The Wild Blog in the West

For my articles about Les Miserables , I discussed the various positives and negatives of the different albums, at least five if you don't count the original French concept album and the movie soundtrack.  One reader asked me what album tracks I used to create my idea of the definitive Les Miz soundtrack.  I'll go through each track below, with an explanation as to why I chose it over the others.  Note that I created my "Ultra" version before the movie soundtrack was released, but I'll give some thoughts as to which of the movie tracks would be best suited for an "Ultra" version. Overture/Work Song: Broadway Cast.  I use this album for a lot of the early Valjean tracks because I feel as though Wilkinson is in the best of voice here, though I suppose London would work as well.  While John Own Jones sounds great on the Les Miserables Live! album, I consider Wilkinson to be the definitive Valjean. On Parole/The Bishop: Tenth Anniversary Cast.  This is...

I had no special reason for posting this, except that I decided this past weekend to rewatch the Les Miserables  movie, having not watched it for a while.  I was curious to see whether my impressions of it have changed. Overall, while I'm not as wildly over the moon about the Les Miz  movie as when it premiered, I still find it to be a worthwhile production.  Several have criticized Tom Hooper for failing to go larger than life with it, like in the stage production, with a barricade the length of a football field.  However, I think his choice to make it gritty and closer to the source material is commendable.  It would have been easy to follow the blueprint of the glossy costume musical, where the peasants' clothes glow brightly, there is not a speck of mud on the ground, and the players mime along to lyrics during elaborate dance numbers.  Hooper made some notable deviations, and they mostly paid off.  If his choices aren't better valued, it ...

Ah Les Miz , it seems like only yesterday I was anticipating you the way I once anticipated gifts from Santa.  Then you arrived and all was well.  Then you came out on DVD, and I watched you more times than was probably good for me. Since then, things have been a little quiet.  A new Broadway production of the stage play is set to open in 2014, and I hope to be able to see it.  However, there has been no mention of an extended cut.  Hopefully Hooper and company will produce one for the 30th Anniversary just two years away. So in honor of Les Miz 's release a year ago, and to relive the excitement of those days, have a look at the series that chronicled the film's journey: Les Miz Is Coming!  Les Miz Is Coming!  " Yet for years, it remained a mystery as to whether the musical could ever be made into a decent screen adaptation.  After several aborted attempts, it looks as though they have finally succeeded." Les Miserables the Movie Part ...

It seemed only fair to end my Les Miserables fan-girling with my impressions of the recent DVD/blu-ray release.  In some ways, I wish that Universal had waited a little longer, because the movie was still doing pretty well at the box office (better than expected) and given another month or two, it might have overtaken  Chicago  and even  Grease to become the highest-grossing musical in the United States.  Oh well.  I'm sure the movie will get another chance when it is rereleased with the extended cut.   *exaggerated wink* Like many, I purchased the Target "deluxe" DVD set, which came with a "stage to screen" booklet and a bonus disc.  The blu-ray disc contains exclusive bonus material, as did the bonus disc.  So what did I think? Blu-Ray Disc As expected, the blu-ray disc had crystal clear graphics that were beautiful to behold.  However, the disc itself was a complete fail.  It plodded along from one segment to the next, t...

Congratulations to Les Miserables for winning three Oscars!  While I was wrong in predicting that Les Miz  would win the most Oscars without actually winning Best Picture (that would be Life of Pi  with four), I wasn't too far off.   Les Miserables  won as many Oscars as Argo , the Best Picture winner, and more than critical darlings  Lincoln , Zero Dark Thirty , and Silver Linings Playbook .  In fact, Les Miserables has a better win percentage than both Lincoln  (2 of 12) and Life of Pi  (4 of 11), and is tied with Argo  (3 of 8).  Not bad, musical movie, not bad. Overall, it was a rather strange 3.5 hours, not the least because Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy  was the host.  Instead of one movie dominating the night, as many predicted Lincoln  would, the awards were pretty evenly distributed.   Argo  won despite not having any nominees for Best Actor/Actress or Best Director.  I think I prefer ...

Since the Oscars are fast approaching, I thought it worth doing another post on Les Miserables to discuss the thoughts that have accumulated since my movie review. It seems a little strange to use the word "hate" with regard to this movie, because compared to Evita and The Phantom of the Opera , it is far more critically -- and certainly far more commercially -- successful.  At present, it sits at 70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes .  That's not the stellar rating of, say, the very overrated Silver Linings Playbook , but it does mean that more than two-thirds of critics thought that the movie was worth their time.  In addition, Les Miserables  was nominated for eight Oscars (compared to Evita 's five), including significant nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor, and Best Picture.  It has already won more Golden Globes than any other movie in 2012. Yet those who hate the movie have been very vocal about their hatred.  From their outbursts, you ...

So now I've seen Les Miserables twice, and I should be seeing it once or twice more within the next couple of weeks.  I'm happy to report that things that bothered me the first time bothered me less the second time.  Mostly.  I still think that "The Attack on the Rue Plumet" is horribly butchered.  I also didn't warm to Russell Crowe's vocals, but the only parts where I would say he's really bad are the introduction scene with Valjean/Monsieur Madeleine and the "Runaway Cart" scene.  Both call for him to sing some notes that are really out of his range, and he ends up sounding whiny. Even though I was less bothered overall, there are parts that I wish had stayed in:   Parts of the Musical That Should Have Stayed In 1.  "And now I know how freedom feels..."   As I mentioned in the review, changing sung parts to dialogue does nothing to improve the Prologue.  The part where Valjean steals the silver and is caught is handled so ...

Finally the big day arrived.  On Christmas Day, I went with two companions to see the movie Les Miserables in a packed theatre.  It was the type of experience where even if you order your tickets in advance and arrive 45 minutes early, you still have to wait at the end of a long line.  Since I rarely go to the movies these days, I don't think I've had that experience since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King . So was it worth it?  Of course!  Overall, I thought the movie version was great -- very much what I was hoping for.  I intend to see it again this weekend, and probably again after that, dragging as many friends as I can with me. I will confess, though, that the journey to "This was great!" was not a smooth one.  In the first half hour, I found myself wincing and cringing quite a lot, wondering if maybe the critical naysayers had a point.  However, there was a point where the movie seemed to settle down, smooth out, and just flow bet...