SWEENEY TODD (2007)

genre: musical & performing arts
director: tim burton
screenwriter: john logan
producers: richard d. zanuck, walter f. parkes, laurie macdonald, john logan
composer: stephen sondheim
starring: johnny depp, helena bonham-carter, alan rickman, timothy spall, jamie campbell bower

featuring a wronged barber in 19th-century london wielding silver razors on a mission of vengeance, singing ''don’t they all deserve to die?'' in the thrilling epiphany basically opens the first-act climax of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

only stephen sondheim’s 1979 musical-theatre masterpiece explains the barber's reasoning so eloquently, quote: “the lives of the wicked should be made brief. for the rest of us, death will be a relief.” the legend of this grim reaper and the widowed baker, mrs. nellie lovett, who assisted him by grinding up dead customers into meat pies, has been around for over 150 years. *matakot kaaa! hehe.

the story picks up on the unfortunate past of a barber named benjamin barker (johnny depp), who’s family was taken away from him by the overly pious judge turpin (alan rickman). after getting out of jail fifteen years later, and without knowing the fate of his beautiful wife and daughter, barker makes his way back to fleet street. coming home though, something is different with this man. he is set out for revenge and no longer the man he once was, benjamin barker is now dead to the world — people now call him sweeney todd. *yaa. and people don’t notice na cia pla un. well, if you look at the before and after, you wouldn’t really know. todd comes back to find that life and home that he once had no longer exists. the shop below his parlor is ran by mrs. lovett (helena bonham carter), who informs him of the fate that his family had endured. todd can think of nothing but vengeance, leading him to carry out a murderous plot. *goosebumps. HAHA.

to stage a proper sweeney todd, necks must be slit, human flesh must be squished into pastries, and blood are to spurt in fountains and rivers of death. then comes in director tim burton, who has chopped and squeezed an almost dauntingly famous theater piece into something that stands up to the screen, and has tenderly art-directed soupy textured, tomato-red colored, fake-gore blood. basically, by considering the elements that are ought to be seen, this film adaptation was an utter success. *yey! cheers. haha. biasss ko..

burton's version, starring the ever lovely johnny depp in the title role and the crazy helena bonham carter as mrs. lovett. they also hired alan rickman in the role of the judge, and even sacha baron cohen aka borat in the role of a blackmailing faux-Italian con man. it becomes the most enduringly classic sweeney todd ever released for me most probably because of the cast. *and also khit mrami pang theatrical versions nto, eh duh! you cant put in much computer graphics, effects and much kpag live so i think most probably best ever na to.. this lavish, attentive production is splashed with the director’s signature style and a great entertaining cast produced a film worth watching, remembering and reviewing. *HAHA. mapili ako. oo!

indeed, the movie is so finely minced a mixture of sondheim's original melodrama and burton's signature spicing that it's difficult to think of any other filmmaker so naturally suited for the job. *can you imagine how DreamWorks or Pixar would translate the bloodshed and the merciless deaths? HAHA. what he only lacks in ease when it comes to directing fully liberated amusement, real fear, and dangerous glee, is his steadfastly attempts to make up for with compensatory floods of visual verve. *ung tipong moral lesson to make up for all the killings na naganap. and in the end pa, namatay ung bida and everyone else na involved. mdio unsuitable na kc ung film for young audiences. anywho it doesn’t matter kc basically its all about vengeance nga dba?

oh, captain jack sparrow! gone to the really, really dark side! *HAHA. burton has an affinity for the mayhem's grand gloom setting, of course. but more valuably, he has a unique collaborative relationship with his longtime leading man. painted in chalky paleness and drop-dead under-eye red shadows out of the pirates of the caribbean–edward scissorhands makeup bag, depp boosts the production through sheer graceful grit of stardom. he emphasizes the mourning man's melancholy; he misses his lost wife and the daughter who's now the hideous judge's ward, with a cold ‘sleepy hollow’ ghostliness, rather than a hot, aggravated world of fury. depp is a decent enough singer in a cast for whom vocal prowess isn't their first job or even fifth job choice. but the singing almost doesn't matter, as long as he's around: he's the most interesting person on the screen, and the demon barber he conjures is a fascinating interpretation indeed.

tim burton and johnny depp go together like black and blue, or like fire and ash. amidst the chaos, there is a unique unison between the two conflicting forces. most of their films are something of a paradox. mixing the dark with light, pain with pleasure, and humor with sorrow. the tandem has worked together on some fantastic projects in the past, and the two names becoming synonymous with each other. most of their projects have lately been looked at as “just another burton/depp film”. while sweeney todd does carry the well known characteristics of most burton/depp films, this one is different.

as for mrs. lovett, she truly is a woman of 'limited wind', as sondheim describes her and bonham carter sings her in a thin, breathy voice — it's difficult to believe that this particular bloody wonder can lift a rolling pin, let alone crank the handle on her hellish meat-grinding machinery. it's nice, though, how her corpse-bride complexion complemented depp's.

what makes the film so special is burton’s faithfulness to the spirit of the story. the film needed to be brutal and graphic so as to properly portray the evil-ness of todd. it was burton’s touch that made it a fun experience. the music and the lyrics were brilliant and the film was a fantastic orchestra of contrast. sweeney todd mixed black with white, irony with sincerity, and humor with solemnity in such a way that made the film a wonder to watch.


Legend: RED : important facts.
BLUE : side comments of reviewer.

reese corpuzü(2008)©

Transformers is an all-out robot deathmatch of epic scope, grandiose enough to melt your eyeballs and drop out your toungues.

It's simple. if you like robots fighting and breaking stuff? then you'll love Transformers, a movie about two races of transforming robots, the Autobots and the Decepticons, fighting over the fate of Earth.

Transformers is based on the 80s toy and cartoon series.. my brother told me he used to have action figures of these fighting robots. i did saw he had that. maybe my little brother senselessly destroyed it because he couldnt accept the fact that robots are better than the dinasours which he overly loved.

Needless to say, this ultra-violent movie scratches a more-than-seven year old itch that has been festering with dreams and nostalgia. No expense has been spared, neither on the filmmaking nor the marketing side, ensuring that this 4th of July release in USA will be the hit of their summer. Rest assured, all those robo fanatics out there who are ever so excited in seeing how your 'heroes' will turn out to be in this film, im sure not one of you will be disappointed. your 'heroes' were shown in most of the scenes throughout this film and they were shown greatly. the fact that they were saving the earth was one heck of heroism they had to portray. lol. the animators were really sure of what they were doing. obviously, the robo animation was a success. the fast moving, rotating, auto busting, speaking robots amazed everyone in the theaters. It was another sci-fi movie, except that it was way better supplied with all the animantors and the money it needed.

Robots fighting, breaking stuff and saving the earth; guess that's what the movie was all about. Great! i'll give it a four. :))

DISTURBIA

DreamWorks Pictures Presents
A Montecito Picture Company Production
Executive Producers Ivan Reitman Tom Pollock
Produced by Joe Medjuck E. Bennett Walsh Jackie Marcus
Screenplay by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth
Story by Christopher Landon
Directed by D.J. Caruso

CAST: Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Sarah Roemer, Carrie Anne Moss

my turn! ehem, ehem.

this may be another typical suspense movie; kids start an investigation on the criminal only as a joke at first. but eventually they find out its the real deal. they continue their investigation without the aid of the adults and the authorities [police] because they know they would'nt listen. at the end, it turns out that the kids were right after all.

WRONG!

this is not a typical suspense movie. yes, the plot is most probably the same as the others but there are differences in this film which makes it exceptional. thw main twist of the story here is the house arrest of Kale. it makes him incapable of catching the bad guy compared to the other kids of the other suspense movies.

the cinematogpraphy was different from all the others. the sequencing of the scenes will keep you watching. it was one hell of a thriller because even my guy fi\riends were screaming. [yep, they were like little girls, screaming and hiding in their blankets during the chasing scenes. lol.] the suspense scenes would show up when you least expect it to. the characters of the actors were well internalized. they all did well. especially Ronnie. haha. [we all liked him and didn't want him to die.] actors were great. emotions were shown clearly and you can tell that they can certainly feel the atmosphere disturbia had. the set, disturbia, was ironic. the name states a place of chaos and pandemonium and if you saw disturbia at first it seemed like a quiet normal town in the suburbs. but, as many people put it, things aren't always what they seem. the insides of disturbia was very intriguing. there are many disturbing secrets within. well, i guess that explains the title. little love sceneswere inserted probably for the movie goers looking for some hot loving. [haha.] Ashley, Sarah Roemer, was one hot mama. and course, Kale, Shia Labeuof was one heck of a papa! the chemistry was perfect. well, nothing like a match made in distrubia. [ haha. nice one.]

in a suspense thriller movie, the action scenes are no doubt the most important. the killing scenes had to be unique so as to be remembered. the killing materials, gadgets and other pharaphernalia [whatta word! haha.] should be interesting, with many uses, heavy or sharp and of course, deadly! the action scenes in this film were interesting because it took place in many locations. Kale's house, Robert Turner's house, and Ashley's pool were the three main locations where it all happened. the running and the hiding kept us all excited and oh so scared. Blood was all over. [which makes it even more creepy.] this is the most fun part of all!

all in all i loved the film. it was the bast suspense film i have ever encountered. think im exagerating, well, im not! it is very good. love it!