The Old & New Nightmare
The most unique possible hijacking of the night before a wedding happened the other night when my girl and I came up with an ingenious plan. To soothe some tensions between members of the wedding party, we kidnapped everyone and went to see the first 3D movie most of the 20-somethings in the group had seen theatrically.
Tim Burton's stop-motion classic really does stand the test of time, contimuing to delight and captivate. Even though everyone was a little tuckered out from a night of Indian food, booze, and uncomfortable encounters with relatives, it was an Event.
There was a cool reason to go to the movies that went beyond "we've nothing to do so let's go waste $20". Increasingly, the only thing the late teen/20s-ish audience has to see at the movies is "Concept A/B/C/D starring Comedian/Singer/Star/TitsonLegs A/B/C/D who slept with Person X".
If you want to go see it, you better hope you live near a major city. The following states have no screens showing the 3D feature:
Alaska
Dakota (North or South)
Maine
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
The full list of cinemas currently showing the movie in 3D can be found here compiled by the good folks at From Script to DVD.
Burton's Corpse Bride was quite good, but boy oh boy was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory hit and miss (though kids love it to pieces, I'm told) and the less said about Planet of the Apes the better. I really enjoyed both Big Fish and Sleepy Hollow very, very much.
The dark fairy tale that's the subject of this post is really the reason I hold out hope for Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Helena Bonham-Carter is an infinitely capable actress, but I would have thought of her more for the mysterious beggarwoman than the role that begins and ends with Angela Lansbury or Patti LuPone, depending on who you are.
Johnny Depp's singing chops will remain a mystery until we hear him sing the part, months from now, and the pending casting of Sasha Baron Cohen as the insanely over-the-top Pirelli can do nothing but make one smile. Batman '89, lauded as it may be by many, was a very non-canonical take on adapted material, as was Charlie. To an extent, Burton's artistic license on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow worked better than going with the standard Ichabod Crane the Frightened Schoolteacher.
The reason I will always hold out hope for an upcoming Burton project is one of my very favorite films, Ed Wood: satire, history, horror, and the obscure all rolled into one.
More impressions and reactions to The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D to come tomorrow (or later tonight if I can't sleep).