Sweeney Todd In Concert

Sweeney Todd In Concert (2001)
Seen on DVD 25th Sept 2008

I was told that this DVD was no longer carried by JB Hi-Fi and that I basically had no chance of ever finding it. Well guess what, i DID find it, and it was only $10. Which takes my sweeney todd collection up to 3 DVDs and 2 CD soundtracks.

Anyway...
This one is odd to review using the same movie things.

It is the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street" but it is set as a concert performance no sets, and with a full orchestra on stage.

STORY: See Previous Review

ACTING: 5/7
George Hearn is always brilliant. I mean that man is AMAZING and he will always be my favourite Sweeney. Patti LuPone's Mrs Lovett is one of those love-it-or-hate-it performances. She has what is undoubtedly an AMAZING voice, and is quite a good actor, but i just don't like her treatment of the character. Mrs Lovett should be a bit more crazy, and a bit less sexy than LuPone makes her. Of course, one of the main reasons i've been hunting down this DVD is none other than Neil Patrick Harris as Toby. AWESOME!

* Neil Patrick Harris *

SET-UP / STAGE DESIGN: 6/7
- Check out my sweet ability to make things up on the spot.
The stage design for this concert is amazing. Clearly you couldn't just have all the actors standing in a line across the front of the stage, because Sweeney has so much simultaneous action in different places, so the stage was set up with layered runways around the orchestra, allowing to actors to move to different levels.

* Hearn and LuPone on stage *

SONGS: 6.5/7
Clearly this stage show has the songs from the movie version, but it also has all the songs that it skipped! and some of the songs that weren't even in the filmed version of the stage-show (with Angela Landsbury.) Patti LuPone manages to belt out some stunning notes, and George Hearn is, well, George Hearn.

* Patti LuPone *

OVERALL: 5.5/7

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2008)
Seen on DVD 25th Sept 2008

John C. Reilly is a FUNNY FUNNY MAN!

STORY: 5.5/7
- "Did you hear that? I'm Dewey Cox's 12-year-old girlfriend!"
Dewey Cox was never anything special, in fact it was his brother, Nate, who was the special one. After Dewey accidently cuts nate in half during a machete fight, he leaves home to make himself "double great" to make up for what happened. He goes on to become one of the greatest performers ever!

ACTING: 5/7
- "I ache for a man's touch... and by a man's touch, I mean a penis in my vagina"
John C. Reilly is a genius! Tim Meadows also does a brilliant job as Sam. The favourite would probably be Jenna Fischer though, who is absolutely fall-down-funny as Dewey's lover Darlene. Jenna is the favourite of the cast, not counting the NUMEROUS cameos including: Ghostface Killah, Jewel, Jack White, Frankie Muniz, Jack Black, Justin Long, Paul Rudd and JASON SCHWARTZMAN!

* Jenna Fischer and John C. Reilly *


SONGS: 6/7
- "You think we don't know what you're talking about when you say: take my hand?"
The songs in this movie are so bad, but somehow so good at the same time. I personally have been singing "walk hard" for almost a week now!!

* Dewey Cox singing WALK HARD *

OVERALL: 6/7

This movie is absolutely hilarious!
everyone should see it!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)
Seen on DVD 21st Sept 2008

Stephen Sondheim is a FRIGGIN GENIUS!
As is Tim Burton.

From the very first moment I heard that Burton was working on a movie adaptation of Sweeney i went a little bit mental. One of my all time favourite directors, working on one of my all time favourite musicals.


STORY: 6/7
- "It's Todd now. Sweeney Todd... and he will have his revenge"
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was the best barber in all of London, but when the wicked Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) took a fancy to his wife Lucy, Barker was sent to Botany Bay on a false charge. 15 years later "Sweeney Todd" returns to London for his revenge. He takes his old room above Mrs Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) "Meat Pie Emporium" where they set in place a devious plan involving the disposal of bodies through a meat grinder and some pastry.

Depp as Sweeney Todd and H.B.C. as Mrs Lovett



ACTING: 5.5/7
- "There was a barber and his wife, and she was beautiful"

A lot of people were very disappointed with Johnny Depp's portrayal of Sweeney Todd. I admit that his singing wasn't up to the standard of, let's say, George Hearn, but i think he acted the role quite well. He gave Sweeney so much anger, but at the same time, so much control. Helena Bonham Carter was ALWAYS going to be a brilliant Mrs Lovett. She herself has said that she even dressed up as Mrs Lovett as a child, and who knew she could sing that well!!

Helena in her Mrs Lovett undergarments

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 6/7
- "In these once familiar streets I feel shadows... ghosts"

Sweeney Todd is of course, the perfect place for Burton to use his trademark dark styles. It is an extremely dark movie, except of course for the "By The Sea" segment, which exists only as a fantasy. I love the way Burton can do dark so well, but when he makes the switch to bright and happy, it's even BETTER! In terms of special effects, there is a LOT of throat slitting in this movie (as you could imagine - being called the "demon barber.")

On the boardwalk in "By The Sea"



SCORE / SOUND: 6.5/7

I don't believe there was ANY original music used in this movie ?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the show, so it's all his incidental music used in between the songs.

Mrs Lovett and one of the worst pies in London

SONGS: 7/7
- "There's a hole in the world like a great black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled with shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it... but not for long"

Man oh man, it's difficult to say how much i really love this musical. The songs are all so complicated and intricately written, yet they are somehow so simple at the same time. One thing that worked so so well in the original Sondheim musical was that he made the music basically continuous. He didn't want there to be long gaps between songs, therefore making the songs "something special" and taking you out of the story. While the movie version does have a few less songs and a bit more talking, they still use the music in such a great way.

Another thing to mention in refference to the songs in this musical is... no-one in the cast except for Laura Michelle Kelly (Beggar Woman) has had any previous training or experience in musical theatre. I think I'm going to have to give a special mention in terms of singing to Edward Sanders who played Toby. From the moment this boy appeared on screen belting out the introduction to "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" i was MESMERISED!

Helena Bonham Carter and Edward Sanders



GORE RATING: 5/7
- "It's man devouring man, my dear! and who are we to deny it in here?"

There's some really nice blood spraying action and some neck breaking that, despite being quite sick and gory, never failed to get a response of laughter in the cinemas.



OVERALL: 6.5/7

Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett

Kill Bill Vol1

Kill Bill: Volume One (2003)
Seen on DVD 21st Sept 2008

INSTANT CLASSIC!

Uma + Quentin = AWESOME!

STORY: 5/7
- "Revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest, And like a forest it's easy to lose your way"

The bride (as she is known) used to be an assasin with the "Deadly Viper Squad" until she left them to get married. The leader of the Deadly Vipers, Bill, wasn't going to allow this to happen, and had her murderred at her own wedding. The only problem was, she didn't die. The bride wakes up from her coma, 4 years later, and takes her revenge on the people who put her there.

ACTING: 6.5/7
- "If any of you sons of bitches got anything else to say, now's the fucking time!"

Uma Thurman is UMA THURMAN for hecks sake, not to mention Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah or Vivica A. Fox. If you like hardcore women doing it for themselves, this is the one. Everyone is great in this movie. I'm gonna give my special mention to Chiaki Kuriyama though. Quentin Tarantino saw her in "Battle Royale" and was so impressed that he wrote the role of GoGo just for her.

* Chiaki Kuriyama as Gogo *

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 6/7
- "Look at her. Hay-colored hair, big eyes. She's a little blood-spattered angel"

This movie is so great looking, and i'm gonna say it's all the genius of Quentin Tarantino. I especially liked the scene where the sheriff looked at the bride's "dead" body through his green sunglasses. The black-and-white / colour switched were quite cool also.

SCORE / SOUND: 6.5/7

The soundtrack for this movie is fun fun fun and all kinds of cool. Even now, just thinking about Kill Bill i find myself whistling the little song that Daryl Hannah whistles as she walks down the hallway of the hospital.

* Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver *

GORE RATING: 5.5/7
- "Those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you. However, leave the limbs you've lost. They belong to me now"

Lots of blood, and lost limbs. A decapitation or two. The anime segment, while being a cartoon, has some brilliant gore in it; exploding limbs and lots and lots of blood.

OVERALL: 6/7


- You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?

- You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did.

Python

Python (2000)
Seen on DVD 20th Sept 2008

Don't you just hate it when you think you've found a funny, new, interesting, crappy horror movie, only to find out that you've already seen it before, like a thousand times.

STORY: 2.5/7
There is this GIANT snake loose in a small town, but the local authorities don't know that, so when bodies start showing up, they start looking for a murderer.

ACTING: 2/7
The acting in this is TERRIBLE! Except of course for the reason that we rented it, Freddy Krueger himself, Mr Robert Englund! He is always so entertaining to watch. I'm also gonna give a mention to Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) for not being scared to wear a VERY lame moustache and use a STUPID accent.

* Robert Englund *

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 5/7
Some of the visual effects were actually quite cool. For one there was a GIANT snake!

* A freaking huge snake head *

SCORE / SOUND: 2/7
You know how crappy horror movies sound.

GORE RATING: 4/7
There's some nice mostly digested corpses and a decapitation or two.

* Casper Van Dien - ha ha ha *

OVERALL: 3/7


Interesting Facts -
- There's a sequel!

Rat

Rat (2000)
Seen on TV 20th Sept 2008


This was just randomly on tv, and i was too lazy to change the channel.
It ended up being a pretty interesting movie.

STORY: 5.5/7
Conchita (Imelda Staunton) and her family are being hounded by the local media after it has gotten out that Conchita's husband, Hubert (Pete Postlethwaite) has turned into a large white rat.

ACTING: 4/7
The acting in this movie was pretty cool, it did take me a while to get into it though, due to the HEAVY accents. The thing is, Imelda Staunton and Pete Postlethwaite are both awesome cool all of the time.

* Imelda Staunton and her ratty husband *

OVERALL: 5/7

Not the best movie ever made, but for a bit of random entertainment it was quite interesting and quite intelligent too.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan (2003)
Seen on TV 20th Sept 2008

STORY: 5/7
It's Peter Pan. He's the boy who never grows old!

ACTING: 5.5/7
Jeremy Sumpter is a pretty cool Peter Pan, but Jason Isaacs easily steals the show as Mr Darling and Captain Hook. He is a scary scary man, but manages to reveal a slightly more human side to the 2 dimensional character of Hook.

SCORE / SOUND: 4.5/7
Pretty cool score. Nothing all too special but it totally gets the job done.


OVERALL: 5/7

Step Brothers

Step Brothers (2008)
Seen At The Movies 19th Sept 2008

This has to be one of the FUNNIEST movies i've EVER seen. I laughed out loud (yes, i lol'd) more than I think I ever have before in a movie theatre. SO SO SO GOOD!!

STORY: 6.5/7
Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) and Robert (Richard Jenkins: Six Feet Under) meet at a conference and fall in love. They decide to get married and live together, the only complication is that they both have 40 year old sons, who still live at home. Brennan (Will Ferrel: Anchorman) and Dale (John C. Reilly: Chicago) absolutely hate each other, until they are forced to work together to save their unemployed living-at-home lifestyles.

ACTING: 6/7
Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly are brilliant at what they do, but the entire cast of "Step Brothers" works so well together. Richard Jenkins was so unexpectedly funny that i quite literally fell off of my chair laughing. Make sure that you pay attention to what he wanted to be when he grew up!! The stand out for this movie though is probably the duo of Adam Scott and Kathryn Hahn as Brennan's brother and his wife.

* Kathryn Hahn and Adam Scott *

SCORE / SOUND: 6/7
To be honest, i don't really remember much of the score... but this movie is funny enough that it totally doesn't even matter at all!!

SONGS: 5.5/7
Brennan has the voice of an angel. I mean, it's like Fergie meets Jesus!!!



OVERALL: 6.5/7


John C. Reilly as Dale and Will Ferrel as Brennan

The Phantom Of The Opera

The Phantom Of The Opera (2004)
Seen on DVD 19th Sept 2008


People keep talking about how this movie ruined the phantom of the opera. I totally disagree. I think this movie is quite brilliant and a lot of correct choices were made.


STORY: 5/7
Christine is a dancer at the famous Opera Populaire, and is being trained to sing by a mysterious teacher known as the "angel of music." When the opera's owner leaves town, and sells it to a pair of inexperienced men, the "angel of music" decides to take complete control and make his student the star of the show.

ACTING: 5/7
Everyone talks about how Gerard Butler destroyed this movie.. I personally think he did quite well for a singer with no previous experience. Patrick Wilson is also pretty cool as Raoul.

* Emmy Rossum and Gerard Butler *

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 5.5/7
The opening sequence is enough for me to give this a 5. When the chandelier is pulled back up to the roof and the room bursts into life and colour it is just BRILLIANT!! Then of course there's the masquerade sequence with big awesome dancing and fans and glittery awesomeness.

* Masquerade *

SONGS: 6.5/7
I freaking love this musical. Heck, i love ALL musicals, so it doesn't take that much.

OVERALL: 5.5/7


Interesting facts -
- Minnie Driver is the only actor who didn't sing
- There were 3 chandeliers made
- The chandelier weighed 2.2 tonnes

2 Days In Paris

2 Days In Paris (2007)
Seen on DVD 19th Sept 2008

Written and Dirceted by
AND Starring - Julie Delpy

STORY: 4.5/7
Jack (Adam Goldberg) and Marion (Julie Delpy) have been dating for 2 years before they decide to go to Paris (where Marion is from.) While in Paris, Jack meets basically every man that Marion has ever dated which sets him into a bit of a fit of jealousy. Ok, so i know the story sounds a bit less cool than you'd want but it's really good, i swear!

ACTING: 6/7
This is where this movie takes it's own. Julie Delpy and Adam Goldberg are both soo talented! Delpy is effortlessly sexy and completely nonchalant, whereas Goldberg carries around so much tension and bottled anger. Goldberg also manages to be a bit less jewish. There is an appearance by the ever-so-wonderful Daniel Bruhl which was quite amazing. Speaking basically perfect english too, which came as a surprise.

* Daniel Bruhl *


SCORE / SOUND: 4.5/7
A bunch of cute songs.


OVERALL: 6/7

The Jetsons: The Movie

The Jetsons: The Movie (1990)
Seen on DVD 17th Sept 2008

I got this movie really thinking it would have the song "Eep Op Ork Ah Ah" but it doesn't, so i was really dissapointed.

STORY: 3/7
George Jetson is offered a promotion (Vice President of Spacely's Sprockets) as long as he goes to the new factory that's far away in space. When George gets there, he finds out that the factory is having a LOT of problems, which it turns out are being caused by cute little fluffy things. Meanwhile, daughter: Judy is having some trouble of her own, when they moved she was forced to leave behind her boyfriend and she is really lonely. Luckily, there's a strange blue boy in the mall.

ACTING: NONE
None of that in this movie, sorry.

SCORE / SOUND: 3/7
The soundtrack is full of crappy songs by Tiffany who is voicing Judy.


OVERALL: 3/7

10,000 BC

10,000 BC (2008)
Seen on DVD 17th Sept 2008

There really wasn't much to enjoy in this film.
There was a sweeping timeless love story (blergh)
some really big mammoths (pretty cool)
and a sabretooth (awesome, but not in it enough)

STORY: 3/7
it's 10,000BC and everyone has dreadlocks. There is a prophecy that a great hunter will arise and he, along with the child with the blue eyes, will carry the people into a brighter future. The hunter they find is D'Leh (Steven Strait - The Covenant.) The child with the Blue eyes is kidnapped by "Four Legged Demons!" (men on horses) and D'Leh takes a group of hunters to go get her. There's a SABRETOOTH... the sabretooth comes back a bit later. The End.

ACTING: 2.5/7
Can you call broken english acting? My issue isn't that they speak english, it's just that they speak broken english. If you're just going to make them speak in a way we understand, make them SPEAK!

* The Sabretooth - he's so pretty *

SCORE / SOUND: 5/7
The score was pretty good, nothing all that special though


OVERALL: 3.5/7

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger

Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (2008)
Seen on DVD 17th Sept 2008

Australian film as it SHOULD be.

Written and Directed by Cathy Randall

STORY: 6/7
Esther Blueburger (Danielle Catanzaritti) is a young jewish girl who is about to have her Bar-Mitzvah. She is extremely unpopular at her private school and her family don't listen to her, this is, until she meets Sunni (Keisha Castle-Hughes.) Sunni attends the local public school and is a bit of a trouble maker. After things get too hard to deal with, Esther decides she'll go to school with Sunni instead.

ACTING: 5.5/7
Keisha Castle-Hughes and Toni Collette are ALWAYS amazing, in fact, i'd be surprised to see them do something bad. Newcomer Danielle Catanzariti is an absolute PLEASURE to watch. She manages to somehow be the most adorable kid on screen, and still carry that naive, insecurity that haunts the character. I'm gonna give a special mention to Essie Davis who played Esther's mother. She was so great in her character.

* Sunni and Esther at school *

SCORE / SOUND: 6.5/7
The soundtrack to this movie is so so so gooood!
The place to start would probably be Paul Mac and Bertie Blackman's "The Only One." This song is pure pop goodness and is ABSOLUTELY amazing. If you don't end up sionging along, then there must be something wrong with you. The rest of the soundtrack is a lot of cool Australian music, including a song sung by none other than the movie's star Danielle Catanzariti (man it's a fun name)

* Paul Mac and Bertie Blackman - The Only One *



OVERALL: 6.5/7

I love any movie that let's me SERIOUSLY say: I laughed, I cried, I learned.
This movie has some high points that will have you laughing out loud, and low points that will seriously have you sick to the stomach.

Ali G Indahouse

Ali G Indahouse (2002)

Seen on DVD 17th Sept 2008

Before "Borat" got famous, Sacha Baron Cohen was Ali G: a gangsta from West Staines.

STORY: 4.5/7
Ali G and his posse want to save the local community centre, and in the process he gets the attention of the Prime Minister's people. In a crazy scheme, Ali ends up running as a member of parliament, and does his bit to better the country by keeping it real.

ACTING: 5/7
Sacha Baron Cohen is just so good at his characters. You could be forgiven for forgetting that Cohen is actually an intelligent man. Rhona Mitra also stars as the skanky assistant of the Deputy Prime Minister.

SCORE / SOUND: 5.5/7
The score for this movie is FUN FUN FUN. Huge sweeping orchestras make a brilliant contrast to Ali G in all his G-ness.


OVERALL: 5/7

Blades Of Glory

Blades Of Glory (2007)
Seen on DVD 17th Sept 2008

STORY: 5/7
Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder - Napoleon Dynamite) and Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrel - Anchorman) are rivals in the field of male professional figure skating. After getting into a fight on the ice however, they are both banned for life from competing in men's singles. There was nothing in the rules top stop them from qualifying for pairs though.

ACTING: 5/7
Ferrel and Heder are quite good at playing the immature, angry characters but it's Will Arnett and Amy Poehler (Gob and Krindy - Arrested Development) who totally steal the show as Stranz and Fairchild the brother / sisterskating team.

* Stranz and Fairchild *

SCORE / SOUND: 5/7
Pretty cool soundtrack. Look out for an interesting rendition of "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas.

* Will Arnett and Amy Poehler *

OVERALL: 5/7

Interesting facts -
- Heder and Ferrel actually learned to skate.

Son Of Rambow

Son Of Rambow (2007)
Seen At The Movies 16th Sept 2008

Written and Directed by - Garth Jennings

SO SO SO GOOD!
I thought that this movie was gonna be pretty good but it completely exceeded my expectations. Everyone needs to see it! Everyone!!

STORY: 6.5/7
Will is a member of the Brethren, which means he is not allowed to watch movies or TV. Lee Carter is a trouble maker who wants to make a movie for the "Screen Test" competition. After Will sees "First Blood" (1982) at Lee Carter's house, he becomes obsessed with his own imaginary story, in which he is John Rambo's son. Lee and Will team up to make this story into a movie.

Along the line, Will becomes friends with Didier: a French exchange student who is way too cool for school. The problem with that is, Lee Carter and Didier don't get along at all, making the production of the film a little bit harder than it already was.

* Will's book of ideas *

ACTING: 6/7
I love movies with small kids in them, they're always so much fun. It's especially good when the kids can actually act! Bill Milner (Will) and Will Poulter (Lee Carter) are absolutely AMAZING in this movie and Jules Sitruk is effortlessly cool as Didier.

* Didier and his wannabes *

SCORE / SOUND: 6/7
Very good score! lots of awesomeness... and the soundtrack is pretty great too. Lots of brilliant early 80's music. (it's set in '82)

* Some of Will's pictures *

OVERALL: 6.5/7

You really do have to go see this movie!

It's a little bit reminiscent of the work of Michel Gondry.

Empire Records

Empire Records (1995)
Seen on DVD 16th Sept 2008

Why is there a dog on the cover of the DVD ?
I don't remember there being a dog in the movie at all.

that's stupid!

STORY: 5/7
- Empire Records, open 'til midnight, this is Mark... midnight!
The story of a group of teenagers (and Anthony LaPaglia) who work in a small indie record store. When they can't make a payment to the owner, the store goes under the treat of become a "Music Town." A chain store.

ACTING: 6/7
- I tried to kill myself with a Lady Bic
The acting in this move is quite good. They are all stereotypical characters, but as the movie progresses the actors are capable of taking these 2D characters anbd adding humanity to each of them

* Ethan Embry as Mark *

SCORE / SOUND: 7/7
- B R I L L I A N T ! ! !
The soundtrack for this movie is so freaking good!!! It has all kinds of music in it, and it's ALL good!!


OVERALL: 6/7

Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder (2008)
Seen At The Movies 15th Sept 2008

SOOOOO FUNNY!
One of the funniest movies to come out in a while!

STORY: 6/7
A group of well known, but very different, actors all work together to make "the greatest war movie ever" That is, if their egos don't get in the way.

Ben Stiller is Tugg Speedman (the action star)
Robert Downey Jr. is Kirk Lazarus (the blackened Australian award winner)
and Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy (the drug-addicted comedian.)

When it is seen that these three will have troubles working together, it is decided to move them into the actual jungles of Vietnam and shoot the whole thing guerrilla style, to catch the actual fear. The only problem with this plan is, the ACTUAL war-zone they find themselves walking into.

ACTING: 5.5/7
I never thought that Ben Stiller would be this funny. (Or this BUFF to be honest, he has impressive guns!) The entire cast works so well together, but my stand out is probably Jay Baruchel. When the "stars" get so involved with themselves that they become useless, it is up to Kevin Sandusky (Baruchel) tp pull the team together and get the job done. Nick Nolte manages to kick some major ass, despite being about a thousand years old. There are also appearances from Tom Cruise, Bill Hader and Steve Coogan.

* Jay Baruchel *

CINE / VISUAL EFFECTS: 5.5/7
HUGE explosions and lots of fire and blood and severed limbs! The action in this movie was unbelievably good!

SCORE / SOUND: 5/7
I totally caught myself humming along to the score of this movie. It was so impressive, full of big crescendos and heavy percussion.

GORE RATING: 4.5/7
I know this isn't a horror movie, but it managed to have some gore in it. There was a set of severed hands that were a nice combo of funny and gross and there was also some nice intestines that kept to the funny theme.

* FUNNY FUNNY Bill Hader and Steve Coogan *

OVERALL: 6/7


FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY!

Bill Hader might be one of the funniest men on the planet! Every time he was on screen i was giggling, even when he wasn't doing anything.