Friday, January 4, 2008

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street




I walked up to the girl in the box office and said, "I'd like a ticket to Teeney Swodd." I did it on purpose. She grinned and issued me the ticket and said, "The scary thing is that I understood you.

The film is not yet in Ames. I had to drive to the Jordan Creek Mall to see it. I was going to go last week but time and circumstances kept me away. One advantage of the theater down there is the enormous screen and the super chairs to sit in. Much nicer than Ames' theater.

I had heard of the show for years. Angela Lansbury was in it on Broadway and it won a Tony award. The music is popular and I was familiar with some of it. I was not familiar with the story until the movie came out. I told my nephew I wasn't going to go and he encouraged me to go. "It's a Tim Burton movie!" So I went to the web site for the movie and checked it out. I liked what I saw and heard so I decided to go. I am glad I did.

The premise of the story is revenge and there is a lot of blood. It stars Johnny Depp among others and he does his own singing. He is good. He is the top money making star of 2007. Article here. His acting is superb (I seem to remember saying that about someone else- Do I say that about all the actors I like?)

The thing is that even with all the blood in the story there was still a lot that appealed to my macabre sense of humor. When Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) sing "A Little Priest" discussing the various types of people for her meat pies I laughed out loud. To be fair I was the only one in the theater laughing out loud.. (sick, Jay)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have made six movies together. In my opinion this was the best. I recommend the movie highly. It got 5 stars in the review.

In other news.

I went to the foot doctor yesterday and he looked at the ulcer on my toe and said I didn't need to bandage it. He pronounced the blister on my left foot healed and I don't have to go see him again for a month. I really like Dr. Sarantio. And his sending me to Great Plains Prosthetics was a good thing. A. J. fixed my shoes and I walk a lot better now.

Lodge last night was sparsely attended. This was due to the Caucus (Caucii?) being held last night. They are now over, thankfully. I really don't understand why we do it this way. More of us would be able to participate if we held a primary. The number of people who were actually at the caucus meetings were not a good percentage of our small state. I am not thrilled about the outcome of the Caucus on either side. But I will support the eventual democrat nominee. That is a given.

Gas in Des Moines at Costco is 13 cents a gallon cheaper than in Ames. I saw one station in Des Moines that had gas for $2.99. Ouch. Happy Mr. Cheny?

Tomorrow I am going to see National Treasure 2 again. I don't usually see a movie twice but the lodge is going as a group and I want to support the rest of the guys. I may go to an Installation in Polk City on Sunday. The forecast looks to be somewhat warmer and that means maybe the ice will melt. I had to take the garbage out Thursday night by driving the car up beside it and rolling down the window and dragging it along side the car. I wasn't going to take a chance on falling again.

That's all folks, Have a good weekend. Hugs, j

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