As I hadn’t been to the cinema in such a long time I decided to take my wife and see the first move that was on when we got there. It was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

If you don’t know, it’s based on a Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim. I hadn’t seen any trailers for this movie and I was taken aback when I realised that the movie was a musical too. However, the content is not what you would expect to see in a musical. You don’t often see a film’s genre listed as horror/musical. It is rated 18 in the UK and R in the US. And it is very,very gory.

Johnny Depp stars as Todd, a man scorned by the local judge, played by Alan Rickman. Todd’s “business partner” is Mrs Lovett, played by Helena Bonham Carter. I must says how strikingly similar they are to the puppets that they voice in another Tim Burton film, Corpse Bride. There is also a great appearance by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Mrs Lovett runs a meat pie shop and Todd, being the Demon Barber, slaughters his customers and provides her with the “meat.”

As a musical I thought it worked quite well. Initially it took some getting used to and at first I struggled to hear the words over the epic musical score. As I got used to it I really began to enjoy it. There is definitely more music in the first half of the film though.

It has an inevitable ending. But there is a little bit of romance to finish with too, which makes us think that all the throat slashing is worth it.

Don’t be turned off by this film just because it’s a musical. It is a great film. Some positive points to end on? Well, Nightmare Before Christmas had songs in it. And if that’s not enough of a positive? Cloverfield is out next week.

It seemed like not so long ago that Saw III was released. I looked back at my blog and saw that I had reviewed it on October 31, 2006. This franchise releases films very, very fast.

Anyway, on to the review. As usual this will contain some spoilers, as I can’t express my frustration without giving some bits away.

The first thing I thought when I left the cinema was “I don’t have a clue what happened in the movie!” I was genuninely confused.

I got home and started looking on some of the Saw message boards. Then I came across some very important pieces of information that they didn’t make clear in the film:
1. Saw III and Saw IV happen at the same time. This is so important and it really wasn’t clear.
2. The autopsy scene that you see at the beginning of the film actually happens at the end of the film. I guess they show you it first to let you know that Jigsaw is really dead. But this really confuses people. This is an extract from the BBC Movies review:

After a tape recorded message is found in Jig’s stomach, Detective Hoffman (Carlos Mandylor) and SWAT Commander Riggs (Lyriq Bent) are thrown into yet another fiendishly complex morality play.

Even the BBC didn’t get this. The tape is found at the end of the film, not at the start. See what I mean? Confusing.

While I am on the subject of things that confused me I need to talk about characters. I had a really hard time working out who everybody was. I would see people and I would keep asking “Who is that guy?” Maybe it’s just me.

Darren Lynn Bousman (the director) told us that Jigsaw’s role wouldn’t be confined to flashbacks. Not true. These are the only appearances he makes in the whole film. We do get a lot of insight into what makes Jigsaw do what he does and we do learn who the woman is in his flashbacks in Saw III.

However, other things that should have been answered were not, such as what was in the letter that drove Amanda crazy in Saw III. One would guess these will be answered in Saw V or VI (which were approved way before III was released). Perhaps not. Maybe we will have to wait until Saw VII or VIII.

The traps are good, very twisted and gruesome. We see some very hardcore stuff, even by Saw’s standards. Scalpings, daggers to the eyes, Eyes and a mouth stitched closed. Very extreme.

As a standalnoe film, Saw IV is a complete no-no. But if you have watched the first three you will have to watch this one, you just will. And we will all inevitable watch the next two, no matter how bad they are.

I always had my doubts about how this would turn out after the last few seasons of The Simpsons went so downhill.

The storylines recently have been so poor that I was worried this movie would just be another episode that was a little longer. I am glad to say that I was wrong.

This is a full-blown epic story. None of this could have happened in the TV series and there is even some minor nudity and some jokes that I don’t think they would get away with on the small screen. It has a PG certificate in the UK and they certainly push that to its limit.

I won’t give away everything, but the story is based around Homer becoming the most hated man in Springfield due to doing something terrible. This causes the whole town to be isolated from the rest of the country. Everybody wants Homer dead but the family manage to escape to Alaska where they face a huge test as a family group and it’s a race against time to save Springfield.

A minor drawback was the lack of characters. Many of the inhabitants of Springfield only feature briefly or not at all. Not a huge problem, however, as there are hundreds of characters to feature and there was not enough time to squeeze them all in.

There is a lot of good humour here and some current-affair stuff too. Arnold Schwarzenegger is president of America and the is a parody of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” by Lisa.

I was also impressed by the cinematics. The animation doesn’t differ from TV but there are some excellent pans and swoops that really add to the effect.

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. It isn’t breathtaking but it also wasn’t just a “longer TV episode” that I had worried it may have become. And “spider pig” is very funny too.

The first thing I have to say about this film was that I was never going to like it. I didn’t really enjoy the book as I didn’t feel there was any real progression to the story and the ending was a little anticlimactic.

My overall impression is that the film needed to slow right down.

The book was very long, but so was The Goblet of Fire and I enjoyed that adaptation. All the important scenes were just crammed in and it felt very choppy. There was no time for any of the scenes to develop and many of the characters were barely in it - I am particularly talking of Bellatrix, Cho and Tonks here.

I was very impressed by Imelda Staunton’s portrayal of Delores Umbridge and the scenes featuring her were excellent. I cannot say the same, however, of Richard Gambon. I always see Dumbledore as a man who is calm at all times but Gambon seems to be portraying him a little erraticley now.

It goes without saying that every scene from an 800-page book wouldn’t make it into a two-and-a-half hour film, but why not make it longer I say? Overall, these films have a great ability to hold my attention for the entire movie, but I did leave the cinema a little disappointed.

I went to see Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End the other day and thought I would share my views. As usual there are spoilers here so don’t read it if you don’t want to know what happens.

The main story sees Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann travel to the end of the world to rescue Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker (ie. bring him back to life). They must then unite with the Pirate Lords from all over the world to bring an end to Lord Backett, who is trying to bring down the pirate world.

The plot is sometimes a little confusing. Character’s change allegiances back and forth so often you often forget who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. But the aim of the film is to try and tie up all the loose ends created by the last two installments. Unfortunately it often does this by changing rules set in the other two films. A good example is that of Davy Jones. He is only allowed to set foot on land once every ten years. How does the script get around this? By placing him in a bucket of water of course!

Although there are some annoying parts to this film it is still a great movie. Depp is as superb as ever and very, very funny. Watching him debate situations with multiple Jacks is one of the best parts of the film.

As you would expect the effects are amazing. The final battle scene, pirates vs East India Trading Co. in a whirlpool is spectacular. This goes for the creature effects too.

Overall a very enjoyable, if long, movie that is pretty essential viewing to anybody who has watched the previous ones.

After watching Spiderman III over the weekend I was left with mixed feelings.

It is the first film that I have been eagerly awaiting for a long time and perhaps it was that expectation that left me feeling ever so slightly disappointed. My review contains spoilers so don’t read it if you don’t want to know what happens.

Firstly I have to say that the main two criticisms I have heard about this movie, namely it being too long and the story line being too complicated, are not opinions that I agree with. I didn’t feel myself getting tired and I didn’t find myself particularly lost as to what was going on.

My main criticism was some of the missing bits in the story. Firstly, where did the black goo come from that enhanced people’s aggression? It came down in a meteor. Was it a coincidence it landed near Peter Parker and followed him home or was it dropped and aimed at him? This parasitic creature seems to come looking for Peter Parker. I don’t know if this came from the comic book or whether I am rwading too much into it, but it seems to me like that deserves some more explanation.

Spidey ends up fighting fights two bad guys in this film. The first is Flint Marko. His becomes known as The Sandman after his DNA bonds with sand when he falls into a pit housing a scientific experiment. He also turns out to be the guy who killed uncle Ben in the first film.
The second bad guy is Venom. A rival photographer to Peter Parker, Eddie Brock, gets transformed into an evil black creature when the aforementioned black goo falls onto him after Spiderman forces it out of himself. I did note, however, that the name Venom wasn’t actually mentioned at all in the film.

There are some incredible fighting scenes in this film as you would expect, as well as some of the best computer animations I have ever seen in a movie. There are also some very funny scenes, as Peter Parker becomes cocky and aggressive after being consumed by the black goo.

The final battle scene is the other problem I had. It is such an anticlimax, especially when comapred to the scene with Harry Osborn fighting Spiderman. It turns out that Venom apparently can’t stand the chimes of a bell! Spiderman surrounds him with scaffloding poles and continuously hits them, creating a noise that drives Venom crazy. Spidey throws in a grenade and Venom is no more. And how does Spiderman offload The Sandman? Actually, he doesn’t. Sandman convinces Parker that killing uncle Ben was an accident. Parker forgives him and Sandman blows away into the night.

Considering the build up Venom got during the months before the film was released his appearance was almost a cameo. Venom certainly deserves his own film as Sandman would have been a more than adequate enemy for this one.

Overall, I thought it was a good film but just not quite as good as I wanted it to be.

I went to see Saw III at the weekend and thought it was a great film. This is my review of it. There are a few spoilers here so I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you don’t want to know the ending.

At the end of Saw II Jigsaw (John) is very ill and has taken Amanda under his wing to continue his work. In Saw III he is in an even worse, bed-ridden, state. Amanda kidnaps a doctor (chosen for a special reason, of course) and forces her to keep Jigsaw alive while they watch another of their games played out on the cameras in their lair. Their victim Jeff has to complete some puzzles and make some tough decisions in order to reach the end where he is promised he will come face to face with the man who killed his son.

The traps and torture devices are even more elaborate than before and include a kind of twisting crucifix, an ice shower and death by pigswill. While not as jumpy as Saw I the torture scenes are particularly gruesome including a hand burned by acid and a close up shot of a leg being snapped.

Throughout the film we are following two storylines - Jeff’s race to have vengeance on his son’s killer and the challenge to keep Jigsaw alive. The two plots come together at the end in a typically Saw-like excellent plot twist.

Another thing that was excellent about this film was the way it answered many questions from the first two parts. I was impressed by this. They also introduced flash backs to Jigsaw’s early life, leaving other avenues open for exploration in the inevitable sequels (or prequels as I have been hearing rumours about). It also helped our understanding of the original films when we found out that Amanda had been working with John since the beginning of Saw I.

Overall I would say Saw III is an excellent film and is essential viewing for anybody who has seen the previous two. I think it would be a nice ending to the story to leave it how it is but there are a few unanswered questions in the film and the flashbacks to John’s earlier life make a sequel inescapable.