Film Review: Les Misérables

Les Misérables is quite possibly the best novel based, turned musical play, turned film, ever. Alright, that might be a bit of a small category area, but it’s still pretty damn good. It has something for everyone and even the most masculine of people won’t be able to help but enjoy this well told story.

Les Mis is a musical drama set in France during the 19^th century, which itself is a brilliant historical place and time. The story follows a man named Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), an ex-convict who breaks bail and is constantly on the run from a police officer called Javert (Russell Crowe). During the film Valjean comes into contact with a range of different people, spanning from prostitutes and convicts, to revolutionaries and priests. Each one of them has a unique tale to tell about their lives, and each one is gripping in its own way.

As you would expect with a musical there is quite a lot of singing in this film. In fact, unlike most other musical films, this story is almost 100% sung to us. At first it seems a little strange, but after the first five minutes you kind of forget that it’s a musical and you just find yourself engrossed in the character’s lives. Most of the music, like most of the film, is really quite depressing. But you kind of have to expect that in a film that is about the people at the bottom of society in a time and place that was well and truly hard.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Thénardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his wife (Helena Bonham Carter) bring a comical element to the film and just as you’re about to cry they will make you laugh. I honestly think this is the best role Cohen has ever played. It’s like it was written just for him.

That been said, every single actor played their role perfectly and the acting really could not have been improved. It’s even more impressive when you think that most of the main actors aren’t professional singers. One actor that stood out for me though has to be the young Daniel Huttlestone who plays Gavroche, a child soldier who is more than aware of his position in society and is more than happy to do his part for the French revolution.

The only real complaint I have to make about this film is that it did go on a little too long. Even for a brilliant musical, 158 minutes is quite a long time. So even though there is something for everyone in this film, it goes on for a while so you might be waiting sometime between the parts that you enjoy. That been said though, I personally enjoyed the entire thing, just some parts more than others. It’s still worth sitting through and it is really only the ending that seems to drag a little.  

THE VERDICT

Les Misérables might turn out to be the best musical you’ll have seen in recent memory. It is set in a period of French history that was a really hard time to live in, and tells the story of one man and those that he comes into contact with throughout his life. The music and songs sang tell the story brilliantly and the acting is next to flawless. Even though the film goes on for quite a long time, it is still one that could make you shed a tear or two and will definitely make you laugh on occasion.

LHSRAting for Les Misérables 8/10

-Ayden

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Film Review: Lincoln

This isn’t Spielberg’s best film. But when you’ve directed almost 50 movies, and amongst them are some of the greats such as Schindler’s List, then a film not being your best doesn’t really mean much... And to be fair it’s still up there.

Lincoln starts off by showing a brutally bloody battle one year before the end of the American civil war and the opening scene really sucks you in from the offset. That’s pretty much as far as the film goes with showing us the horrors of the American civil war however. So if you want to watch a film that has loads of battle scenes in it, then this film is not for you.

Instead Lincoln moves forward to the very final months of the civil war and is mainly focused around the political struggles that Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) faces in trying to pass the thirteenth amendment to end slavery, whilst at the same time trying to end the war... at the right time. Lincoln is a film that is fully focused on US history and politics. It shows the struggles that the Union faced internally in trying to eradicate slavery, the different views that particular groups of politicians had on giving slaves their freedom, and even touched on Lincoln’s own views regarding equality between white and black people (although unless you know what Lincolns views really where then you probably won’t realise). 

Daniel Day-Lewis does a superb job at playing the role of Lincoln; a mainly calm, storytelling, convincing man that was loved by most. He shows how Lincoln had a knack for changing the minds of men without them realising what he was doing until it was already done.

 

But I don’t think Daniel Day-Lewis was the best actor in this film and I don’t think that Abraham Lincoln was the best Character either, even though it’s a film about him. The guy who stole the show for me and made me really connect with this film was Representative Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones). Stevens would probably be classed as an extreme left winger in today’s US politics, so you can imagine what the thought of him in the 19^th century. He not only advocated that black people should be free from slavery, but that they should be treated as white people’s equal (something that Lincoln never did).  Anyway, I digress into a History lesson, although that is what this film is. Stevens in this film is portrayed brilliantly and he has an extremely dry, insulting wit that he uses in the House constantly in quick response to any attack that is sent his way. In short, Stevens will make you laugh in this film because he’s brilliantly provocative.

     

Unfortunately this film is a little too long for my liking and could probably have told the same story in two hours. The end also seems quite messy. It seems that Lincoln’s death is rushed through as a way of trying to avoid telling that par of history. And then there’s a bit of a flashback to one of Lincoln’s speeches. It’s a shame really because this film could have ended a lot better in a number of different ways.  

  

THE VERDICT

Lincoln is a brilliant film for portraying US history (although too gently at times) and the political system that surrounded the Union towards the end of the civil war. This film will teach you about a very important era in US history whilst giving you a glimpse into who the people at the time really were. The acting in it is brilliant and the characters are played exceptionally well.  Lincoln, although a very serious film, will not fail to make you laugh on occasions. This goes double if you enjoy politics as well. But if you’re not into politics or history and you need lots of battle scenes, then this film isn’t for you and you may find that its 150 minute length may drag. Otherwise, this film is worth a watch.

LHSRAting for Lincoln – 7.8/10

- Ayden

Film Review: Lawless

So, Lawless is a drama gangster film based on a true story. It’s set in a small town in the state of Virginia during the Prohibition era (1930s) and stars Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce, amongst others. The story revolves around three brothers; Forrest (Tom Hardy), Haward (Jason Clarke), and Jack (Shia Labeouf) who are liquor bootleggers.

Not too far into the film a Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) comes into town and pretty much tries to shake down all the local bootleggers for a cut of their profits. Now Forrest is a bit of a bad ass, so naturally he tells the Special Deputy where to go and tries to unite all the local bootleggers against the law. This sets in motion a gripping, yet at time slow, war between the two sides.

So the first thing to mention is that the acting in this film was great. There wasn’t a single actor in this film that made you think “why is he in this?”, and that says a lot coming from me because I’m not really a big Shia Labeouf fan. However, unfortunately the characters were not written very well so you didn’t really gain much of an emotional attachment to many of them. Apart from Forrest, who had a quiet yet gallant charm about him, and the Special Deputy who you learn to hate by the end.

This film also had that shock factor about it when it came to violence. I don’t mean that it was graphically violent, but more that it could make you tense up and could stun you a little just by using sounds or by implying what was happening without actually showing you much, if anything. This to me is much better than showing shocking images because it really brings out the quality in the acting and directing. Don’t get me wrong though there are still some pretty graphic parts in this film, it’s just not over loaded with it.

I also liked the fact that this film made the bootlegger out to be the good guys, even though they were technically criminals, and the cops were either the bad guys or just plain cowardice. Although I think there should have been more said about the unity of the bootleggers in this little town as this wasn’t explained all too well.

Even though Lawless is a drama it also has its moments that are quite funny and there were several times when everyone in the cinema burst out laughing.

Overall I think that Lawless was a great film about three brothers and the corruption that surrounded the Prohibition era. The acting was exceptionable and the story was gripping, be it a little slow at times. Unfortunately there was little emotional attachment to characters with only one or two exceptions. But if you’re the type of person who likes dramas or enjoys a gangster films then I recommend that you watch this, because it pretty much had me on the edge of my seat by the end of it..... Which is more than I can say for Transformers. 

-Ayden