This is beginning to get ridiculous.

There is a CAM out if you are desperate.

Tried it, none of the fuckers work. All of 'em only have one or two seeders and tend to stop downloading after a couple of meg.

Great film. And the last shot is fucking beautiful.

Not sure I'd call it Burton's best since Ed Wood (I still need to see it properly, but on first viewing I prefer Mars Attacks! and Charlie), but it was certainly very good.

What torrent did you use, Snruby?

I know some of you are trying to see this ASAP to be caught up on all the "award" films, but trust me when I say that this is a film that has to be seen on the big screen. Or at least a high quality DVD rip

Picture quality generally isn't an issue for me. A few years back I was so eager to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy I got an American pal to do a shadow puppet rendition of the film on his webcam. It was all right, although a few of the effects were a bit hokey.

I loved By The Sea.

If I have a problem with the film, it's actually the character of Todd himself. It actually became exhausting watching Depp scowl and looking deep in thought about revenge for nearly two hours straight.

I agree with you about Bonham Carter though. She was brilliant.

Everyone was pretty great in it I thought barring Depp - apart from the occasional great touch.

Did you notice the little nod to Edward Scissorhands near the beginning?

The only CAM out is brutal quality, I'll wait for a DVD rip myself. The Juno CAM looks decent thou, thank God Warez sites have the decency to provide screenshots.

It's possible it wasn't a nod so much as I noticed a similarity. But when Todd first tries the ale Mrs. Lovett gives him during "Worst Pies in London", he makes a sound very reminiscent of the noise he makes in Scissorhands when he's given alcohol for the first time.

another great & super-bizarre film for Burton. This is possibly his best use of visuals to date, for the dark and gloomy feel is captured so perfectly, yet the colors he wants you to notice are given much more life than everything else. Guys like Depp and Rickman weren't cast for their singing as much as their acting, but their singing was good enough, and their acting was great. Sacha Baron Cohen definitely stole the show whenever he showed up, Helena Bonham Carter proved that she deserved her part - not that it was just given to her as a husband-to-wife gift - and the little kid, who would be just perfect for an "Oliver!" remake, did a fine job as well. At times, the singing took away from the power of the story, but at others, it was handled extremely well. And did I mention it's bizarre, even by Tim Burton standards?

A-

The third act was what really elevated it, for me, from another Burton near-miss of style over substance into a full-fledged Gothic masterpiece. I was worried that the film might end on a happy note, eschewing the tone of the film and following the format of Burton's recent family-friendly flicks, but it went for the throat, ending in an utterly brutal, unforgiving, and damn near misanthropic way. This is only complimented by the relatively light musical numbers, which contrasted perfectly with the dark subject matter to give the film a delightful warped sense of humour, something emphasized fantastically with the wonderfully bizarre and imaginative "By the Sea" montage. The singing is not overtly fantastic, but it adds to the actors' performance much better than over-the-top opera singing ever could. And, of course, the film is designed beautifully. This is an out-and-out masterpiece, coming from a man who had seemingly forgotten the meaning of that word.

Now that's the type of review we should have been seeing more of. Thank you, trixster. I'm not sure what movie most of the rest of these folks have been watching.

Except that, y'know, it is.

I think you're confusing 'masterpiece' with 'populist entertainment'.

sweeney todd is a good movie.

and thats it.

I found it boring, I just never got into the film. The first third crawled.

The acting was good, I just wasn't all interested in the movie.

Most comprehensive review. Excellent work.

I agree with trixster's assessment on the warped quality of the film - a mostly successful trait I'd say. I'd also say that this film is stunning by design. I don't, however, appreciate the hollow, hollow, hollow characters, the occasionally sluggish pacing, and the hit-or-miss quality of the vocal talent. I mean, yes, these people should sound like people - or wait - is this a twisted fantasy piece where outrageous characters sound outrageous? By the first definition, the vocals to me are out of touch with the fantasy aspects of the film. By the second, the vocals (and thus the musical numbers) are really too flat to mesh with this outrageous fantasy land. I don't know - this might be a mumbled mess. And it might not be an expert criticism or amount to much, but to me it's one of the many aspects of this film that I find short that of "MASTERPIECE!" level of perfection.

As baba says, it's a good (and beautiful and delightfully twisted and dark and ambitious!) film, nothing more.

This is the only movie I saw in the past two weeks I wrote a review for, I was to lazy for the others, probably because I liked those movies.

You know, it's amzing how easily you can forget the quality of a certain section within a film when the last section's quality if vastly different from anything preceeding it. I really came out liking Sweeney Todd a lot that I haven't even thought about how bored I was up to the point where the first killing occurs, with the only possibly exception being the pie song (I was particularly disappointed with Sacha Baron Cohen who was his usual over-the-top self but....good? I wouldn't say so).

Everything after that was wickedly brilliant though. Excellent performance from Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, but it was Ed Sanders that blew me away whenever he sang in the film.

So I forgive (but don't forget how underwhelming it was) the first third. I'd still say it was great but I don't know if I would even consider using the word masterpiece, and I'd definitely disagree with anyone who says this is Tim Burton's best.

B+

awful awful awful film just like I thought it would be. Music was ok though

D-

I liked it a lot, but ultimately did not love it.

Everyone who is saying the movie is distant and cold is absolutely right. Burton's decision to shoot his actors almost entirely in closeup really prevents the film from ever truly taking off and exploding into the macabre spectacle it should be. "A Little Priest" is botched terribly because of exactly this. The best moments in the film - "By the Sea" and the finale - are amazing because Burton opens things up and lets the shit hit the fan. This movie felt like it should have been maniacal and thrilling and alive and exhilarating, but instead it's kind of plodding and morose and claustrophobic, which DOES work sometimes. The music and songs are incredible, the performances are unanimously excellent, and there are stretches that are wildly entertaining, but Burton's oft-clunky aesthetics prevent it from being everything it should be.

Is it Burton's best ever? No. Is it his best in ten years? Probably, although Sleepy Hollow is very good.

Ah, the list....

01. Edward Scissorhands
02. Ed Wood
03. Sweeney Todd
04. Sleepy Hollow
05. The Nightmare Before Christmas
06. Beetlejuice
07. Batman Returns
08. Big Fish
09. Batman
10. Planet of the Apes
11. Corpse Bride
12. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
13. Mars Attacks!

Something like that.

1. Batman - C+
2. Beetlejuice - C-
3. Pee Wee - C-
4. Batman Returns - C-
5. Ed Scissorhands - D-
6. Big Fish - D
7. Sweeney Todd - D-
8. Mars Attack - F
9. Planet of the Apes - F
10. Charlie and the Factory - F