Alan Rickman double feature!

I don't think I'll be giving away any surprises by saying that Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is not a happy film. One could even go so far as to say it's a rather unhappy film, though it does indeed have a fair element of dark comedy as well.

Johnny Depp plays the main character, Captain Jack Sparrow...  oh...hang on...wrong review. No, he of course plays Sweeney Todd, the proprietor of a tonsorial parlor which happens to be on Fleet Street, and the service of which is rather sinister, dare I say demonic in nature.  You see, Sweeney Todd used to be Benjamin Barker some years before...a happy barber with a wife and very young daughter who had all of that taken away, falsely imprisoned, whilst covetous Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) sought the affections of his wife. Upon release from prison, he returned under the name Todd to plot and exact his revenge.

He is assisted in his endeavors by the deliciously twisted (as always) Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Mrs. Lovett, the proprietor of Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies. Rounding out the cast we have some interesting supporting characters. Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter movies) is Beadle, not-nice-guy assistant to Turpin, and there's a great surprise in the character Pirelli portrayed wonderfully by Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat).

I should mention that this is a musical, and all of the main characters sing, and people burst into song at very regular intervals. We had reservations about some of these folks singing, but they all did just fine. That said, it's an unusual, dark, and VERY gory story for a musical. The bloodshed is of the type that can make a person feel physically ill.

So, would I recommend it? Well, there's a list of criteria I'd say you may want to check off first to help you decide. The film is most definitely a Tim Burton film. If you like his style, that's a plus. I mentioned the gore-factor. If you can handle a quite bloody movie, that's another plus for watching this. It's awkward to watch, in that it's gruesome AND it's a musical...if that sounds to your liking, another plus. If you're still reading this bit, then you may want to give it a go. The acting and performances are really good, the singing is good, the songs are often clever, and the film looks great, so it's really a matter of whether or not you like the content. It's also not a bad move at all to have a good light-hearted follow-up movie.

Which sounds like a fabulous segue to Galaxy Quest!

This is a pretty cute movie which pokes quite a lot of light-hearted fun at the science fiction genre of film and television. The plot poses the scenario of a distant alien civilization in turmoil, modeling their entire society after episodes of the sci-fi series "Galaxy Quest", episodes that they incorrectly interpret to be historical documentation of our civilization. Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver and others are all actors from the "Galaxy Quest" series who are subsequently contacted by the Thermians who, after much success in basing their society on the operations of the series, now seek out the characters to help them resolve a dispute with a hostile enemy civilization.

Some of the funnier bits in my opinion are when the actors, now in real-life peril, express concern for the "extra" and the likelihood that he'll be the first one to die, and also when they're confronted with a totally unnecessary challenge that only exists because it was used as a plot device years ago in their own show (diligently replicated by the Thermians for historical accuracy).

Overall, it was a pretty funny film and a nice way to tone down the after affects of Sweeney Todd.