19. do you hear the people sing...?

I know that this is rather a late post on Les Miserables, as it came out almost a month ago here in the UK, however, due to going back to uni prior to its release (and only having one screen in our cinema), it wasn't shown in Aberystwyth until the 25th January (a whole two weeks after it first came out!) 

However, this did allow me to read the book, prior to seeing the film, and although it took a while to get into (Victor Hugo - you are very descriptive and detailed), it meant that when I went to see the film, I was able to understand thing much better. The book was brilliant though, as it allowed me to understand the characters much better, but I was desperate to see the film. My friend had already seen it twice by the time it was shown in Aber, and her squeeing over Eddie Redmayne, just made me impatient!

Rob was somewhat skeptical about going to see the film (I don't think my listening - and singing along - to the soundtrack helped) but I dragged him along anyway, with the promise that I'd try and not sing along to the actual film. And I have to say, it was worth waiting for! I LOVED IT! Hugh Jackman was brilliant as Jean Valjean, and I can understand why Tom Hooper wanted to cast Hugh as him. I think that all the actors/actresses chosen to play their characters did them splendidly, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the comedy of the Thenardiers (played by Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter). Anne Hathaway's version of 'I dreamed a dream' got me in tears, and I think I was crying for the majority of the film (maybe reading the book and knowing what to expect wasn't a good idea).

I loved the enmity between Javert and Valjean too, and both Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe had brilliant singing voices - both powerful (especially when they needed to be). Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone) was brilliant - I love that little guy, he set the tone of the June Rebellion just right, but my favourite character had to be Marius (particularly in the film - in the book he was a bit of a douche for a while, and it annoyed me!) probably because he was played by Eddie Redmayne.

I could probably do a whole post about Eddie - I think he's my favourite actor at the moment - as he's just brilliant. For 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables', he managed to convey the emotions of the song throughout, and it broke my heart. I know that since Les Mis has come out, a lot of people are like, 'ooh I love Eddie Redmayne', but he was amazing before Les Mis, as the first thing I saw him in was 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' back in 2008, when he played Angel (mine and Natalie's fangirl obsession began then).

I don't want to spoil the film for anyone who hasn't seen it, but basically it's amazing, and I think everyone should see it at least once! But take tissues! I'm going to see it again tomorrow (Rob agreed - he actually enjoyed it!)

Enjoy the pictures :)

Tara

Cosette (Amanda Seyfried)

Javert (Russell Crowe)

Fantine (Anne Hathaway)

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman)

Marius (Eddie Redmayne)

Eponine (Smantha Barks)

Cosette and Marius (definitely jealous of Cosette)

Enjoras (Aaron Tveit) and Marius!

The Thenardiers (Helana Bonham Carter
and Sacha Baron Cohen)

Marius (again!) :D

And once more, just because I can :)

12. returning to middle earth

The Hobbit, for those of you who don't know, is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.Tolkien. Unfortunately, I've not read any of the books (when I get home for Christmas, I plan on reading the Hobbit) but I've seen all of the LOTR films, and today I went to see The Hobbit.

The film, directed by Peter Jackson, sees the return to Middle Earth, in a story about Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's (from LOTR) uncle, who goes on an unexpected adventure. It stars Martin Freeman (who plays John Watson in BBC's Sherlock) as Bilbo Baggins and Richard Armitage (he's Guy of Gisbourne in BBC's Robin Hood) as Thorin (a dwarf) who is one of the key characters. It also sees the return of some characters that we've seen before in LOTR, such as Gandalf, Galadriel and Lord Elrond. Unfortunately Legolas doesn't make an appearance until the last installment (according to IMDB), which is a shame, cos Orlando Bloom is pretty nice ;) Luckily, I think Aidan Turner who plays Kili is gorgeous, so I'll have to make do with him for now. Especially as there's no Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson). Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a post about the good-looking actors in the film, but I'm not sure what the point is... probably just to go on about the amazingness of the film! (I love it, in case you couldn't tell).

I genuinely think it was brilliant though, and I really want to see it again - hopefully, I'll get to if I meet up with my friends Natalie and Steph (we all LOVE Lord of the Rings - when we were all at band together, we kept asking if we could play LOTR music... it never happened *sadface*). I actually want to go and see it again now! I don't know how I'm going to be able to cope for the next week or however long (unfortunately, I can't compare it to the book - but it was an amazing film even without the prior knowledge of the plot!) I can't wait until next December, and then the following July when the 2nd and 3rd parts come out! I want to watch all of them now! And then have a LOTR marathon... and then possibly watch The Hobbit trilogy again... I know I'm babbling... but it's AWESOME!

I don't want to say too much about it, as I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet (crazy people - you should go and see it IMMEDIATELY... and I mean it even more than when I told people to go and watch Skyfall)! 

PICTURE TIME NOW... (these screenshots were up on digitalspy, so I don't think they count as spoilers - well, too much anyway :P)

MARTIN FREEMAN as BILBO BAGGINS - he's excellent as Bilbo!!! 

DEAN O'GORMAN as FILI and AIDAN TURNER as KILI... Aidan Turner is gorgeous!! Even as a dwarf!!  I'm going all fangirlish (something I haven't done in ages... well, not for a while anyway :L) over him! When I was watching the premiere at Leicester Square, I saw him with Prince William and was like, 'nice ;)'

ANDY SERKIS returns as GOLLUM - which means there are loads more phrases that Steph can now imitate. The Gollum moment in The Hobbit was great! Loved it :D

Some dwarves at Bilbo's hobbit-hole... I chose the picture with Aidan Turner in to put on here (who wouldn't?!?!)

Anyway, apologies for this post being very random, and fangirlish. But.. it is THE HOBBIT! I think Natalie will understand... :)

Tara

09. skyfall

This post is a bit late, but better late than never in my opinion :)

Skyfall, the 3rd James bond film with Daniel Craig in, came out in cinemas on 26th October, and me and Rob were hoping to go and see it that night. However, due to Aberystwyth's cinema only having 1 screen, and our lectures finishing at 6, we were unable to make it in (especially as we didn't book tickets, mainly due to the fact it didn't specify that seats would be reserved - we're freshers, we didn't know what to expect! :L). 
However, we immediately booked tickets for the afternoon showing the next day, and I have to admit, it was amazing! I'm not a huge fan of Bond films usually, (until Skyfall I'd only seen The Man With The Golden Gun and Casino Royale and that was for my GCSE courseowrk, so our English class had to watch each film about 5 times - not my idea of fun!) but Skyfall was really good! Rob (a HUGE Bond fan) wants to see it again, and I think I'd be willing to go with him. They're were some unexpected twists, and I just found it different from the other Bond films - I think they kept it more intense, which was good! I'd definitely recommend it to EVERYONE! Even those people who don't claim to be Bond fans, because it was better than I expected. :D

Think the fact that part of Skyfall was set in Glencoe (hopefully this won't be a spoiler as it's shown in the trailer) where I've been helped, as I could actually relate to the place! It makes it more interesting. According to Rob, they were filming some of Skyfall, when I was there in the October of 2011 - I'm quite annoyed I didn't get to see Daniel Craig or Judi Dench!

At the actual cinema, it was really cool, and kind of like, old-movie style. We got our popcorn (and snuck two cans of pepsi in!) and went to our seats, and between the adverts/trailers and the film there was an intermission, so people who hadn't managed to get food could still go! It originally confused me, but I have to admit it was rather stylish. Plus, there was nobody talking/whispering loudly, or throwing popcorn, which made the whole experience way more enjoyable! So, even if Aber's cinema only has one screen, which does mean, there's usually only one film every two weeks, I really enjoyed going :)

So, go see Skyfall if you haven't already... and if you have, go see it again :)

Tara