Sweeney Todd and Transformers

Actually, I watched Transformers first, so I need to write about it first. To start, I like Shia LaBeouf-the kid can act and he sells this movie like he's gunning for an Oscar. I found it startling that he was giving such a good performance in what (to me) was not even as good as a comic-book movie. yes, the transformers themselves were very cool and the special effects were excellent. Yes, the action sequences were good as well. So why didn't I like it very much? Because it seemed to be an ad for the US Army. The Army looked good, the people in the Army looked good-and they were very cool and modern. If I were sixteen, this movie would make me want to join the Army, so I could get my hands on the cool weapons and uniforms, so I could fly around and save people. It reminded me a bit of those WWII movies, where the stars are always heroic and glamorous and you know every kid in the audience wanted to be Clark Gable or Humphrey Bogart-and join the Armed Forces as soon as they possibly could. Am I over thinking this? Yes, it's possible, especially as this is a Michael Bay movie (I should have known better) and yes, it was very entertaining but still...

Sweeney Todd is the opposite of Transformers in almost every way-the only thing they have in common is that both leading men give terrific performances. The difference is that Sweeney Todd is a great movie and Transformers is a piece of polished and glossy dreck. Johnny Depp (who knew he could sing?) is great as the haunted Sweeney-a man who was shipped off to Australia to get him out of the way when a corrupt judge decided he wanted his wife and child (played by poor Alan Rickman-he can be a great romantic lead, like in Sense and Sensibility but he's playing villains so long, I don't know if he'll ever get to do it again). Sweeney comes back to find his wife has killed herself and the judge has taken his daughter as his ward. It wasn't clear to me if Sweeney was crazy before he came back, but he goes insane upon finding this out-told to him by Mrs Lovett, who would like Sweeney to stick around awhile. He decides to become a tenant in the room above her pie shop while he plots (I'm not sure how much plotting there was at the beginning) his revenge. And he does get his revenge, while helping not only Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, whose voice is okay but whose acting is very good), his daughter and the sailor who became his friend on the trip from Australia. This side story was actually a little distracting to me-the sailor Anthony falls in love with Sweeney's daughter, Joanna-and strives to woo her, not knowing that the judge has decided he wants to marry her himself. He attempts to save her form the judge (and from the asylum the judge has her committed to when she spurns him). The actor who play Anthony is actually prettier than the actress who plays Joanna. He does a decent job of playing a lovestruck fool, but still-his features are so feminine that it's a little strange. And Joanna has an odd face-very delicate but prone to making odd faces and she can't act worth beans. However, the kid who plays Toby, the urchin taken in by Sweeney and Mrs Lovett (after Sweeney has killed his employer) is great. The most affecting part of the movie is his duet with Bonham-Carter-and it's a tear-jerker-made worse by what follows.This movie is quite bloody (after all, he kills a lot of people to make those meat pies) but after awhile it seemed cartoonish. However, this is isn't for the squeamish-there are parts that are violent and scary-but everything has a purpose. This movie may be long, but not a minute is wasted.