Let me just say this. I LOVE Tim Burton’s 80’s and 90’s work. If you asked me just after Sleepy Hollow was released who my favourite film-maker was, I would probably say him. For some reason he just kept making movies about subjects I was real interested in and homages to movies I loved.
Batman and Batman Returns are my movies. I’ve seen them a million times, I know them beat by beat and I still get this weird child like reaction to things when I watch the movie. Like when Batman gets shot and he’s not dead… or the Joker’s creepy laugh when he has fallen all those stories down.
Edward Scissorhands…. A movie so reminiscent of the German Expressionism era I’m so fond off and I love the Vincent Price tribute in this movie.
Ed Wood… A great movie about a guy’s passion for film, even if Edward D. Wood Jr. was no Orson Welles you can’t help but feel Burton’s love for the guy. I think I like this movie so much because it reminds me of a Universal Horror picture.
Mars Attacks!…. I love 50’s paranoid sci-fi and although the movie was horribly cast (apart from Nicholson), it still something I can relate too.
Sleepy Hollow… A wonderful tribute to the Hammer Horror movies, something else I grew up and enjoyed.
Burton just kept making movies that left indelible marks on me and were flicks that I could relate to so much. Then came Planet of the Apes which should have carried on this list but it didn’t. Sure Big Fish was a great movie but it wasn’t the Tim Burton I enjoyed, no matter how much of an accomplishment and mature it was. Then came Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which is again another original movie I loved… but he didn’t do it any justice in truth.
So then comes Sweeney Todd and remarkably it’s another franchise I have a great fondness for. Over the years I’ve watched every Todd adaptation I can find, read books about it and even tried several times for my girlfriend to take me to local reenactments of the story. I’m obsessed with Todd and Victorianism horror, so for the millionth time in his career Tim Burton is filming something that I can relate too.
It’s been reported today by Variety that the movie will open on a wide release on Dec. 21st (when originally it was to open with a limited number of screenings before expanding in January) which I can only say is a terrible idea. I’m not sure if there is a market for Johnny Depp as a villain in a R-Rated musical (something I was just talking about yesterday actually) and especially during the festive season and especially when you see the other movies scheduled for release then…
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (guaranteed to make a ton of money), P.S, I Love You and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
All three of those above movies are Christmas flicks and I don’t think Todd will be able to compete. Even if Todd gets cut to a PG-13 rating, I think it’s in trouble, especially when The Golden Compass will still be playing in theatres and attracting audiences over the Christmas and New Year period.
I think Todd looks great so far and I haven’t been this excited for a Burton flick for years but I really can’t see how Warner Brothers are going to make any money on this.
