Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

In order to keep up with our holiday tradition of seeing movie musicals on Christmas, my family saw Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. It was as heartwarming, bright, and cheery as any holiday movie we could have seen. Mmhmm...

All in all I thought the movie was pretty decent. I love Tim Burton's style of filmmaking, how animated his live action work is pulled off. Although this film was a bit griddier than say, his Sleepy Hollow type stuff, it was still a successful film. It was also a successful musical film. So many times musical films fail to set up the feel of a musical, causing the audience to be confused when people suddenly start singing (eg Rent & Dreamgirls (halfway through)). But Sweeney succeeded in this respect, as did Depp and Carter as Sweeney and Lovett. Their voices were not as strong as I felt they should have been (Carter's especially sounded whispy and weak, and Depp brought in a rock-y tone to his Sweeney). Of course I was skeptical about their abilities to sing the score, but I suppose they pulled it off nicely. That is to say, the score of the show seemed flattened out either to fit their voices or to fit the screen, which I think is the former more than the latter? Perhaps Burton and Sondheim felt that they didn't need to rely on the heavy and bold music of the stage show to effectively tell the story, but rather the dialogue and visuals? I don't know. But that was one thing I disliked about the film.

The kids who played Anthony and Tobias were great, as was Sascha Baron Cohen. But my favorites of the film were Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall as Judge Turpin and the Beadle. They were so slimy and sleezy and sinister, I couldn't get enough of it! My favorite part of the film, however, was the montage with Sweeney killing his customers and sending them to the basement below. Very classy. Well, as classy as spraying and gurgling blood and crumpling bodies can be.

My parents favorite of the film? The Mamma Mia trailer before it even started.

An R-Rated Apology

Since it’s October and Halloween is just around the corner, I feel it’s appropriate for me to issue a public apology. To my mother.

Dear Mom,
I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I used to sneak into R-Rated horror movies before I was seventeen. I know you raised me to be an honest, law abiding citizen, but peer pressure and my own morbid curiosity caused me to break the rules on multiple occasions and ‘sneak in’ to films such as Halloween: H20, Scream 3, The Blair Witch Project, Valentine, I Know What You Did Last Summer, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and countless other slasher flicks. I’m also sorry for seeing such awful movies, but that’s not what this is about. This letter is about you, Mom. I betrayed your trust in the name of horror, and I’m sorry.
Remember that time I said I was going to see “Dude, Where’s My Car?” with friends? Well, I was actually seeing Scream 3. And that wasn’t the first time. Armageddon was actually Urban Legend. Hope Floats was Halloween H20. Anna And The King was House On Haunted Hill, and Titanic (the 3rd time) was Scream 2. A Bug’s Life? Well, that was actually A Bug’s Life. But what I’m trying to say is, I shouldn’t have lied.
But here’s the thing, Mom. Have you ever seen these slasher films? Not only are they gloriously gory (my enjoyment for Haunted Houses should tell you I love over-the top, gawdy horror), but they are so predictable and entertaining that I just could not resist my desire to see them before I was technically allowed to. As far as I can remember, none of the friends who accompanied me were of age, either. But please don’t take it out on them. They shared my same fascination with the genre.
I hope you don’t think that because I like horror movies and went against your judgment that I am some kind of serial killer. Hmm, let me rephrase that: I love you, don’t ground me.

Love,
Brian
P.S. What are you doing on October 26th? Saw IV is coming out!

Across The Universe

One of the great things about living in large cities like LA or New York is having access to smaller-released films. While I missed out on Once, Ashley and I saw Across The Universe last week. I’m sure this is one of the wider released indie films of the year, but it is still considered a smaller scale film, which you would not be able to guess from the amount of talent and polished product that comes spilling off the screen during this film.
Don’t get me wrong. Any movie musical is bound to be a little cheesy in parts. And when it’s based to the music of The Beatles, you risk a campy Mamma Mia esque finished product. While Across The Universe did have a few such moments, for the most part the film is a beautiful, if not psychedelic, journey through the US during the Vietnam war (would you expect it to be set in any other era?).
Let me put this out there: Julie Taymor is a friggin’ genius. Genius.
The cast of this movie is stellar, not to mention the throng of NY theatre performers who make appearances: Curtis Holbrook, Matt Caplan, John Jeffrey Martin, Aisha de Haas, Orfeh, Antonique Smith, Diedre Goodwin, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Yassmin Alers, Luther Creek, Logan Marshall-Green, Saycon Sengbloh, Destan Owens, Nikki Snelson, Noah Weisberg, (P.S. You get major kudos if you recognize even a fraction of these names). I loved (repeat, loved) Evan Rachael Wood in Thirteen, and have always thought of her as one of those underappreciated young talents in Hollywood whose presence is outshined by the rehabbed, tabloided ones, but have recently began to get weirded out because of her directions in life (Marilyn Manson, need I say more?). What this film will do to her career, though. Wow. She was sensational. And her voice was pretty, too, who knew (I love finding out which actors can/can’t sing [Ewan McGregor/Amanda Bynes, for example])? Her two co-stars, Jim Sturgess and Joe Anderson were also highlights of the film as her lover and brother, respectively. And yes, they could sing, too.
While on the outset this film might seem like it would go the Mamma Mia direction, it ultimately sets out for something deeper (it is Julie Taymor, after all). And it succeeds, although perhaps not to its full potential. The release of this film is timed well, with negotiations on the war in Iraq and a looming Presidential election sparking new interest in war politics. Universe takes place throughout the Vietnam war, which one of the main characters is deployed for. The film had moments of brilliance in turning Beatles songs into political statements (“Let it Be” was chilling and intensely moving, “Blackbird” beautifully mind-opening, and “All You Need Is Love” equally effective). But then the “movie musical” in it took over, and the overall message was weakened by psychedelic montages (featuring Bono on a bus, Eddie Izzard as a circus ringleader, and Selma Hayek as a hospital nurse…all 10 of her!) and a few transitions and song choices that were hard to buy and ended up bringing the hoaky factor into the film. That was my big frustration. Visually, it was stunning. Audibly, it was pleasurable. The song connections were clever, the direction and talent flawless. But it fell short on its message, a message that could have resounded loud and clear if its attempt to be so artsy didn’t hinder it from going all the way.

The Kite Runner

I recently decided to read Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. I wanted to read it before the film comes out later this year, and I was traveling to Ireland, so it seemed like an appropriate time. I did not expect understand or enjoy the book as much as I did, not being as up to date on the conflicts in the Middle East as I would like to be.

The story of The Kite Runner focuses around the life of Amir, and follows him from his childhood in Kabul, his teenage and adult years in California (Fremont), and back to Kabul in search of a boy whom he feels can redeem the mistakes he has made.

This isn’t a total spoiler, but the book features a rape scene of a little boy. It is graphic and hard to get through, especially because it turns into a major plot point, and Amir revisits his memory of the incident frequently throughout the story. Now, the boy who plays the victim in the film, Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, and his family, are requesting that the rape scene in the film be cut because they fear for their safety. Claiming the scene (that the actor reluctantly filmed) would offend Afghans and bring shame to their family, Mhmidzada fears his family would be ostracized because Afghans do not fully understand the difference between fantasy and reality of the film industry. While ethnic conflict has decreased greatly since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the people of Afghanistan worry for any triggers to set the conflict back in action.

This is a major issue for the film, whose plot centers around this pivotal plot point. While the film's producers, Bennett Walsh and Rebecca Yeldham placed the sensitivity of the boys involved in the film as a number one priority, at what point does that involve compromising the integrity of the story and/or the film. The boy claims he was not given the script or the story prior to filming, and would not have agreed to the scene had he known. I was trying to think of how they could express this story without graphically depicting the rape, whether they could elude to it or could have used doubles to suggest the oncomings of the event and then cut to the next scene. But there is also something about the books honesty and rawness that shows the dark and ugly side of a country that was once beautiful and peaceful, and the rape is a pivotal moment not only in terms of the direct plot of the story, but also in the telling of the political history of the era in which the story takes place. They’ve certainly got their issues cut out for them, but they have until the end of November to reach an agreement. The Kite Runner hits theaters on November 22. Do yourself a favor and pick up the book beforehand.