Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
When it was announced that Hollywood was finally going to adapt Steven Sondheim’s hit musical, it seemed a no-brainer for Tim Burton to be tapped to direct. Yet judging by the trailer, I’m not sure he was the right choice. Sure, Burton has become the go-to guy for dark-yet-commercial, but Sweeney Todd is unpleasant stuff, and Burton’s tendency towards cartoonish style and scary-yet-sensitive man-children may lead him to soft-pedal the story’s less savory aspects. Too bad, because Sweeney Todd could be a hell of a movie if made right. Jury’s still out on the singing voices of the actors — Sweeney’s a demanding role vocally, and Depp mostly speak-sings his one song in the trailer. But let’s not forget that (a) a really strong voice isn’t altogether necessary when you’ve got multiple takes and post-production facilities at your disposal, and (b) for whatever reason Hollywood studios are still reluctant to give musicals an all-out singing-and-dancing push. Perhaps they’ve realized that the core audience for musicals is both older and more female than the demographic of teenage boys they court so aggressively?
There Will Be Blood
Oh man, I’m so pumped (sorry) for this. Every P.T. Anderson film is an event for a certain strain of filmgoer, but this could be even more than that. Blood appears to be as much of a departure as Punch-Drunk Love was. Unlike many filmmakers of his generation, he’s impossible to pigeonhole. And that he’s got Daniel Day-Lewis on board this time only makes this even more promising. Here’s a director who got startling performances from Burt Reynolds and Adam Sandler, neither a particularly acclaimed thespian, and so a collaboration with the most uncompromising talent among recognizable "name" actors is pretty irresistible. Based on ecstatic early word coming out of Austin’s Fantastic Film Fest, my high hopes seem to be justified. Also, just to clear something up: There Will Be Blood is the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie. It is not the new Saw movie. Get it? Got it. Good.
August Rush
Let’s see: cute kids, music, an orphan trying to find his parents. If this weren’t in English it’d be a shoo-in for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. But as it is it’s a big-studio release, so it’s got to stand on its own merits. I’ve got nothing against anything this movie is about, but August Rush looks like it’s been calculated for maximum tear-extracting shamelessness. And just when you don’t think it could look any more dire, Robin Williams shows up in full twinkling-eccentric mode as a inspirational street-corner guitarist in a cowboy hat. At least Terrence Howard is around to deliver the trailer’s one good moment, when he asks the long-lost mom played by Keri Russell the question on everyone’s mind — "Why’s it so important that you want him now?"
— Paul Clark