Reviews
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DRAMA/MUSICAL DREAMGIRLS (12A) 130min 0.00
Dreamgirls has made Oscar history and the ceremony hasn’t even taken place yet. It is, allegedly, the first picture to have the most Academy Award nominations in a given year and still not be nominated for Best Picture. And, for once, the Academy seems to have got it right. For, while Dreamgirls has many fantastic attributes - brilliant musical numbers, top performances, and some amazing camerawork and editing - it doesn’t quite gel, ensuring that this musical never moves from being a good film to a supreme one. In recent years, adaptations of Broadway shows have been particularly lacklustre. Let’s face it, the film adaptations of Rent, The Producers and The Phantom of the Opera were all outdone by Team America. Indeed, if memory serves, before Dreamgirls the only decent recent Broadway stage screen transfer has been Chicago - a film written by Bill Condon, the writer/director of Dreamgirls. Condon’s CV displays a penchant in recent times to make films based on real people (see also Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey and James
ANIMATION/ADVENTURE ARTHUR AND THE
INVISIBLES (U) 93min .0.
If Luc Besson (The Big Blue. Leon) is to be believed. this. his tenth film. will also be his last as director. in adapting his own children‘s book, Besson mixes live-action and CGI animation with decidedly patchy results. It's heavy on
Whale in Gods and Monsters), and Dreamgirls is loosely based on the story of The Supremes, with Beyoncé Knowles playing Deena Jones (an alias for Diana Ross) and American Idol graduate Jennifer Hudson starring as
(Kaleem Aftab)
style but light on originality.
Arthur (Freddie Highmore from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Good Year) is worried that his grandmother (Mia Farrow. going through the motions) is about to lose her house. The only way he can save the house from being repossessed is to find his long lost grandfather and missing treasure in the back garden. In the garden he stumbles across a portal to the land of the Minemoys. where little clean cut Freddy becomes a spunky cartoon teen. He is soon the object of affection of Princess Selina (voiced by Madonna) and together they must defeat an evil wizard.
The all-star voiceover cast includes Robert De Niro. Emilio Estevez, Chazz Palminteri and Harvey Keitel. but. bizarrely. Besson misses a trick in not
Effie White (a double for The Supremes’ Florence Ballard). With these two in charge of the vocals, the singing was never going to be a problem, but here we have the unexpected bonus of Beyoncé finally showing some acting chops and Hudson putting in an exceptionally fine debut (her Oscar nomination is entirely merited).
Meanwhile, Eddie Murphy is a revelation as an R&B performer struggling to adapt to changing musical taste. Of the cast, only James Foxx is uncomfortable with his singing duties, but otherwise produces a well- pitched performance as the overly ambitious manager of the Dreamettes.
With its giddy musical numbers, garish design and excellent montage (especially the mixing in of documentary footage from some of the era’s Civil Rights demonstration), Dreamgirls may just be the dream ticket to get you through these winter months.
I General release from Fri 9 Feb.
getting the cartoon characters except David Bowie as the evil wizard reflect the actor's on-screen personas. Strangely. for a feature animation aimed at a younger audience. Arthur and the invisib/es is most entertaining in its live-action sequences.
(Kaleem Aftab)
I General release from Fri 2 Feb.
ROMANCE, DRAMA PLAY (12A) 105min 0000
‘Times were hard but they were modern' runs the unattributed Italian proverb at the beginning of this vibrant debut feature from young Chilean writer-director Alicia Scherson. which provides a real tonic for jaded cinematic palates. Described by its creator as an ‘urban fairy tale'. the
Film
Rough Cuts
Film news and giveaways for beautiful cineaste types
l J A. I So the Oscar nominations are in and Rough Cuts is deeply underwhelmed. But, for the record, this is what should happen on Saturday 25 February: the Best Picture award should go to Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Little Miss Sunshine just because it would annoy the Director’s Guild of America who refuse to recognise any film with a co- director credit. Best Actor should go to Forest Whitaker’s ldi Amin for the best impression of a Scotsman by a bloodthirsty tyrant, while Meryl Streep could be rewarded for performing pretty much the same kind of role in The Devil Wears Prada. Then they should give Sacha Baron Cohen and Guillermo Del Toro a trillion dollars each to carry on the good work, and that should be that for another year (thank the lord).
I They’re coming in thick and fast but we want more, so please send your One Minute Wonder National Film Competition script proposals to us and we will make you a movie mogul. Log on to www.list.co.uk and follow the links for details.
WINNIE MAN WHO FEll TO EARTH: SPECIAL EDITION
Optimum Releasing have just released a new two—disc version of Nic Roeg's seminal film starring David Bowie as an alien 5;. stranded on ‘ " earth. We have five copies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning one simply send an email marked ‘EARTH‘ with your name. address and daytime telephone number to prontotionstmlist.co.uk by no later than Friday 16 February
WHO FEEL TO EARTH
lr l5) leb12()(l/ THE LIST 43