OT: Sweeney Todd

[Gerard]

The creatures in this version, Nancy, are "sort-of" vampires.  You'll see what I mean when you go to the film.  It's based on Richard Matheson's novel of the same name that came out around the early sixties or so.  The book was about a lone survivor of a plague that has turned the human race into vampires; he spends his time boarded up in his house by night and vampire hunting by day.  There were two other cinematic versions, the first, starring Vincent Price and named The Last Man on Earth, followed Matheson's novel very closely; it was made in the mid-sixties (and is a very creepy film).  The second was 1970's The Omega Man with Charton Heston which had much more vague simularities to the book.

Gerard

[Nancy]

Ah, okay. Thank you, Gerard for that.

Nancy

The creatures in this version, Nancy, are "sort-of" vampires.  You'll see what I mean when you go to the film.  It's based on Richard Matheson's novel of the same name that came out around the early sixties or so.  The book was about a lone survivor of a plague that has turned the human race into vampires; he spends his time boarded up in his house by night and vampire hunting by day.  There were two other cinematic versions, the first, starring Vincent Price and named The Last Man on Earth, followed Matheson's novel very closely; it was made in the mid-sixties (and is a very creepy film).  The second was 1970's The Omega Man with Charton Heston which had much more vague simularities to the book.

[MagnusTrask]

Yes, Gerard, thanks.    Now I need to see the Vincent Price film-- Omega Man I've seen bits of, and although it's from the best science-fiction film period, it doesn't seem like what I'd want to see.    Anything by Richard Matheson I want to see.    On Sweeney Todd... now that I know it was filmed in 1982 (I almost got to see it back then), that's what I want to see.   I don't know how I'll see it.....

[mspeel007]

I can't WAIT to see it! My son's high school did Sweeney his sophmore year. Johnny Depp can give me a "shave" anytime!!!

[Julia99]

a high school put on Sweeney Todd?! Knock me over  ...

I saw it yesterday.  I am a fan of the show, having seen a traditional interpretation eons ago and then the Michael Cerveris-Patti Lupone version on Broadway last year.   Though i was initially skeptical of Lucy Honeychurch as Mrs. Lovett, she did a very good job; I enjoyed the By the Sea production number immensely and the reprise of Joanna.  Alan Rickman was once again despicably wonderful.  Depp was maniacal as Todd, quite good.  And the voices. .well who here would say Angela Lansbury (whom I love) has great pipes—no she has character and that’s what b’way musicals really want—

All that said, I covered my eyes a number of time as the raspberry sauce spilled, dripped and sprayed --

[PennyDreadful]

I saw Sweeney last week.  I liked it.  I didn't adore it, but I liked it.  Johnny was very good and so was Alan Rickman (who, by the by, I think would make a really good Barnabas himself).  Helena Bonham Carter was a good Mrs. Lovett.   I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the perfect casting of Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli.  The Dickensian visuals were fantastic.  Tim Burton totally went for the Hammer color blood which was a nice touch.  The By the Sea sequence was hilarious, in a dark humor kind of way.  The blood-spraying was way over the top - Quentin Tarantino would be proud of that m'thinks.  I'll probably go see it again.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

An update from Variety on how well ST did over the New Year's Weekend:

DreamWorks-Paramount's bigscreen adaptation of "Sweeney Todd" was No. 9 with an estimated five-day gross of $11.8 million and [a three-day gross of] $8.2 million from 1,249 runs. Cume is $30.5 million in the film's first 10 days.

Tim Burton directed the Johnny Depp-Helena Bonham Carter tuner, adapted from Stephen Sondheim's macabre Broadway tuner.

A DreamWorks spokesman said "Sweeney" is in strong shape, considering that it's playing only 1,249. The DreamWorks-Warner Bros. co-production cost $50 million to produce. DreamWorks-Par is distribbing domestically and will take "Sweeney" wide on Jan. 11.

Initial tracking suggested that teen girls would be the biggest aud for "Sweeney," largely because of Depp and also because they often propel horror films. In fact, older moviegoers are the ones turning out.

"It's playing like a musical," DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan said.

[Barnabas'sBride]

I saw Sweeney last week.  I liked it.  I didn't adore it, but I liked it.  Johnny was very good and so was Alan Rickman (who, by the by, I think would make a really good Barnabas himself).

As much as I love Alan Rickman, he's too old for the part of Barnabas now.  Some years ago, he would've been an interesting choice.

I saw Sweeney Todd over the weekend and I thought it was very good. I'm not sure if it's one I'll be able to watch again and again, but I'll buy it on dvd, and I've purchased the soundtrack. Depp was fantastic as always, both in acting and in singing.


Alan Rickman did such a good job as the judge that it might affect how I view him as my favorite character in Harry Potter. He made my skin crawl.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Re: The Golden Globes

Whoa! No one was predicting that. But who are we to complain? 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Following in the footsteps of the Globes, I see where Depp's performance just received an Oscar nomination.

[David]

Depp is currently our finest actor.
His range is mind boggling.
Look at the roles he's played for Burton, coupled with films like the Pirates series, The Libertine, Benny & Joon,
Don Juan De Marco, etc.
No other male performer today can touch that kind of versatility.
Depp should have won several Oscars by now.

I never saw Sweeney on stage, but I finally saw the film last week.
Visually stunning, as all Burton films are.
As the film played, I kep thinking: "This is what a Depp/Burton DS would look like!!"
How Grandly Gothic that would be!!

David

[Gothick]

I'm enjoying reading this thread. Sweeney Todd from the reviews I've seen has the same gore quotient as The Texas Chain Saw Massacres and although I enjoy classic horror I really can live without the splatter biz, so I'll be giving it a miss.  But it's interesting to see all the comments about it.  I'm just a little disappointed that nobody thought it was a dud--there's usually at least somebody who proves to be the odd man (or woman) out in the group. 

Two very short responses to comments above:  I used to own the Original Cast Recordings for Mame and Dear World, and I saw Lansbury do Everything's coming up Roses (when she was doing her triumphal revival of Gypsy) at a Tony show back several decades ago, and I think that in her way, Lansbury may have had one of those archetypally golden Broadway voices.  I can't really say more about it than that, just my opinion.  Her singing on Dear World (a show that regrettably flopped) is particularly exquisite.  God, I need to get the CD for that show...

As for Johnny Depp, although he seems like a very likeable, wonderful fellow, I have yet to see him do anything that made me raise my eyebrows, much less knock my socks off.  (His stunt cameo as a prison drag queen in that Javier Bardem thing did amuse me, I'll admit.)  The MB advised me to hie myself to the video shop and check out Depp's thesping in From Hell, but I have yet to manage to do that.  I'm afraid all I can conjure up in the notion of Depp as Barnabas is a cartoon rendition of the character, although I do attempt to keep an open mind. 

I'm not sure who I would nominate as the greatest actor of our times.  Different actors show different strengths in different roles.  It would probably be someone like Viggo Mortensen or Ewan MacGregor, though.  I realized all over again today how little I know or comprehend about "the industry" nowadays when I read in an obit for poor Heathie Ledger that Ledger, who I regarded as a major box office draw today, was "not a marquee movie star."  WTF?

cheers, Gothique

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Apparently ST is doing well around the world as well. Variety reported today:

Awards-season fare started showing foreign traction, with "Sweeney Todd" slicing its way to an impressive $6.6 million at 739 for Warner Bros. via first-place launches in Japan and South Korea.