Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls is a fabulous movie and I should say straight up - this movie does the musical justice, without a doubt. And I do have to join the growing chorus of people acclaiming the extraordinary, Jennifer Hudson. She is amazing in her role! What a voice, what a talented performer all round!

Now (obviously) I've never seen the stage production, and although I have heard some of the songs before, I've not heard the whole soundtrack. (My partner has the live Broadway recording, but I was lazy and never listened to it.) It is a fantastic story - quite predictable of course, but something that resonates through our little drag world. There are some brilliant catchy songs, as well as some awesome power ballads.

Eddie Murphy - OMG! He can sing! Though I do have to admit, I got a flashback to the movie "Coming To America" where he played the singer in the band "Sexual Chocolate".. Those of you who know the reference know kind of what to expect, but he plays the role without the comedy wrapped around it - and pulls it all off very well!

Beyonce Knowles was great too.. A huge step up from her cameo in Austin Powers! Her song, "Listen" (that was added to the movie and of which she was a co-writer) is a fantastic power ballad - and performed exceptionally for the screen.

In one scene where there is a photo shoot set up, it's remarkable how Knowles transforms into the iconic photographed images of Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor - it is almost like she was born to play the role. Her expectational voice is only unleashed at the end, but with such a fantastic singing cast you hardly notice her strong voice down-played.

Jamie Foxx however was the obvious exception to my last comment. Quite clearly he was not in the movie for his singing ability. He hardly sang a word, and for such a central character, was disappointing to say the least. He was great though in his role as the Dreamgirls' manager.

One thing that annoyed me was the backup dancers in some of the sequences. It was filmed in a 2007 commercial music-video styled set of clips and was completely out of context. The choreography for the all male backup dancers was definitely commercial r&b and not styled to the time the show was set in. BAD BAD BAD!

Mind you, I was distracted from the bad choreography by some very annoying people in the theatre..

We, my partner and I, went to Bondi Junction Greater Union. We prefer to go there as we can book our seats online long before the movie session. I'm a fussy b*tch and don't like sitting too close or to the side in a movie theatre, so we go to this theatre to prevent my partner from "death-by-boredom" while we wait through 20 mins of trailors and ads in order to get a good seat..

We have decided to change this policy now since the Dreamgirls session.

I had to endure sitting next to a little Asian girl who had a shopping bag full of lollies, phone, purse etc. She every 5 minutes (and I'm not exaggerating!) searched through her bag.. making the most noise you could make! Her mother, next to her, was chatting away in her native language, pointing at the screen. She then left during the the biggest moment in the movie, "And I Am Telling You", leaving her daughter, who later on, fiddled around with her phone and bags and then left the theatre.. (Thank God)

There was a problem with security staff at the top of the theatre with a patron, and so we had to endure some woman being removed from the theatre, shouting and screaming. That went on for about 10 minutes or so..

Not only that, there was a row of 8 seats behind us that were filled 10 mins into the film by complete utter morons who talked the WHOLE way through the movie, regardless of the glares that got from everyone around them - even 5 rows in front! The idiots even brought in some fish and chips - classy! At the end of the movie, one of the girls exclaimed, "It was a musical!" - I bit my tongue..

Honestly - you would think that if you attend a movie in a public theatre, you would worry about how you act. So watch out, there has been similar instances around the country - see here! Clearly, Greater Union Cinemas at Bondi Junction are not where you want to go to sit with people who have respect for the people around them. (Surprising, I thought for a cinema in the eastern suburbs! I guess it is a Westfield complex..)

The boyfriend and I will now be heading to the Palace or Verona Movie Theatres in future - besides they are closer to home, smaller theatres, and right in the middle of gayville..

Sounds perfect to me!

So I will go back to watch Dreamgirls again.. I would have anyways! Make sure you see it!