resistant to the possible uprisings of the remaining twelve districts within Panem, and wants nothing more than to see the districts trodden underfoot. He doesn't stay on for very long on screen, so hopefully we may see some further character development in the sequels.

Finally, I have to give kudos to Lenny Kravitz, playing the role of Cinna, Katniss's pre-competition stylist. I don't think  have ever seen Lenny without the nose rings, the wild hair and sunglasses until now... But, man, I am impressed, the man can act! And he does it so well... I had to re-read the start of the book and picture him playing Cinna, and it just clicks. It's a bit of a juxtaposition, seeing him very plain-clothed and toned down in comparison to who he is in real life and his known performance value, and then realizing that the outlandish side of Kravitz in the film is manifested in the wardrobe choices worn by Katniss and Peeta. I think this movie would not have been the same or as appealing without Lenny being cast in the film, as his character adds a considerable amount of emotionality and balance to the craziness and violence surrounding the rest of the film.

The death scenes are not as explicit as I thought they would be, having read the book prior to watching this. If anything, they were a lot more subdued than I had anticipated; I found a Coca-Cola ad inspired by the film to be incredibly gory in comparison. The timeline for the film doesn't jump around with respect to the book, so you don't go questioning the linearity of it, and the film towards the end leaving you with a sense that there is definitely something to follow. I enjoyed this film, but I can't say that I felt completely convinced to award this a full five stars. It feels like there is something missing, I'm not sure what, maybe a little more blood... But it is something worth seeing, and I'm sure with it currently raking in over $680 million in the box office that Suzanne Collins, the author of the book series will be pleased to know that she can retire comfortably in her gold-plated yacht for many years to come. The Hunger Games scores 4½ stars.

Pearl Harbor

Screening Time: 184 minutes.
Media: Blu-Ray.

Michael Bay has a lot to answer for with regards to this film. Despite earning nearly $450 million in the US Box office, and thereby giving it the title of the sixth-highest earning film in 2001, "Pearl Harbor" has received so much flak in the way of reviews and critiques, it's been deemed as the second worst film of Michael Bay's movie career. Second. Not the first, but second. What was the first? It seems "Pearl Harbor" had some stiff competition against "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" only to lose out for the title.

Okay, here's the low-down. It's a war movie which is wrapped around a somewhat predictable love triangle. The problem here is that the movie is meant to reflect the real life events of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941; but in doing so it is filled with a number of inaccuracies, I won't go through the list as the Wikipedia article of the movie is considerably thorough. Needless to say, being based on a historical event as significant as the trigger that led the Americans to enter World War II against the Japanese, it's no wonder that Pearl Harbor attack survivors dismissed the film as "grossly inaccurate and pure Hollywood."

The concept of artistic license appears to be considerably stretched in terms of what happened, how it happened, where and with whom, et cetera; and I'll come to Bay's defense here, these changes were more than likely done to help improve the plot line of the film. While this'll not have been the perfect solution and despite the plethora of bad press and reviews it received, the film was simply this: a piece of fiction based on a real life event. And yes, it wasn't necessarily the best way to go about it, but the movie did make $450 million dollars, so there must have been something that deserved that kind of return.

Let's take for granted that yes, Michael Bay did push the limits of twisting the events of the attack of Pearl Harbor to suit the story line of the film. Let's look past what we can with respect to the actual war components and look beyond that to the interwoven love story, A difficult task for some, I know.

Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett play lifelong buddies who join the US Air Force. Kate Beckinsale plays Affleck's love interest... And then plays Hartnett's love interest... And then Affleck's again... After he supposedly returns from the dead after nearly getting killed in a mission with the British Royal Air Force fighting the Nazis...

The storyline is fairly predictable, and right now I don't rightly care about giving out the spoilers for this film: Boy meets girl, boy goes to fight Nazis, boy supposedly killed in action, boy's best friend comforts girl, boy's best friend and girl fall in love, boy comes back "from the dead", boy feels betrayed, boy and his best friend go to war against the Japanese after being attacked, boy's best friend dies after discovering girl is pregnant, boy and girl get back together and raise son named after dead best friend.

So let's see, a few clichés scattered in this film; the lifelong friendship, the love triangle, the betrayal and the consequent forgiveness, the naming of the kid after the dead friend... I always found that last one a little creepy... Oh, and let's not forget the somewhat hammy death scene of Hartnett's... I actually found myself asking these very words: "Are you f[CENSORED]king kidding me?" To see that particular scene was as painful as wiping my backside with sandpaper.

I have to confess I am very much divided as to how to rate this movie. Granted, there's the love story and the war, and the attacks and the special effects; but I have to say that I must lean towards a low rating... This movie was meant to reflect the historical account of the Pearl Harbor attacks, and as someone who recently visited the Pearl Harbor memorial site, and learned of the story first hand from footage and personal account from survivors from the attacks, it saddens me that a number of inaccuracies were made in the name of entertainment... It kinda sullies the historic value of what Pearl Harbor represents, kinda craps over it... And it's because of this that I award this film two stars for the effort.