Format Change! I'm moving to two movies at a time but I'm going to get more in depth on them so who wins? You win!
40. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Directed by Tim Burton
Screenplay by John Logan from the Musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Music by Stephen Sondheim
Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Timothy Spall
Oscar Nominations: 3 Oscar Wins: 1 (Best Art Direction)
I know I say this a lot but this movie is a fine, four course meal for the senses, hopefully none of those courses being meat pie. I don't think anyone could have brought justice to Sondheim's masterpiece quite like Tim Burton. The man just knows how to capture the dark brilliance of Sondheim's piece just perfectly. The black humor is heightened by the dark and moody cinematography. The couple of bright scenes just look equally as disturbing.Really, the visual and musical effects work well in concert. This isn't even getting into the costumes. Carter's dresses really just accentuate her character's attributes. That wasn't supposed to sound dirty. Sorry. But anyway, it helps get across she's on hard times as the beginning and also later that she is in good times as well.
The performances are just top of the notch. Let me get my favorite out of the way: Helena Bonham Carter. Yes, she got the part because she's Tim Burton's lover. That doesn't change that she is a great Mrs. Lovett. You can believe that she loves this man and is willing to take advantage of and feed his psychosis to make great food. Her voice also works for the part and she still looks lovely much of the time. Depp is also stunning in this role. He does his own singing and it works very well. He really gets through Sweeney's sadness and desperation while also making us believe that he would commit murder without a second thought as long as it served his purpose. Finally, Alan Rickman, he just gets the sliminess that Turpin has to display just perfect. These three roles, if miscast or done incorrectly, would have killed the whole of the film. As is, they work well and in spades. Really, the only thing that doesn't work in this movie are the young lovers but even they can be overlooked since they're mainly around to help the plot move and to show the corruption of London and that there is no innocence there.
39. The Music Man (1962)
Directed by Morton DaCosta
Written by Meredith Willson and Marion Hargrove from the Musical by Meredith Willson
Music by Meredith Willson
Starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, and Ron Howard
Oscar Nominations: 6 Oscar Wins: 1 (Best Scoring, adaptation)
As a warning, there are going to be a fair amount of musicals at this point. Thank you. That said, wow. The Music Man. Filled with some of the most freaking catchy music ever written. That alone is enough to praise this movie. However, there is so much else. Let's start with the acting. I'm not normally a fan of "Talk-Singing" but I let it pass in this one for Robert Preston's performance as con-man Harold Hill. He gets a wonderful bit of wit and romance in there. Buddy Hackett fills the standard sidekick role perfectly as well. I know most people are familiar with Shipoopi mainly because Seth McFarlane sang it on Family Guy but this is the best guy possible singing it. However, the real stars of this movie as Shirley Jones and Ron Howard.
Shirley Jones is stunning. Like good looking but also a terrific actress also. She plays the cold intellectual well in the movie but also plays the concerned aunt and the lover well also. She comes across as someone who has been hurt but also warms up perfectly. The same goes for Ron Howard. Child actors are a dime a dozen but it's rare to find one that you can look at and say, "He's going to be great." That's what we got here. He would later enthrall us in Happy Days and become one the best directors of his generation as well as being a terrific narrator on Arrested Development. You can see that brilliance starting to shine here and that is part of makes this movie so remarkable.
Next Time: "There's not a day in my life that I don't feel like a fraud. Other priests, doctors, lawyers - I talk to them all. I don't know anyone who hasn't felt that." "Well, I can kill too because now I have hate!"
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