(Christmas Day) Dreamgirls Reviews- Page 2

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 7:30pm

I just came back from the movie and A LOT of people were there to see it. It was really great.

There were some awkward moments, like during "Family" and "When I First Saw You" some people started randomly laughing throughout those songs, there were really annoying people near me who were laughing every ten minutes or so, as well.

The whole cast was great, but Beyonce was a little dissapointing. Eddie Murphy's character was a big favorite from the beginning. J. Hudson was AMAZING and, at least I feel, Oscar-worthy. The people in the theater burst into appause after "And I Am Telling You..." and many also waited for her name to appear in the credits and burst into applause. All of the songs she sings are fantastic.

Also, during the showing I went to, there was a preview for the "Hairspray" movie. No clips or anything, just naming all of the actors with "You Can't Stop the Beat" playing in the backround.

[mateo]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 7:37pm

yep, some theatres will get the Hairspray announcement- it will play through the holiday season.

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 7:41pm

Just wondering... is there room for the audience to applaud after AITYING, or does it go right into the next scene? I can't see the movie until tomorrow afternoon.....

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 7:44pm

It goes right into the next song, as it does in the stage version. It's a very short song and it's usually just applauded over, anyways.

[Parks]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 7:46pm

Just saw it...

it was very good and very long. It was done very well!

[fishergirl819]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 8:16pm

Saw it this afternoon at a theatre on Long Island. While I thought it was a little long, I was EXTREMELY impressed. Jennifer Hudson was phenomenal - I have never heard people cheering and applauding in the middle of a movie the way they cheered during AIATY (both in the middle and end of the song). And like others, I loved the applause Jennifer got at the end when he name came up on the credits.

I'm extremely excited to get to see it again - phenomenal movie.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 8:24pm

It was fantastic. Utterly fantastic. I'm too tired to go into details though :)

Jennifer Hudson had better win that Oscar.

Oh, and who else loved John Lithgow's cameo? I kind of died from laughing. That hair!

[GetHer]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 8:29pm

Movie is perfect. It does what movie musicals of the 40's did..brough common people and the musical together. It extends to everyone...Broadway lovers and not. And that is what Rent did NOT do..sadly.

PS-To Larry..correction..."Magic"..her daughter..was indeed mentioned in the original production while Jen. Holiday was still in it. Nothing was changed for the 1987 revival except it was the tour set, and some of the tour orchestrations were used. Other than that, it was identical to how the original Bway show ended up when it closed in 1985 and was touring.
Updated On: 12/25/06 at 08:29 PM

[Elphaba]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 9:09pm

fabulous, amazing, all roles were done veru well but in my opinion Jennifer stole the show. There were simultaneous outbursts of applause.......such a great, GREAT show!

it does what movie versions of musicals should do......work!

[LI Larry]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 9:15pm

Ok. I was wrong. It's been 25 years since I saw it. I thought they added the daughter on the road to soften Effie's character. Sorry about that.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 9:18pm

Seeing it tomorrow . . . . SQUEE!!!

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:06pm

I just purchased tickets for tomorrow for the 3:05pm show at the AMC 22 in Charlotte, NC. SOOOOOO EXCITED! Anyone else going to this one?

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:06pm

Oh man. Okay, so quick quick thoughts:

-Jennifer Hudson deserves the Oscar for BSA (which, ironically, stands for Black Student Association at my high school). She's fantastic, and just brilliant here.

-Beyonce doesn't deserve anything, ESPECIALLY not Best Actress; she was bland and completely overshadowed by Hudson. What I was shocked at was how flawlessly she played Deena beforehand (I was proud of her for such a transformation). However, her movie-wide transformation didn't go from Modest Deena to Diva Deena; she went from Modest Deena to Beyonce.

-Jamie Foxx can pull off a Best Actor, but I'm not sure how he'll compare to others in the category. He was definitely good here (not great), but I'm just not sure he's a guaranteed winner YET.

-Murphy and Glover were great, as expected

-Robinson and Rose really shined, actually; I can imagine that if the two of them got nods for Supporting, it wouldn't be a far stretch from deserving

-The movie was just a little long; after Act I, I found myself getting bored

-There's too much focus on Beyonce. Yes, I understand the drama with Deena and all that jazz, but it seemed as if the movie tried hard to make her earn a Best Actress nomination.

Overall, it was just a fantastic movie experience. Hudson earned some great applause both after "AIATY(ING)" and her 'curtain call' at the end in the credits. She deserves everything that comes her way.
Updated On: 12/25/06 at 10:06 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:09pm

I saw it today. While I did like it and I think it is certainly quite good (if very long), I was kind of disappointed. I know most people here are going to shun me for saying this, but I don't really see why it's being hailed as this utterly perfect, sure-fire award-winning masterpiece. It's not bad, but I didn't love it, either. I expected to.

This was my first exposure to Dreamgirls as an entity. I knew a few of the songs beforehand... I own the cast recording, but I don't listen to it often. I think it's a great story with great music. One Night Only and And I am Telling You... give me chills.

For the most part, I thought the film was beautifully directed, especially in the performance scenes. But because those scenes worked so well, they created other very awkward moments. I think the film had a lot of trouble mediating the different types of theatricality inherent in the material. What made it translate so well to film, I think, was that the majority of the musical numbers are in a performance context -- either in a theater, a recording studio, or a rehearsal. But then you have the scenes where characters are singing to each other, and the songs are there for plot and character development -- a technique very theatrical and one that can pretty easily have trouble working on film, because you have to accept -- on film -- that people are singing in an everyday context (i.e. in Rent, the audience was asked to accept that a bunch of East Village artists were going to walk down the street singing). I found the spinning camera angles during said scenes to be repetitive, but to say that I have a problem with the discrepancy isn't to say I don't think they worked individually. I just think that scenes in which the characters sang to one another didn't mesh well when the majority of the other songs were within the industry, in contexts where it would be "normal" for that to happen. Like I said, though, I've never seen Dreamgirls on stage, and since this is something within the material, not only a filmic flaw, I'm not sure how (and if) it would be mediated on stage either. I think on stage, those kinds of things work because suspension of disbelief is much easier in the medium. On film you really have to work to make that fly, so when it sticks out even moreso that hey, they're singing, film accentuates that. There wasn't enough consistency in the film in that sense, and there were moments so ridiculous that they kind of took me out of what was going on because they were so sudden that they feel randomly inserted and just sort of appear out of nowhere. I felt like I was watching a different movie at times. But if that's the material, then what can you do?

That said, I thought the performances were mostly quite good. I loved Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson; my movie theater's sound system was awful, so it made my ears hurt to hear, but Hudson's performance -- on acting and vocal terms -- of And I Am Telling You... did not disappoint. Beyoncé is best (and wonderful, at that) when she sings, yet kind of cardboard-like when she doesn't. I suppose the film made it work in looking at Deena's disillusionment as she loses her spirit, but I would've hoped for a little bit more life in her performance. Eddie Murphy was surprisingly good, but Jamie Foxx was awful. I was totally bored by his performance; does he always have that confused look plastered on his face?

Overall, I think it's absolutely worth seeing, and I'm sure I'll see it again at some point, but I wasn't amazed of blown away in any sense. It has a lot of wonderful visual moments, though the direction does also get sort of monotonous and repetitive.

It's much easier to write a post that nit-picks all of the problems I had with the film, but despite that, I did greatly enjoy it. After seeing the film, I'd love to see the show on stage some day.

Updated On: 12/25/06 at 10:09 PM

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:21pm

volleyballer-it is highly doubtful that Foxx will get a Best Actor nomination. He was good, but nothing special. It would be an EXTREME stretch if he was nominated. He's not even in the running at this point.

I, for one, am hoping that Dreamworks campaigns Anika Noni Rose a bit more because if she got some more exposure than her chances at an Oscar nod would be so much more likely. She is absolutely wonderful in the film.

And emcee- I agree with you to an extent. The onyl time the spinning camera work ever really annoyed me was during "Family". Like I said, it's not perfect, but it's definately one of the best movie musicals we've had in a LONG time.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:24pm

Oh, God, that scene made me dizzy. I have remnants of vertigo that's aggrivated by things like that, but it was a bit excessive, no?

And yes, I want to emphasize that it's very, very good -- as a musical, as a movie musical, as an adaptation, however you want to cut it. A lot of the issues I had with it lie within the fact that the material is itself flawed and those flaws are highlighted in the process of putting a musical on film. I definitely liked it, I'm just sort of bummed out that it wasn't amazing and didn't leave me in absolute awe, since that's what the buzz made me expect.

[Trekkie2]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:37pm

GREAT MOVIE! Everyone cheered for Jen at the end credits (as well as after "I'm telling you", of course) meaning that everybody waited a long time, because her name was the last to come up. She better get an Oscar nod.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:42pm

Not to disparage anyone's customs or anything, but can someone tell me why audiences cheer at movies? I mean, you're sitting in front of a screen. It... can't hear you.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:42pm

I just got back from the movie, and if my area is any indication, the box office returns are going to be HUGE. It was sold out everywhere in town (I fortunately got my tickets online,) and people were standing in the aisles.

Overall, I loved the film. I think Bill Condon nailed it to a T, and although I don't think it is going to be everyone's type of movie, I don't think (for me) it could have been done any better. The transitions from song to scene were flawless, and all of the choreography and visual aspects of the numbers were perfect. The arc was great, the chemistry was great.. everything was just first rate.

The performances all around were very strong. While I felt Jamie Foxx had a few missed moments, at the end, I think he pulled off Curtis. He managed to be that villain that you hate, yet he had the charm that made you able to see why the girls (and everyone else) fell under his spell. Anika Noni Rose was excellent, and stole the scene she was in every oppertunity the script allowed. I wish "Ain't No Party" was included just to see what she could do with it, but the refrence left in to it (where Jimmy mentions his wife and her party dress) was cute for those who recognized it. Danny Glover was good in a small role, and Keith Robinson was great as C.C. Eddie Murphy was pitch perfect as Jimmy. He had the kenetic energy and stage heat embodied almost scarily, and his vocals were suprisingly strong.

I know alot of people are going to have mixed opinion's on Beyonce's performance, but I think she did a very decent job as a whole. I was pleasently suprised at how well she was able to hold back and be restrained in the first half of the story, but when she takes center stage and becomes the frontwoman, you can deffinetly see that she is much more comfortable.

My only problem with her performance is that, while she does the 'on stage' transformation of Deena from a mild girl in the background to a fierce diva nicely, I didn't think she handled the personal transformation as well, and that part is alot more important. Even when her Deena was the superstar on stage, I always felt she was still the same timid girl she was before behind the scenes, and that kind of ruins the ending part of her arc where she stands up and takes a stand for herself and says she is reclaiming the part of her she thought died. For me, that part never went away, and she didn't become fierce or take charge until she stood up for herself. I think the transformation was visually aparent, but it lacked depth a bit. Did that work within the context of Condon's story? Yes, but it didn't sit as well with me.

The song "Listen" was another one of my problems with the changes made to the movie. While I understand it's addition and recognize that it is very effective and a good moment for Beyonce and Deena (the audience ate it up,) I just don't like that Deena gets her own "And I Am Telling You.." The same emotions could have been expressed in a much more muted and low key manner, and the fact that they almost (but not quite) let Deena walk away with the show wasn't the best choice for me. It didn't ruin anything in TOO big of a way, though.

The girl who DOES walk off with the show, however, is undeniably Jennifer Hudson. I have loved this girl since "American Idol," so I was happy with her casting, but I'll be honest.. after the hype and reviews she was getting, I was expected to be let down. Hell, I even spent the majority of the movie looking for weaknesses to exploit in her performance, even when she was at her best, because I didn't think it could be possible. COULD she be this good? Could the vocals and the acting be this strong? Could her presence be this overwhelming? But it was all real, and Hudson NAILED it.

"And I Am Telling You.." was like a religious experience. The crowd went wild both mid-way through and at the end, and tears were had all around. The comparisons to Holliday are inevitable, but suprisingly, these two women do VERY different renditions of the song. I think Holliday's rendition is this fierce anthem of defiance, where she is basically saying "F**k You, I'm staying." I always want to cheer and rave for her, but it never made me emotional. She was just so angry and strong (although vulnerable,) and it's great. Hudson's, however, is a whole different animal. Her AIATY is a wounded cry for help, where she is more begging them not to leave then telling them she isn't, and it HIT me. When she stands there, alone on a stage in shambles, and hits that note.. it is cinematic heaven.

Was the film perfect? No, and will everyone love it? Absolutely not, but for someone who has been waiting for this transition to the big screen.. it did not dissapoint.

Updated On: 12/25/06 at 10:42 PM

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:47pm

I am still flying from AIATY. Truly, the most powerful cinematic experience I have ever had.

[bwaybabe3]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:48pm

i loved the movie, don't get me wrong, but just one question:

did anyone else find Hudson's stance during "And I Am Telling You..." a little awkward? Feet apart, arms akimbo and shaking wildly? I loved the song, it gave me chills, i teared a little, i clapped with the rest of the audience, but I can't get her hunchback stance out of my mind!

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 10:49pm

Well,

I just got back from Dreamgirls. I loved it. I was worried a bit because Jennifer Hudson was getting so much hype that I thought my expectations for her might be too high, but she certainly surpassed them. She was a knockout with killer instincts both vocally and acting-wise. Not to mention she is gorgeous.

The other standout for me was Eddie Murphy. After so many years of doing bad bad comedies, I forgot that he could act. Not since Coming to America has he pulled off such a winning performance (…okay…I guess Shrek counts).His vocals were stunning and he certainly gave the role his all.

Both Beyonce and Foxx were fine in their roles, although neither of them has broken out of any mold they have created for themselves. Jaime Foxx clung to the same stone cold intensity that we have seen in every movie of his, and the only time we see a glimmer of Beyonce being daring and breaking out of her comfort zone is during the song “Listen”. She brings a fierceness and desperation that makes her otherwise flat character suddenly come alive.

Anika Noni Rose was effervescent and lit up the screen. Also…she did the best job of aging her character. While Hudson barely seemed to age, and Beyonce only a little, Rose managed to pull off the most drastic and believable growth in the film. Sharon Leal does a good job of her fairly limited role.

The production design was amazing and that is not something to be taken lightly. Without the proper look and costumes, the audience would have been fairly lost as to the timeframe. But the design clarified all that, and often grounded the piece in its time more than any of the snippets of news footage. Peggy Fisher and Jules Eisenhower can make any production number come alive with lighting that is always just right for the tone. The lighting at the very end of “I Am Changing” was so perfect for the moment, and it wasn’t even glitzy.

My one qualm was the treatment of the musical numbers. For the first good chunk of the movie all the musical numbers were part of the story and took place on stage AS performed musical numbers. Then suddenly while we are already deep into the movie “Steppin' To The Bad Side” starts and Jaime Foxx begins singing while walking down an alley and there is backup music. While entering a Broadway theatre, there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief that goes along with it. Theatre is…well…theatrical, so audiences are willing to give up to go with the flow a bit more. Film, however, has clung to a certain level of realism…in commercial Hollywood movies at least. There were quite a few giggles being let out every time one of these non-“performance” songs began, because the audience is lead to believe for a while that it isn’t going to be a musical so much as a movie with music. The simple solution would be to insert a non-“performance” song earlier on, so the audience gets used to the idea and can settle into it.

Also…the song “Family” should have been cut. It came off as cheesy and got a lot of laughs, which wasn’t its intent.

But all in all it was a superbly made movie. I am not that familiar with the original, so I am judging it solely on its own right, and really that’s how most audiences are going to be viewing it. It was dazzling, fresh and heartfelt. It managed to capture an era, as well as some amazing performances. I really felt sad when the girls sang their farewell song, as though I had been a loyal fan for a decade and couldn’t bear to part with them…and that’s what was most amazing and fulfilling.

Akiva

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 11:00pm

volleyballer-it is highly doubtful that Foxx will get a Best Actor nomination. He was good, but nothing special. It would be an EXTREME stretch if he was nominated. He's not even in the running at this point.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I mean, with the hype on his performance, I can somehow see what they're going for, but at the same time, he just bored me. He was great at his villainy/charm, as somethingwicked noted, but I can't see him getting anything.

I, for one, am hoping that Dreamworks campaigns Anika Noni Rose a bit more because if she got some more exposure than her chances at an Oscar nod would be so much more likely. She is absolutely wonderful in the film.

Same here. When she has her 'moment' towards the end of the movie, I kept thinking, "THIS is the definition of a supporting actress." Forgetting whatever debate there is between Hudson getting BA or BSA, Anika Noni Rose definitely deserves a possible nod for supporting.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 11:13pm

Also...gotta love Laura Bell Bundy's little cameo.

Akiva

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 12/25/06 at 11:15pm

I thought the reprise of Cadillac Car was REALLY awkward.