hey hey! so on friday night i finally saw
dreamgirls after months of personal anticipation and oh yes there was some serious magic in the air over at the arclight cinemas where my pal
joey and i had ourselves a delicious dinner (which included a few glasses of wine) at the theater's restaurant - there were tons of cute people everywhere and we even spotted a few 'celebs' including
cuba gooding jr, an adorable
patrick fugit (almost famous),
rex lee (lloyd from entourage) who was with
rachel true (half & half, the craft) the show was completely sold out - disco balls were hung with care on both sides of the cinemarama dome (the largest theater @ the arclight) and everyone walked away with a snazzy souvenir program & with a small poster lithograph (the tickets were $25 but sometimes programs like that can sell for the same price so overall it was worth the extra bucks)
the movie started a drop late but thankfully there were no trailers or commercials and everyone cheered and clapped as the big blue drapes were pulled back...when it was all done and over - i walked away not really sure how i felt - it is a great movie - there's no question about that at all - it's very well done but in the end i just really liked it versus falling head over heels crazy for it (i know some people will kill me for saying this) i think i wanted to be more emotionally drawn into the story than i was - some movies really stick with you after seeing them and to be honest i haven't thought about it much until now while writing this post! i had the same problem with 'moulin rouge' - while watching both films i felt like i was on the outside looking in rather than being inside - it's hard to explain but maybe you will understand what i'm getting at?
i didn't particularly care for any of the characters except 'effie white' who was
brilliantly portrayed by newcomer
jennifer hudson (oh she was my gal on 'american idol' - i
threw a fit when she was booted but in the end it worked out way better than we all could have imagined) ms. hudson for sure is the heart of the movie and for someone with little acting experience - damn - she blew me away! she was really good - every scene - whether acting or singing - she shined! her big moment in the movie during the song
and i am telling you i'm not going was hands down the highlight of the film - people immediately responded with an overwhelming applause! (she
totally deserves both a golden globe & an oscar)
i also enjoyed
eddie murphy's performance a lot (a career highlight no doubt) and my girl
beyonce was also quite good playing 'deena jones' and gosh she is
fucking gorgeous - say what you will but she is really stunning! her big song
listen (watch the
video) was great but you can tell the song was added - it just sounds more contemporary than all the other songs! the one person who bothered me was
jamie foxx who seemed to have the same stupid look on his face throughout the entire film - i just wasn't feeling him at all - i really liked
danny glover &
keith robinson - plus
anika noni rose,
sharon leal &
hinton battle were all decent as well! (and keep your eyes peeled for
jaleel white aka 'steve urkel')
director
bill condon did an
incredible job of bringing this musical to the big screen - but i don't know how i feel about the film nabbing best picture honors - it's really good but i thought i would leave raving about the film and racing home to tell y'all like a mad person about how much i loved it - but alas i didn't fall in love with it! yet i would still
totally recommend it to everyone and anyone - i had a blast watching it and for sure the film will go down as one of the great movie musicals! i think that any issues i had with the film i would have had with the broadway show - i'll be really curious now to hear what everyone else thinks and i can finally read all the reviews i've been holding off on reading - i so wanted to watch the film with a fairly unbiased state of mind! now please don't go run off saying popbytes didn't like
dreamgirls because i definitely did but i can't go on a crusade for this film! popbytes over & out for now - thanks for bearing with me on an extra long post - phew - that took a lot out of me!
PS ok yes i'll admit that i am listening to the soundtrack right now - and i'm having a fun time hearing the music again...
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