I'm sitting at a gate in O'Hare right now. I was supposed to fly to Richmond twenty minutes ago, but because of the FOG in Chicago, my flight it delayed until 10:27. I'm really tired because I didn't go to sleep last night because I put off packing and cleaning until really late, and then I was like, "Oh, it's five o'clock. I need to leave to go to the airport now." Usually, I don't have qualms about sleeping in public, but I don't want to miss the flight. I feel like if I fall asleep, I will sleep for hours. So instead, I'm staying away by watching two old gays let their tiny Italian greyhounds scamper about and paying too much fo Internet access. Huzzah!Part of the reason why I didn't pack earlier yesterday evening (other than my general laziness) was because I went to Evanston with Justin, Katy, and their unborn child (I wasn't a third wheel!) to see Sweeney Todd. I didn't really want to wait until I got home to Virginia. I had to see it last night.
I was actually surprised that I didn't hate it. I was neither over or underwhelmed. It was a pretty generic kind of "whelmed" feeling, I suppose. I still don't like Johnny Depp, but I was surprised that Helena Bohnam Carter was actually entertaining. I think maybe my biggest complaint - other than Johnny Depp's pseudo-rock star vocals, was that a lot of the character development seemed to be cut along with some of the songs. I've never actually seen the play; I've only listened to the soundtrack, and I wasn't really aware of the plot line for the second act. When you take away the characterizations, you're kind of left with a hokey story. (I can suspend my belief, but NO ONE recognizes Sweeney Todd as the barber who used to occupy the same shop above Mrs. Lovett's? The Susan Sontag-streak served as a disguise that is about as believable as Clark Kent's glasses.) And It was pretty to watch, if you're into that whole goth sort of thing that Tim Burton does in all of his movies.
To be fair, I will say that the group of fourteen year old girls who took up an entire row in front of us (with their moms sitting in the very back of the theater, natch) LOVED it. "That exceeded my expectations!" squealed the girl with the cheap black wig onto which she'd painted a white streak. So if you're the type of person who likes wearing Victorian dress to film openings and, consequently, never have a significant other, you'll probably dig Sweeney Todd.
4 comments:
You just "whelmed" is how I felt about Juno. The first half made me cringe (a character says, "honest to blog") but it got much better in the second.
Contrary to your theory, I did NOT dig Sweeney, THAT much. But I do love synthetic wigs, what's a girl to do?
Maybe I would have liked it more if there were people in costumes at the screening I attended.
I would have seen you in Richmond! My flight out of Charlottesville to Detroit was cancelled so I had to take a cab to richmond and sit there for 6 hours right by all the bored and angry people waiting for their flight to chicago! I left my apartment at 4:30 AM and got to Indiana at 5:30PM. It sucked.
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