Despicable Me - Melbourne International Film Festival

ROTTEN APPLE, NOT SO ROTTEN AFTER ALL.



Just because he’s a bad guy, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.

Gru is the world’s top super villain.....or was.
The world is filling up with younger, smarter, and more tech savvy super villains. Gru hatches a plan to get back to number 1 status, and make his mother proud. He’s going to steal the moon. But when the plan includes adopting 3 super-cute orphaned girls, Gru discovers that just being evil doesn’t cut it, and has to change his plans much more than expected.

This film is endearing, funny and colourful. In other words just another formulaic Universal studios kids animation, needlessly converted to 3D so the cinema’s can earn an extra buck.
Despite the disappointingly predictable plot ‘Despicable Me’ has a wicked soundtrack created by hip-hop artist Pharrell Williams, which give the film edge and a tad more depth.
Interestingly, the kids in the cinema weren’t the only ones laughing hysterically at the slapstick antics of the rubbery yellow minions and the ridiculous weaponised squid shooters, fart guns and fluffy unicorns. The imagery and action rather than the script make this movie hilarious. And even though you can see it coming, there are a number of moments that will bring a tear to your eye.

The producer Chris Meledandri, operating for the first time under Illumination Entertainment, founded by Meledandri in 2007, when asked what influenced the film says “There is without question an element of kind of a 'Bond' like foundation from which it springs. Gru is probably closer, and not in a literal way, but to an old Bond style villain than any other sort of cinematic villain. Gru was about his physicality and that an influence in Chris [Renaud] and Pierre's depiction of how he moved and how physical he was as a character came from some Peter Sellers reference. They watched a lot of Peter Sellers and a lot of Rowan Atkinson”

Steve Carrel smoothly voices Gru the vaguely European super villain, which is no surprise, given the range of comic characters he has played in the past. Julie Andrews as the voice of Gru’s evil mother is a surprise as is that of Russel Brand who plays Dr Nefario. This character would be a change of scene for Brand as most roles of his are young eccentric and hard to ignore. The Dr Nefario character is not central to the story and only contributes to a few jokes. The charming surprise was that a couple of small characters were voiced by Jack McBrayer from 30Rock and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, who seems to be popping up all over the place in cameos.

‘Despicable Me’ tries to be a darkly humorous film and wins a few times. It has great Looney Tunes slap-stick quality which appeals to all ages, and has a heart warming story of finding family and home. Right from the start, the minions are endearing and quirky, and you just want the bad guy to win. This film is not groundbreaking in terms of story line, but is still worth a look.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Venue: The big screen at Hoyts Melbourne Central. The 3D glasses recycle station was placed very inconveiniently behind a wacking great pole.

Blokes Don't Sing - Suade

They sauntered in. All rumpled casual clothes, unshaven faces and boisterous manner. It wasn’t until they had shuffled between the narrow aisle of the Butterfly Club and stepped onto the stage, that I realised this rowdy bunch of men weren’t audience members making their way into the tiny fifty seat theatre, but the a Capella singing sensation Saude. All male, all singing and no dancing. A white lie, the boys began the evening with “The Longest Time” (A crowd favourite) and a bit of ‘man-choreography’.

The show was to be a debut of Suade as a cabaret. While the boys have been fronting up to competitions and singing festivals for nearly 10 years, they were all cabaret virgins. The group even admitting to researching the definition of what cabaret actually is (A slippery concept to grasp even for the most veteran cabaret goer). The transition from concert to cabaret however was a lot like their beards, rough around the edges, but perfectly appropriate. In between originals like “Can’t we just be friends” a song about taking one for the team, there are also some great covers in the mix. A medley from Greece was aptly performed, and the idea of Sandy being played by a man, seemed surprisingly right.

The stand out parts of the show were when the boys deviated from the script and joked amongst themselves and the audience. Even though it took the members of Suade 10 minutes or so to warm up, with their natural showman antics, comic charm, and cheap testicle jokes (funny non-the-less) they soon had the crown eating from the palms of their hands. Despite clunky segues and obvious differences between scripted and unscripted dialogue, the larrikin spirit and manly boisterousness contrasted beautifully with angelic harmonies and impressive musicianship.

Do you ever get that feeling, as you are watching or listening to a great performer, when your heartbeat increases and the bottom of your stomach falls away? The feeling that usually accompanies a Tim Minchin song or a great ballad at a rock concert? Well Suade can make you feel that way for the whole hour and 15 minutes they were on stage. Apart from my aching smile and laugh muscles, the hardest part about this show was picking a stand out moment. Was it the Korean Boy Band tribute in reverse karaoke, or was it the song where one man donned a giant testicle suit for the entire duration? Maybe it was the poignancy and joy in the song about one band member’s son. For a first time cabaret, I have never seen an audience applaud so long or call so loudly for an encore. The blokes from Suade graced us with one last song, an upbeat cover of “All Night Long” and as the boys shuffled, minced and sidled back through the narrow aisle and steamy room to the exit, I have no doubt that every single person in the audience were wishing that the show could have gone all night long.

Suade will be returning to the cabaret stage at the Inaugural Melbourne Cabaret Festival in July this year. For more information visit www.melbournecabaret.com

Rating: 4 out of 5
Venue: There are not many venues in the world that would allow a performer to pelvic thrust into the owner’s face, who happens to be sitting in the front row...loving it.