Dreamgirls

-Directed by: Bill Condon

Starring:
-Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy

Two things surprised and delighted me about this movie: 1. Beyonce Knowles, while being one of the most powerful voices of our generation, is a truly gifted actress. and 2. Jennifer Hudson is, at least in my mind, far and away more talented than the folks at American Idol gave her credit for being. (Take THAT Simon Cowell.) With that being said, let's talk about this movie.

Dreamgirls is the story of three friends who have sung together since they were kids, and their dream is to make it as professionals and as friends. When they're given an opportunity to sing back up for James Early, played with remarkable style by Eddie Murphy, they jump at the chance because they correctly see this as an opportunity for more things. The problem is that the road isn't exactly the smoothest path, and success can fracture friendships. The girls wind up romantically entangled with men who don't always have their best interests at heart, and the group and the individuals involved wind up changing in ways they could never have imagined.

This is a special film with the cast each having moments of personal glory. Knowles is subtle, and has clearly watched the work of her more experienced co-stars with remarkable results. It's no surprise the camera loves her, but you'll also find yourself connected to her on a personal level which was what garnered her a recent Golden Globe nomination. Hudson, meanwhile, is powerfully gifted as she stands up for herself in both word and song. For her performance, she was honored with a Golden Globe award and it's very easy to see why.

What you should know is there are some strong issues tackled in this movie. Race, which was a common factor during the period of the movie, is a prevelant topic as is what would now be termed sexual harassment. While the language can be a bit coarse, the movie's strength is it doesn't shy from some fairly hard-core topics but handles it with a class that I can respect.

Overall, if you love musicals, you'll fall in love with Dreamgirls. Both the movie and soundtrack are first rate and I'm making an early prediction for it to be nominated in several categories for the Academy Awards.

-Jenn Untch
Liberty, Missouri
jennuntch@yahoo.com
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Charlotte's Web

-Directed by: Gary Winick

Starring:
-Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey

I'm going to try really, really hard not to borrow from the book and the movie as I talk about it in this review. I'm not going to do the obligatory "Some pig!" bit that has become part of the advertisting. I'm not. I promise. No, really!

All kidding aside though, this movie is nearly as good as I hoped it would be. While the book is a staple of children's literature, the movie doesn't quite have the same gentle flow to it that the book has in ample supply. There's a certain amount of commercializing that you saw coming, but for me spoiled what the movie had to offer. A contemporary audience doesn't need to be led to the moral of the story by the hand, and is far smarter than I think the studio assumes. There's also no real need for some of the occasionally crass jokes that show up. While none of them are overly inappropriate, I think it just spoiled it for me. I wanted something very heartwarming and sweet. What I got was sweet with just a touch of heartburn for good measure.

That aside though, those on screen held up their end of the bargain without fail. Julia Roberts is excellently cast as the voice of Charlotte, and her gently mothering advice is given with the appropriate mix of dry humor and love. Dakota Fanning is also equally good as Fern, though she has a far bigger part in the movie than the book even hinted at. But in that regard, it's ok. While I've seen Fanning really do some weak work, this movie reminds us that she still is very much a girl and you can see the wide eyed wonder in which young people see everything.

The moral here is that sometimes a truly sweet story doesn't need help from Hollywood to be exactly what it is. Sometimes, it can just be itself and assure itself a spot as a family classic for years to come.

-Jenn Untch
Liberty, Missouri
indigojenn at earthlink dot net
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Movie Classic: Sneakers

-Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson

Starring:
-Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier

For the sake of discussion, let's say you were making a suspense movie. And, let's say you had the ability to cast this suspense movie with any actor you wanted. If you were a smart director, you'd go after many of the people who you'll find in this movie. Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, David Strathairn, Ben Kingsley, Mary McDonnell, Dan Akroyd. Six actors who are masters at drama, comedy, and suspense. Put them together, and you get Sneakers. With a script written by Phil Alden Robinson, and Lawrence Lasker, Sneakers is a very slick movie. Based around an idea that it's creators heard about at a computer convention, Sneakers is about people who live a bit on the fringe. These are people who gather together and use their myriad of skills to break into places with talents ranging from computer hacking, security, and a lot of other things they'd probably rather I not mention. But the creators of the movie took this basically illegal group of people and turned it on its side. What if there was a group of people who used their illegal skills to help companies keep themselves secure from thieves? It's an interesting premise, and thanks to some clever research by the creators, is sold admirably in this 1992 movie.

This is a story about secrets. What people will do for them, and what people will do to protect them. The leader of this story is Redford's character Martin Bishop, who is a man who made a mistake in his youth. Running from an incident that happened when he was young, he is a man constantly changing. He's one of the first people who discovered the art of hacking, and thanks to that mistake is now living underground. The story picks up 25 years later with his past in disarray, and him in the company of people who are a lot like him. Whistler, played by Strathairn, is a blind man who has an uncanny knack with machines and is their hacker extraordinaire. He is blessed with a sensitivity to the underlying truth in a situation, and is by far the most intutive of the group. Strathairn is thoughtful actor, and he's able to bring that care and a sly sort of humor to a character who has some of the comic moments of the movie. Crease, who is gruffly brought to life by Poitier, is a former intelligence agent who helps the team with intelligence gathering and brings some of the logic and rationality to people who sometimes fly a bit too close to the sun. He's the embodiment of the "system" and can easily get wound up when faced with the weirdness of Mother. He's the safety net for the sneakers, and he knows what the true meaning of security. He's seen things most of the team have talked about, and when the going gets rought you look to Crease to help get it fixed. Mother is played by Dan Akroyd, and is something of the cowardly lion. An ex-hippy, he's the guy who crawls through the sewer to help get the job done. He holds onto the paranoia and conspiracy theories of his generation, and enjoys nothing more than clinging to them and tormenting Crease with them. Akroyd says that Mother is him playing his brother, who believes a lot of what his character does.

On the other side of the story is Ben Kingsley, who plays Cosmo. Cosmo was a childhood friend of Bishop who wound up going to jail for the mistake that Bishop played a part in. Bishop and Cosmo are two sides of the same coin, and Kingsley is the cool center of logic to Redford's passion. To Cosmo, emotions are messy and something to be avoided. In his mind, a computer is a far more pure thing and it's something that can be trusted far more reasonably than the people who operate them. Cosmo becomes obsessed with controlling the information, controlling the secrets and in that obsession lies the real tension of the film. It's an artful game that Kingsley plays, and in a counterbalance to Redford and the rest of the sneaker team it makes for some fantastic acting. Sneakers is a suspense movie done in the history of the truly great suspense movies, and you wind up being able to relate to it even now.

What you should know is that the language in this movie can be coarse, and let's face it some of this stuff is considered a felony. Add to it a handful of suggestive comments, and you see why this movie got a PG-13 rating. Truth be told, if you can catch it on television or through the Clean Films service you won't hear any of it. That's the nice part about Sneakers. The language might be termed "adult", but with a handy edit you'll never miss it. Maybe that's the sneakiest part of all.

-Jenn Untch
Liberty, Missouri
jennuntch@yahoo.com
Is there a movie you'd like me to review? Let me know!