Review of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)"

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Going against the grain, 10 April 2008

First of all I am not a big fan of musicals. I have seen several good ones and many, many bad ones. Where a bad play can induce laughter, a bad musical just induces nausea, anger and boredom. Unfortunately the latter two describe my feelings after watching Sweeney Todd. These feelings were probably accentuated by my dislike for almost anything written by Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story being the exception), Tim Burton's drab, dull, and lifeless direction and unfortunately not one of the actors has much in the way of a gifted voice (I'm sorry Helena, Alan and Johnny).

The story revolves around a gifted barber named Benjamin Barker (Depp) with a beautiful wife and child. The envious Judge Turpin (Rickman) covets Barker's wife and proceeds to frame him to get him out of the way. Barker's innocent wife is taken advantage of and his child becomes the ward of the lecherous Judge. Years pass and Barker returns to London after being released from incarceration. He is now Sweeney Todd and has returned to enact his revenge. He meets Mrs. Lovett (Carter) who becomes his villainous accomplice. If you didn't figure out the predictable plot, his victims become the stuff of the meat pie Mrs. Lovett sells (and yes Soylent Green is made of people too).

I have not seen or heard any of the original musical so I do not have anything to compare this movie to. I can only judge it based on its own merits, of which there are few. Tim Burton (who has a tendency for great visuals but not telling stories well) has created a dull, drab, dirty and lifeless London. You would think with the vast amount of bloodletting in this mostly gray movie, it would show up in vivid and cherry red. Instead it looks like dull paint. I have found Johnny Depp's presence in most movies to make any film better. It sadly fails here. The cast is pretty talented consisting of the aforementioned Depp, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Timothy Spall and even Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen. None of them is particularly gifted vocally (this could also be a limitation of the musical itself, but I doubt it). After seeing the ultimate in revenge movies (Chan-wook Park's trilogy), this movie turns very predictable. Other reviewers talk about the dark comedy aspect of the movie, of which I saw little. Perhaps the musical had some, but it has been completely stripped away by Burton, much like the visual representation of London.

The last 20 minutes of the movie is the best of the approximately 2 hour runtime, most likely because no one is singing. I would have liked to have seen a version of this movie without the music. An adaption of a musical without the music, now that might have been interesting. That along with the usually talented cast is the sole reason this movie got a rating above 2 in the first place. If you like to be bored, disappointed and annoyed then this movie is perfect for you. I do believe that a film aspires to be the vision of a collaborative effort, with the director at the helm. The goal is to make you see something or feel something they want, not what you want. It is to make you feel something other than what you would be comfortable with. I seriously doubt Tim's vision was to bore, disappoint and annoy. If you are curious about Sweeney Todd skip the movie and go straight for the musical.

Review of "Smiley Face (2007)"

Smiley Face (2007)

A sub par stoner movie with a random ending. A to B to Crap. If you are interested just watch the trailer.

Save the remaining 85 minutes for something more important, like cleaning your cuticles. I always thought the Anna Faris was the most likable (a.k.a. least annoying) aspect of the Scary Movie franchise. In this movie it looks like she is desperately trying to recreate being stoned, funny and yet still managing to be cute while clinging desperately to a mid-20 something youthfulness. Unfortunately she comes across more like Meg Ryan on sedatives.

I wanted to like this movie, ever since I saw the trailer. Another sad example of a trailer that is better than the movie itself. It had possibilities. This is a "stoner" movie, or rather it tries to be one. The quintessential element of every "stoner" movie is the characterizations. The "stoner", though unreliable at times and high the rest of time, is generally quite likable. The "stoner" encounters unusual people and situations while under the influence. There is usually a convoluted, yet complicated story arc or a ridiculously easy plot masquerading as convoluted one. Then the "Happy" ending.

Anna's "Jane F" is pretty stupid even for a severe homeopath. There is hardly anything likable about her character. The crazy wobbling and ,"pause", Memento moments get old quickly. I do declare from the back she looks like an elderly man. Also the crows feet do not help her "youthful" exuberance. Her performance actually manged to sever any sex appeal Anna may have had left. It's all down hill from here. The movie left me empty, saddened and depressed, like Anna's facial expressions. She didn't look stoned, she look like she had Alzheimer's, needed to be committed (nervous breakdown) or is suffering from progeria (all three or in any random combination). The movie also feels as if the people making this movie are faking it (never tried the product). Her "trips" are more indicative of acid or special k, rather than cannibus. I was half expecting her to jump off a roof top or claim that she is hearing colors. And what's with all the paranoia?? Skinny (not cute), white blonde girl. What does she have to worry about from the "man"? America loves skinny, white blonde chicks. It is like making a movie with Paris Hilton and expecting the audience to feel for her character instead of cheering when that character gets horribly dead. Its just not going to happen.

Jane gets stoned, inadvertently gets more stoned when she steals (twice), then ends up in a crazy, random adventure that really was pointless in the end. For a "stoner" she also manages to flush more product than she actually smokes. The acting would have made more sense if she was a NARC trying to "act" high (instead of getting high). This movie may have worked if there had not been any other "stoner" movie in existence, except for Reefer Madness. You expect the "randomness" and some questionably impaired judgment calls. It is the way the characters deal with each other and the situations that makes it enjoyable.

Alcohol did little to impair me from the truth and pain of this movie, so I doubt smoking ganja will help the situation (unless of course you smoke enough that you pass out and do not awake until the movie ends). Grandma's Boy is a recent stoner movie that was unexpectedly good (other better possibilities include Harold and Kumar, any Cheech and Chong movie, Dazed and Confused, Half-Baked, etc). See those instead. And though I didn't like Knocked Up, it definitely was better than this.

I have been giving movie the 2nd opportunity to change my mind. If I felt negatively about a movie, I will reserve the review until I had given the film a 2nd viewing. If I have the same reaction a 2nd time, it was meant to be. The first time I watched this, I was confused and a little sad. The 2nd viewing just made me mad and annoyed. "The Irony of It All."