Once upon a time, there was an inoffensive movie with lots of great music and costumes. It was entertaining and lots of fun and has this great new actress who is a total shoe in for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars because not only can she sing, which Mr Oscar loves, but apparently she can also act. And that's really all I can say about this movie.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. I love music, I love the particular style of music, and I love musical theatre. But therein lies the problem. Was this a movie with music? Or was it a musical? Did the songs replace the dialogue, and really tell the story? Or was it an fairly unsurprising movie with great songs and musical numbers to augment the script? Unfortunately I'm not sure Dreamgirls ever made up its mind. The styling suffered the same issues - some sequences were very stylised in true 'musical' form, but other were just a film with some great numbers.
But does any of this really matter?
Not really. Dreamgirls was fantastic to look at, the costuming in particular was spectacular. The decor, the lighting, the girls, everything - was gorgeous (side note OMG Beyonce is hott). The music, no matter how it was used, was great in its own right. Although the first performance of one particular song about family was laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame but every musical/film with music needs a laaaaaaaaaaaaame number.
There were some moving moments, but nothing to take away from the happy, fun musical goodness. And with that, there really isn't much more I can say about Dreamgirls. I won't go into the plot, everyone knows what it was about. It was a little long, but there was singing which more than compensates in my book.
Anyway.
We all knew it was going to turn out well, and honestly, as much as I go on about 'important' films and gritty realistic endings - sometimes the world just needs a feelgood musical.
With awesome costumes.
And Beyonce.
7.5
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Good review, Kat. I agree. I need to mention the absolutely stunning performance from Eddie Murphy, too. He's also a shoe-in for the oscar, I think.
So impressed.
I enjoyed it, but I think my major problem with the film was the fact that I probably don't like the book of the original musical. I think the songs are weak.
JHud & Eddie - mvps.
MVPS? What?
I dunno how I felt about Eddie Murphy. I didn't think the character was that much of a stretch for him, and a bit one dimensional.
I think Bill Condon is now officially on my list. I don't like the trend he's started with the so-called modernisation of musicals for a contemporary movie-going audience. Either people will accept people singing at each other instead of exchanging dialogue, or they won't. That is it. Show. Over. I'm getting a bit edgy about this new theory of Condon's that a modern audience will tolerate musicals if you separate the music from the story enough, by using stage-y devices to "frame" the musical numbers.
Sure, many a great movie musical is about the act of performing or actually putting on a show - Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Moulin Rouge - but the are also some great musicals out there where numbers don't take place on stage - my fave being Grease of course. Given the enduring popularity of movies like these, why is it so much of a stretch to believe an audience today could go for something like that? Jesus, look at the popularity of High School Musical!! Heaps of non-show-related numbers there and the chilruns, they loves it!!
End rant. MVP = Most Valuable Player (sporting terminology, v impressed that it came from David). Family number = v v v laaaaaaaaame. Jennifer Hudson = awesome, man.
Yeah, the supporting actress race at the oscars this year is SO strong.
Jennifer Hudson (who will win, but isn't my personal choice). Pretty amazing.
Rinko Kikuchi AND Adrianna Barazza from Babel. Both amazing.
Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine. Amazing.
Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal. Amazing.
It's great to see such a great line-up here, don't you agree?
D.
I'd be happy to see any of those people win....but Cate Blanchett and Abigail Breslin would be at the bottom of the list I'm afraid! I never thought I'd say about about Cate Blanchett!
Reasons?
Cate was great, but some of the others were better.
Abigail, i tend to disagree with giving Oscars to children - acting is a different kettle of fish with them, and they haven't 'honed their craft' in the same way as adult nominees. And I'm not sure their skill as a child (when they are often free of inhibition etc) is reflective of their ability as an adult.
Post a Comment