{"id":747,"date":"2008-04-10T21:25:27","date_gmt":"2008-04-11T01:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=747"},"modified":"2022-10-10T19:04:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-10T23:04:21","slug":"sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Oi t’ink Tim Burton’s up to summat in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anyone who’s ever had the misfortune of a conversation about movies with this blogger is no doubt aware that I like musicals about as much as I like biopics. That is to say, not at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do, however, love Tim Burton, and count Ed Wood<\/em> among my personal favorite films. So if he could make a biopic I can love, I didn’t think it unrealistic to hope that he might melt my cranky moviewatcher’s heart with a musical. But it’s been a long time since Burton has directed a personal project, instead working on existing franchises and remakes like Planet of the Apes<\/em> and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em>. He did add a healthy dose of the trademark Burton flavor to each, not to mention key members of his troupe (Helena Bonham Carter in Apes<\/em> and Johnny Depp in Charlie<\/em>), but fans like myself are still waiting for the next burst of pure Burton madness in the spirit of Edward Scissorhands<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sweeney
Oi t’ink he’s up to summat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Sweeny Todd tale originated in a prose serial form in 1846, and after several permutations, eventually became a stage musical by Stephen Sondheim in 1979. Burton’s 2007 film adaptation doesn’t quite manage to break free of its stagebound, er, staging. Despite the opportunity a film has to expand a play’s world, the action is limited to just a few locations. The rich art direction doesn’t defeat the impression that the whole thing was shot on a small soundstage. Speaking of art direction, Burton’s vision of late 19th century London is very colorful, provided that that color is blue. That said, it isn’t long before a few generous gallons of red are splashed about the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sweeney
And now, the chewing of scenery, for your delight & edification<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Timothy Spall, once of Mike Leigh’s British kitchen sink dramas, continues to indulge in the new scenery-chewing persona he developed as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter<\/em> films. Helena Bonham Carter looks like she just stepped out of The Nightmare Before Christmas<\/em>, and Sascha Baron Cohen sports no less than two outrageous accents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street<\/em> has joined Waitress<\/em> in the most unlikely mini genre of 2007: movies about pie shops. But while Waitress<\/em> was a largely cutesy concoction, Sweeney Todd<\/em> adds to the recipe a preoccupation with vengeful cannibalism a la The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, a technical note: the DVD edition suffers from an unusually uneven audio mix. The music is far, far louder than dialogue sequences, so be prepared to drive your remote control volume switch throughout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who’s ever had the misfortune of a conversation about movies with this blogger is no doubt aware that I like musicals about as much as I like biopics. That is to say, not at all. I do, however, love Tim Burton, and count Ed Wood among my personal favorite films. So if he could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,2],"tags":[986,987,357,988,985],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-stars","category-movies","tag-helena-bonham-carter","tag-johnny-depp","tag-musical","tag-sascha-baron-cohen","tag-tim-burton"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/sweeney-todd-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-c3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":373,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/plan-9-from-outer-space\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":0},"title":"If all bad movies could be this bad: Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"? Glorious! A masterpiece! Three cheers for Edward D. Wood, Jr.: writer, director, editor, and genuine auteur! Don't let the no-stars rating fool you; this was so much more fun than some of our other no-stars, recently including The Wind in the Willows. If only all bad movies were this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "0 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"0 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/0-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Plan 9 From Outer Space","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/plan-9-from-outer-space-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/plan-9-from-outer-space-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/plan-9-from-outer-space-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/plan-9-from-outer-space-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/plan-9-from-outer-space-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/willy-wonka-the-chocolate-factory\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":1},"title":"Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever know you've seen a movie, but can't really remember it? So after seeing the Tim Burton remake, I decided to put the original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory on my Netflix queue because I just couldn't spark the brain cells that contained my recollections of it. This is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/willy-wonka-and-the-chocolate-factory.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7988,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/a-muggle-tries-to-make-sense-of-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":2},"title":"A muggle tries to make sense of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As Pottermania began some years ago, I recall being amazed at how similar it all seemed to Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic, which predates J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter novel by about five years. In it, boy wizard Tim Hunter, equipped with broken glasses and an owl, is prophesied to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cast.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cast.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cast.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cast.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-cast.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-omega-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":3},"title":"Charlton Heston is the alpha and The Omega Man","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that's a good intro: Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) cruises through an empty city with the top down. It's eerie, but he seems happy, grooving to jazz from his onboard 8-track cassette deck. But suddenly! Screech! Ka-pow! He brakes, produces a machine gun and fires at a fleeting humanoid silhouette.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Omega Man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/omega-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/omega-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/omega-man-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/omega-man-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/omega-man-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5139,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/oceans-eight-2018-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":4},"title":"Ocean’s Eight is a pleasantly diverting trifle","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Gary Ross' Ocean's Eight is, like all Ocean's films before it, a pleasantly diverting trifle. But its relative deficiency of zip and pizzazz makes me wonder if co-producer Steven Soderbergh positioned his own Logan Lucky as an act of sabotage. I found myself mentally compiling a wishlist while watching: I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ocean's Eight","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/oceans-eight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/oceans-eight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/oceans-eight.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/oceans-eight.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/oceans-eight.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1207,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/midnight-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":747,"position":5},"title":"De Niro and Grodin are somewhere between Toledo and Cleveland in Martin Brest’s Midnight Run","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin Brest's Midnight Run is an appealingly loose comedy built on a solid premise. It's a classic, almost cliched Hollywood scenario: Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is one of the world's last honest cops, rewarded for his integrity by divorce and demotion to the humiliating (and dangerous) level of bounty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/midnight-run-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/midnight-run-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/midnight-run-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/midnight-run-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/midnight-run-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6247,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/6247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}