Dark Shadows - The Movie

[Sylph]

He's not depressing, he is manneristic. Which is different. And on the other hand, all of them are (manneristic). It's just a matter of whether you like certain mannerisms or not.

[All My Shadows]

He has depressing mannerisms.

[EricMontreal22]

I think Burton has done some great films (Ed Wood), and a lot that I enjoy, sometimes despite myself (often the older ones like Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice). As a huge Sondheim nerd, I'm divided on his Sweeney Todd--it's not as bad as it coulda been, even with all the huge edits to the score (which Sondheim approved) and the fact that Burton does shoe horn in a bunch of his usual stuff (albeit he seems to have enough respect for the material to not quite make it as typical a Burton production as he often does). But I have to admit, I do suspect this will end up more like a Burton film with shades of Dark Shadows than the other way around... And I don't think it'll do zip for making Hollywood pay more attention to other soaps--Dark Shadows has always sorta been considered apart, even back in the day if you read the soap press and books from the 70s on soaps.

[SFK]

I really don't know much about Dark Shadows, but I will see this because it is Dark Shadows. I think that's kind of how Burton gets people, you see batman because it's Batman, you see Alice because it's Alice, you can't help but be curious about what he's going to bring to it (LOVED Batman, was not at all impressed with Alice). I've never seen Sweeney onstage but I knew enough about if through clips to be utterly by that "singing" HBC was doing, but when I actually saw the film and was reminded of the Burton world we were in, I couldn't help but admit that it worked. Ms. SFK is a huge Depp fan, me, not so much. I've grown weary of watching him bounce from film to film doing his schtick and it getting praised as genius, charisma and great acting aren't the same thing, nor is modeling characters on Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson, and Lisa Kudrow great acting. He's having a ball, and that's great, but let's see it for what it is and not be so generous with the word "brilliant". I'm glad that he didn't end up doing Le Scaphandre et le Papillion parce qu'il would have managed to make a sympathetic paralyzed and mute man annoying and I can just imagine all of the annoying fangirls in the audience "Awww'ing " every time he blinked "adorably".

[All My Shadows]

Beetlejuice and Scissorhands are classics, IMO, and I'll watch them whenever they come on, but anything from the last ten years is the stuff I won't call in the morning. The plots and characters are different, but it always ends up being the same movie leaving you with the same dark feeling. Ugh. The directors and EPs I respect the most are the ones who can give you two completely different movies/shows that have little in common.

I DESPISE Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I absolutely hate how it became fashionable to bash the 1971 movie simply because there was a shiny new sadistic adaptation by Timburrrrton and Depp, who needs to find Holly and get back down on Jump Street.

[DRW50]

That's a shame that the 1971 movie is now dismissed as unworthy thanks to Depp and Burton. I remember the reviews that tried to sneer at the original to fawn over this brave reinvention that apparently saw Willy Wonka as Michael Jackson. It reminds me of when Pauline Kael talked about the remake of Stagecoach and how the studio said they would file charges against any theater which showed the John Ford original. The studio said it shouldn't be shown because the remake was such an improvement. Kael responded by saying then why don't they let everyone see the original so we can all be impressed by just how much better the remake is?

That's one of the reasons the elitist and repetitive "art" of Depp and Burton bothers me, because they don't just trash something, they wipe away memories of the original. Like Planet of the Apes. Burton took a camp classic and turned it into a miserable flop.

Will he do the same with Dark Shadows? Will his latest overrated and narrow-minded pap be used to make sure that the original Dark Shadows, which has gone strong for 45 years, no longer exists?

[SFK]

Yeah, there really is an undercurrent of arrogance and conceit. One remake I can get with but when you begin to make it your life's work, taking classic after classic and putting your stamp on it to satisfy your love of your own art, that's what gets me. Word is he's working on The Addams Family too but in stop motion claymation based on the original drawings of the comic (HBC as Morticia, do we even have to ponder that one?). I guess it's easier to reinvent than to invent and style over substance can only take you but so far. Honestly, there was nothing visually that REALLY bowled me over about Alice, some interesting stuff absolutely, but it had none of the charm of say the '80s TV movie let alone the Disney classic.

Oh, and they could have gone SO much further with the 3D.

[DRW50]

I had a real soft spot for Helena Botham Carter when she was the lead heroine for Merchant/Ivory films. She was perfectly cast as the headstrong young woman fighting for a place in a repressive era. With Burton she is always LOOK AT ME, I'M KOOKY, I'M DIFFERENT! and she has actually become incredibly dull.

[EricMontreal22]

The prob with Alice was he, and Linda Wolverton (sp?) reinvented it as a quest fantasy, which the original was not REMOTELY. It really sucked the entire pont out of the story IMHO. And I think he sucks at stop motion--Nightmare was brilliant but he was just a producer (something people forget) Henry Selick who did Coraline directed it. Corpse Bride was HORRIBLE.

I actually think the 71 movie is atrocious, not that I much prefer Burton's. People like it cuz they grew up on it, full stop, remember how despised it was when it came out? Read some reviews--horrible music, horrible sets, Wilder is maybe the only reason to watch it.

[Scotty]

I think this is neat.

I got hooked on the DS reruns on Sci-Fi several years back. And, when I see Depp on screen, I can't help but remember that he is Kentucky boy just like me....and that he grew up only about two hours from my hometown.

Then again, I think the same thing while watching KDP and FF on OLTL. Although I was embarrassed during FF's little meltdown though.

[All My Shadows]

Noooo, I love the 71 movie and always will. Yes, there's the sentiment, but I can watch it now and still enjoy it. The last time I saw it was just a few weeks ago, as a matter of fact, and it was the first time I sat through the whole thing in a while. I still came out of it with that same sense of good feelings and warmth that I got years ago. Maudlin, I know, but I love it.

And bite your tongue, the music is great. "I've Got a Golden Ticket" was almost our class song when I graduated!

[Sylph]

Perhaps you all should also start hating John August.

[EricMontreal22]

But he wrote Go!

[Sylph]

So what?

[EricMontreal22]

So I like Go But you do have a fair point--still I think Burton is the kind of director whose "vision" takes over everything else about a film (well Planet of the Apes aside which oddly had none of his trademarks--aside from HBC--but it was hardly any better for that).