Scene of the Week - Batman Returns

HELLO THERE
directed by Tim Burton

Once upon a time, when Tim Burton actually brought in originality with his movies, he made terrific Batman Returns. I really enjoy the film, its naughty humour and grotesque scenes, but my favorite aspect of it is Michelle Pfeiffer's splendid performance as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. As good as Anne Hathaway was in The Dark Knight Rises - she is no Pfeiffer.

Frankenweenie

I remember the day my beloved hamster died. It was terrible - he was my first pet, well, excluding the fishes in aquarium, and though I couldn't walk him and I almost never let him out of his cage, I really loved him. I cried for days. Now I have a beautiful Yorkie, my first dog ever. He is one year old,  I've known him for 10 months and I love him so much - he wiggles his tail and jumps whenever I get back home, he wakes me up in the morning and he brings toys and drops them next to me when he wants to play. He is my friend.

Dark Shadows

36/100 (113 min, 2012)
Plot: An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection. Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith (screenplay), John August (story)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green

 Burn, baby, burn!

I love Tim Burton's movies. I love his imagination, the beautiful cinematography, Danny Elfman's scores, the bizarre and grotesque world that always hides within the frames of his pictures. Even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland while definitely weren't the best of his movies, were at least coherent, had a consistent style and at least managed to be entertaining. With Dark Shadows I was hoping it will be a good movie till the very last moment, that is until I actually saw it. I don't know what happened to Tim Burton but Dark Shadows is a huge disappointment and worse yet - complete, embarrassing and ridiculous mess that at times is not even watchable.

The story follows....oh wait that's not right. Dark Shadows doesn't really follow any of the characters, it changes the points of view many times and it never makes much sense. So let me start over - once there was a rich playboy Barnabas Collins who fooled around with the girls. That was until he fell in love with Josette, lovely, blond girl. One of the girls he abandoned - Angelique - turns out to be a witch and she decides to take her revenge - she makes Josette jump out of cliff to her death and Barnabas follows. But he doesn't die - it turns out that Angelique turned him into a vampire.

New TV Spot for "Dark Shadows"

I love all those scenes of Johnny Depp looking confused and freaked out by the world around him. Also the cinematography and set design look absolutely gorgeous. "Dark Shadows" premieres on May 11th and stars Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Lee Miller and Chloe Moretz.

First trailer for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

What do you guys think? I think it's gonna be tons of fun. Tim Burton ceased to make good movies a long time ago and waiting for another "Sleepy Hallow" is just futile. This looks like a fun, silly entertainment, maybe with a little bit of "Beetlejuice" feel to it. The soundtrack is bitchin' and I hope it will be featured in the movie. Also how amazing does Eva Green look?

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

96/100 (116 min, 2007)
Plot: The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: John Logan (screenplay), Stephen Sondheim (musical)
Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman

"No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."
— Mary Shelley

“These are desperate times, Mrs. Lovett and desperate measures are called for... “

(spoilers!)

London, Victorian times. Rain falling from the sky, the drops changing into blood, falling into sewage surrounded by filth and rats. That is how Tim Burton's last true masterpiece “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” opens. After 25 years in development, constant casting changes, passing the material from one director to another, Burton finally managed to shot the movie that is both fascinating and horrifying. Opening titles present the message of the story – the evil, the poison, the filth spreads, infects everything it touches. It is unavoidable and once pure is corrupted there simply is no going back.

The tale is that of Benjamin Barker, the talented barbed who once had beloved wife Lucy and their little daughter Johanna. But there was an evil man – judge Turpin, who desired Lucy. He thought of a devious plot, put Barker in jail, raped Lucy and kidnapped Johanna and was raising her ever since. But one day Barker escapes jail and gets back to London, seeking his revenge. He stays in his old apartment over Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. Mrs. Lovett soon becomes his accomplice in his murderous proceedings...

Scene of the Week: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

directed by Tim Burton

The scene: In the film's most clever and one of the most memorable musical numbers, Mrs Lovett, owner of the pie store and Sweeney Todd, man immersed in the vengeance and killing spree, think of a way to get rid of the body of the man he has just killed. As Todd sits down drinking gin, Lovett has a diabolical idea - using the meat from the body to make pies. They both start to sing and gaze through the window, looking for potential victims and thinking about how their meat would taste like. Then they both dance waltz, with Todd holding a chopper and Lovett with roller pin - the "tools" for their successful business. The scene is special because it is the moment in the movie that best shows the affection both people have for each other and their devotion to the cause - Todd to practicing his kills before he kills his enemy and Lovett in supporting Todd - with whom she is hopelessly in love with. Both willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.

Alice in Wonderland

(108 min, 2010)
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), Lewis Carroll (books)
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter

Rescued by rabbits, cats and queens. 

What a disappointment. I've always said "Alice in Wonderland" is a dream material for Burton. Lately it seems that balls are falling off the great directors - first Jackson did "The Lovely Bones", so sweet it made me want tovomit with candies and pink ponies and now this. Burton clearly was not thinking a lot about his own movie or he suffered some major head trauma because his Alice bounces from usual grotesque and morbid scenes to completely childish resolutions and cartoonish, silly sequences. In the effect it is a movie....for nobody. Adults will find it too silly, kids will find it too scary, Burton's fans won't like the art direction which is so tacky and vulgar my eyes were hurting - and since it was in 3D used maybe in 5 scenes, my eyes were REALLY hurting.

There is no atmosphere - nothing is fascinating, everything is just...fake. Jabberwocky was embarrassingly poorly done, the creatures were animated in a very rookie way and the whole thing was just...painful to witness.

Having said that, the dialogues are sublime and the tea party sequence is the most insane and fantastic thing since 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. The entire audience went nuts along with the characters - nobody could comprehend what the characters are talking about and what is going on.

The actors were great too - Rickman made fantastic caterpillar, Michael Sheen was absolutely adorable as the white rabbit - god, I could just hold him and never let go, Depp was fine, but the whole weird romantic tension between Mad Hatter and Alice - Burton was never good in portraying chemistry - even in 'Big Fish' we sorta have to believe the words the characters are saying - we don't see their love, Depp on the other hand never has chemistry with women - maybe this will change next year when we see him alongside Angelina dynamite Jolie in 'The Tourist'. However he is very suggestive and there was something incredibly eerie and disturbing in Alice/Hatter relation. But apart from that his make up is awesome, but by the end of the film...well clearly Disney holds Depp very close to money chest and he will do anything for the studio. That dance reminded me of Slumdog's ending and that's never a good thing. Mia Wasikowski was good as Alice, but there is not a single drop of passion, energy or charisma in that girl. But her looks were ok and she did interesting job.

The best ones in the show are the queens - Red one, played with a lot of force by director's muse and always lovely Helena Bonham Carter and the best one in the whole movie - Anne Hathaway as the white one. She stole the show, she was absolutely fantastic and hilarious. She played crazy vegetarian, not so much walkiing as floating, dealing with disgusting things and showing her disgust but underneath all of that her love and compasion for all things on Earth. She looked incredible and created one of the most memorable characters to appear in Burton's film. I also loved Stephen Fry as the floating, disappearing Cheshire Cat.
The music by the always terrific Danny Elfman is memorable and main theme is very good. The movie is lovely, but it could have been so much more. But the actors...ah, it's a real treat to see their performances here.

 68/100