First of all, I love that t-shirt. Second - I know I saw this movie, but can't remember much of it. "Nightmare Before Christmas" is one of my favorite movies - but most of Burton's more recent stuff has left me cold. This sounds worth a revisit.
So they just made up something completely different (while keeping some character names) and are calling it Sleepy Hollow?
That sounds like Tim Burton to me. Content isn't really his thing. He doesn't care about storytelling at all; he only cares about creating his F. A. O. Schwartz/"Playland" environment.
The only Burton movie I like is Ed Wood, which is actually kind of brilliant. Everything else makes me think Burton would be better off sitting on the floor playing with Tonka trucks.
And Batman's kind of interesting in a crazy, historical kind of way. Now that somebody else is making "real" Batman movies, the pressure's off Burton's two entries and I can go back and acknowledge the originality and the strangeness of those two movies. But as comic book movies or as takes on Batman, they're pretty awful. Batman doesn't need a Dr. Seuss approach.
One of my fave things about this movie is that Depp doesn't fuss too much about accepting the supernatural when the evidence is too strong to ignore. Because there's, you know, evidence. He basically announces they're now on the trail of a murderous ghost and that's that.
Reminds me of From Dusk 'Til Dawn. Clooney just says, "Can we all agree we're dealing with some fucking vampires here?"
November 29, 2010 8:22 AM
[Image](1999) **** Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a late 1700's New York constable who believes in science![Image] The New York magistrates, however, don't like his rebellious analytical approach to justice and as punishment they send him off to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a recent rash of murders. Ichabod learns that these murders are dreadful decapitations where the head is "not found severed, but never found at all."[Image]spoiler alert: decapitated heads are found later in the movie The town elders inform Ichabod that the only suspect is the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman is a former Hessian mercenary famous for beheading his enemies who was beheaded by his own sword and buried creating a haunted area of a nearby wood. Crane rejects the elder's ghost stories and begins his investigation.[Image]The numbers of disappearances, deaths and decapitations rise and Crane determines the murders are not random. He follows his logic into a web of mysterious intrigue, romance, witchcraft, and evil that challenges his choice rationale and scientific approach. The opening of this film was just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful to watch. I fell in love with it. I loved the smokey fogginess, the title lettering, the blood red dripping wax, and the handwriting style of the last will and testament. I loved the horse and carriage ride through the dark scary woods, the frightening pumpkin scarecrow, the execution of the first beheading, etc. Unfortunately that got my hopes way up for rest of the film, which didn't live up to my expectations, and how could it? The movie is pretty throughout, but there was just something about the beginning.... That said, I almost always enjoy the Burton/Elfman/Depp combos.[Image] There's something about the aesthetic that I just dig. The cinematography, set design, special effects, lighting, and both the subtle and not so subtle qualities that say "I'm Tim Burton" tend to be pretty and pretty makes me happy. The cast ain't to shabby neither: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Christoher Walken, Michael Gambon, Jeffery Jones Miranda Richardson, Christopher Lee, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough.
"Sleepy Hollow"
5 Comments -
First of all, I love that t-shirt. Second - I know I saw this movie, but can't remember much of it. "Nightmare Before Christmas" is one of my favorite movies - but most of Burton's more recent stuff has left me cold.
This sounds worth a revisit.
November 27, 2010 2:03 PM
So they just made up something completely different (while keeping some character names) and are calling it Sleepy Hollow?
That sounds like Tim Burton to me. Content isn't really his thing. He doesn't care about storytelling at all; he only cares about creating his F. A. O. Schwartz/"Playland" environment.
The only Burton movie I like is Ed Wood, which is actually kind of brilliant. Everything else makes me think Burton would be better off sitting on the floor playing with Tonka trucks.
November 27, 2010 4:20 PM
And Batman's kind of interesting in a crazy, historical kind of way. Now that somebody else is making "real" Batman movies, the pressure's off Burton's two entries and I can go back and acknowledge the originality and the strangeness of those two movies. But as comic book movies or as takes on Batman, they're pretty awful. Batman doesn't need a Dr. Seuss approach.
November 27, 2010 4:24 PM
The shirt rules!
One of my fave things about this movie is that Depp doesn't fuss too much about accepting the supernatural when the evidence is too strong to ignore. Because there's, you know, evidence. He basically announces they're now on the trail of a murderous ghost and that's that.
November 28, 2010 8:19 PM
Reminds me of From Dusk 'Til Dawn. Clooney just says, "Can we all agree we're dealing with some fucking vampires here?"
November 29, 2010 8:22 AM