Anyway, regardless of how good (or bad) Sweeney Todd is, I have to say the DVD is excellent. I have the two-disc Special Collector’s Edition, and it is jam-packed full of behind-the-scenes featurettes, documentaries and more that give you all kinds of insights into the film. It basically looks like the DVD staff went out and found every random thing they could find about Sweeney Todd, the movie or otherwise, and shoved them onto the discs… and the result is surprisingly good.

While there are plenty more features than this, the memorable ones that stand out are:

• Sweeney Todd movie press release, with Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and the rest. Basically, the cast and crew take questions from the press and answer them in an insightful but often funny way. I realized that I had never before actually heard Burton speak. Some of Helena Bonham Carter’s comments about having to sleep with the director (and then about Depp not having slept with anyone, ever) to get her role are quite entertaining.
•  The truth about Sweeney Todd, an examination of the facts and fictions that are built into the character. I was surprised to see that the character has actually been around for centuries in some form or another, and that there is actually debate as to whether the man really lived or not. It seems clear to me that there is no real Sweeney Todd, and instead his character is a result of many different real-life and legendary people that have cropped up over the years.

Okay, that’s only two, but there are a slew of special features, all of which are useful in their own way. Not are overwhelmingly long, but have just the right running length to be useful without being boring.

I still think the music in the film sucks, though. I like musicals, but I clearly don’t like musicals where the characters sing sentences.

Read my Sweeney Todd movie review here.

Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, is a f**k up in more ways than one. The production values are pretty good, but the movie is boring and features some of the worst music to ever grace musicals. The songs are literally brain numbing, and when sung by the likes of Helena Bonham Carter (who was somehow nominated for Best Actress for her role) and several other actors who just weren’t made for musicals, the film just sucked. Two of my buddies spent most of the time laughing at how bad it was, and even my brother, who I thought might like the film, didn’t find much to be entertained by. My movie review is less than friendly.

All four of the other movies nominated in the category are so much better. Hairspray isn’t anything spectacular, but Charlie Wilson’s War and Across the Universe are both a step above much of the landscape. Juno is simply terrific, and a legitimate (albeit unlikely) contender for Oscar Gold.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Golden Globes. I never understood the point of them. They’re like the Oscars, only not as prestigious and not as meaningful, and they often have a few off-the-wall surprises like Sweeney Todd that just plain out suck. It’s hard to take the Golden Globes too seriously, and they’re pretty much like Spring Training to the MLB or Pre-Season for the NFL. In other words, they’re meaningless.

While I’m on my rant about the Golden Globes, I’ve always hated the Best Musical or Comedy category. I do realize that comedies often get screwed when it comes to year-end awards (though since Shakespeare in Love, not nearly so much), but the Best Musical or Comedy category often serves as a means to provide non-deserving films a chance at an award (come on, did anyone really think that Dreamgirls was that good of a movie?). Thinking of Dreamgirls, the category tends to favor dramas that happen to have music in them. As Chicago proved, musicals can compete with dramas in the main event, so why should musical dramas (Walk the Line, Ray, Dreamgirls and so on and so forth) get placed in a separate category, which only serves to neglect the real point of the category: to benefit comedies.

And furthermore, do you realize that the Golden Globes nominated 12 movies for best picture this year? 12 movies! For some reason, they nominated seven movies for Best Drama, and another five for Best Musical or Comedy. That means that twelve different movies get to market that they were nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globes. What bullsh*t.

At least Atonement and Daniel Day-Lewis won for Best Drama and Best Actor respectively.

That’s right, you heard me! Sure, some of his bad movies weren’t THAT bad, but they sure as hell weren’t that good, and some have been downright awful. Here are the good ones:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black
  The idea sounded dreadful from the start, but somehow Disney and Johnny Depp managed to make an entertaining, funny and dark “family” film. A surprisingly good film, especially considering it’s based on a theme park ride.
• Finding Neverland
  This award-winning drama wasn’t particularly memorable, but was still entrancing while you were watching it.

And that’s it! Two good movies in the last seven years, yet Depp is still as popular as ever. That’s all fine and good, but acknowledge his failures, people!

The bad ones:

• Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
  This follow-up to one of my favorite action films of all time – Desperado – was supposed to kick ass, but instead it was one of the worst movies ever to grace the silver screen. Depp was dreadful in it, too.
• Secret Window (2004)
  This movie was good for a while, until the final act killed any chance of it being any good. The final minutes are particularly bad, especially when Depp dons braces.
• The Libertine (2004)
  Not as dreadful as it was boring, most people probably don’t even know Depp starred in this film – if they even heard of it in the first place.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
  Another Tim Burton collaboration, this one had the makings of being awesome, except Depp’s portrayal of Willy Wonka came off more like a creepy Michael Jackson than anything else. Again, not horrible, but not very goo, either.
• Corpse Bride (2005)
  Probably his best of the bad, the only thing wrong with Corpse Bride is that it is no Nightmare Before Christmas. It was mildly entertaining but never very engaging.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
  They should have left it as a sequel. This movie sucked balls.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
  Not quite as bad as #2, this one still also sucked balls.
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
  Quite possibly the worst musical I have seen in a long while. Depp isn’t bad as the title character, and Tim Burton tries, but the story is surprisingly dull and the musical, presumably derived from the play, is terrible and often cringe-inducing.