Sweeney Todd

Few critics are as trustworthy and noteable as the great Roger Ebert. Whether it is well known Hollywood blockbusters, or independent forgin films, Ebert is one of the most trusted names in the business when it comes to movie reviews. Which is why it is no surpirse when I went to him for a review on the new musical-gone-movie Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
I Chose this movie because it is one of the most recent movies I saw in the theatres. I was going to do Rambo(2008), but for some odd reason it was hard to find a respectable critic review for it. So I chose the dark, sedistic, musical instead. Ebert starts the review by describing it as, "the bloodiest in film history, and it isn't a jolly romp, either, but a dark revenge tragedy with heartbreak, mayhem and bloody good meat pies." (Ebert) That's one of the two things I really like about Ebert, he's able to tell about the movie...without telling you anything about the movie! He will talk about the things that make the movie work, such as the always relyable actor Johnny Depp and the way Tim Burton filmed and captured the movie, but he will never actually give away anything about the movie. He will never give away the ending, as some critics do, or ruin the plot line by pointing out only the flaws. He does a good job capturing the possitavies that the movie was able to pull off, and really put his two cents in and get you ready to see a masterpiece, but not over-hyper it. "The acting is so good that it enlists us in the sordid story, which even contains a great deal of humor"
The other major part of his reviews I like is when he goes deeper than most people look at a film, as just a plot line and some acting, but really goes deep and looks at directing; in this case Tim Burton. Ebert talks about what has worked for Burton in the past, and how he tries to encorerpate that into Sweeney Todd. "It combines some of Tim Burton's favorite elements: The fantastic, the ghoulish, the bizarre, the unspeakable, the romantic and in Johnny Depp, he has an actor he has worked with since "Edward Scissorhands" and finds a perfect instrument." (Ebert) Ebert also goes on to look at the little things, such as lighting, sets, customes, and in this case melody (which is actually sung by Depp and Bonham Carter). He finally calls it, "... a feast for the eyes and the imagination..."
All in all, I tend to trust what Roger Ebert has to say about movies. He looks at the things that make film great, not just big names and special effects. But he takes into consideration the little things such as script play and setting. Because of these things I gladly follow through the eyes of an expert, and trust the words of a legend.