last night i finally got to see it! the movie version of my favorite musical, sweeney todd.

let’s just say, i’m going to see it again tomorrow when it actually comes out. and probably a few times after that.

forget those tv commericals that have no idea how to portray it. it’s not some whimsical, silly tim burton christmas movie. it’s a bone-chilling, incredibly exciting–though not too self-serious–film.

my biggest reservation was tim burton’s masturbatory casting of his wife and johnny again, but the two more than make up for their lightweight singing skills. helena’s ghostly, longing gaze gives a totally new perspective on mrs. lovett, far more like patti lupone’s version in the show’s revival than angela lansbury’s vaudevillian spectacle in the original.

johnny depp is really, really scary. and really, really convincing. there’s a pain in his voice and in his eyes that totally wipes away any sense of celebrity you have for the first five seconds. he so believably plays the role of a man who has lost everything and is determined to make someone pay.

tim burton is back on his game. the last 65 or so of his movies have left me wanting more, but this movie brings me back to the glory days of beetlejuice and edward scissorhands. there’s a real love of, and expertise in, filmmaking that makes you feel the constant crackle of energy while you’re sitting in a packed theatre. and that’s definitely how you should see it. this movie, next to no country for old men, is definitely one of the best i’ve seen in a long time.

it opens tomorrow.