He was a promising young director, but he has really lost his way.
In a word: formula.
Burton is more of a fashion statement now. People hear “Burton” and think “macabre”, “dark”, “quirky”. There are better directors out there that encompass all of those qualities… Henry Sellick, The Quay Brothers, Terry Gilliam, Jan Svankmajer… just to name a few.
^ Disneygoth
Terry Gilliam hasn’t been good for a while now either imo. But enthusiastic yes to Svankmajer.
I think Burton has gotten too self-indulgent with his actors and themes. There’s no need to put his wife in every film (although she is usually great) or have unnecessary and rather thankless cameos by the entire Hammer horror stable of actors just because he idolized them growing up.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the one performance by Johnny Depp that I feel was honestly a miscalculation on his part and makes me think that his best work with Burton is definitely behind him and they should part ways professionally.
Fluke.
SWEENEY TODD is a flat-out masterwork, head and shoulders above any film released this year that’s for damn sure. When those hacks Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky produce work of such brilliance I will eat every existing print of their bloated inane outputs.
Yeah, ALICE sucked. He had an off movie or two. Who hasn’t? I"ll take CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, at least the good parts of it, over the utterly useless SHITTER ISLAND.
haha good call MALIK
Sweeney Todd? Really? A masterwork? Really?
“SWEENEY TODD is a flat-out masterwork, head and shoulders above any film released this year that’s for damn sure.”
Roscoe, please tell me you are being brutally ironic/sarcastic here.
Yes. Really. A masterpiece. It kicks the shit out of crap like INCEPTION, SHITTER ISLAND, and that idiotic BLACK SWAN and the Coens snooze-inducing version of TRUE GRIT.
Suck it up. Check out my review on the film’s page.
I admit, I enjoyed Sweeney Todd.
The more time passes, the more I think of Tim Burton as a ‘dark’ (quotes essential) Guy Ritchie. Each successive movie having diminishing returns. Burton just ahppens to work with material that isn’t covered as often as Ritchie and his gangster/guy movies.
Okay, Roscoe, I read your review….
“I’ll say it loud and clear. If you don’t see this film as the great masterwork of contemporary cinema that it is, you are a fucking idiot who has no eyes to see or ears to hear.”
…Shakes head in dismay and leaves thread apparently deaf, blind and dumb.
i don’t know why people think Charlie was a typical Burton film. sure it has some dark elements but visually it’s not all that much like his other films really is it? It’s more colourful, for starters. whether it’s good or not is open to debate.
i liked Sweeney Todd, but it’s no classic, and Alice was terrible.
@JOKS Didn’t you just love it how Burton gave the once mysterious and interesting Willy Wonka a back-story? Tim Burton should remake THE DARK KNIGHT so he can give the Joker a back-story.
Sincerely, Idiot Viewer
@ROSCOE You are just trying to evoke an argument by imputing films like INCEPTION and TRUE GRIT. SWEENEY TODD was alright, Tim Burton successfully converted a play into a movie that feels like a play, what a huge achievement! I wouldn’t compare this film to ED WOOD which was superior.
Bye Ari. Surgery is available to restore your eyesight and hearing.
Jake, learn the difference between “evoke” and “provoke.”
Glad you prefer ED WOOD to SWEENEY TODD, which never feels like a play to me, at least.
“Bye Ari. Surgery is available to restore your eyesight and hearing.”
Yes but alas there’s no surgery available to restore aesthetic judgment.
“Yes but alas there’s no surgery available to restore aesthetic judgment.”
Nor sense of humor. Yeah, you’re kind of screwed on both counts..
Considering one of your favorite pithy retorts, Roscoe, is “opinions differ”, good to see that you choose your cinematic litmus test around Burton’s pathetic & lifeless goth-lite pastiche. At least you can hang out with the Hot Topic mallgirls.
I bet Burton doesn’t even know what Ed Wood-esque means. All he knows is Johnny Depp-esque.
Not the only cinematic litmus test, Ari. And I’d thought it would be a little more evident than it seems to be that the little section you quote was deliberately over-enthusiastic, grotesquely and comically so.
Got a problem with opinions differing? Or must we all agree?
Burton’s Sweeney Todd is a miserable adaptation of a Broadway masterwork. The stylism was all wrong and the role of Sweeney could not have been more underplayed.
Egads, Patapon. Looks like we disagree. I thought the “stylism” was entirely appropriate and the role of Sweeney perfectly played by Mr. Depp. He caught the madness and the misery as well as any of the actors I’ve seen play the role, from Len Cariou to Michael Cerveris.
Interesting. Who would you have liked to see in a film of this material?
“And I’d thought it would be a little more evident than it seems to be that the little section you quote was deliberately over-enthusiastic, grotesquely and comically so”
Needed more along the lines of “If you don’t appreciate the majestic genius of Sweeney Todd, you deserve your throat slashed.”
“Got a problem with opinions differing? Or must we all agree?”
I love differences of opinion. They make the world go around. But why not explore them rather than dismiss them? I’m generally interested why an intelligent person like yourself could love what, to me, is a nadir in Burton’s career to the point where I won’t watch any of his films any longer (which to me speaks wonders since he has so many awful films to choose from in the past decade). But, then again, your review doesn’t enlighten me on that except that you also hate Rob Marshall (as do I). Perhaps I enjoy how you mercilessly trash films better than how you praise them.
Well first of all I dont understand how you could have prefered Depp to Len Cariou. Len is known for his masculinity and grit. His performance in Sweeney Todd is a true embodiment of the character. Depp was apathetic and boring throughout the film. It seemed to me he didn’t even try. I like Depp but in this cased we could not disagree more.
I’m not sure I could come up with an actor I would rather play the role however.
i’ll tell you why: there are two roads in tim burton’s world; the world of big fish and ed wood and the world of making money.
he has chosen to make money. there’s no money in movies you can’t market a shit load of products.
taa daa.
can we not post embeded videos from youtube anymore? I cant seem to make it work…
It took a while for someone to bring up BIG FISH; arguably the most similar movie to ED WOOD that he has made.
Jake Cruickshank
I just wish Tim Burton would make more movies like Ed Wood… instead we get Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… What the hell?!?