Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This movie is a remake of Sondheim's musical about a murderous barber who gets revenge for a long imprisonment by cutting people’s throats while they sit in his barber chair. They then get sent down to Mrs Lovett in the shop below, who makes them into tasty meat pies. For someone (like myself) who can't stand musicals because usually the narrative is ruined when someone gets up and starts tap dancing on top of a table and belting out a schmaltzy tune, in this case the songs actually work, adding a sinister aspect and in some instances, dramatic tension.

Johnny Depp, as usual, puts in a stellar performance, so capturing your sympathies that you want him to murder almost all of his victims, especially the judge who sentenced him unjustly to prison. Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) adds much comic relief to an already coal black comedy. This is simply a five star film, pure and simple, and is so incredibly evocative of 19th Century London you can almost smell the rotting sewage in the street, not to mention the dead bodies being made into pies in the basement!

The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a British penny dreadful called The People's Periodical, in issue 7, dated November 21, 1846. The story in which he appeared was titled "The String of Pearls: A Romance," and was written by Thomas Prest, who based his horror stories partly on truth, sometimes gaining inspiration from real crime reports in The Times.

Whether the character of Sweeney Todd ever existed in reality is open to fierce debate, but what is true is that in nineteenth century London, there was an urban legend that people were turned into meat pies. In 1843, Tom Pinch is "particularly anxious ... to have those streets pointed out to him which were appropriated to the slaughter of countrymen" in Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.

Five Stars

Spin (2005)

This is a fabulous short film, and at 8 minutes long, it is indeed short. Watch it, listen to the killer sound and be glad.



Information on the film-makers can be found at http://www.doubleedgefilms.com/


(Cross-posted here.)

Mystery, Alaska

There were any number of reasons why I should have hated this movie. These include:

It’s about hockey. Ice hockey. A sport that I neither watch nor understand.

It stars Russell Crowe. This guy was awesome in “A Beautiful Mind” and likeable in the much under-rated “A Good Year”, but when, as in this film, he plays a strong silent type, he can be gratingly one dimensional, and if you don’t believe me, take a second look at “Gladiator”. Or, if you’re feeling brave, “Proof of Life”.

It also stars Burt Reynolds. And for some reason I just wish he would stop making movies.

It was written by David E Kelley. Admittedly, this man has created some pretty decent television shows. Picket Fences, Boston Public and The Practice were all excellent in their pre-shark-jumping days. Even Ally McBeal had its entertaining moments. But his past attempts at writing movies include the stunningly bad “Lake Placid”, a movie that could not be saved even by the considerable comic talents of Oliver Platt.*


Finally, it was directed by Jay Roach. This man directed more than one Austin Powers film AND “Meet the Parents”, and if that is not reason enough to treat everything he ever does with suspicion, I don’t know what is.


Knowing all that, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this movie is good.

Russell Crowe, despite a limited amount of dialogue and screen time, manages to turn in the sort of subtle and nuanced performance that makes me keep liking his work no matter how much of a phone tosser he may be in real life.

David E Kelley remains unable to write a film without at least a few quirky old people and no less than two Court room scenes, but in each case they actually work and advance the plot rather than just being there for the sake of it. Those minor gripes aside, the dialogue is entertaining, the overtly sexual banter is as funny as it is graphic, and the emotion is genuine. Also, anyone who enjoys a true “bad sex” scene will relish the novelty of seeing one of these that takes place in a snow plough.

The ensemble cast all rise to the challenge and make the most of their small roles. In particular, Lolita Davidovich proves my theory that she should have been a much bigger star than she is (and anyone who saw “Leap of Faith” will surely agree with me), Hank Azaria, who has in the past been described as an ‘almost unfairly gifted’ comic actor, demonstrates that this is true, and Mike McKean, as always, effortless steals every scene he is in.

Even the soundtrack making person has exceeded expectation, partly by managing to find a song about a zamboni, and partly by using The Pogues’ “Love you till the end” as the backdrop for the closing scenes. It is remarkably effective.

In the end, this film, flawed though it may be, achieves the near impossible by making me actually care about the outcome of an ice hockey game.

For that alone, this film deserves to get four stars.






*Although this is on no way relevant to the movie I’m actually reviewing, it’s hard to avoid noting that Oliver Platt was also in “Three to Tango” and that version of the Three Musketeers that also starred Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland, so clearly his agent is out to wreck his life. It’s sad, really.