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What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:30:00 -0700

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, you can also now rent the 2008 Kids' Choice Award winner for Best Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
It's no secret that Tim Burton's film adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd was a major critical hit. It racked up tons of awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Picture and several Oscar nominations in visual categories, not to mention a Best Supporting Actor nod to the film's star, Johnny Depp. Accolades aside, this movie is simply a match made in heaven, with Tim Burton's dark film aesthetic falling perfectly in sync with Stephen Sondheim's bloody, scary musical.

Johnny Depp plays Sweeney Todd, the disturbed barber who becomes a psychopathic serial killer after being wrongfully imprisoned. Burton's beautiful visual style along with an outstanding cast that includes Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman make this movie a can't-miss. One word to the wise though: it's incredibly gory - not just lots of blood but also chopped-up human meat. So, proceed with caution if that kind of thing makes your stomach turn.

The special edition two-disc set features behind the scenes footage of the cast in rehearsals as well as a featurette titled, "Sweeney Todd Is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber."

A couple lesser-known titles up next so read more.

The Good Night
A film with a cast like this definitely gets my attention: Gwyneth Paltrow, Martin Freeman, Danny DeVito, Penélope Cruz, Simon Pegg, and Michael Gambon. Speaking of Gwyneth, The Good Night is actually a Paltrow family affair, as it was written and directed by Gwyneth's brother Jake. This fairly straightforward romantic comedy had a very limited release in theaters, however, which doesn't bode all that well for the quality of the movie.

Then again, sometimes an interesting premise combined with a lot of good intentions and a quality cast make for an at-home viewing adventure, even if it's not executed perfectly. Or maybe I'm kind of geeky like that. Which leads me to my next DVD title of the week.

The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream
Is it just me or is there sometimes a lot of inherent sexual tension involved with ice skating pairs? When you are watching real-life Olympic games or something, do you ever want to think that all that eye-gazing and intimate ice dancing means true and everlasting love between them? Maybe this is the reason the '90s cult classic The Cutting Edge was such a hit with many people brave enough to admit it - because it tapped into the love story we've always wanted to exist between skaters.

As I've said before, this franchise is alive and well: ABC Family continues to run marathons of all three of the films, and now this third installment is available on DVD! The Cutting Edge 3: Chasing the Dream features hot skating bachelor Zack Conroy (Matt Lanter) who brings a hockey player Alejandra "Alex" Delgado (Francia Raisa) into the figure-skating fold after his former partner - and, naturally, ex-girlfriend - breaks her leg.

Bonus features include a special featurette titled, "Making of The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream."

Broadway Musical News: The Couger Meets Cujo

BuzzSugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:29:36 -0800

Who knew Stephen King and John Mellencamp had anything in common, much less a desire to write a Broadway musical together? Not I, but apparently it's true, and the two men are collaborating on a musical theater project, scheduled to debut in April 2009, titled Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.

The story follows the legend that grows out of the tragic death of two brothers and a girl in the fictional town of Lake Belle Reve, Miss. The basic musical idea was originally Mellencamp's. He knew he needed a writer to help bring it to the stage and quickly thought of King.

While audiences have seen ghosts and gore on stage before (think Sweeney Todd) spokespeople for the production say this is a touching tale - more Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me, less Carrie.

What do you guys think? Discuss.

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Oscar Nominee: Sweeney Todd for Costumes

BuzzSugar — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:29:17 -0800

In the days leading up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I'll be looking at the nominees for Best Costume Design. We've already taken a look at the costumes in Across the Universe, Atonement and La Vie en Rose. Today I'm highlighting the costumes in Sweeney Todd.

Veteran costume designer Colleen Atwood has already won a Costume Designers Guild award for her work outfitting the stars of Sweeney Todd, so things are looking good for this Oscar nominee. The drab woolen fabrics of many of the clothes contrast starkly with the dashes of bright color, especially, of course, the garish red blood. The palette of mostly muted grays, mustard yellows and browns helps to paint this grim world, with splotches of brilliant blues appearing with the showy character of competing barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen) and the sweet Johanna (Jayne Wisener) draped in pale, innocent hues. Overall, the costumes do well to transport us back to this dark old London where treacherous things happen in barber shops and beneath pie stores.

To see the rest of the gallery of costume images from Sweeney Todd, read more.

View 13 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Paramount

Oscar Nominee: Sweeney Todd for Art Direction

BuzzSugar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:30:00 -0800

In the days leading up to the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I've been looking at the nominees for Best Art Direction, which encompasses the entire look and feel of a film from the scenery to the lighting. Check out my galleries of production stills from Ridley Scott's darkly evocative American Gangster, the lovely Atonement and the fantastical world portrayed in The Golden Compass. Today I'm turning my sights to Sweeney Todd.

As I mentioned in my review of Sweeney Todd, the visual aspects of this film are largely why I liked it so very much. Tim Burton has a way with dark whimsy and Sweeney Todd is no exception. Burton's sinister, ominous-looking London is depicted in drab hues of browns and grays - all the better backdrop for the gallons of brilliant red blood that gush from Sweeney Todd's victims. By contrast, Mrs. Lovett's cartoonish and candy-colored dream sequence in which she entertains fantasies of marrying Todd and living "by the sea" are jarringly, ludicrously bright and hopeful.

Though I like all the nominees in this category, I must admit I have a soft spot in my heart for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd.

For more stills from the movie, just read more.

View 14 Photos ›

Photos courtesy of Paramount

Announcing the Winners: The 2008 Golden Globe Awards

BuzzSugar — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:52:23 -0800

The dramatically scaled-back Golden Globe Awards spread things around Sunday night, with Atonement, Sweeney Todd, No Country for Old Men, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly each taking home two awards.

Atonement and Sweeney Todd nabbed the night's biggest prizes, for the Best Dramatic Picture and Best Musical or Comedy Picture; Atonement also won for Best Original Score, while Johnny Depp won the Best Actor: Comedy or Musical prize. Diving Bell took home awards for Best Foreign Language Picture and Best Director for Julian Schnabel. No Country won the Best Screenplay award, and Javier Bardem was recognized for Best Supporting Actor.

In the television categories, Mad Men and Extras won the series awards. To see the complete list of winners, just read more.

MOVIES

DRAMATIC PICTURE
Atonement

MUSICAL OR COMEDY PICTURE
Sweeney Todd

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
The Diving Bell & the Butterfly (France/USA)

BEST DIRECTOR
Julian Schnabel, Diving Bell & the Butterfly

BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS
Julie Christie, Away From Her

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

SCREENPLAY
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

ANIMATED FILM
Ratatouille

ORIGINAL SONG
"Guaranteed," Into the Wild

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli, Atonement

TELEVISION

DRAMATIC TV SERIES
Mad Men

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Jon Hamm, Mad Men

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Glenn Close, Damages

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Extras

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
David Duchovny, Californication

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Tina Fey, 30 Rock

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Longford

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Queen Latifah, Life Support

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jim Broadbent, Longford

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Samantha Morton, Longford

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jeremy Piven, Entourage

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Link Time! 12/27

BuzzSugar — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:30:02 -0800

According to the MTV Movies Blog, the young members of the cast of Sweeney Todd claim they would love to make sequels to the gory musical.
TV Squad has details on a huge Futurama marathon happening now through Dec. 31.
Stereogum gets pumped for Radiohead's New Year's Eve webcast.
Popwatch wonders which movies should be preserved for future generations, citing A Christmas Story and When Harry Met Sally as key titles on their list.
Give Me My Remote has a fan video of the Office crew reacting to the saga of
Jim and Pam.
Cinematical has a great interview with the stars of The Great Debaters, including "Big Denzel" and "Little Denzel."

Poster image courtesy of Paramount Pictures

National Treasure is Golden Over Holiday Weekend

BuzzSugar — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 09:15:35 -0800

National Treasure: Book of Secrets, the sequel to Nicolas Cage's 2004 hit, scored big at the box office over the long holiday weekend, bringing in an estimated $65 million in the five-day period between Friday and Tuesday.

I Am Legend finished second, pulling in an estimated $47.5 million over the five days. Fox wouldn't estimate how much money Alvin and the Chipmunks made over the long weekend, but as of Sunday it had brought in $29 million and was in third place behind National Treasure and Legend.

Two Golden Globe nominees, Charlie Wilson's War and Sweeney Todd, battled for fourth and fifth place. Charlie Wilson brought in $14.8 million over five days, edging Sweeney Todd with $12.8 million.

Other notable numbers: P.S. I Love You finished sixth with $9.1 million. Meanwhile, Walk Hard failed to match the heights of Superbad or Knocked Up, bringing in just $5.8 million.

Next week's numbers should be interesting, as three relatively big movies - Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, The Great Debaters, and The Water Horse - opened on Christmas Day.

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Sweeney Todd: Sumptuous and Tragic

BuzzSugar — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:29:19 -0800

As I was leaving the screening of Sweeney Todd, my mind was swirling with those silly, cliche comments often seen accompanying ads for critically acclaimed movies: "Sweeney Todd is . . . a visual masterpiece!" "Another Burton beauty!" "A tale of blood and woe - woah!" I'll spare you the rest. The bottom line is that I was impressed. And nauseated. But mostly impressed.

The Stephen Sondheim musical and Tim Burton are a match made in heaven. Burton's dark, sinister-looking scenery and the bloody, musical horrorfest of a story gel together seamlessly to create something so lushly gory - but heartfelt - you may need to dry heave a little bit.

The story follows Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), a young man wrongfully imprisoned because the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) was obsessed with Barker's wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly) and wanted her for himself. Years later when Barker returns to London, he renames himself Sweeney Todd and opens up a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) meat pie shop, hoping to exact revenge on the judge by luring him in for a shave and then slitting his throat. For his part, Judge Turpin has been keeping Todd's daughter Joanna as his ward. Yet when a young friend of Todd's falls in love with Joanna by spotting her at her window, he determines to break her free from the Judge's grasp. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd figure out a gruesome way to boost her meat pie sales. Those are basic plot points, but there's much more to say about Sweeney Todd, so read more.

Burton does some gorgeous tricks with light, color and reflection. Cracked mirrors and the reflections glinting off of Sweeney Todd's shaving blades are heavily used to distort or duplicate images, and to not-so-subtly symbolize Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd's fractured identity and his tortured soul. Burton's London is swathed in shadows and muted by a dark gray sky. His color palette consists of shades of gray with tinges of gold, blue and raspberry. The jarring exception, of course, is the brilliantly red blood that gushes freely, sometimes spurting onto the camera lens itself, causing the audience to instinctively jump back. The one time he interrupts this dismal color scheme is when depicting Mrs. Lovett's wistful dream of marrying "Mr. T" and spending the rest of her days "by the sea." The quintessentially Burtonesque costumes and candy-bright colors in this sequence are outrageous and delightful enough to garner giggles of surprise.

Johnny Depp is magnificent, as always, and the rest of the actors are wonderfully cast. Alan Rickman is genuinely disturbing as the perverted old judge. His right-hand man played by Timothy Spall is convincingly sick and twisted. Sacha Baron Cohen is funny as the competing barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli, which is to be expected, but the surprise is that his performance is also quite chilling. My favorite aspect of this film, however, is the classic Depp-Bonham Carter combination. They're simply the most perfect duo, as always - each strange and broken-down in their own way, yet both powerful in their own way, too.

This movie has been hyped to the gills, and it's hard to live up to such high expectations. Having said all this great stuff about the movie, the fact remains that it is still a musical, and people who think musicals are silly will most assuredly still think this movie is silly - Johnny Depp or no Johnny Depp. The movie is also not for the squeamish, as there is more blood - and, well, ground up human meat - than a B-grade slasher flick. I have an average-strength stomach and I felt the gag reflex kick in more than once. If you like this sort of thing, however, it's all worth it. Go see Sweeney Todd. Just eat a light meal beforehand.

To see the trailer and more clips from Sweeney Todd check out movies.ivillage.com.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Atonement Leads Golden Globe Nominations

BuzzSugar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:49:17 -0800

Atonement came up big this morning when the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced in Hollywood. The film snagged seven nominations - three for the acting of stars James McAvoy,
Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan and four more for Best Dramatic Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Score.

Also getting a lot of attention from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Charlie Wilson's War, which snagged five nominations, including Best Musical or Comedy and acting nominations for Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Sweeney Todd, Michael Clayton, and No Country for Old Men were close behind with four nominations each.

In the television categories, cable series got a lot of love, including new shows Californication, Damages, and Mad Men.

I'll be back with my complete thoughts later today, but for now, you can check out all the nominees if you read more.

MOVIES

DRAMATIC PICTURE
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

MUSICAL OR COMEDY PICTURE
Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania)
The Diving Bell & the Butterfly (France/USA)
The Kite Runner (USA)
Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
Persepolis (France)

BEST DIRECTOR
Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel, Diving Bell & the Butterfly
Ridley Scott, American Gangster
Joe Wright, Atonement

BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
James McAvoy, Atonement
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington, The Great Debaters

BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Jodie Foster, The Brave One
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley, Atonement

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Savages
John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Amy Adams, Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Ellen Page, Juno

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta, Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell & the Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson's War

ANIMATED FILM
Bee Movie
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Howard Shore, Eastern Promises
Clint Eastwood, Grace is Gone
Michael Brook, Into the Wild
Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner

TELEVISION

DRAMATIC TV SERIES
Big Love
Damages
Grey's Anatomy
House
Mad Men
The Tudors

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors
Bill Paxton, Big Love

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA
Patricia Arquette, Medium
Glenn Close, Damages
Minnie Driver, The Riches
Edie Falco, The Sopranos
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Californication
Entourage
Extras
30 Rock
Pushing Daisies

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
David Duchovny, Californication
Ricky Gervais, Extras
Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
The Company
5 Days
The State Within
Longford

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Bryce Dallas Howard, As You Like It
Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
Queen Latifah, Life Support
Sissy Spacek, Pictures of Hollis Woods
Ruth Wilson, Jane Eyre

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Adam Beach, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Ernest Borgnine, A Grandpa For Christmas
Jim Broadbent, Longford
James Isaacs, The State Within
James Nesbitt, Jekyll

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Rose Byrne, Damages
Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
Samantha Morton, Longford
Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Jamie Pressly, My Name is Earl

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Ted Danson, Damages
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Andy Serkis, Longford
William Shatner, Boston Legal
Donald Sutherland, Dirty Sexy Money

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Movie Preview: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BuzzSugar — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:02:18 -0700

Just as everyone's chattering away about this week's premiere of "Pushing Daisies," how colorful, whimsical and Tim Burton-esque it is, we finally get a full-length trailer for an actual Tim Burton project: Sweeney Todd!

The trailer looks ridiculously amazing. It's dark, beautiful, ominous, sad, creepy... and then Johnny Depp breaks into song. Helena Bonham Carter is haunting as usual, and Sacha Baron Cohen looks fantastic. Depp plays Sweeney Todd whose life is destroyed by a mean old judge (Alan Rickman). When he gets out of prison, Sweeney Todd becomes a barber bent on revenge.

You have to watch this trailer! Sweeney Todd opens December 21. To check it out, read more

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