Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd...

I see the trailer...I think this is another good movie of Jhonny Depp...

The trailer looked good.. I'll mark my calendar for this one..

Even though I don't like musicals this film has a good cast, awe-inspiring visual flurishes and a good story. I'm worried about how good the singing will be but I trust that Tim Burton will be smart and make sure his actors nail that aspect of the film.

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Down The Rabbit Hole
Down A Dark Alley

Latest Movie Viewing: Wings (1927)
Latest Album Listened To: Honky Château, Elton John (1972)
Latest TV Show Viewed: Doctor Who

Well good cast...definitely...I heard a lot of positive rumors too about this movie...

Opening Sequence online

http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay.cfm?colid=23667

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Suspect's Reviews

can seriously not wait for this movie! And i know she's only got a little part in this but im excited to see laura michelle kelly - she is playing Galadriel in Lord of the rings the stage show here int he west end and she originated the role of mary poppins onstage. She has an incredible voice that has to be heard to be believed.

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

I can't wait till Friday. I heard it was rated R so I will have to go with my Mom or Dad, but I can't wait.

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Things sound very good for this, and with Emmy noms already, i can't bloody wait.

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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!

It looks incredibly creepy, but interesting at the same time. Which is what I exactly like. Only in movies though, not in real life.

heh.. yeah, real life creepiness is a lot harder to wash outta your clothes...
Welcome to mofo, TrentC!

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Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

i've heard a lot of positive reviews about this movie,, don't know if what i've heard is true because i haven't seen it yet. . hope to catch it one of this days. .

Yoda and I (and SignificantOther Yoda) saw this yesterday afternoon. I'm biased because I've loved this play/story for nearly two decades ... and I usually love Depp in anything he does ... so I loved this version. A few stray thoughts in no particular order:

-- I'm glad Burton stuck as close to the Sondheim vision/version as he did. Burton and Sondheim's music/lyrics are a match made in heaven this time.

-- Re. Johanna: What? Was Christina Ricci busy? Or is she just too old now?

-- Re. Singing: Depp's singing was more than passable. It was a delight. He captured Sweeney at every twist and turn. Bravo.

-- Re. Singing: Carter's singing was abysmal. In a movie, where they can manipulate sound to the minutest detail, I was grossly disappointed in how mumbly and inaudible the words to every song she sang ended up. SO much of the best humor in this production stems from Mrs. Lovett's lyrics, and yet well more than half of what Carter said/sang was too mushy to understand.

-- Casting: In general I'd say this movie was flawlessly cast. I think Carter's adaptation of Mrs. Lovett was interesting but uninspired (and I usually love her work). She wasn't as vibrant as that character almost needs to be. Let's face it: Sweeney's a dark character. Turpin and Beadle are also dark. Toby is sad and pathetic. The beggar woman is hopelessly depressing. The few (comic) lights in the story are Pirelli and a usually over-animated Mrs. Lovett. Making her as dreary and with as many bags under her eyes as Sweeney, and Carter playing her as more brooding than usual, make the two of them so tragic that it's suffocating in spots. What works so well in this story is the dark Sweeney played off against the bubbly, almost cartoonish Mrs. Lovett. But in the movie we don't see this.

Heck, in the lyrics to her very first song, one of the jokes (as she's singing a mile a minute and scattering about smashing bugs and makings pies) is that she is a "woman alone, with limited wind." The joke being, of course, that she is NOT of limited wind or animation at all.

Anyway, I am rambling now. Aside from Carter's performance, I adored this version and can't wait to own it for myself. (I have a DVD of the Lansbury/Hearn version.) And even Carter's performance only gets picked on because everyone else was so flawless.

I'm seeing this on stage in three weeks here in Pittsburgh -- the same staging as the new Broadway revival, which ought to be interesting. (The actors also play instruments when they sing -- yeah, like they don't have enough to do already!)

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Oh, Yoda and SOYoda and I laughed the most during the "By the Sea" number, at Depp's pouting humorless expressions in every scene (especially with the ridiculous striped swimsuit on). Too funny!

Ah, a musical, eh? I shall skip it. I rarely like musicals... Although... I liked Nightmare Before Christmas... Hmmmm

I'll wait for DVD!

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Ha haha ... NOT your typical musical, Sedai. Trust me! I think that's part of its charm for me. I dislike most musicals too ... but this one is as close to a tongue-in-cheek musical (but mainly is just dark and grittily comic) as you can get without being silly.

The music is integral here and Sondheim does a great job of creating the story via the music. The first 20 minutes or so is a lot of "build up" toward the upcoming faster-paced gritty goriness, but well worth the wait, IMHO.

I agree with what Austruck says about Helena Bonham Carter's performance. I've seen Angela Lansbury perform the role and she put a lot of energy and excitement into the Mrs. Lovett character. A lot of energy -- and she's OLDER than Helena!

Helena's performance is like...

Hi !

I got the role of Mrs. Lovett because I'm Tim Burton's wife!

La de da! *waves to the screen and goes back to making pies*

Precisely, SC. It felt almost as if she was the default choice because Mrs. Lovett was the main female lead.

But I'm just not so sure she really fit the part. Too sulky. An interesting "take" on the part, but I think it ultimately felt like Burton shoehorned her into it.

Oh, and SC, don't forget: Lansbury had to sing her part and dance live on stage -- not lip-sync to lyrics she'd sung earlier in studio.

No.
You go buy a ticket, mister, and you WATCH this one, on the big screen with no interruptions.

March!!!

(Seriously, this is worth the price of admit and the fx are gorgeous and deserve to occupy many square inches. Unless you have a hella sweet home theater setup, see it at the cinema.



Austruck - I'm with you, totally. I thought Carter's stuff just didn't have the punch necessary to define the lyrics. Sondheim loves to pack those words in, and if you don't phrase carefully, and almost overly-separate the ideas, it becomes mush. HBC would have done well to watch how Lupine-directed singers broke those words up.

Otherwise though, this was such a delight. I am more impressed than ever with Johnny Depp, and I've been impressed with him since he said, "but you're... a girl" on 21 Jump Street.

I've read lots of criticisms of Carter's "mush-mouthed" singing, but maybe since I've been used to Dylan for 45 years, it didn't phase me. Now, saying that she didn't play the role up to the level of Angela Lansbury is a totally-different story...

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