Last weekend I watched the blue rays of Les Miserables (2012) and The Great Gatsby (2013). This was the first time I had seen either film.
Although I panned Baz Luhrmann's Gatsby, I can't find enough good things to say about Tom Hoopers Les Mis.
The cast is stellar. Everyone can sing as well as act. (Russell Crowe can sing! Who knew?). A large group of singers who had been in the stage version in London's West End were brought in to fill minor roles in the film. Even though it's an opera, everyone is believable in his or her role.
I criticized Gatsby a lot for its over the top CGI that made the movie look like a cartoon. Les Mis has a lot of CGI shots which look like CGI shots but it doesn't detract from the film's realistic impact. There is such emotion which comes through the actors' performances and the music that the staging becomes secondary. They probably could have performed this in costume on a blank stage and it still would have been good.
Definitely FIVE OUT OF FIVE.
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