Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I'm a big fan of musicals, have been ever since doing my first one (Tom Sawyer) in the 8th grade. I love watching them, I love being in them. That said, I was only mildly familiar with Stephen Sondheim's take on the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street". All I really knew was he was a barber who killed people and a lady made the flesh into meat pies.

And that is the basic story, butt here is much, much more to this story and this may have easily propelled itself to the top of my list of favorite musicals, surely at the top of my favorite film adaptions of musicals.

Yes it's gruesome but it's also tragic with a great heartbreaking ending.

Tim Burton is back in great form directing this macabre tale. From the opening animation of blood to the final fiery conclusion.

And the acting, across the board from Johnny Depp to Helena Bonham Carter to Alan Rickman, are suburb. And the supporting roles are great too. In addition to the two Slythirans from the Harry Potter movies (Carter and Rickman), Timothy Spall (Peter Petigrew in the Potter films) is a pleasant surprise. Sasha Baron Cohen has a small supporting role that he relishes in. And as in any musical adaption, you have to critique the musical performances, which are great. Depp, who has a musical background in rock, really surprised me. I knew he could sing, but I didn't know if he'd be able to pull off Sondheim's complicated music, he did. Alan Rickman is a force of nature, and his few musical numbers are very well done. Carter is also really good, able to sing and bake pies and kills bugs all at the same time. It's a complicated role and she pulls it off.

I said it before and I'll say it again, this film is bloody. The blood flows freely and often. From the opening credit sequence to the closing scene.

Overall a great and enjoyable movie.

Scarlet Diva

I should have have seen the warning flag when director Asia Argento appeared before the film started and said that "you may have heard bad things about this film, but don't believe it, this movie is about redemption"

wow, this movie wasn't bad because of the sexuality or the drug use or the utter despicable lead character. No this movie was bad because it was an incoherent mess. She cut many scenes too short or held on too long on others. The photography was beautiful though.

The story, supposedly semi-autobiographical, I couldn't get into. I didn't care for the lead character, she gave me no reason to sympathize with her, nor did she draw me into her story. To me she was a spoiled rotten little kid who was given lots of chances and lucked out on many things yet continued to spiral into destruction. I also couldn't tell you how many times she was raped or almost raped. After awhile it was almost desensitizing. Really what it seemed like were incomplete snapshots of this persons life without any real connecting thread or a plot. This past weekend I saw a short horror film from some High School students that did the same thing, it was nothing really but scenes without a connecting thread of a plot.

With the acting most of it was over the top, but I did enjoy Schooly D's extended cameo/small role as the "Hash Man". The actor playing the sleazeball Hollywood producer looked like a rejected UFC fighter turned porn star.

I see what Asia was trying to do, but ultimately couldn't do. Either that or I'm so uneducated in Italian cinema that I just didn't "get" it.

Zack and Miri make a Porno

I've been a Kevin Smith since first seeing Clerks in the mid 90s. I've introduced his world to many friends, who have in turn introduced them to friends of their own. I was nervous going into this. Few of his stock company were going to be in it. he was working with a new actors, and getting away from his usual New Jersey location.

And it was a good thing he did. This may be his most adult film to date and certainly his most adult since Chasing Amy and by that I don't mean the use of frontal male and female nudity, the simulated porn style sex, etc. Those elements are certainly there for sure, but that's not what makes it adult, what makes it adult is the themes he is dealing with.

Lifelong friends Zack (Seth Rogan) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are lazy adults. They live in a run down apartment, they live paycheck to paycheck, chosing to spend their money on things like ice skates (for hockey playing Zack) or sex toys (for Miri). After their power and water are shut off and no money, they feel they must resort to the drastic measure of making a porn (inspired by their, now gay, HS quaterback (Brandon Routh) and his porn star companion (Justin Long) ).

So they get some financing from a co-worker (The Office's Craig Robinson), find a cameraman (Smith regular Jeff Anderson), and stars (Smith regular Jason Mewes, former porn star and Jon Waters regular Traci Lords, and porn star Katie Morgan). And they make a porno. But things don't go as planned.

This movie is filthy, filthy filthy. But also sweet and heartwarming and touching. It's not for everyone, and there will be people who hate it, but I loved it.

THE ROAD TO PERDITION

I saw this when it first came out but decided, after Newman's passing away, that I wanted to watch it again. I had forgotten how good this movie really is, I mean I knew it was good but I'm just taken back how good it is.

I'm not going to go much into the story but I will say that Paul Newman plays a mob under boss (under Capone--Anthony Paglia in an cut scene found on the DVD) and Tom Hanks and Daniel Craig as his adopted son and birth son respectively.

Everything is going good until Tom Hanks kid sees them kill someone, then everything goes bad. Lots of people get killed, banks get robbed. Jude Law and Daniel Craig try to kill Hanks, Hanks goes after them.

The acting is great across the board, I had forgotten it was Craig in this role as Newman's kinda weak son and he's really good, but the movie really belongs to Newman, who beats on Craig in one scene that's oddly disturbing and moving at the same time, and to Hanks.

The kid playing Hanks kid isn't annoying, but isn't some outstanding kid actor. The rest of the supporting cast is good too. Stanley Tucci, as always, is good. Dylan Baker was good too, but I wasn't sure if he was supposed to come across as a homosexual or not. Jennifer Jason Leigh was good in her small role.

Conrad Hall did a marvelous job with how he shot this. Mendes did a nice job with the direction.

This may be my 2nd favorite MODERN gangster film

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

This is a classic, Robert Wise directed film about the dangers of atomic weapons, war, and violence.

We start off with various reports (from the commentary track, real announcers) from around the world talking about a spaceship approaching earth. They assure the world that this is very real, not a hoax, to be patient and see what happens. I loved that they used real broadcasters as it gave it a nice air of authenticity.

So this spacecraft lands in DC and the military and tourists surround it. The door opens and a man steps out and tries to assure those there that he is peaceful but ends up getting shot. He is taken to the hospital, treated and using stuff from his own home planet, recovers. He tells the government that he needs to meet with ALL the leaders of the world, by calling a special session of the UN, but no one will agree to the location. They try and trap him, but he gets out and assumes the name "Mr. Carpenter" and takes in at a boarding house in DC. There he befriends a young boy and his mother and gets in touch with a professor. The professor arranges a meeting with various leaders but the government finds Klatuu (aka Mr. Carpenter) through the mom's asshole boyfriend. The alien gets shot, is brought back to life thanks to his giant tank killing robot, Gort. He warns the people that they need to settle themselves or they will be punished.

Great freaking movie and still timely in our times.

The acting was great especially from British actor Micheal Rennie. He brings a real subtle humanity to the role, but also a great alien quality. His scene in Arlington Cemetery is fantastic.

This is a timeless movie that must be seen.

THRONE OF BLOOD--An OLEG Movie Club Selection

Shakespeare’s classic play of bloodshed, power, betrayal, insanity, and the supernatural, has been an inspiration for many weather it be Roman Polanski’s way of dealing with the death of Sharon Tate in his Penthouse funded version or as a villain in the 90’s Disney television series Gargoyles. This version, directed by acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and set in feudal Japan, may be the best I’ve ever seen.

Japan may be one of the best settings for this story, with it’s rich history. The story of McBeth is the story of a man’s descent into his own darkness and pride and ambition, spurred on by mystical prophecies and an overly ambitious wife. McBeth, or in this case Washizu, does desire power, does desire to rise the position of “Great Lord” but won’t admit it even when confronted by it several times. It is only when his wife pushes him towards it does he take action. Once he achieves his goals though, his power gets the better of him and he, and his wife, both descend into madness and a struggle to hold unto to the prophecies spoken about them.

I loved how Kurosawa showed us, even subtly, how things would play out. Early in the film we hear about Washizu’s talent with the bow, at the end his enemies employ a similar strategy against him. At one point we see Washizu and his childhood friend and fellow warrior Miki, kneeling before the Great Lord and Kurosawa holds on them from behind and we see the contrast of Washizu’s black banner and Miki’s white banner. Washizu has a black heart, one easily corrupted, while Miki’s heart is white, looking only toward the future. This is continued with the insignia, Washizu’s is a centipede, whereas Miki’s is a rabbit. Also the scene where the porters in the northern castle are going to clean out a room for Washizu when the Great Lord visits, mention that the blood stained floor cannot be scrubbed clean, Lady Washizu has a similar problem when trying to scrub her bloodstained hands, which in her mind won’t come clean.

There are also some very subtle changes to the original story, such as the use of only one witch/spirit in the movie as opposed to three in the original play and starting off the movie in the castle as opposed to the plays introduction by the witches planning on meeting with McBeth. I was also glad to see that Kurosawa, while keeping the storyline and the outline the same, used little to no of the original lines.

I was pleasantly surprised by the special effects used, especially for 1957. 3 scenes really stand out, the witch, or spirit’s, disappearance; the latter appearance by the spirit and several phantoms; finally the moving forest. The moving forest was especially impressive, because that is always one of the hardest elements of the Scottish play to pull off without looking cheesy.

I thought the black and white photography worked well, especially for this picture which deals with very dark themes.

The acting was excellent, and all part of Kurosawa’s stock company, with Toshiro Mifune as Washizu and Minoru Chiaki as Miki. Isuzu Yamada as Washizu’s wife.

This film may well be an “anti” Samurai film. In traditional Samurai films, the samurai are honorable and Washizu is NOT honorable. On the DVD commentary it is mentioned that McBeth was Kurosawa’s favorite play by Shakespeare and it shows with his obvious

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

I also watched The Forbidden Kingdom this weekend and while I enjoyed it and am not ashamed to own it or anything, and will watch it again, it was great or what I really expected out of Chan or Li.

I know that it's been Jet Li's dream to play the Monkey King and I know Chan loved being able to do a little role reversal and be they Drunken Master this time instead of the disciple, and it looked like both were having fun, I have to wonder who this movie is made for?

Hong Kong cinema fans are going to be disappointed because the way the fights are filmed and their length.

Kids aren't going to understand the mythology or the influences (I watched this with my 11 year old sister and she loved the closing fights and was on the edge of her seat, but was confused by why the bad guys had magic but the good guys (except for the Monkey King) didn't--bored by the opening credit sequence, and had some difficulty understanding Chan and Li).

I liked Micheal Argarano in Sky High and thought he was really good in this, but in the back of my mind wondered what it would have been like if the white kid had been the bully and his role was played by an Asian.

I also, unfavorably I know, compared the actor who played The Jade Emperor with James Wong and wondered what it would have been like with him in that role. I thought it would have been a nice little "shout out" to Big Trouble in Little China.

like I said, not bad, but not great either, re watchable but not a classic.

REDBELT

David Mamet is one of my heros. Here is a man that started his own theatre company, writes his own plays, has an amazing "voice"if you will, he's a theatre graduate who has moved into films but has never forgotten the stage. He's worked with great actors and made them better and has worked with ok actors and made them good. One of the best gifts I ever got was his book called "On Film" from my college theatre director.

Redbelt is his latest movie to come out on DVD and while I saw the advertisments on TV I never got around to seeing it in a movie theatre, I wish I could have. It's a great movie with a great story.

Mamet has said it's his samuari film, in the tradition of [Akira] Karusowa, and I can totally see that influence in this movie about Mike Terry, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and self-defense instructor who imparts upon his students the skills to survive on the street, rather than compete in unarmed combat sports. A series of circumstances brings Terry in contact with popular movie hero Chet Frank (Tim Allen) and a legion of Hollywood movers and shakers. Terry soon finds himself the victim of a con and, combined with a destitute financial situation, is pressed to enter the ring for pride and profit.

This is yes a movie centered in the world of UFC like Mixed Martial Arts, but unlike the similar NEVER BACK DOWN, which has more in common with THE KARATE KID, this is a movie that deals with issues and questions, like "what is honor?" "how far will someone go to protect their mentors" "what is the nature of competion" etc.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is Mike Terry, and does a fantastic job as the honorable and troubled master. Tim Allen is surprising as a Hollywood action movie star. Joe Mantegna and Rodrigo Santoro are delightfully sleazy, and Emily Mortimer is both victim and encouragemtn, troubled and sweet. This is a Mamet film, and like I said above, he does excellent work with actors.

Mamet isn't really known for his abilty to film fight scenes, Micheal Bay he is not, but the fights are servicable.

This is one of those movies that may really fly under the rader but is really good and if you haven't seen it, see it.

The Godfather Part 2

So they say that the Godfather 2 may be the best sequel ever made, and I can't say that they are wrong, this really is a great movie. As good as The Godfather (1), it's debatable. The Godfather told an epic story of the fall of a family from power and their attempt to rise out and possibly above it. The story The Godfather Part 2 tells is really at it's heart, and in both stories (sequel and prequel) a revenge story.

What Coppola masterfully did though was tell two similar and yet different stories: The rise of the Don Corelone (Vito and Micheal) framed around revenge. I also found it interesting that Don Micheal may be more alike to his grandfather's killer then he is like his father. Despite his viciousness Vito clearly loved his family and I don't think he would have treated Fredo like Micheal did, especially after what Don Ciccio(sp?) did to Vito's family and attempted to do to Vito himself. Maybe I'm wrong here but the portrait I get of Vito from the prequel and from part 1 was that Vito viewed things as business whereas Micheal, despite what he says, takes things much more personal. Even the birthday party scene when Micheal is almost sulking, hurt by Vito and the family, you see that he is taking this personally.

The acting was again just wonderful. DeNiro was maybe not as polished as we'd see him a few years later in Raging Bulls and later in Goodfellas, he still had the kinda slump shuffle thing that he did in Mean Streets, but is really good here, although I will admit that seeing him in a film like this not directed by Martin Scorsese is strange. I think it goes back to Coppola and Scorsese 's backgrounds and experiences. FFC grew up in a musical family, almost I'd call it "high Italian" large family, where things are a family business. His father was a musician who helped with the music on his films, his mother was an actress, his sister is Talia Shire, his nephews act. I think that's why his focus, in these movies, is never on the grunts or the soldiers but on the High Mafia families. Scorsese, on the other hand, grew up in a more working class Italian family, a street family, and that's why his best gangster movies, even something like The Departed, have a focus on the mafia soldiers.

Honestly I haven't see anything with Lee Strasburg in it other then this, but I can see why there is an acting method named after him. Talia Shire didn't annoy me in this movie, in fact I kind of enjoyed her trampy performance. It was really different then Adrian, which really is her defining role. Diane Keaton still bugged me in this movie, maybe it's just the character of Kay, maybe it's Keaton's performance, I don't know but I don't like her. I talked to one of the biggest Godfather fans I know and he agrees that Keaton is annoying.

Finally JOHN CAZALE! This is the actor that played Fredo, and brought such humanity to a real jerk of a person.

Again a great movie.

The Godfather

For a movie fan this may seem like near blasphemy but until this week I had never seen any of the Godfather movies.

I have to say that opening scene is FANTASTIC, totally unexpected, I don't know if that was Robert Evans (I think in EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS, it is mentioned that Evans did have a lot of control over the first 2 movies as well) or Coppola, but that VO over black, then pulling back on the man in the shadows until you get to the back of Brando's head, was mesmerizing. I talked to my brother today about that scene (he's 19) and he said it was one of the longest dullest scenes he's ever seen, but what does he know. I really don't know if this is a movie that kids grown up on on Bay and Tony Scott and Roland Emmerich can appreciate, but I loved it. Interestingly I found out that the long zoom out was one of the first uses of a computer controlled camera.

My absolute favorite scene though is outside the hospital, the baker Enzo (which is another thing I loved, we didn't just meet people in the wedding scene for shits and giggles they had a genuine purpose and when they are introduced in Act 1 we see them again in Act 3 [Enzo] or Act 4 ["Sinatra"]), anyways Enzo and Micheal are standing outside the hospital and neither of these men are "made" they are civil ans, Micheal has been protected his whole life from this and now he has to step up, they have no weapons, they are NOTHING and they have to use Micheal's intelligence to keep The Don alive. It was a chilling taunt but very quiet scene.

I also really enjoyed Brando's scene with the little boy (Anthony) toward the end of the movie with the water pump and the orange. The only other scene in the movie between Brando and children is when he gets home from the hospital and everyone is moving him in and the baby is crying and whatnot. This scene really brought up the fact that this man, this killer, criminal, etc; was a father and a grandfather who really did care about his family.

I won't say this is a perfect movie, couple things I didn't care for:

a)Talia Shire's overacting especially in the scene where she finds out her husband is cheating on here and she just starts throwing crap around. She was loud obnoxious and I know we are supposed to sympathize with her because her husbands a dick who cheats on her and hits her but I didn't, I found her shrill.

b)Micheal's descent into becoming the new Don, it just felt like it happened too fast. Up to that point, he was the civilian, he was nervous when he shot the drug dealer and the cop, he never really took hiding in Sicily important. But now all of a sudden he's as cold hearted as Brando. It just didn't work for me,I think I would have liked to seen his fall from grace to happen a little more quickly. I also, honestly, didn't see what he saw in Diane Keaton. She was pretty and perfect for his life before Brando's attack and Caan's death, but I couldn't tell what he saw in her after that. Maybe that's the point of it though, he was trying to hold unto a life that was gone now. I also didn't buy his throwing Duvall under the bus if you will, Sonny I could see doing that but not Micheal. Up to that point Micheal had always talked well of Tom.

c) This is a little nitpicky but I hated when we see Vegas for the first time, we see a sign for Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, up to that point, I don't recall them mentioning J Edgar Hoover, any presidents (Truman, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, etc). There is a throw away line about Hitler but most of the time they don't talk about anything in the actual "culture" of America. It's a fictional studio, a fictional singer, etc, but then you see something that reminds me of our actual reality and took me away just a split second on the movie reality that had been established so well up to that point.

d) Maybe it's a lack of knowing my history of America at that period in history, but I also really questioned weather the heroin (or narcotics) business was really worth starting a 6 family war over in the late 40s.

The actors were fantastic, I didn't recognize honestly Duvall until about halfway through, same with Cann and Keaton.

I also really liked how this felt like it was made in the period it was set in. The look, the feel, the music, the atmosphere. Even Coppola's limited use of the camera, using limited movements and static shots felt like something made in the 40s not the 70s.

I can see WHY this is an American classic and one of the greats. I'm anxious to see part 2 which I hear is better then 1.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

I just watched Once Upon A Time In The West for the first time ever and I have to say I'm impressed but I can see how it wasn't popular in the US when first released and how most kids today aren't going to be able to watch it. Why?

It moves too slow...

Is too thoughtful...
Is too quiet...
And it is actually is trying to say something rather then just be a shoot em up type western. I was doing some research on the movie and it seems a lot of people focus on the railway and water aspects of the movie, about how it reflects the West's changing nature from the Wild to the civilized and modernized. But I think it really reflects the nature of our dreams and ambitions. Frank, Jill, Morton all had a dream but they chose the shortcut to that dream and it ultimatly came to haunt them. It cost Jill got respectablity but at what cost, Morton got to see the water but not the Pacific before he died, Frank lost his life. The water and railroad, in my opinon, is only the macguffin, what propels these people to this moment in time but not the cause of their problems.

Technically, I loved the sound mix, I mean people talk about the performances and the writing and the direction and all those things are impressive, but I have to give it up to Leone and however did the sound mix for mixing the natural sounds on top of each other the cicadas, the creak of the windmills, the boots, etc and then you add Morricono's score over the top or not at all it really makes it feel natural

Acting wise, I have to give it up to Henry Fonda for taking the role of Frank, wow, what a turn from an already great actor, but to play a villian like Frank, wow and Frank isn't just some dyed in the wood villian, he's complex, he's scared, he wants more out of life then what he's got. I think this is really reflected in the custome designers choice of outfits...first half he's in mostly browns, and then in the 2nd half when he takes things into his own hands, yes he's wearing black, but it's a pinstriped black and I think that is a nice reflection of Frank's nature, yes he's bad but he's not totally bad. I think that nature is also reflected in the fact that he rides a white horse. This same costume reflecting nature can also be said of Harmonica, who yes wears the traditional white but it's not a clean white or a pure white, it's a cream, a dirty white aith the patchwork duster of white and brown. I think that reflects Harmonica's nature, he's good but he's not pure good, Harmonica ISN'T John Wayne. Actually he is John Wayne in the Searchers, but not the John Wayne archtype, good guy, etc. And what can I say about Jason Robards, probably the most "good" of the entire char. and ultimatly he suffers for it. Fate decided that Cheyenne would never be happy and he never did find that happiness.The action, when it occurs, is awesome, I loved Robards freeing Bronson in the train, with the boot in the gun trick a real standout.

Clint Eastwood's classic Unforgiven explores some of these same themes, but I think it's Leone, as an Italian, who after studing the classic Hawks, and Ford westerns brings an outsider's perspective to this classic American genre, showing us the death of the American west and the rise of the mob/gangster and buisnessman types. Having seen the Man with No Name trilogy and now this one, I believe that this is probably Leone's best and greatest western and one of the greatest westerns of all time

Anyways 5/5