The first time I was ever made aware of the Broadway play, I was sitting in a theater in Marion, IN, with my good friend Toll, watching Kevin Smith’s latest creation - Jersey Girl. In that movie a little girl is given the assignment to re-enact a play for the school talent show. Everybody chose Cats….except for this one particular girl. So all I knew was that there was this barber that killed people, the barber chair flipped down to allow the deceased to slide down, and there was a restaurant down below that cooked the victims and sold them in meat pies.
I was immediately interested in Sweeney Todd because Johnny Depp was on-board and Tim Burton was directing. Also acting was Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and the ever-funny Sacha Baron Cohen. I can’t really think of a single performance from Depp where I’ve been disappointed. He always finds new roles to push himself as an actor and do something new. I think it’s fair to say he’s never phoned-in a performance.
I was reading somewhere that this is one of the best Broadway plays adapted to the silver screen. I was pretty impressed with it. In some ways I think it resembled Edward Scissorhands, only darker and more menacing. Oh yeah, and lots of people were killed. Personally, I wasn’t bothered by any of it, but I’m sure the graphic nature of the throats being slit and bodies being dumped down a chute will bother some.
Afterwards we were all discussing parts of the movie and I said I thought Cohen’s pants were “interesting,” kind of like Bowie’s in Labyrinth. Rajeev, my brother-in-law, quickly stated anyone who’s seen Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan should know if that was fake or not.
I really enjoyed this movie and would suggest checking it out. Definitely not for kids though, or for people who can’t handle the content.
Once again I was amazed and awed by the brilliance of Tim Burton. This man is awesome. Have you ever seen a picture of him? If not you should bust out google. It’s always interesting to see what people really look like.
I could really see some people not wanting to watch this movie simply based on previews and media. In fact, I just got my mom to watch Edward Scissorhands over the weekend and she loved it. I think she was actually surprised she even liked it. So I told her she needs to watch this one too. Yes it’s dark and dreary, but the movie is really good. Tim Burton is just really really good at dark and dreary movies that don’t turn out to be The Exorcist or Nightmare on Elm Street. This guy is talented.
The music is wonderful as always. Just wonderful. In fact, there’s even an option to play the movie without the dialogue in the special features of the DVD. This would definitely be worth checking out if you’ve already seen the movie.
One awesome part of this movie is the fact it takes place in Victorian England. The colors are drab. The clothes are tight and uncomfortable. Children are seen and not heard. There are arranged marriages. Nobody is happy.
Then you have the underworld where bright colors abound. Music is fun, jazzed and happening. People are allowed to drink and be merry. But everybody is dead. A bit of a paradox, right? So there’s two people arranged to be married that have never met each other. This could be really horrible but the two characters are probably the only two ‘normal’ people in town. Unfortunately, Victor accidently marries the Corpse Bride while practicing his vows and is then dragged into the underworld. Well, I won’t ruin the whole plot for you, but I will say, “WATCH THIS!”
I’ve never read Roald Dahl’s book. I’ve only seen the 1971 Gene Wilder film, and acted as Charlie Bucket in a play version of this same story when I was nine back in South Carolina. And I must say, put me in Tim Burton’s world over the other one any day!
One of the most anticipated movies of the summer is a fairy tale, a whimsical, wacky mess-of-a-movie…yes…but what an organized mess indeed! “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is fueled by smile-bringing visuals, quirky cookie-cutter characters and yes the wonderfully weird and demented Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. I realize people have been talking about how Depp is going to re-create or re-do Gene Wilder’s fascinating work as Willy Wonka and skeptical of whether or not it should be even done….but it seems to me that Depp’s performance—not only is it very entertaining and hilarious in a Napoleon Dynamite sort of way—is so realized and simple and brazenly “it” that I can’t imagine Willy Wonka being anything but now. Think about it. A man that lives by himself in a chocolate factory with crazy little oompa-loompas running around all day long. And he’s obsessed with chocolate. And spends all day figuring out new ways to eat candy and experience euphoria in the taste buds. And he’s the son of a psycho dentist who never let him eat candy as a kid. Come on now! If normal with an edge is what you’re expecting, go far far away. A guy like this is (of course) going to be this bizarre…this socially awkward…this not-so-smooth-with-parents-or-children. After all, he is who he is, so why try and change him?
The more I thought about this throughout the film, the more I appreciated Depp and Burton’s direction. Willy Wonka shouldn’t be some flashy, oooo-and-aaaaa, mainstream entertainer (as Gene Wilder depicted him to be)…he should be almost exactly how Depp fashions him to be.
Gene Wilder purists are hating me right now but I don’t care. Even though I grew up watching the 1971 film again and again and love and admire it for other reasons, I still am so glad someone had the nerve to give this story a “go” again.
From the annoying yet oddly likable musical numbers to the Burton trademark set designs to the “new” oompa loompas that are oh-so-very-creepy and funny and hip and shocking and Beatles-esque and pop culture savvy….”Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is probably one of the few movies of the summer that deserves to be seen on the big screen with a big audience (preferably with some children). Although it slips into almost science fiction fantasy in some moments (which is when it visually and emotionally becomes slightly disengaged and disconnected from the audience) it’s overall a sickly enjoyable treat. And a film Roald Dahl (knowing how and who he is and what he was like) I’m sure is very happy with.
P.S. Even though the perfection of Charlie was a bit too overdone, I still think this 2005 version brings out the satire in the story and tongue-and-cheek humor out of this messed up and imaginative work of childhood art much much more. The story is a fairy tale, yes, but it’s also a very bitingly funny satire. Burton takes advantage of this miracle from within the text, and allows it to critique and comment on the film and story and how it’s all being executed out on numerous occasions. And yes all, that is a very big compliment!
This one’s a bit old, but pretty decent nonetheless. There’s also a few good actors: Johhny Depp, Juliette Lewis, John C Reilly, and then of course there was Leonardo DiCaprio. I almost feel ashamed to say that Leo did a good job here. I’m not exactly sure why but I’ve always just written him off as some bum actor. I used to heartily dislike Brad Pitt too, but the guy is a good actor. All you have to do is watch his movies and you’ll see him in a very wide selection of roles showing he’s not to be pidgeon-holed as a one trick pony.
I think this is a really good movie about family dynamics. Depp’s character definitely reminded me a bit of myself in how I’ve always been afraid I’ll turn out like my dad. I know that it doesn’t have to be that way cause I choose the way I am…but the possibility is still there. It’s scary. Like I said before, DiCaprio does an excellent job playing Arnie. It’s always interesting how everybody is always trying to be “normal” yet nobody really is. Everybody, every family has problems of some sort. Yet people try to hide/ignore them for various reasons. This doesn’t mean that people don’t deal with them, it’s just that everybody wants to be cool and fit in.
I think this is one of those films you can definitely watch and get something out of or watch and be completely bored/disinterested. I think there’s a message here to be heard. The real question is will you take the time to listen.
Maybe I’m a sucker for movies that carry-on the theme of the wonder and beauty of child-like belief and faith and hope (see my last year obsession with “In America”) or maybe there’s something that touches on the eternal when films capture so subtly what people spend their whole lives trying to understand. Whatever the reason, “Finding Neverland” does just this. One minute, you’re watching a movie as an adult; the next, your overwhelmed by faces of children, magic, and your own bewildered tears.
At one point while watching “Finding Neverland,” I was crying and I had no reason why. I started thinking, “why am I crying at this point?” and kept thinking on it till’ the movie ended and I think I may have figured out (partly) why. This movie deals with that pivotal moment in every person’s life where their childhood is no more and they are, in fact, an adult. Call it growing up, growing older, or ‘innocence lost,’…whatever/whichever way you put it, everyone eventually goes through it. I think when movies touch on such universal truths or rather, human circumstances and feelings, they touch on something much greater than the sum of their parts. “Garden State” did this with its exploration of ‘home’ and captured near-perfectly that odd transition between high school, college and age 30, where life seems to be staring straight back at you, asking you what to do next. Here, in “Finding Neverland,” director Marc Forster (director of the brilliantly brutal “Monster’s Ball) does something truly groundbreaking: he makes adults care about hope and wonder and belief, in a world where adults are taught to care about everything and anything else BUT these things. That’s the kind of direction more film directors need a lot more of nowadays
So far this year, “Finding Neverland” is one of the year’s 10 best films for many reasons, but I’ll mention only one reason briefly for time sake: Johnny Depp. Depp gives another groundbreaking performance that proves he really is the most versatile actor working out there today. Sure it’s less flashy and showy and funny than his work in “Pirates of the Carribean” but it’s much harder to pull off what Depp does here so effortlessly. His simple, quiet, yet profoundly tender performance deserves Oscar recognition. on top of that, I can think of no other actor who could do what he does, and make a movie such as this come off as good as it does here.
So all in all, go see this movie—now. And I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.
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