Les Miserables (2012)

I dreamed a dream that Russell Crowe hadn't butchered "Stars," my favorite song from the musical "Les Miserables." Okay, not fair...he didn't butcher it. He underperformed it. Because he had to. Because vocally, he doesn't have the presence to command that song.

My quibbles with "Les Miz" are picky and mostly small, as you will see when I have the chance to post a full review. The truth is, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I cried on five separate occasions during the movie, damn near fully breaking down on two of those five occasions.

Since you might be wondering what I thought right now, here are five quick reactions to the film to hold you off until I have time to write my proper review:

1. Give Anne Hathaway her Oscar, now. Just engrave it. Along with Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln," you can start carving the names in now to save time for later. Her on-screen, in close-up performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" was the single most painful performance of a musical number I think I have ever seen in a film musical in my entire life. (And yes, it was one of the two times when I cried generously.)

2. Russell Crowe wasn't capable of handling Javert. He came close most of the time in the acting aspect of his performance, but never near vocally with the singing. "Stars," one of the very best songs in a show filled with great songs, was thin and frankly pathetic. Tom Hooper could not have done more to make it majestic visually, but Crowe was bunting a number that simply must be delivered as a home run. Crowe's singing consistently threw me out of the moment.

3. Hugh Jackman is as fantastic as you would hope he'd be. And the addition of other Broadway singers like Aaron Tviet gave the film some nice balance against the actors trying to sing like Crowe and Amanda Seyfried. But the real find in this film is Eddie Redmayne, simply stunning as Marius. In a just world, he'd be up for an Oscar nomination alongside Jackman and Hathaway. He carried the second half of a very long film.

4. There were times when the camera work was a little odd, a bit conspicuous. I am still digesting the moments when dutch angles and handheld shots were used in ways I would not have expected them. And while I'm talking about the technical aspect of the film, did anyone else find the orchestrations a little thin and the vocals laying awfully low in the sound mixing at times?

5. Why could I not shake "Sweeney Todd" whenever the innkeeper and his wife were on screen? Same actors, obviously. But for some reason, those scenes in "Les Miz" just didn't join up with the tone of the rest of it the way I wished they had. I can't figure it out yet. You need some comic relief in a film so depressingly sad that you'll have swollen eyes by the end of it, but did those few scenes with Borat and Tim Burton's baby mama provide enough relief for you?

I'll let you know when I have my full review. But I will say in closing here that I really, really liked the film, and it definitely deserves a Best Picture Oscar nomination. But from what I've seen so far this year, I think I'd put it at about #3 on my list of favorites.