Trailer: Les Miserables

One of the most successful plays in Broadway history is coming to the silver screen, again.

Directed by Tom Hooper, (The Kings Speech) Les Miserables just from the look of the trailer seems like it’ll have a strong presence at the award show, from the costumes to the cinematography to the music.

Les Misérables stars Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Hugh Jackman (Jean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Amanda Seyfried(Cosette), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Sacha Baron Cohen(Thénardier), and Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thénardier).

Synopsis:

Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams and unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption–a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Jackman plays ex-prisoner Jean Valjean, hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe) after he breaks parole. When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever.

Post-Oscar Thoughts

Well since I last posted the major awards came down.

First and foremost, I am beyond pumped that Natalie Portman took home Best Actress for “Black Swan.”

I sound like a broken record but it’s true; Portman was head an shoulders above anyone who was nominated in her category. Portman transformed herself, you want to talk about “method-actors/actress” she was the epitome of the title.

When I finished watching “Black Swan” I made the comparison of Portman to Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight.” In the past couple months as Oscar speculation began, many critics, most notably Richard Roeper echoed the sentiments I much opposed.

He said his pick for Best Actress was Annette Bening, for “The Kids are Alright” but not because she played the best role, but because “the Academy owed her one for ‘American Beauty’,” that’s not right is it?

When I asked Roeper why he felt this way when it was pretty obvious Portman should win, he said that’s just the way the Academy thinks.

Well low and behold, Natalie, pregnant and all, won the Oscar, and I let out a big “YES!” and was satisfied.

By the way, Roeper changed his pick a couple days ago, but I didn’t forget your original pick, and you defending it when I asked you about it…I didn’t forget!

Anyway…

Anne Hathaway and James Franco were the hosts and the general consensus says they didn’t like what they saw.

Acclaimed movie critic Roger Ebert said this…

“The worst Oscarcast I’ve seen, and I go back awhile. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show? Dead. In. The. Water.”

Yikes…Franco, duck for cover.

And or duck under the cloud of smoke backstage because you must have been stoned. Often times he stammered and seemed out of it. Nothing seemed genuine or naturally funny coming out of his mouth.

The worst part was I predicted James would bomb, take a hike you pompous, self-righteous know-it-all.

Now lets focus on the positive.

“The Kings Speech” won four Oscars, (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay.)

The biggest shock at-least to me came when Tom Hooper won Best Director for “The Kings Speech.” It seemed like “The Social Network” and David Fincher were locks for that award, but once we heard Hooper win, Best Picture was sure to follow, and it did. Hooper did give a nice speech where he mentioned his mother gave him the idea for the film and then capped off his words with

“…the lesson, listen to your mother”

“The Social Network” which I felt should have won Best Picture, although originally I wanted The Kings Speech to win (you can look back at my picks from January) although after re-watching TSN I choose it to win, but to no avail. The film however did win Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score, and Best Editing.

The other big winner was “Inception” as it took home the “smaller” awards. The Christopher Nolan directed blockbuster snatched up Oscars for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and best Cinematography.

Christian Bale, “The Fighter,” who was the favorite to win Best Supporting Actor, did just that. As he beat out Geoffery Rush his speech raised some eyebrows. Some people thought he forgot his wife’s name but he just got choked up, or it was just more good acting. We also saw Bale smile, a rarity.

Melissa Leo, who played the controlling mother in “The Fighter” nabbed the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and gave the most humble, heartfelt and genuine speech. Her interaction with the legendary Kirk Douglas was great as well.

Speaking of Kirk Douglas, he was hilarious, had everyone in stitches, and even at his advanced age of 94, he was a hit.

Other noteable observations…

– Jessie Eisenberg was sitting front row, first seat, dead middle, I was taken aback by his prime location.

– There was a Standing Ovation for Billy Crystal, not surprising, and based on the overall reaction after-wards, people want Billy back or to stay for that matter.

– Oprah looked awful.

– For the first time in 10 years there was no African-American nominated.

– Still can’t get over how good Mila Kunis and Jennifer Lawrence looked tonight, gorgeous.

Well that’s a wrap for Oscar night, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, I welcome all your comments.

Back to the normal Hollywood world.

“The Kings Speech” See’s Boom and Renovation

On Tuesday, the Oscar nominee’s were released and “The Kings Speech” lead the way with 10 nominations.

Today, we found out that this was a cash cow for the film, as the internet ticket distributor Fandago.com stated that there has been a major boom for the film.

Since the announcements, there has been a 76% increase in customers buying tickets to see Colin Firth as King George VI. As I stated in my predictions post, this is the film I feel should win Best Picture and Firth should easily take down Best Actor.

Now the other interesting news surrounding the film is the major editing job Harvey Weinstein is set to make.

Weinstein has said that he is looking to edit the film to make it more family friendly and have it appeal to a wider audience. Weinstein is currently talking with Director Tom Hooper to take out a majority of the profanity and reduce the MPAA rating from “R” to “PG-13.”

This is a rather risky idea as the cursing by King George VI was rather hilarious and made the movie lighter during tense moments. Regardless, I’ve seen the original version and it was a masterpiece, therefore we should have confidence in Hooper to deliver.