The Movie Diorama "I'll steaaaal youuu Johaaaaanaaaa" *slashes an innocent man's throats* "Johaaaaanaaaaaa" *stabs neck with razor*! The unusual blend of yearning for love and slicing necks vengefully, yet oddly it works. Based on the infamous musical, an English barber returns to London after being exiled to seek revenge on a Judge who took his love away from him. How does one cure vengeance you might ask? Well, murder customers with a razor and process their cold bloody corpses into meat pies. Simple really, duhhhh. To recreate the Victorian melodramatic musical, you need someone who can visually entice you with gothic imagery. Someone who can balance gore and whimsical musicality. Obviously one candidate for the mighty task: Tim Burton. His notorious gothic and dark fantastical mind was perfect in adapting the musical. He is able to recreate specific stages that both replicated the musical production and created an entirely new cinematic edge. Whether it be Sweeney melodramatically singing to his razor blades or Mrs Lovett picturing her perfect life whilst grinding corpses, it all works as a surreal nightmare. Excessively gory which, again, sets itself apart from others. Depp and Bonham Carter both had strong vocals and gave committed performances that separated this from your typical cheesy musical, particularly the former's singing ability which really suited the role of Sweeney. A hint of 'Oliver Twist' with all the "Laaaandaaaan!" accents and a splash of "Sleepy Hollow" for the veil of darkness that shrouds Victorian London. The songs were enigmatic, particularly various renditions of the same song, however weren't really memorable. The second act unfortunately dragged due to the extensive melodrama and thin plot. Then the ending was far too rushed and concluded abruptly. Yet somehow, somewhere...it's one of the stronger entries in the genre (and I hate musicals). Dark, moody and edgy, serve me up a famous Mrs Lovett meat pie now because I'm taking a bite!

merelyaninnuendo Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet StreetMusical genre has always been the heart of a theatre play or act and not so much in a film except some exceptions probably because not everyone gets it right but this time it has arrived, the long last wait of the musical film that we all deserved. Sweeney Todd is the darkest project ever by Tim; that is saying a lot considering his history, and the best one too for the first time the movie gives enough work to the audience to mesmerize them. Tim Burton has matured himself as a director far better than probably anyone for his execution is dot perfect along with editing and also a more reasonable world to settle in. Johnny Depp as always gives his heart to Tim and this time he deserved this movie where every side of him is visible as clear as a crystal; he is a revelation in it with a great supporting cast like Alan Rickman. Sweeney Todd isn't goofy or even peculiar considering its premise but sharply to the point with smart writing, horrifying characters and sketchy tone that breeds the darkest phase in a human life with stellar performances.

Leofwine_draca Tim Burton's latest opus sees his favourite actor, Johnny Depp, essaying the role of the killer barber that Tod Slaughter made (in)famous back in the 1930s. Rather than being a straightforward adaptation of the penny-dreadful horror yarn, this is instead the film version of the Sondheim musical that enjoyed immense popularity back in the 1970s. With me so far? I was a little disappointed when I saw that Depp was, yet again, starring in the title role – can't Burton find another actor? The good news is that this is one of Depp's best turns, second only to his Ed Wood. He makes the role his own and, while he lacks the lip-smacking relish that Slaughter brought to the character, he nevertheless sets the stage alight.The film isn't perfect by any means. Then again, musical adaptations rarely are. I could do without the CGI depictions of the London environs, which are sometimes zoomed through as if the camera's on a motorbike. And did we really need yet another SCUMMY turn from Timothy Spall, who takes typecasting to a whole new level? Burton seems a little unsure of himself at first, what with the new genre and all, but he handles this well and the various musical numbers are all well-staged and well-sung.More bonuses come from supporting cast members – a restrained Alan Rickman, a Gothic Helena Bonham Carter – and the fact that Burton brings the story slap-bang into the 21st with buckets of delicious gore. Yes, the unrestrained throat cuttings are surprisingly played for laughs, taking the proceedings to a Grand Guignol level. Especially good is the blood-soaked climax, which is almost Shakespearian in nature. Okay, so the sub-plot about star-crossed lovers is so familiar as to be utterly mundane and uninteresting, but for the most part, SWEENEY TODD is a step in the right direction: good, stylish, and proud.

jimbo-53-186511 Benjamin Barker AKA Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) has been in exile for 15 years after he was accused of a crime that he did not commit by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). Whilst in exile, Judge Turpin has assumed custody of Barker's daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) and worst still for Barker, Turpin also intends on marrying Johanna. Upon his return to London, Barker arrives with a new identity and forms a sinister partnership with pie-making widow Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). Todd sets himself up as the best barber in London, but revenge is really what is on his mind.....First and foremost I have never seen the Broadway Musical that this film is based upon so my only point of reference is this Tim Burton and Stephen Sondheim collaboration and you know what? I kind of liked it...At its heart we bear witness to a sort of anti-hero in the form of Barker/Todd - we see our protagonist robbed of 15 years of his life and worse still find him returning to London expecting to walk back into the arms of his wife and pick up his life more or less where he left it (albeit 15 years later). However, Judge Turpin has tarnished that aspect of Todd's life which, in effect, adds insult to injury as far as Todd is concerned. On the one hand this works as Todd is a believable anti-hero, but some of this hard work is undone when Todd opens his barber's shop and starts killing nearly everyone that sits in the barber's chair. It's impressive in the sense that Burton manages to balance many of these scenes by making them dark and menacing and surreal and amusing, but to me a lot of these things made me slightly lose touch with Todd and his cause (it seemed to initially be about one man gaining revenge against another, but in the middle of the film he seemed to become a serial killer in order to prevent a widow from going out of business). As I said all this was very entertaining and was an interesting sub-plot, but totally illogical when scrutinised.Whilst there's little wrong with the basic story and whilst it does remain enjoyable, Sweeney Todd does tend to meander and go round the houses a bit (there are some scenes which go on for longer than necessary - the rivalry between Todd and Pirelli is one such example). The romance between Anthony and Johanna is a little over-staged - "I feel you Johanna" seemed to have been sung on about 3 separate occasions when one occasion probably would have sufficed.Still I don't mean to be too harsh on this film as I did like it and Burton's visuals and dark style do provide the film with lots of gusto and energy; Depp and Bonham Carter are wonderful together, Baron Cohen has basically just added another character to his repertoire and Rickman is sublime as the villain of the piece. The only real weak spot in this picture lay with Jamie Campbell Bower who seems rather wooden and lacking in charisma in comparison to his co-stars. Naturally with this being a musical the singing performances are variable (although no-one is intolerably bad).Ultimately, the dark plotting and black humour combine wonderfully here creating a slightly flawed film, but one with enough of Burton's magic to make it work.