Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) or, Tim Burton's Bloody Theatrics

10/14/2019

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) or, Tim Burton's Bloody Theatrics

♥

+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year

Crimson and dark colors and Johnny Depp with death-like makeup and hair are the main ingredients on this poster for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd returns vindictive to London, where his mistress lost her life to an evil judge, whom Todd now wants to see suffer...!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is written by John Logan (Rango (2011)), with Christopher Bond handling musical adaptation, based on the same-titled 1979 stage musical by Hugh Wheeler (Meet Me in St. Louis (1989)) and Stephen Sondheim (Follies (1971)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Tim Burton (Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)), whose 13th feature it is.
The extremely meager story is clasped around Burton's perhaps most unappealing film: Sweeney Todd spends most of his time either running around a hyper-animated version of 19th century London or in grey, dark, sad rooms.
Johnny Depp (Public Enemies (2009)), Alan Rickman (Quigley Down Under (1990)), Helena Bonham Carter (A Merry War (1997)) and Sacha Baron Cohen (Madagascar (2005)) are propped up with ridiculous hair and costumes while singing forgettable songs. - Except, perhaps, the one on the wretched pies in the beginning of the film, which is at least a bit amusing.
The film is excessively vulgar in its grisliness; it mixes British theatricality with dull characters and songs in an artificial, ghastly design, blended with a couple of androgynous but still boring beauties. It is a dreadful and enigmatically overrated picture.

Related posts:

Tim Burton: Dark Shadows (2012) - Fun, flamboyant vampire romp is a celebration of culture
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Alice in Wonderland (2010) - Wasikowska is the perfect lead for Burton's visual wonderland
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Corpse Bride (2005) - Impressive, loud, hollow, dark doll fairytale
Ed Wood (1994) - Burton's sticky biopic with strenuous Depp
Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker
Beetle Juice (1988) - Burton and team serve one of the best horror comedies ever

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 152.5 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.05 times its cost)
[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street premiered 3 December (New York) and runs 116 minutes. Burton saw the musical on the stage in London several times as a young man and had wanted to make an adaptation for decades. Depp took singing lessons to prepare for the role. Shooting took place in England, including London, from February 2007 - ?. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release National Treasure: Book of Secrets, holdover hits I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks and another new release, Charlie Wilson's War, to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 52.8 mil. $ (34.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 21.7 mil. $ (14.2 %) and Japan with 19.6 mil. $ (12.9 %). The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: It won for Best Art Direction and lost Best Actor (Depp) to Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, and Costumes to Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It also won 2/4 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for 2 BAFTAs, a Grammy and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 5 notches higher than this one. It sold in excess of 1.8 mil. copies at the domestic home video market, accruing an additional 38 mil. $, which, if added into the calculation, would change its status to that of a big hit. Burton returned with Alice in Wonderland (2010). Depp returned in SpongeBob SquarePants (2009, TV-series) and physically and theatrically in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.71/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street?

No comments:

Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

10/14/2019

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) or, Tim Burton's Bloody Theatrics

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

My Blog List