<p>^The book starts in 1815 (year of the Battle of Waterloo and the restoration of the monarchy), most of the events center around the 1832 attempt to get rid of the monarchy.</p>
<p>Highly recommend Silver Linings Playbook!</p>
<p>All four of us (me, H, D1 and D2) really, really liked it.</p>
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<p>It was a CGI butterfly.</p>
<p>^really? Aw…you spoiled the magic :)</p>
<p>Les Mis sounds great!
( Russell Crowe also used to have a rock band so I knew he could sing <a href=“Discovery Hub - News & Technology”>Discovery Hub - News & Technology)</p>
<p>I guess I will have to wait till I get back to Seattle to see it though, because my youngest went with us to see The Hobbit yesterday, and while she is a HuGE Tolkien fan, she hates sitting still and thought it was too slow.
I actually didn’t think it was too slow, but I did wonder at subtle story changes. I also thought the fight scenes went on a little too long and there could have been more humor like I feel there is in the book.
And why do people take toddlers to see The Hobbit?</p>
<p>H and I saw Silver Linings Playbook last night and both liked it a lot (and he hates almost everything). It put me in mind of an old favorite–Moonstruck.</p>
<p>I am grumpy about the casting of Les Mis and probably will boycott it for that reason. With all the wonderful Broadway performers available, I find it ridiculous that they cast people like Crowe (who, according to the reviews is laughable in his attempts to sing the role of Javert), Seyfried, an alto singing a soprano role, and Hathaway, whose voice is adequate, but strained in the clips I’ve seen. The type of people who go to see a movie like this don’t need “names” to get them in the seats, and the casting was a slap in the face to those who have spent years training for these kinds of roles.</p>
<p>Just saw Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino is so great.</p>
<p>BUT LES MIS HOT DAMN</p>
<p>I’ve seen Les Miz at least a dozen times including in New York and London. I absolutely love it so yes, I would have gone no matter who was in it and had high expectations that I didn’t expect would be met. But I was wrong. Ann Hathaway deserves an academy award. The rest were also fabulous although there were some areas that I was disappointed in. Gavroche is one of my favorite characters and I like it better when they sing his whole son. The Inn Keeper and his wife could have been funnier but I do agree that the movie version was more serious and intense and therefore, would have had a hard time with that. </p>
<p>Acting on broadway is completely different than in a movie. It would not have worked</p>
<p>We liked Les Miz a lot–thought Russell Crowe’s acting was superb, and his singing was good enough. The rest of the leads were very good. Adult Cosette is a fairly thankless role, which Seyfried performed well.</p>
<p>My biggest complaint was the cutting of the “Dog Eat Dog” song in the sewers. It would have been a good (and in my view, necessary) counterpoint to all the religious imagery in this version. One thing I liked was the addition of some plot points that are in the book, but not in the stage show–such as the elephant statue, and the timely reappearance of the guy trapped under the cart.</p>
<p>Saw Les Miz the other night at the brand new movie palace in Fairfax.</p>
<p>The surprise to me was Sacha Baron Cohen!</p>
<p>I loved Les Miz! I admit that it is totally different from the stage show. On stage, everything has to be big and loud for the audience. In the movie, there were a lot of close ups. I think the director was trying to make it more personal and emotional. On film, you can close in on an actor’s face for tiny reactions,e tc. The singers can sing or whisper lines, it makes for a totally different experience than the stage.</p>
<p>I think Russell Crowe was a horrible choice for Javert. His acting (or standing looking grim) was passable, but his voice was no where near up to the task. That almost ruined the movie for me.</p>
<p>I thought Anne Hathaway’s scene was extraordinary. Again, a totally different experience than Fantine on Broadway.</p>
<p>The battle scenes were way more emotional because they could have real bloodshed and real consequences. The scene with Gavroche was wrenching to me, coming so soon after the CT tragedy. I was sobbing for most of the end of the movie.</p>
<p>I am not a fan of the CGI “fly up to the heavens” camera work, but others disagreed with me.</p>
<p>I think it is well worth seeing in the theatre.</p>
<p>Regarding the close-ups, my favorite review of Les Mis so far put it this way: “There are very few performers who can pull off the trick of singing vocally demanding, hyperdramatic solos while a movie camera inspects their nostrils.”</p>
<p>Has anyone seen this movie? Apologies if I missed the posts about it. </p>
<p><a href=“Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour,’ With Jean-Louis Trintignant - The New York Times”>Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour,’ With Jean-Louis Trintignant - The New York Times;
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<p>You say this like it’s a bad thing. ;)</p>
<p>I was disappointed with Rivendell in The Hobbit. It wasn’t as appealing as in Lord of the Rings. In fact, I thought it looked almost sinister. That’s not my impression of my favorite place in Middle Earth.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I could get used to hot dwarves, although I think that Peter Jackson is digging himself into a hole. In the book, you don’t get to know individual dwarves all that well. In the movie, you do, and I imagine you will get to know them even better in the next two sequels. This is going to lead to some difficult moments in the aftermath of the Battle of Five Armies.</p>
<p>Rivendell in *The Hobbit<a href=“the%20book”>/I</a> is two sentences - so not a lot to work with. But yes, the lighting was very weird in Rivendell and all those cliffs seemed scary.</p>
<p>Sorry, but dwarves shouldn’t be hot. Kili is hot. Fili is hot. And Thorin is pretty hot too.</p>
<p>The Hobbit is a childrens book!
No sex in childrens books!
Nobody is “hot”! 
( although I do like Martin Freeman. I cant wait for Sherlock to start up again!)</p>
<p>emeraldkity4, don’t worry there was no sex. Though Gandalf and Galadrial seemed to have something going. I think that’s sort of hinted at in the LOTR appendices somewhere.</p>
<p>^ we saw The Hobbit on Christmas, I am rereading it right now.
I think it was always my favorite out of his books, probably because it is a childrens book and not so dark.
But I also like The Return of the King.
*Aragorn,*now is hot.
Gandalf & Galadreil remind me of Merlin & Nimue.</p>
<p>Just saw Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis deserves the Oscar without question. Movie dragged a bit, but he was outstanding.</p>
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I haven’t seen it, but have read many excellent reviews. I’m not sure I could handle such a depressing subject in the dark days of winter when my spirit is already a bit downtrodden. I’ll wait a few months.</p>