Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)

The movie's a current obsession of mine right now, and for the past few days, I've been watching the closest-to-the-original 1982 stage-to-TV version, as well as the 2001 concert version, on YouTube. Who would've thought that the Russian guy who got shot in Sneakers played Sweeney Todd for a VERY long while on Broadway? And Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett?? It was fun to watch the stagehands move the props and stuff in-between scenes.

Anyway, I enjoyed all versions (the stage ones were longer, and more detailed, of course), but here are the inevitable comparisons (because I'm bored, and I've nothing better to do). As There Be Comparisons, so shall There Be Spoilers:

Naturally, the movie being an adaption from the 3-hour musical, there's bound to be some changes and some cuts, and personally, I think that the choice to make Toby a little boy was a very good one, even though I got a massive kick out of watching Neil Patrick Harris play Toby in the 2001 concert. It made for Mrs. Lovett's betrayal all the more heartwrenching. In the stage version, Toby was supposed to be "a very simple young man". To go into that would be rather insulting, since I can't think of any other way to describe it, and that would be politically wrong, or incorrect, as right-wingers would have you put it.

Out of the three actresses playing Mrs. Lovett that I've seen, I prefer Helena Bonham Carter. I was really surprised, because normally, her voice's quite low. I mean, Angela Lansbury was a riot, and I like her because she's cute and she's Mrs. Potts and all, but Patti Lupone I feel, just mutilated 'Worst Pies In London' and 'By The Sea'. That 'Ooh ooh' part? Horrible. Although sometimes you can hear that Movie Lovett can't really reach her notes, and I feel that the stage Lovetts were louder (that is, vocally stronger). But it made her character all the more sad and pitiable, especially nearing the end.

Now, the Johanna in the movie is INFINITELY BETTER(!!), than the Stage Johanna in 1982. Stage Johanna looked deranged when she's singing to the birds. No wonder no birds seemed to come. The video description said that the actress playing Stage Johanna was told to portray it as comic relief, but COME ON! It's hard to believe that Stage Anthony fell in love with her. From the stage version, it's no wonder that Judge Turpin kept her locked up. She's barking mad! (Haha, mini-pun, since she's already a Barker.).

As funny as Sacha Baron Cohen is as Pirelli, the Stage Contest was hilarious. Stage Pirelli was even more over-the-top, as hard that is to believe. And without that bulge in his pants. *winkwink*. The part where Stage Pirelli was shaving the other guy was priceless(!), since the guy was squirming about with pain because Pirelli was such an awful shaver. But I've to admit, being strangled a little bit, is nothing like being bashed violently on the head a bunch of times with a hot kettle. Man... you'd think he was dead already...

And the 'Epiphany' part in the movie didn't show Johnny Depp swooning and ranting around, in his room, brandishing his razor. Of course, the stage version couldn't provide for people walking in the street, since, ya know, limited space, but I'm glad the movie showed us Sweeney's Epiphany from his point of view. Made Helena Bonham Carter's reaction all the funnier.

A Little Priest was much longer on stage, and provided a lot of fun puns.

I loved the whole dream sequence for 'By The Sea'. Johnny Depp's expressions (i.e., lack of it) were priceless.
"By the sea..."
*Sweeney puts hand on Lovett's lap*
"Married nice and proper..."
*Sweeney removes hand from lap*
No comparisons here, since stage versions are live, and don't use the magic of camerawork, except maybe for televised versions of the stage ones.

The part where the beggar woman was in the barbershop (right before she got sliced) was longer in the stage version. Actually, the beggar woman had LOADS of screen time on stage. I'm glad that they didn't show much of the beggar woman in the movie, otherwise I might've figured it out earlier. I watched the end sequence first (without really knowing the story), and I realised that that was the wife when she said, "Don't I know you, sir?" My jaw was on the floor and I was like, "Oh snap..." when he cut her throat.

For the ending, I feel that Johnny Depp's reaction was infinitely sadder, in his realization that he sliced his wife, compared to George Hearn, who merely screamed out, "Oh my God! What have I done??" in stark horror (actually, I think all stage Sweeneys screamed out that part). There's that whole 'point of no return' thing with the movie version, and it was a bit more creepy, since you wouldn't know what was going through his head after all that.

Unfortunately (for me), there wasn't much singing with Alan Rickman, but Judge Turpin's just a side character, so can't make a big hoo-ha about that.

Halfway through, I saw Timothy Spall and Alan Rickman together and I went, "Look! It's Wormtail and Snivellus!" And when Judge Turpin comes in and says, "Mr. Todd...", it's like when he's saying, "Mr. Potter...". And I love the Beadle's cane... Hahaha.

I saw a comment on one of the YouTube videos that Johnny Depp got to do his Jack Sparrow voice again. I agree. Haha. Another comment stated that 'Johanna' was the perfect stalker song. Hahaha.

A very nice person posted up the singing clips from the movie up on YouTube, and since it's a musical, that's quite a bit. I've been arranging the clips from the movie in sequential order, which isn't easy, since I've never seen the movie. Unfortunately, the videos for the ending sequences were removed (not sure by whom). Hopefully it'd be back up soon.

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What I forgot to include in yesterday.

Today I planned to walk over to one of the uni cafés, but it was too cold for me so I decided to stay in, and read up on cURL (because my download manager's already expired and there's something wrong with my browser). Until now, I still can't download anything. I hate coding. Luckily I'm not doing Computer Science.

Yesterday, was the first time I had coffee. Ever. I've never really had the need for coffee back home, what with all the choccies and foodies and junk food I have. And if those weren't enough, I'd fall asleep in front of the telly. Anyway, my café latté set me back $3.30, and stupidly, when the guy asked me whether I wanted sugars, I said no. Latté made me sick for the rest of the day, but it was pretty filling for me, and so, that was my breakfast. Next time I go, I'll ask for two sugars. Haha.

I've also been watching parts of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. Some nice person posted up all (if not most) of the singing bits in the movie. And since it is a musical, it's quite a bit of bits to watch. Movie looks fantastic, although I stil cringe whenever someone's throat gets sliced. Blood spewing out, like paip bocor... Reminds me of Evil Dead 2. Haha! I'd wanted to watch it before I took off, but I didn't have the time. Anyway, I got a major kick out of watching Alan Rickman sing. Call me weird, but one of the main reasons why I wanted to watch Sweeney Todd in the first place was to see him sing. LOL! Also, why is it that dudes who can sing beautifully, don't normally look as beautiful as they should? Like Anthony. Marvellous voice, but I find he looks a tad off a bit. Another example is Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera. Amazing and lovely voice, but he's not all I expected Le Comte de Chagny to be.

*waits for mob of angry fangirls*

So anyway, I'm absolutely bored right now. I'll probably take a shower later on.

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Today's update.

Surprisingly, being overseas isn't as much fun as I thought it'd be. For one thing, I miss my Mum, and I'm worried about her since she's by herself. Now, I really don't know whether that counts as homesick or not (since being homesick means you miss your home, and not one specific person. But anyways, this pretty much screws up my plan to my Masters abroad. Now if only the lotto comes in... Then I can go to the UK/US and drag Mum along with me. Won't that be fun... I mean, it'll probably mean that I won't have a life, but then again, it's not like I go to wild parties every single night, down shots, and have massive hangovers the following morning.

Second, you've to do everything YOURSELF. Which is a massive pain in the ass for me. And since I'm staying with other people, this means that I can't throw stuff around willy nilly. Oh, no... I've to tidy up, which isn't something I'm used to, since I'm naturally a human mess-machine. And the TV's downstairs. I went down just now, the room was kinda stuffy and I got a massive headache so I had to go back up again. Or maybe that was the indigestion talking.

Thirdly (and I shouldn't be bitching about this because I pretty much asked for this one), I've never done so much walking in my entire LIFE! I think the amount of walking I did over the past three days is probably enough to cover my current lifetime and the next! The university is sprawling huge, and since Wednesday was EXTREMELY wet, my feet are probably rheumatic now. Or maybe it's the muscle over-exertion, I'unno. But at least it takes me 5 minutes to walk to the place, even though it's not the mad-dash-across-the-highway route. I should really try that one of these days. Maybe when I'm late for class. I've two of them at 8 in the morning.

Fourth, public transportation. I'm still new around here, so that's probably why I'm still confused. You need to buy tickets separately first (from a 7-11 or ministores like that, but so far, I haven't seen a 7-11 yet. Haha.), and then, you can use the bus/tram/train. Sure, the seasonal tickets are at a discounted price, compared to if you buy one at a time like we do back home, but for me, it just complicates things. I'm very much more used to the 'dollar per ride' system.

Fifth, and this is based on how difficult it was for me to get a SIM pack. I pretty much walked all over the place to find one (but didn't anyway), then finally, I had to tag along with my friends, over to Box Hill, where I FINALLY got one. And then it was two hours before I got to activate my number. Although, I should've put more credit in my local number before I took off. Oh well, live and learn.

Finally went through my enrolment, even though I couldn't get my ID done yet because the system 'wasn't updated yet'. I'm the only one other student from my previous college here today, and today was supposed to be the enrolment day for us. My friend's was worse. She has to do her's on Monday because they messed up. Poor girl.

Anyway, I'm hoping that tonight won't be too cold, since I have no butt left to freeze off since Wednesday, and I haven't bought an electric blanket or gloves yet. At least now I know how to switch the heater on. Haha.

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Touchdown!

I've finally arrived. In Melbourne. Hahahaha. If I had arrived any other ways, I really don't think I'd be blogging right now.

My flight was pretty uneventful, as in, no dope and/or illegal contraband was found to be in my possession. Whatever it is though, unless you want to be subject to strict conditions at Customs, don't go to Australia BY YOURSELF via SIA (not sure about other places; maybe it's different. It's not very strict in China). They made me take out my laptop and put it in one of those little trays, and then they use those metal-scanner thingies to check whether you're bringing in anything shiny. And besides, you have to take the Sky Train down, which is kind of a pain sometimes.

So anyway, it was hot as hell when I touched down yesterday. Kinda like the weather back home (where you can feel the burn), minus the strong winds (hot winds, mind you). I figured that it was going to be a hot few days ahead, even though my landlady said that tomorrow (which is today) is going to be 22ºC.

I was wrong. It was (and still is!) freezing today. Raining + Strong winds + Already cool weather = Wrong day to leave the house. I basically walked everywhere today (well, to me, I walked everywhere because at home I don't walk, I drive), my legs are killing me, my butt's already freezed off, and my shoes and socks are waterlogged (because today's damp. Six hours later and they're still not dry yet). Good thing I bought the adapter already. Then I can use my lappy. 15 bucks down the drain... Apply the exchange rate... Thank GOODNESS(!!) Wang Jing's here! I can discuss newbie stuff with her! Yay! And she has an Umbrella (ella, ella, eh!)!

Oh well, I've ated, and I've four hours left till bedtime. I'll be bored over the next coupla days. Nyah, nyah, nyah...

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My 2008 Movie List.

(And it's halfway into February already. Sigh.)

2008 seems to be the Year Of The Movies (actually, EVERY year, seems to be Movie Year), so I figure I'd do a list, then check them off as I watch them/lose interest.

Movies I'm gonna attack this year (in chronological order):
1) Cloverfield
2) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street(Seen.)
3) Jumper(Not enough Jumping.)
4) Vantage Point
5) Repo! The Genetic Opera! (I'unno. Despite Paris Hilton, the movie looks good.)
6) Iron Man(I. Love. Robert Downey Jr. 'Nuff said.)
7) Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian
8) Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull(Never again. Okay, just once more, to show my mom how awful it is.)
9) Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (Trailer looks fantastic!)
10) The Dark Knight (I don't really make a big deal out of Batman, but The Joker looks interesting. And Harvey Dent!)
11) The X-Files 2 (I think it'll be out this yearIt IS out this year!)
12) The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (Cannot wait for Jet Li to kick Brendan Fraser's Butt!
13) Scanners (Might've seen the original; can't remember)
14) Saw V
15) Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
16) Angels And Demons (Not sure about this one. Some sites say end of 2008, some say 2009.)
17) Star Trek. Hahaha. (Unfortunately, Star Trek won't be coming out Christmas this year. I'll have to wait till May 2009 to see Zach Quinto do Spock. Sob.)

Another movie coming out this year is Dragonball. Hahaha.

Reminder: Inkheart - 2009.

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Happy Chinese New Year!

Today's the first day of the new Rat year, and I'll be sitting at home teaching my mom how to work the VCR and everything else electronical. Hahahaha. My goodness, it's a hot day, today!

Prediction: It's going to be a long, boring, and extremely sweaty year, ahead of me.

Once again, Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

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And then... there was light!

Unblinking light. In my bedroom. My ceiling lamp's been spoilt for like, a year and a half, now. My mom finally got me to change it. Hahahaha.

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