Les Miserables and the Hobbit

And now for the two movies I saw in the theatre over the holidays:

1. I liked Les Miserables, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted it to be, I dunno, more.

I suspect that this was thanks to several factors – one, I've heard seemingly umpteen versions of this, and know the score so well I had certain expectations, absolutely none of which were upheld by Russell Crowe; two, the director's decision to film about half the movie in EXTREME CLOSE UP, which after a time had me thinking less, "Wow, Anne Hathaway is making me sob," and more PULL THE CAMERA BACK PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU (someone on Twitter said the effect was claustrophobic, and I really have to agree); three, Russell Crowe, who was generally fine when singing more or less alone, but not at all fine when singing with everyone else, which just heightened the fact that he is just an adequate, not great singer; four, the switching around of a few songs, which meant a change to the careful balance of the musical, with longer periods of slow music and thumping music and less of an intermingling.

Also, an intermission after "One Day More," would have been greatly welcomed.

But the last scene was pretty thrilling, and I sniffled. So, yay.

2. The Hobbit. Already nearly discussed to death by nearly everyone else, but, some comments behind a spoiler tag just in case:

( Spoilers for movie and book. )