Some comments on SWEENEY TODD

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 10:50pm

It is remarkable to think that, in this one weekend, SWEENEY TODD will probably end up making more money than it ever has on stage. Stephen Sondheim has never been an easy sell. But slap Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's name on the credits and you get boffo box office. And that's what the film industry is all about. Who cares for integrity?

Well, it seems that Tim Burton does. He managed to create a musical horror film so brilliant that it goes to show how good, old fashioned suspense can blow the minds off audience members used to the torture porn of the SAW/HOSTEL films.

SWEENEY TODD is easily the best film of 2007 (and I've seen most of the movies getting "buzz.") It's a shoo-in to win the Best Musical Golden Globe, and actually has a possibility of being nominated and winning the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture. And don't get me started on Johnny Depp, whose facial expressions during "By the Sea," alone, make him worthy of any award.

There's a reason why Burton keeps casting his longtime life-partner Helena Bonham Carter alongside Depp: they've got unspeakably beautiful chemistry, and it shows in every film they do together. Depp's Sweeney is pure evil, Carter's Lovett (whose breasts grow and shrink scene-by-scene) will do anything for his affection. And she bears a striking resemblance to Bernadette Peters.

Alan Rickman can do no wrong, Timothy Spall is great, Ed Bell is horrifyingly strong, the young woman who plays Johanna is gorgeous, and the young man (?) who plays Anthony has quite strong a voice.

Burton's direction is positively chilling, and the production design is bound to collect gold. Jonathan Tunick deserves a Nobel Prize for his goose-pimple inducing orchestrations, which are certainly the highlight of the film (especially when the soundtrack is played at full blast like where I saw it.)

And I shall close with an anecdote. Four quite attractive young ladies sitting behind me, walked in talking about how they didn't want to sit through a musical. But their JOHNNY was in it, so of course, they'd do anything to have his babies. Hearing their murmurs during the film, from the inane ("it sounds like a Disney movie when they sing every three seconds,") to the inspired ("I bet you the Beggar is his wife!") was worth the price of admission, alone.

Updated On: 12/21/07 at 10:50 PM

[zooxanthellae]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:02pm

I agree 110%, this movie deserves to win many awards and do extremely well at the box office. It was stunning. I was not bored once throughout the entire thing and even though I knew what was coming next I was so attached and drawn into the story that I was on the edge of my seat with suspense. I really felt like I was there with Sweeney and Lovett, the acting was unbelievable!
I thought my audience members were pretty funny as well! Most of the people obviously hadn't seen it before so it was pretty fun to hear people catch on during "A little Priest" and after Sweeney realizes he has killed his wife. And afterwards this girl announced: "what the hell, they changed the ending the boy shouldn't have killed him..." I kind of just rolled my eyes...
But that last shot of Sweeney oozing blood all over Lucy is probably the most powerful and moving image in the entire film and induced many a chills. Worth the price just for those last 10 minutes or so! Amazing!

[Perfectly Marvelous]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:03pm

Those comments definitely beat out the "Well, it was good but it wasn't what I thought it was going to be!" I heard today from a lady exiting the theatre.

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments above.

By the way, Jamie Campbell Bowers and Jayne Wisener play Anthony Hope and Johanna, repsectively.

Updated On: 12/21/07 at 11:03 PM

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:04pm

My sentiments exactly, Yankee.

I'd love to see it win the Oscar for Best Picture, but the Academy isn't a big fan of blood. What do you think about it?

[zooxanthellae]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:07pm

Well, even if it doesn't get best picture (which I hope it does). I (I'm not a Depp fan normally) think that Depp should definitely go home with the Oscar this year!

Hopefully it becomes a phenomena and follows in the foot steps of "The Silence of the Lambs" in taking best picture.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:09pm

I'm glad you enjoyed it, but aren't there already a few review threads?

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:10pm

I think it'll come down to this (which got universal raves, even one from Tony Scott in the Times, who called it "a near masterpiece") and No Country for Old Men (another acclaimed, bloody film, which I found bloody boring, but with an Oscar worthy performance from Javier Bardem).

In terms of directing, I think it'll be a race between the Coens, Burton, and Sidney Lumet, who will win, with his unparalleled work on "Before the Devil..."

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:14pm

You couldn't join any of the other threads discussing this film?

Anyway, could you please explain this comment:

There's a reason why Burton keeps casting his longtime life-partner Helena Bonham Carter alongside Depp: they've got unspeakably beautiful chemistry, and it shows in every film they do together.

The only other film besides Sweeney they have done together is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and they had minimal screen time together. (if any)

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:19pm

They did Corpse Bride, too!

It's just that they, along with Burton as director, are a terrific team.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:28pm

Um, Corpse Bride was an animated film. You don't even know if they were in the studio when they recorded their voice parts. So it really has more to do with Burton as a director than with Depp and Carter having "chemistry".

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:44pm

I highly highly doubt that the film will win Best Picture, although I am expecting it to get a nomination.

I also doubt that Depp will win - this year it will be Daniel Day Lewis.


Also, I am pretty sure that Corpse Bride did their recording separately.

But I do agree, the three have AMAZING chemistry.

Updated On: 12/22/07 at 11:44 PM

[sally1112]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:49pm

Thanks for posting an sharing your insight.

[maya5892]

Posted: 12/21/07 at 11:50pm

"But that last shot of Sweeney oozing blood all over Lucy is probably the most powerful and moving image in the entire film and induced many a chills. Worth the price just for those last 10 minutes or so! Amazing!"

I thought the same thing! I was like to my friends, "That is so romantic!" And they looked at me like "What the hell?" But the thing is that it was so powerful, and so moving, and I loved it.

My one problem: Tomato juice doesn't look like blood.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:04am

I think Yankee is being a bit too optimistic regarding SWEENEY'S Oscars. I too think it is the best film of the year--I've yet to see ATONEMENT though, but I don't think it is the kind of movie the Oscars are going to go for. In a fair world, Carter, Depp, Burton, and the film would walk out with the golden statue. As it is though, I think only Burton and Depp will be nominated--and some of the design aspects as well, of course.
As I said in another thread, and will repeat throughout, TODD is like no other movie musical I have ever seen. What a fantastic movie.
May I add kudos to Burton for not needing a "device" to tell the story. His "device" is to actually let the actors and the story sing...revolutionary, I know.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:10am

Well, since neither Depp or Bonham Carter were nominated for a SAG award I would say their Oscar chances are pretty low.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:15am

Depp and Burton are both locks for nominations - I just doubt that he will win.
Updated On: 12/22/07 at 12:15 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:24am

I just got back from seeing it. I've always been kind of indifferent to the stage show, so I didn't go in as a purist. I thought it was pretty damn good. It dragged in spots in the beginning, but I thought it looked great, that the cast was pretty perfect. I know that Johnny and Helena are going to be polarizing, but I really believed them as the characters. I never for a second bothered with caring how imperfect their voices were.

I really hope that with this musical the next wave will just EXPLICATIVE INTERJECTION let themselves BE musicals, you know? I hated that spell when Bill Condon was the great hope of movie musicals, because I hate that "they need a reason to sing" STRONGER VERSION OF DOODY. It's. A. Musical. They sing. And yeah, people will say that in case of Hairspray and Sweeney, those films were so stylized that singing just seemed natural, as opposed to something like Rent or whatever. I dunno. There was a LOT of singing, even - the horror! - recitative, in Sweeney and for that I was grateful.

I don't care if it wins awards or not. I just thought it was a damn good movie.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:57am

I saw it this afternoon, and was completely enthralled from start to finish.

Johnny Depp (who I've never really been too huge a fan of) cements his status as one of the most versatile actors in recent memory. His performance is never anything less than fully committed, and the result is absolutely stunning. He embodies the character to the point where you forget you're watching someone else on screen.

Helena Bonham Carter, though, is who I walked away the most impressed by. Her ability to remain so reserved and poised while still wonderfully expressful and delightfully funny was genius, as was her dead pan delivery. For those particularly worried about her voice: there's no cause for concern. Though it may be a different story when listening to the score on a soundtrack out of context, her singing workes 100% within the film.

The rest of the cast, from the zany and dapper work of Sacha Baron Cohen to the magnetic debut of Ed Sanders as Toby, were all stellar across the board.

Burton understood the story in a way no one else could, and everything just worked.

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 1:33am

it was extra chilling to see every body land head first into the bake house. *crunch* yeesh! Great movie!

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 10:03am

My review:

Customers attending the tale most recently have been weary mid-westerners curious to view a tour of the current revival to try and understand its success on Broadway. One of its most loyal customers who can't resist Lovett's meat pies viewed the film back-to-back last night at her local movie theater. Sitting in the back row with her "Lomo" shirt on, she eagerly soaked in the opening credits anxious to see how the audience would react and how the cast would pan out.

Highlights from the main cast includes the deliciously angry and emotionally tortured Johnny Deep to the worn out and in need of some pampering Mrs. Lovett. She finds her answer in Sweeney Todd and takes advantage of him with a degree of sensitivity and charm as portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter. Other highlights include the perverted and evil Judge Turpin and the rat-like Beadle Bamford portrayed by Timothy Spall.

The film showing brought laughs, tears and most of all a sense of pride to me having been following the show for so long. This show and subsequent film as come full-circle and it's an accurate and beautifully constructed piece of art to make it an international phenomenon like it always deserved to be.


So if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:25pm

I have a question for those folk who've seen the film outside of Manhattan: did the amounts of bloodletting provoke laughter? A friend on mine in Iowa claims the audience laughed at all the huge amounts of blood, but the audience I was in on the Upper West Side watched the film in rapt attention and appreciation, laughing at the very often black humor and the turn of events, clearly enjoying the film. Of course, I doubt that anyone in the audience hadn't already seen some incarnation in Manhattan of the musical.

I thought the film was as brilliant as I had hoped it would be after seeing Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW, which seemed to me the perfect balance of humor and horror. I'm happy to find that he provided the same with SWEENEY TODD.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 12:36pm

Carter's Lovett (whose breasts grow and shrink scene-by-scene)

She was pregnant during filming.

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 1:34pm

Saw the movie last night. All I can say is it was every bit as good as I hoped it was. I found the cinematography was beautiful and Burton deserves his first oscar for the film. In my opinion Depp may have finally found a film that will get him his Oscar. Bohnam Carter deserves at least a nomination, for her chilling performance. I thought that the cast was great, but the real stand outs for me were Sacha Baron Cohen, Ed Sanders, and Jamie Campbell Bower.

Also elmore3030 at my theatre only time the blood really got a laugh was the first two victims in Johanna reprise. The blood at times did look like something out of monty python, as some reviewers have said, so a laugh or to is understandable.

[Brick]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 1:36pm

The best musical in YEARS. And I agree Pjhyllis: Burton let the film be a musical. And a damn good movie.

I'm really pulling for a Best Picture nod, but I think it has no chance of winning. It is both too bloody, and more damagingly for the Academy, too pessimistic. Burton should win, but won't. Carter should, and might, be nominated.

Depp should absolutely win and definitely will get a nomination. But like all award seasons, there will be momentum pulling for som films and away from others as the ceremony nears. We're just going to have to wait and see if Sweeney momentum builds or whether this is the peak. Also, a huge box office intake or not could make all the difference.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 12/22/07 at 2:49pm

CAPNHOOK's COMMENTS

1) Above any other category the film should be nominated for, Tim Burton should DEFINITELY be FIRST on that list and WIN. His direction is superb on its own, but for musical theatre fans...knowing what it was on stage and then to see what Burton did with John Logan's adaptation...G-E-N-I-U-S.

2) There wasn't one weak performance in this entire ensemble. Every actor shone within their character and made nothing over-the-top which is so easy to do with this musical.

3) "Entrance" applause for Depp as Sweeney. Several gasps, bursts of laughter, and clapping for Sacha Baron Cohen.

4) Audience comment:

- "It's like they used the blood and stuff to cover up the fact that it's a musical."

5) Audience reacted throughout. Mostly shock and then laughter each time someone got sliced. Several times the audience would laugh when a character began to sing.

6) I definitely missed the Prologue and Epilogue. The references to the "ghosts" stood out and I think they might have been able to make it work still. Without them, it's still a great movie. The movie would definitely have been changed and different if they were added...but that's my taste. We'll never know.

7) 3/4 into the film, there was a moment when the audience gave a huge reaction to something, and I had the thought "it's a shame that the majority of this sold-out audience will never know that this is based off of a stage musical, and never will know."