Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-23-2007, 05:29 PM:

Early matinee today at Regal 15 in Eugene (#14). No glaring technical faults.

I didn't hate it. [Big Grin]

Tim Burton's usual comic twist is mostly absent, probably intentionally so. Oh yeah there are a few humorous touches here and there, but overall this is not played for laughs and in fact it's a bloodbath. If that sort of thing turns you off, best to avoid it. All the actors do the best anyone probably could with this, yet something is lacking.

2.75 out of 5 stars.

Anyone for a meat pie?

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-24-2007, 01:06 AM:

As a big Tim Burton fan as well as Stephen Sondheim, I too felt something was lacking. A melodic score, for one? I think this must have played far better on stage than on film, which is a much more literal setting than the artifice of stage. Ill still give it 3 stars (out of five). There was really nothing wrong with it, it just didn't soar, which is the only way such material can really work in this case.

Presentation at Regal's Edwards Bakersfield 14. Unfortunately, it was played in theatre 1, one of 2 screens that haven't been fixed yet. (scope is dead on perfect on this screen, but the flat SWEENEY TODD was shown around 2.1 instead of 1.85. Sound was excellent, however.

Posted by Richard P. May (Member # 3598) on 12-24-2007, 10:30 AM:

I'll be interested in the "walk out" level. With most of the dialog either sung or spoken in rhyme, and fairly hard to understand, plus the excessively distastful bloody sequences, I'd think a lot of people aren't going to consider this picture as entertainment.

RPM

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 12-24-2007, 11:35 AM:

Having seen the stage play with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn (alas on laserdisc, not live), I have been a fan of this show ever since and looked forward to this new telling with great anticipation.

While some of the musical numbers were deleted (lesser ones to be sure), overall I felt this telling was true to the sprit of the play and give the film extremely high marks. Possibly one of the best films I've seen this year.

As for the thoughts about the "distastful bloody sequences", slitting of the throat is going to be messy, no matter how you slice it (pun intended). It may be slightly over the top here, but no more so than some of the others we have seen on screen. If I were to have a complaint, the only thing I would disagree with is the color of the blood. I found it too 'candy red' to be 'real'. Perhaps done as a direct contract to the pallet chosen for the rest of the film - or to make it slightly less 'real' to keep the MPAA at bay.

Posted by Tom Mundell (Member # 4555) on 01-12-2008, 04:24 PM:

I'd give this a 6/10; It's ok, but not really great. The music was just average and was probably what dissapointed me the most; with some better songs this movie could have been outstanding! Cast was good and did a decent job.

Saw this at AMC Tysons Corner in #8, a smaller/medium 185 seat room. Sound and picture were great. At this showing there were about 4 or 5 people I saw walk out around 10-15 minutes into the movie.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 04-04-2008, 03:02 AM:

I liked this. Many of the songs could have been better, but there were a few that were good. The movie kind of grows on you as it progresses. The "romantic lead" teenage boy looked like a girl, so much so that I almost thought I was watching something from a Final Fantasy game. I did guess the ending, though. At least this movie had an ending, unlike that one that won Academy Oscar of the Year.

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 06-29-2008, 06:52 PM:

I'll just say if all the throat-slashing doesn't scare you, the extent to which some of those vocals have been pitch-corrected should. "Not While I'm Around" was pitch corrected to the point that they almost didn't sound human anymore. I think we're beyond Auto-tuner and into Melodyne territory.

Other than that, I thought it was OK and fairly well done.