Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd!

[Protomorph]

I am excited for this new Tim Burton-Directed, Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter/Alan Rickman starring film.

This is not the first time a Sweeney Movie has been made (I know of at least 4), but it is the first to be an adaption of the Broadway musical from Stephen Sondheim.

It is also to be the very first R-rated musical film.

Joy.

Too bad I'll have to wait until Dec 21.

The trailer...

[stumpy]

I read this in high school and saw the preview at the movies a few weeks ago. I am curious how the new movie turns out.

BTW, as well-known as the play is, it is still an unlikely pop culture reference. Once, when some friends saw me sporting a pretty bad haircut and asked where I was having my tonsorial needs filled, I replied, "Sweeney Todd's." Dead silence and blank stares. "You know, the place down on Fleet Street..." Tumbleweeds blow past. It was a tough room.  :ph34r:

[zuludelta]

<Tumbleweed blows past>












(sorry, I couldn't resist!)

[Mr. Hamrick]

I read this in high school and saw the preview at the movies a few weeks ago. I am curious how the new movie turns out.

BTW, as well-known as the play is, it is still an unlikely pop culture reference. Once, when some friends saw me sporting a pretty bad haircut and asked where I was having my tonsorial needs filled, I replied, "Sweeney Todd's." Dead silence and blank stares. "You know, the place down on Fleet Street..." Tumbleweeds blow past. It was a tough room.  :ph34r:

so that explains your hair

[captainspud]

It is also to be the very first R-rated musical film.

Do you mean the first Todd adaptation with an R, or the first R-rated musical, period?

Because the South Park movie is a musical.

[Mr. Hamrick]

It is also to be the very first R-rated musical film.

Do you mean the first Todd adaptation with an R, or the first R-rated musical, period?

Because the South Park movie is a musical.

i think he meant live action musical

[Protomorph]

I actually meant, the first filmed adapation of a Broadway Musical to have an R Rating. I realize that South Park was R (as it should be), but wasn't included due to its a)non-broadway and b)animated natures.

[Viking]

I have mixed feelings about this upcoming movie, which I will nevertheless go to see.

You see, in all adaptations of Sweeney Todd that I have seen and heard, Mr. Todd has a deep, commanding baritone.  I look at Johnny Depp in the previews and see and hear a tragic marriage of Edward Scissorhands and Captain Jack Sparrow.

Still, it's got Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin.  I'm looking forward to that, greatly.

[captainspud]

I don't think Tim Burton remembers how to make a movie without Johnny Depp.

[Protomorph]

I don't think Tim Burton remembers how to make a movie without Johnny Depp.

The last time he tried, we got Marky Mark with monkeys.

[bredon7777]

I don't think Tim Burton remembers how to make a movie without Johnny Depp.

The last time he tried, we got Marky Mark with monkeys.

<threadjack> Has anyone ever figured out that ending? </threadjack>

[Pyroclasm]

Just saw Sweeney Todd!
I am actually one of the people who had never heard of Sweeney Todd before this movie.  (I did a search to find this thread.)
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  It had the illusion of being very graphic because of the buckets o' blood, but the effects were toned down compared to the typical "gore" movie of today.  All the performances were very strong.  The production design was awesome.  The audio mix was a bit off at my screening, but I hope that was just my theatre and not the movie.  The guy behind me was familiar with the actual play (sounded like a big fan) and was all giddy about how good an adaptation the movie was.
I'd recommend it.

[stumpy]

Cool. Oddly enough, I have to get a haircut tomorrow. Maybe I'll catch the matinée. Of course, I'll get the haircut first - I don't want to be too twitchy in that chair... :blink:

[El Condor]

Cool. Oddly enough, I have to get a haircut tomorrow. Maybe I'll catch the matinée. Of course, I'll get the haircut first - I don't want to be too twitchy in that chair... :blink:

You'll be fine - so long as you don't ask for a shave.  :D

[MJB]

I want to see this but Ms_MJB doesn't. I think she's afraid it will scare her. *sigh*

-MJB

[Pyroclasm]

I want to see this but Ms_MJB doesn't. I think she's afraid it will scare her. *sigh*

-MJB

How easily is she scared?  I didn't find it scary, but more disturbing since you get to witness a few sociopaths doing their thing to music.  All the while sounding happy and full of life. LOL  Sure there is blood spraying everywhere from the murders, but it is of the bright red ketchup variety.

[TheMarvell]

I don't think Tim Burton remembers how to make a movie without Johnny Depp.

The last time he tried, we got Marky Mark with monkeys.

Actually, I think the last time he tried was with a little movie called "Big Fish." I actually think it's a fantastic movie and, with the exception of a few of the exaggerated stories the grandfather tells, you can hardly tell it's a Burton film. I believe this came out after Planet of the Apes.

[Protomorph]

Too right, Marvell.

Of course, the facts never get in my way of a good joke at Marky Mark's expense.

[Cardmaster]

Just got back from seein' it and MAN was it delightfully twisted! :D

[lugaru]

Absolutely loved it, hopefully I'll have a review up on my site by new years.

I do have to agree that it was quite violent and chilling and london was amazingly bleak and amoral... which rules. Just as it should be, with children drinking and rats everywhere.

[UnkoMan]

I saw this with my lady friend and we both loved it to pieces. The visuals are so delightfully grey, and it's almost hilarious how gothed up Johnny and Helena look. I'd imagine Burton secretly makes Helena wear this sort of getup when they spend quite times together. Oh, but I can't get over those visuals. It's a wonderful looking movie.

Of course, the story, songs, and everything else is dandy as well, even with the abrupt ending.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

I'll admit that my bias against musicals may seem irrational at first blush, and I won't muck up this innocent thread with needless explanation.  I'll simply say that I was pleased that Johnny Depp's singing was better than I expected, pleased that Alan Rickman had few sung lines, and pleased with the casting for both Beadle Bamford (the inimitable Timothy Spall) and Adolpho Pirelli (the imitable Sacha Baron Cohen).  If you have the time and the inclination, I urge you to read the original penny dreadful, The String of Pearls, to take notice of the rich fabric of mid-nineteenth-century British paranoia (e.g., poisoning of food supplies, the Irish and Irishness, etc.) that is--most probably of necessity due to the somewhat demotic dictates of the stage--condensed and somewhat neutralised by Sondheim's interpretation.

In sum, the film is worth the the price of admission if one can stomach 1. the lyrics and 2. the gore.  I will agree with others that, as usual (and to his credit), Tim Burton serves up a visually stimulating film, full of rich tapestries of the type of London that moves Marxists to speak up (a possible narrative embodied by the original text, as well, mind you).  Mr. Spall, Mr. Depp, and Mrs. Helena Bonham Carter provide accomplished performances that should please young and old. :)

Now, if we could convince Mr. Burton to do Lady Audley's Secret (by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, another promoter of the Victorian sensation novel genre), I might be the first in line to purchase a ticket. ;)

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and The Prat in the Hat

[lugaru]

We finally updated our website... the 'movie poster' is by our awesome inhouse artist and illustrator Jennifer Lewis.



All the connoisseurs except for me have some education in musical theater, so I find it odd that I ended up being the one to review Sweeney Todd. Honestly I have never seen the play and everything I knew about it came from a sub plot in the film Jersey Girl. Still as a big fan of the director and all those involved I couldn't miss its premiere.

Adapted from a darkly humorous and long running play, Tim Burton's interpretation is undeniably cinematic and not stagy at all. It actually opens with CG rubies of blood falling from the London sky amidst the rain, lubricating the cogs of some evil machinery. Not the best introduction I've seen, but certainly flashier than the simple rise of a curtain.

Johnny Depp plays the demon barber Sweeney Todd, a once respectable gentleman looking to avenge the disgrace of his family and his own imprisonment under false chargers. Sweeney Todd is a tragic anti-hero, only destitute and mad. His partner in crime (Mrs. Lovett) is played by Helena Bonham Carter, and she too balances beauty with the desperate ugliness of one who has nothing of value left in their life. Together they hatch a scheme to murder Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), the author of Sweeney Todd's misery. The first step is to establish Todd as a renowned barber, which they accomplish by defeating the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen in a hilarious cameo). Unfortunately Signor Pirelli doesn't take the defeat lightly and confronts Todd about it, becoming his first victim. As a means to dispose of the body Mrs. Lovett bakes his remains into meat pies, and a successful business partnership is born.

Even though the film doesn't lack any comedic relief or musical performances, you won't confuse it with a lighthearted piece of entertainment. As soon as the pace picks up expect to see throats slit and bones crunched with an unsettling frequency. While stylized, it is a far cry from the ethereal arterial spray in 300. This blood, ketchup red, is abundant and permanent, bubbling as it emerges from a gurgling mouth. All but the most squeamish viewer will get used to the violence but it takes somebody with a subscription to Fangoria to be completely unaffected by it. Also the movie works hard to create a tense atmosphere, littering its scenes with needles and cleavers. Everywhere you look people are wielding dangerous implements, and this is just a fact of life. The horror of this movie is that of a betrayal of trust, that the people we depend on might harm us at our most vulnerable.

To round out all this bloody business is a beautiful score; filled with clever lyrics and emotive performances. While I don't know anything about the stage version, I am surprised to see the films songs push the story forward instead of stopping it in its tracks like many other musicals do. Johnny Depp's voice is that of a pop performer (maybe a little bit of Bowie) tainted by the darkness of his characters madness. Helena compliments his performance with her sweet and playful soprano. It is also surprising to listen to Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall sing along quite competently. Still the films highlight is Ed Sanders as Toby, casting a child lends the movie a certain credibility, reminding us how terrible that part of London history could be for an orphan. I'm not calling this late comer the best movie of 2007 but at least it sends the year off with a bang and cleanses the palate for 2008.

http://www.theconnoisseurs.com/sweeneytodd.html