Printer Friendly - Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 15:46:23
Anne Hathaway should be arrested for murder. Murdering the signature song "I Dreamed A Dream" in Les Miserables. Obviously Anne didn't pay attention in acting class. Lesson number one is you don't play the end at the beginning. There's a reason why the lyrics say "BUT the tigers come at night." It signals the actress that there is to be a change in the tone of the song. The song is titled I dreamed a dream, not I cried through a dream. And I love how when she's in the hospital and she sings "Cosette it's growing cold" and then coughs twice to make sure we understand how sick she really is.
Overall I was a bit disappointed with the movie. I thought it would be more epic than it was. I thought that none of the main actors rose to the quality of the material (Amanda Seyfried is excused because Cosette is a poorly written role that you can't do much with.)
I thought Samantha Barks was the most truthful of the actors and her only real problem was that she was poorly directed.
Hugh Jackman was ok. I believed his ValJean, but there wasn't enough energy behind his acting.
Russell Crowe acted like a piece of wood from the barricade. No passion at all.
Eddie Redmayne was ok, but miscast. Not dashing enough.
Sasha and Helena did the best they could, but once again I think they were victims of poor direction. I think Tom Hooper squeezed all the fun out of "Master of the House" with all that jumpy camera work.
It seems Hooper is great at little bits of business, like the Santa at the end of Master of the House, but he just doesn't know how to pull together an entire film. Also, the eye behind Jackman when he's singing the prayer was a bit too obvious.
And I wonder if the cast was paid by the number of tears they shed, because every character cries at some point. This was the weepiest Les Miserables I've ever seen.
What they did get right:
the ending when [spoiler alert] Valjean walks toward the priest. I could never figure out why Eponine was in that moment and it makes much more sense for him to walk to the priest, thereby closing the circle that the priest claimed him for God at the beginning.
Little Cosette was great and I love how she has the doll whisper in her ear on the line "Cosette I love you very much".
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Blockhead24 2012-12-30 15:59:44
this really needed its own thread?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 16:02:34
"this really needed its own thread?"
Yes, as a matter of fact it did.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Wishing Only Wounds 2012-12-30 16:23:07
I thought lesson number one was (is) to make choices?
This could've gone in the other thread.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by qolbinau 2012-12-30 16:27:22
I don't quite understand your argument. The beginning of Hathaway's I DREAMED A DREAM is very obviously her reflecting on when she was happy/her life was 'good', but then "It all went wrong". The subtext of the phrase "I dreamed a dream" is not an inspirational one. It's mostly hopeless, except perhaps some hope that "he'll come to [her]", although she knows it's a pipe dream.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by dramamama611 2012-12-30 16:28:16
So, where Barks went wrong is a directorial issue. But since you didn't like Hathaway, it's HER shortcomings?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by best12bars 2012-12-30 16:29:09
Anne was great! I loved her performance.
Wait, should I start another thread about that? Is that how it works?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by JP2 2012-12-30 16:31:59
Apparently Anne strapped a gun to your head and forced you to shell out $14.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-30 16:34:29
And someone put a gun to his/her head to start a new thread, even though there is one already entitled, "LES MIS - SO, WHAT DID YA THINK?????????????"
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by best12bars 2012-12-30 16:35:43
I think Goth owes each of us $14 for reading this thread.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by sabrelady 2012-12-30 16:38:07
^^^^
What Best-y sez.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 16:43:46
"The beginning of Hathaway's I DREAMED A DREAM is very obviously her reflecting on when she was happy/her life was 'good', but then "It all went wrong".
See I didn't get that. I don't think she sustained the reflection long enough. All the lyrics about "I was young and unafraid, dream made, used, wasted, no ransom to be paid..." should all be reflection.
Anne hits the emotional climax too early in the song and has no where to take it at the end. She's wringing tears through most of it. With the intimacy of film, I think she could have done more with the song.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Wishing Only Wounds 2012-12-30 16:48:05
I don't know why I'm indulging you, but did you go to the bathroom during "so different now, from what it seems..."? Her losing her breath and starting to choke on tears was one of the most genuine and moving things I've ever seen on a movie screen. I think the new placement of the song was enough of a set up, she just went off with it.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by henrikegerman 2012-12-30 16:56:30
How could she owe you the entire $14 when she dies 1/3 of the way through the movie?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by ReggieonBway 2012-12-30 16:58:23
Well this thread is ridiculous. Your elementary understanding of acting as craft aside, Anne did a fantastic job with the song. Crying is only climax for actors who fake externals.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Wynbish 2012-12-30 17:00:12
How could she owe you the entire $14 when she dies 1/3 of the way through the movie?
This.
That's less than $4.70.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 17:00:43
"Her losing her breath and starting to choke on tears was one of the most genuine and moving things I've ever seen on a movie screen."
And if "so different know" was the first time she did it, then it would be fine. But the whole thing is sung thin voiced and teary.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by RooMcGoo 2012-12-30 17:01:48
I agree.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-30 17:05:12
Chick ate crumbs for a month and became skeletal to reach such a state of misery, and you want her to happily reflect? XD
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by RENT_is_Wicked2 2012-12-30 17:05:32
Anne was crying because she DREAMED A DREAM that she had a better life, her life is hell Nd she has gone through so much just for her child. If I were her, I'd be crying just like she did during that song.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Wynbish 2012-12-30 17:06:08
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 17:07:32
Hathaway is an above the title name singing THE most popular song from the musical. She didn't deliver. There are several actresses that could have blown Hathaway's performance right off the screen.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by FindingNamo 2012-12-30 17:08:30
I'm happy to engage in this thread pro bono. I think they were weepy cuz it has "miserable" in the title.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 17:18:21
Roo, LOL at that Youtube clip.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 17:19:43
As Forbidden Broadway said: It's less miserable than other shows.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by sabrelady 2012-12-30 17:34:45
There are several actresses that could have blown Hathaway's performance right off the screen.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOL
a hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
e hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehhehehehehehhehehe
* stops bcoz can't...catch....breath.....*
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Jane2 2012-12-30 17:41:30
"There are several actresses that could have blown Hathaway's performance right off the screen."
Name a few. (I'm playing along)
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by SporkGoddess 2012-12-30 17:46:53
Speaking of Forbidden Broadway, all I kept thinking of during "Bring Him Home" was "God It's High."
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by iflip4musicals 2012-12-30 17:48:15
Roo that video is incredible!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by everythingtaboo 2012-12-30 17:57:22
Roo is my new favorite person.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by best12bars 2012-12-30 18:00:13
I posted it in the other thread, but his video really cracked me up.
Shared it on Facebook, too!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Bettyboy72 2012-12-30 18:04:06
"See I didn't get that. I don't think she sustained the reflection long enough. All the lyrics about "I was young and unafraid, dream made, used, wasted, no ransom to be paid..." should all be reflection.
It's hard to reflect quietly when you sold your hair and teeth, have numerous STDs and some dude just busted a nut in you.
I think she handled the song well.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by best12bars 2012-12-30 18:12:05
What Bettyboy said.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by trentsketch 2012-12-30 18:38:31
I also think she totally overplayed the beginning of the song and had nowhere to go.
The problem, though, is the context of the song in the film. Moving it after Lovely Ladies makes a lot of sense in the narrative. It just kills the opportunity to do what others have done for years with the song. When the characters sings it after being fired, she has a chance for hope. She could never predict that she'd become a toothless, hairless whore. In the film, the only thing left is death. It's forces the song into a more morose place. Where do you find authentic levity in being a toothless, disease-ridden whore by the docks?
With all of that said, Hathaway did go straight for the tears. I don't know whose fault that is. Hooper's the one who thought a close-up was the right answer in the editing room for every solo (save On My Own and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables), but Hathaway's the one who put in gigantic pauses to cry some more in the middle of words and phrases in the second half of the song. I think there was room to play up the character as trapped in happier time at the beginning that would have made the ending more dynamic. It started at a 10/10 on the severely depressed scale and had nowhere to go when the song turns tragic.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Auggie27 2012-12-30 19:24:53
The teeth. Those pulled teeth. I couldn't stop thinking about them, how could she?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 19:42:33
trentsketch, thank you for your comment. I didn't think about the placement of the song, but you are right. I don't think the song is as effective when it comes after Lovely Ladies.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Jane2 2012-12-30 19:44:13
So Goth, who are some of those other actresses who could blow Hathaway off the screen?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by FindingNamo 2012-12-30 19:47:02
I was going to pick that triple threat from SNL but then I remembered that was Anne Hathaway.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by OperaBwayLover 2012-12-30 19:49:51
*munches popcorn and watches/reads from the peanut gallery*
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 19:51:47
"So Goth, who are some of those other actresses who could blow Hathaway off the screen?"
Lea Michele
Sutton Foster
Katharine McPhee
The only actress I like in that list is Sutton Foster, but any one of the three would have known to hold the tears until "But there are dreams that can not be"
There's that musical bridge right before "I had a dream my life would be". That was put in there so Patti LuPone could catch her breath and summon the tears.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by SporkGoddess 2012-12-30 19:59:14
Katharine McPhee? Really?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 20:02:37
I'm not a McPhee fan, but let's be honest, Fantine sings a power ballad and then dies. McPhee could have handled that.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by SporkGoddess 2012-12-30 20:13:10
Not with those dead eyes of hers, she couldn't.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 20:15:27
"Not with those dead eyes of hers, she couldn't."
Because a hairless, toothless whore would have vibrant eyes?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by OperaBwayLover 2012-12-30 20:16:55
The problem with Lea Michele is she looks way too young to play Fantine, even though she's in her mid-twenties. Plus, diva behavior or not, I can't see her doing any of the stuff Hathaway did for the role- the drastic weight loss or haircut. Also, she closes her eyes way too much when she sings. I like my Fantines to keep their eyes open for the majority of their part. :-p
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 20:21:12
No, the problem with Lea Michele is that nobody would pay to drop their anchor in that harbor. Sort of like Barbra in Nuts.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 20:23:28
"Speaking of Forbidden Broadway, all I kept thinking of during "Bring Him Home" was "God It's High."
I always liked "Rich folks pay twenty bucks a shirt...that has a starving pauper on it."
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by goldenboy 2012-12-30 20:34:04
I'd like to get my 9 bucks back (went to a matinee)
I think its Mr. Hooper that owes me the 9!
Thought it was so dull. Left after one hour and 15 minutes.
Everyone seemed so ..well. miserable. Even Master of the House
was a downer. I know it was the French Revolution.. but you are telling me no one was happy?? Not even Marie Antoinette eating cake? Or 15 minutes with one of those whores??? And all this for a loaf of bread? Pleae!!!! Get over it. Awful musical. Not since Man of La Mancha.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by henrikegerman 2012-12-30 22:12:19
Goth, judging Hathaway's I Dreamed A Dream in the context of the show, I might agree with you that she began the song where it ends. But it comes in the movie at a very different point in her life than it does in the show. Unlike in the show, she has already been, not only fired, but totally debased. Given all of that, the beginning of the song is a very different moment than it usually is. Had Hathaway performed the start of the song as it usually performed it would have been a flat out lie. She performs it in reference to the moment before the song starts as that moment was conceived for the film. And she's quite brilliant.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by PReeves2 2012-12-30 23:04:39
Gothampc, your posts make you seem envious and somewhat jealous of someone else's talents and successes. Unless you were on the set and able to know every detail of the directing and rehearsal process for the cast you are only able to post a bloggers review on a message board. Which is exactly what you have done, only you want yours to be more important so you started another opinion thread. IT was only a movie.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Kad 2012-12-30 23:09:59
" I know it was the French Revolution.. but you are telling me no one was happy??"
Except it's not. In fact, the first thing we see on screen is text saying this isn't the French revolution.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by callitquits 2012-12-30 23:22:23
I did not have any issues with the movie centering around - as the title would seem to indicate! - the miserable... but I will say that while there may have been text saying the French Revolution had occurred years earlier, Tom Hooper/the screenwriter/whoever really did not help clear up this commonly held misunderstanding by adding a bit of dialogue where a French soldier yells "WHO'S THERE?!" and Enjolras responds "...THE FRENCH REVOLUTION!"
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Kad 2012-12-30 23:34:18
He actually just responds "French revolution."
But come on. The first thing you see in this film is text that all but says "THIS IS NOT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION." And then the film updates you on various dates that are further and further away from the French Revolution. And then characters reference how they have previously had a revolution. If people are still confused, I don't think they should be seeing movies.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-30 23:56:50
henrikegerman, I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't make sense. We see her go through all this mess, fired, debased, becoming a prostitute, then she sings a song about it? "Life has killed the dream I dreamed". Well duh, we can see that.
There has to be progression within the song, otherwise why sing it? I didn't think that Anne Hathaway made any progress in the song. She starts crying and ends crying. The whole song is thin voice and trembling lip.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by StageManager2 2012-12-30 23:58:21
Kad, why didn't he just shout, "Revolution!" They're in France, after all. It seems a little redundant.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Kad 2012-12-31 00:12:37
I don't know, I didn't write the line in.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by chrisampm2 2012-12-31 02:17:41
Gotham, you include a Beckett quote as part of all your posts. How much of a traditional arc is built into each of the roles he writes? Listen to LuPone in the original. She doesn't sound all that happy at the start.
I agree that there have to be shifts in any piece. The more, the better so long as they're subtle. The actor needs to play the given circumstances (which you seem to have forgotten). To me, the reason for the song, in this placement, is we witness the character's last ditch effort to fight tooth (oh those teeth) and nail for her survival. I thought Hathaway showed the death of a dream. I was moved by it.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by SpaceOpera 2012-12-31 02:59:41
Susan Boyle was better than Anne Hathaway.
Wait what are we talking about?
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by sabrelady 2012-12-31 03:29:34
THERE Goth - DAT"S da singer that can do it bettah more than Hathaway. well fou YOU Ima shure!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by bobs3 2012-12-31 05:02:13
Anne Hathaway owes you NOTHING (and so what if you didn't like her, she is going to cry all the way to the bank with her percentage of the gross including your $14)!!!!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2012-12-31 07:43:15
Goth, you are wrong... and always have been wrong.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by PalJoey 2012-12-31 08:58:24
This thread was worth $14 just because it introduced us to the truly funny Roo McGoo.
Bravoo, Roo!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by ticenewyorkcity 2012-12-31 09:42:30
I cannot thank Gothampc enough for the free acting lesson. I was looking into new class options but I've now been spared the trouble.
I've quickly learned all I need to know.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by jdtp12 2012-12-31 10:48:33
"She starts crying and ends crying. The whole song is thin voice and trembling lip."
Sure, she was in tears the whole time, but there was still progression in the song. She didn't sing the entire thing with the ferocity she sang lines like "..so different from this hell I'm living." She definitely built it up; it wasn't a one dynamic song, in my opinion.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by BroadwayBenny 2012-12-31 11:53:18
Sorry Goth, you're on your own, but you tried.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Owen22 2012-12-31 14:34:13
"Lea Michele
Sutton Foster
Katharine McPhee"
Oh, no you di'unt!!!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by yankeefan7 2013-01-01 09:54:24
Actually, Crowe owes you $14 - lol. Like you said, he was wooden and I think it is safe to say does not have the singing voice to do the role justice. Jackman was fine, think he did a good job overall. The best voice of the whole movie IMO was Aaron Tveit.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Movidude742 2013-01-01 10:25:02
So you saw the entire movie, you consumed it in its entirety and yet you want your money back? you were not so upset that you left early, there were no problems with the theater's sound system or projector, and you saw it all and you want your money back?
I don't think you understand how this system works
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Patash 2013-01-01 12:32:01
I understand this separate thread for such an inane discussion. There isn't enough room in any other thread to hold how much this poster doesn't understand -- about Les Miserables, about the film, or even about acting.
So she is at the bottom of the barrel when she starts singing, but because she is supposed to be remembering happier days, she should suddenly get back her strength and maybe skip around the street tossing flower petals in the air rather than show how truly defeated she is at the moment the song starts?
I'm sorry, the entire thing was way too subtle for you to understand and that you were unable to see any "development" in her emotions. Sometimes things shouldn't have to hit people over the head so they can see the emotional development -- smile here means you're happy, then cry to show you're sad. But clearly that's what you needed.
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by beensince1987 2013-01-01 13:36:26
"Anne hits the emotional climax too early in the song and has no where to take it at the end. She's wringing tears through most of it."
Isn't that what Bernadette did with Losing My Mind in Follies? (At least one of the times I seen that show...)
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by emida 2013-01-01 16:43:22
Roo, that youtube video was hilarious...
I must say that while I went into the theater wanting not to like Anne Hathaway, because I felt she was miscast, I ended up surprised at how good she was. Not how I always envisionned the character, but I think her interpretation was interesting and different. She was definitely one of the best things in the movie for me along with Samantha Barks, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and the actor playing Gavroche.
I felt the only real weak link was Russell Crowe and even if I usually don't have too much trouble with actors singing in musicals, his voice was hard on my ears and his acting was as bad. Hugh Jackman was good, but his voice was sometimes grating. I loathed Bring Him Home... I was so uncomfortable during that whole scene... I felt he was better in the first part of the movie...
As for Amanda Seyfried, I don't mind her. I didn't love her or hated her, she was just there... but Cosette is such an uninteresting character that it would probably have been the same with any actress playing her... Little Cosette was good though!
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by Playbilly 2013-01-01 18:27:13
I never say that another poster's comments are invalid. Except now. To quote Bugs Bunny, Goth, "You are a ment'al case!"
Anne Hathaway Owes Me $14
Posted by OperaBwayLover 2013-01-01 21:20:11
Guys: Enjolras's line about the French Revolution comes straight from the book.
