I think there are definitely some things to question with Magtoria's backstory and how she came to Collinwood. Certainly, it doesn't really make sense for her to be making up a name on the train to Collinsport. And if she didn't give a name to someone at Collinwood, how would they know who to expect would be arriving?

It makes sense to me that perhaps she stole the things we see her show up with in Collinsport, after she escaped from Windcliffe, which would also explain why she was trying to hide from the cops when she saw them. I keep trying to think of a way to explain the gaffe with the name, but nothing comes up. I thought maybe it would be possible that she gave her original name to Willie or something, and then he simply forgot it. But this wouldn't make sense given how protective Liz is shown to be over the children in the movie. She would want to know the name of the person coming to watch over them. There really is just no good way to explain this oversight.

I went and saw the film again today, and I have to admit that it definitely plays better the second time around. Generally it takes time for things to sink in for me before I can really enjoy then fully and get a well-rounded opinion of whatever I'm watching.

Where before I thought there wasn't enough development with almost all of the characters, now I limit that list primarily to Roger and David, and their ensuing storylines and relationships therein. Angelique did seem as if she was some sort of throwaway foil for Barnabas, but I think that their past was adequately explained enough for the remainder of the film to make at least some sort of sense for the progression of the plot.

Also this time around, the film struck me more of an adaptation of HODS, just with the inclusion of Angelique at the villain instead of Barnabas.

I know there was speculation as to why Angelique began to crack up during the climax fight. My theory is that perhaps when Barnabas bit her outside of Collinwood he drained whatever life she had in her and this caused her to start to fall apart. Another, and perhaps more forward thinking theory in terms of a sequel is that maybe this was not the real Angelique but possibly a decoy she put into place so no harm would come to her. In any event, just because they showed her "dying" does not mean that she is truly gone, as we all know too well.

All in all I enjoyed the movie much better this time around, and I think it helped that I was one of three people in the theater because I attended the first showing of the day. Without the laughter from other audience members to so abruptly call out the sometimes absurd moments of the film, it was much smoother as a whole and the light humor wasn't as blatant.

Good points Brandon, though I would leave Sweeney Todd out of the mix, as it was rated R (therefore not really directed at the younger set) and it also barely cleared $50 million.  (Don't get me wrong, Sweeney Todd is probably my personal favorite Depp/Burton collaboration, but the combination of a horror musical gorefest was admittedly a tough sell).

In general, we must remember that Johnny does not guarantee a huge box office, even if he does have a lot of young fans.  His last film before this, The Rum Diary, did quite badly (Edited to add- egad, it was even worse than I thought- it only made a TOTAL of $13 million- less than half of what DS made domestically this weekend alone), but luckily, unlike DS, it had a small budget. 

Sweeney Todd was definitely one of my favorites of Burton/Depp's as well!

As for The Rum Diary, when that film was released and even when it was being advertised before its release, I thought it looked quite bad and had no desire to see it whatsoever. Perhaps what I should have said is that, especially for the younger crowd, the roles where Depp plays a quirky, not-so-normal character tend to draw more of an audience than his regular, everyday characters do. It would be something very interesting to explore--why do the majority of people prefer Depp's quirky roles to his more normal ones? Is it because without these off kilter characters to prop him up his acting is simply boring? Or is it because audiences are becoming so accustomed to fantastical situations in films that the classic drama is steadily losing an audience? Or a combination of both?

I'll be 25 this June, so I'm right on the cusp of being both desirable and undesirable to advertisers. Perhaps I should prepare myself now to feel unwanted and undervalued in the grand scheme of Hollywood big wigs.

In any event, I'm intrigued by the various responses I've seen to this new DS movie. It seems as if there are only two options: you either love it, or you thought it was an overall bore, in terms of general consensus. I actually searched DS on Twitter last night and most of what popped up fit easily into one of these two categories. There were a lot of posts about how people were excited to go see it, then tons from people who seemingly were let down and wanted their time and money back.

I can't wait to see it again this week so I can really digest it and formulate my final opinion. And I kind of wish that I was removed from the fandom so I could experience the film on its own, as an unknowing movie goer to see how it plays out differently.

I've attached my review of the film. I was going to post it on my blog site but it was giving me trouble. I agree with much of what others have already said. Please share any thoughts or opinions!

I saw the film today and it was just okay for me. It left me searching for something. There were some brilliant good spots in the film and some awfully bad ones as well. The potential was the worst of it all simply because the scenes where I saw echoes (I'm assuming) of John August's original script were all too brief and cut away from quickly to show us more of out-of-place Barnabas.

I almost wish they had've approached Barnabas like the original series did, where you didn't ever get an explanation as to why he didn't notice the changes that had occurred since he was originally entombed. Of course, I like the idea of seeing the reactions, but perhaps not as blatant and over-the-top as they were. Some of the more appropriate reactions to me were Baranbas' initial approach to the paved road, he his quirky glances at the fashions and styling of the people of Collinsport.

As others have already said, I will also be posting a more full and fleshed out view on my blog, probably by the end of the weekend. Until then, let me say simply that the longing that I was left with for what could have been given the glimpses of pure DS that I saw really is the only thing I left this movie with. The story was beyond stale, if you could even label a story so flimsy. It was too overcrowded and I could imagine Grayson's Julia standing in the background of the production wringing her hands and giving dramatic face.

I think it's rather unfair to compare the DS film to something as massive as The Avengers. There is no way in hell that DS could ever hope to make as much money as The Avengers has made (207 million) in an opening weekend--honestly I would think that it would be a respectable showing for DS to make that throughout its entire US run.

The reason The Avengers has made so much money is simple: build up. Of course you have your comic book fans who are going to see it regardless, but think of how many people Marvel has brought in to their world with the numerous films--Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America, Thor....and even as far back as the two Hulk films--all of which feed into this Avengers film. The sheer number of people that probably saw Iron Man and then were told "Hey, Captain America and Thor are part of that same story" or "they'll link up somehow" and then decided to go see it are staggering I'm sure.

While Burton, Depp, Pfeiffer et al are definitely box office draws, when you have something like DS which is admittedly difficult to market--not even the director knows exactly what genre it should belong to--and as such is being marketed in several different ways--from horror to comedy to drama and everything inbetween--the casual movie goer more than likely is going to be confused and think it looks stupid or, on the extreme other end of the spectrum, is going to be so intrigued that they will actually go and see it. More than likely it will be the former rather than the latter because, let's face it, the majority of the American movie going public are probably not going to like a film or want to see a film that is confused about its own identity.

And while we're facing things, it is also good to mention that when things are blown up in movies, that automatically pretty much guarantees a certain demographic of people are going to see it, just based on fire-y explosions alone.

Another interesting fact about The Avengers that I read somewhere is that both men and women thoroughly enjoyed the film, and while I'm sure more men than woman saw the movie, men rated it at an A+ while women who saw it simply gave it an A. Those are scores you can't argue with, in my opinion. And when I saw it over the weekend there were plenty of women--of all ages--in the crowd. More men then women for sure, but it was almost even in what I'll call a 60/40 for the breakdown. The film struck the perfect balance of character moments and spectacular action (yes, I saw it) and even had small moments from the female characters that your typical female audience probably appreciated.  I'll admit that DS has romance and supernatural elements, but as we've seen with the recent healthy crop of films and books that have been released within the past 10 years or so, those things together are more of a draw for a younger female audience than a younger male (or any male for that matter) audience, period.

Personally, I expect DS to do well for what the film is, and those who were involved with making it. Will it be another hugely successful blockbuster for Burton a la Alice In Wonderland? Only time will tell, but I doubt it. I think it will certainly make its budget back and gain a healthy enough profit to warrant a sequel should the studio even be thinking in terms of franchise.

With The Avengers only opening a week in advance of DS, I think its a guarantee that DS will come in at the number 2 position next week. Anyone who didn't see The Avengers this week (and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't at least know someone who did) will undoubtedly be heavily encouraged by their peers to go see it at some point this week, or over this upcoming weekend. In the weeks following the release of DS, I think the film will rely heavily on word-of-mouth to get people who may not be otherwise interested in seeing it into the theater. I've already reminded a few people I had mentioned the film to within the past couple of months that its actually coming out this week in hopes that they'll give it a chance.

Oddly enough I was just flipping through the channels on my tv and I stopped briefly on the guide channel for mucable company to discover that the piece of music they were playing was Shadows of the Night, or Quentin's theme. What a pleasent and might I say eerie surprise at midnight while I'm laying in bed.

I've been rewatching the TV spots lately, and I wondered about something: Does anyone think that these spots alone could sell the movie well enough to get people to go see it?

What I mean by this is the following:

I, of course, having been a fan of the original DS and wanting new DS stuff all the time, would see the movie pretty much regardless of who made it, starred in it, etc. And because I have the knowledge of what DS is about and the major driving plot points we've come to know over the years, the TV spots that have been airing are not confusing to me in the least.

However, just for a moment today I tried to put aside my previous knowledge of the source material and view these commercials as a naive viewer who is just being introduced into the world of Dark Shadows. Barring the fact that Burton is directing, and barring the fact that I like many of the stars, I'm not sure that I would want to see this movie because the supremely condensed trailers tell me little more than the following: there's a vampire, there's a witch, there's some other people, and they all fight. Now, if on the basis of that description alone, anyone would want to go see the film--fine. I doubt seriously that it would happen that way. In fact, what I think actually may be going on is that the naive viewer may be more confused by the film than anything else, and would be lured into going to the theater based on the simple notion that they want some questions answered.

This, of course, allows for the fact that mere confusion over something you see on television would motivate a person to take action enough to leave their home and spend cash to find the answers to their questions--for some people it may be this way, for me it is not. More than likely I would simply get annoyed with the commercials after a while and would simply forget about the film altogether after they stopped airing.

The full length trailer does a good job of giving a better overview of the film in its entirety--this is what would make me want to actually see the movie.

All of this jibber-jabber really only serves to highlight the fact that the studio is pretty much BANKING on the names involved with the films, and the built in fanbase surrounding those names. Burton. Depp. Separate they are powerful but together they create what could be likened to the feeling that Vicki gets when she first arrives at Collinwood--she was drawn there. Not to mention Pfeiffer who is, in no short order, a box office draw--add in Moretz for the youth crowd and you have a good chance of making some serious dough, despite the fact that the film is up against what is probably the biggest superhero movie of all time--The Avengers (that is, until The Dark Knight Returns comes out).

It's funny that I'm just now realizing how poorly marketed this film is in terms of the TV spots we've been getting. They pretty much solidly rely on the viewer having seen the full length trailer at some point, or confusing (re: intriguing?) the viewer enough to seek out said trailer for more answers.