cinemaofdreams

(2013-05-18 07:45:10)

Dull Shadows (or, The Rise of Count Chocula)

If the tone set in the first ten minutes of Dull Shadows had beencarried over into the last 110 minutes of the film, this would havebeen a very good entry in the Burton/Depp oeuvre. Instead, the tonechanges drastically from Sleepy Hollow to a poor man's Beetlejuice.It's as if the opening sequence was directed by a skilled craftsman andthe remainder by a skilled but inexperienced dilletante. The sets areexcellent, as is the cinematography but the characters areunderdeveloped and the actors underused. Depp puts in a carefullycrafted performance as Count Chocula, but not Barnabas Collins. This isa disaster and the threat of a sequel is unbearable. Certainly, theoriginal series was a bit campy but charmingly so. This film is justover the top in a very underwhelming way. Guess though that as long asit sells seats that's all that matters in Hollywood. As it goes thisfilm is all dressed up with no where to go.

cliffcarson-1

(2013-05-18 01:10:09)

DULL with little bite. Depp is playing dress up

Oh the possibilities that were missed here. Except for the characternames and a similar architecture in the house this film bares verylittle resemblance to DARK SHADOWS. The movie starts out beautifullyand then goes off in so many awkward directions that it never findswhat kind of movie it's trying to be. A few scattered laughs here andthere do not compensate for a poorly conceived story that meandersitself to the point of being dull and confusing. What can you say abouta movie that only comes to life in it's montages set to a pop songsfrom the early 1970's? Depp doesn't even attempt to capture any of theguilt ridden angst of Barnabas Collins. His Barnabas is a trick ortreat Pirates of the Caribbean, very much like a kid playing dress upon Halloween and with two emotions, upset and more upset. Film has somenice set pieces but Burton doesn't bring any true Gothic feeling orsense of dread to the surroundings. The script has that throweverything up against the wall and see what sticks feel to it. Burtonsdirection comes off in a conveyor belt "okay, let's shoot this one"tone with interest only in visuals, which are striking. He's reallymore of a visual artist than he is a film director. Indeed, one getsthe feeling that this film would never have been made if not for JohnnyDepp and his love for the original series which is evident here. It'sunfortunate that he relies too heavily on make up to carry hisperformance. Helean Bonham Carter has no interest in being in the filmand it shows, doing it only as a favor to her husband. Eva Green is thetype of actress Tim Burton is attracted to and loves to cast in hisfilms, but she possesses little of Angelique's spellbinding jealousy.The only one in the cast that has a hint of what these surroundingsshould be played like is Michelle Pfeiffer. She is the Grande dame ofDark Shadows capturing both the Gothic feel of the original story andthe magnificence of the character.

Rafke

(2013-05-03 23:48:31)

A little bit of everything and a whole lot of NOTHING

Meh... that was our reaction when the credits rolled after seeing DarkShadows. I wasn't even planning to go see him in the cinema, but myfriends wanted to see him and just went along. Afterwards, they likedit even less than me, which was funny. Everyone is talking about thecollaborations of Burton and Depp. I dunno, IMO they make only moviesfor themselves and if the public likes them, they got lucky. Separatelythey are brilliant and both have great movies. Together, somethinghappens... every movie is "different" to say the least. I think SleepyHollow is still their best one yet, and I don't think they can top it.This one however... I'm never going to see again. Because what is itabout, do we even have to think about this one? Why did they even taketime and money to make it?? Is this what people are waiting for Iwonder. OK, short overview: Visuals were great as we've come to expectof Burton. Depp is a great actor, but stuck in a terrible roll. EvaGreen is as hot as they come!! The red dress!! The young girl, who Irecognized from Kick-Ass is growing up nicely... I know she's fifteen,but you can already tell she's gonna be a beauty in years to come. Iactually liked her performance best of all, until she became a*spoiler* at the end when the whole movie was ready to be put out withthe trash. What sucked? Everything else... story? no Plot? even lessIdiotic chars? Too much! So to conclude: better watch the old goodiesonce more and keep up the dream of their perfect collaborations. Best regards, Raf

melody23

(2013-05-03 06:44:09)

Insults about half of the original fans

With the admonition, "I never liked the bitch anyway," the Williecharacter in the new DS dispatched my favorite Dark Shadows character,pretty much summing up Depp and Burton's apparent opinion of her. Forme, Dark Shadows was about Julia and Barnabas. Their chemistry createdthe dynamic that made the show work for me. I'm not only a first-generation DS fan, I'm the co-author of the Dark Shadows Companion. Johnny Depp, supposedly a first-generation fan, even though he's twoyears younger than I am and I'm supposedly very young for a firstgeneration fan, apparently thinks Barnabas Collins is part moral icon,part victim of his crotch. I wonder if Depp was watching the sameseries I was. As much as I loved the original Barnabas, I see no traceof the character in his interpretation. Frankly, the minute he murderedJulia, the whole movie collapsed for me -- the implied oral sex scenewas bad enough, but the killing finished it. In the House of DarkShadows big-screen remake this was accepted by fans because the serieswas still on-going. Depp does not have that salvation.I really don't care that she's alive for the sequel. I doubt there willbe a sequel. If there is, it's still not the characters I grew up with. However, we're supposed to be reviewing what the film is, not what it'snot. What it is, is an overstuffed suitcase that somebody sat on inorder to zip it shut. It spills out all over everywhere. Thecohesiveness is forced. The characters are largely unrecognizable. As Iwatched the film, I was at first taken by the wonderful graphics, butCollinwood seemed to morph into Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.There are some good performances, it's occasionally slightly funny,it's graphically intense and interesting, but Depp and Burton seem tohave nothing but contempt for the original series. I'm sorry, butflawed and bad as it could be, Dark Shadows was still far morecompelling on its tiny budget than this movie was with its huge one.What a shame -- and a waste. I really wanted to like it.

Troy_Campbell

(2013-05-01 15:52:07)

Plodding, boring and nothing new from Burton.

'Burton-esque' (bert-on-esk) adj. by-word in movie circles for beingartistically quirky yet sumptuous, darkly comical, beautifully bizarre;usually unlike anything you've seen before. Ironically, it's been sometime since Tim Burton has actually been Burton-esque, and his latest,Dark Shadows, is another plodding, repetitive entry into the Gothicdirector's canon. His unique taste in visuals is omnipresent, butthere's just nothing new on offer; the set dressing – dauntingly bighouses, ominous furniture – is strangely boring and the costumes aredrearily typical. Perhaps the film's principal weakness – if not theutterly ludicrous finale – is his determination to employ the sameactors he always collaborates with. Johnny Depp has stretched hisidiosyncratic persona too thin and Helena Bonham Carter'sbonkers-by-numbers shtick can only stay amusing for so long. If itwasn't for the handful of genuinely funny moments and the spot-onsoundtrack this would have been completely irredeemable.

ginger1981

(2013-05-01 02:14:01)

It was fun, and then I went "huh"?

When it comes to movies, I only expect to be entertained and nothingelse. If it makes me think deeply about any given subject, all thebetter but if I'm not drawn in I don't care. Therefore, my tastes withfilm are simple...if I came out of the theater feeling like it wasmoney and time well spent, then it was a decent film.I enjoyed this movie and was thoroughly entertained. I grew up on oldDark Shadows reruns, and enjoyed that Burton didn't take it tooseriously (as I think the early 90's revival series with Ben Crossdid). Let's face it...the original series was cheesy, and oftentimesdownright bad. But the story lines were compelling, and Jonathan Fridwas a pretty good actor to boot.The first 15 minutes of the film were brilliant. The opening scenesportrayed how the Collins family arrived in Colonial America, theaffair with Angelique, the death of Josette and the transformation ofBarnabas. It then goes into the opening credits with Knights In WhiteSatin as the background music while Victoria Winters travels toColinsport through the forests of Maine.From there the 1970's story takes off and the comedy begins. Most ofthe comedy centered around Barnabas being a fish out of water in the1970's. Now, I admit that while watching the series as a kid, I alwaysthought Barnabas eased his way into modern times with too littledifficulty. Shouldn't Barnabas have been confounded by say,electricity, cars, or pop culture? It seems that Burton and Deppthought that as well and there were several very funny scenes showinghow Barnabas coped with the modern world. I laughed out loud severaltimes along with the rest of the audience.So finally, we come to the climax, and that was where I felt the moviewent off the tracks. Without giving spoilers away, there was a majorsurprise during the climax that made me go "where did that come from?"But generally, the climactic scene was a bit boring for such a majorscene!As for other issues, I feel the one other problem was that thecharacter of Dr. Julia Hoffman was unnecessary in this film. In theoriginal series, she had quite a major role. Burton cut out quite fewmajor characters in this film from the original series, so I ended upfeeling he was trying to find a role for his wife in the movie morethan keeping the character in out of necessity for the plot line. Tohave given the plot line with Dr. Julia it's proper due you reallywould have needed several more scenes.Based on how much I was entertained by the film, I give it an 8. Iwould have probably gave it a 9 had the climax been different andkeeping more with the story line. For the first 15 minutes of the filmalone, I bumped up the score from 7 to 8 as rarely are opening creditsdone so well as in this film.I would recommend this film to fans of the original series who nevertook it too seriously, or anyone who loves a good send-up to Twilight(one MAJOR scene in particular) and loves 70's nostalgia.

Kiegan Rosser

(2013-04-25 16:22:54)

I liked it.

OK, so I was reading various reviews and I don't think they're thebest. Not just because I liked the movie, but most of those reviewswere ripe with grammar and spelling errors. It was not "the worst movieof all time" as one dubbed it. I think it probably should'E been billedas more of an action-fantasy, rather than comedy. It had silly, funparts, as expected from Johnny Depp, and more serious parts, asexpected from Tim Burton. It wasn't the greatest movie ever, I do wishthey had gone in depth a little more to some characters, but it wasstill a good movie. Overall, it was a movie worth seeing, so don'tlisten to harsh worded reviews that aren't that great. At least see themovie, even if you hate it, Johnny Depp's antics are still fun.

westerlund-147-949472

(2013-04-25 11:26:49)

Funny and such, but...

So here comes another dish made with the Burton-Depp recipe, and thistime it is a new adaptation of a TV-series with the same name from1966. I have not seen the original series, so I have no idea of howtrue this movie is to its source, and therefore I saw it only for themovie it was. It's a Gothic vampire-story that revolves around BarnabasCollins, a rich, young man who's the son of a wealthy merchant andlives in Collingwood Manor in the year of 1752. He has an affair with aservant girl (played by Eva Green) but it is all physical for him andhe soon leaves her for a girl he truly loves. Bad move, since theservant girl is also a witch. She proceeds to kill his parents, killhis love, and then she curses him to an eternal life as a vampire andthen locks him in a coffin! Damn! After 300 years he finally gets outand decides to return to Collinwood manor and resume his life togetherwith the left-overs of the Barnabas family. He quickly discovershowever, that in 1972 things are very, very different, and he strugglesto fit in in modern society. And as that was not enough, the servantgirl has also hung around due to her magic, and under different aliasesshe has become the local community's biggest fish and has on her owndriven the Collins family to the edge of bankruptcy. Barnabas reallychose the right girl to fool around with, didn't he? I should begin tosay that I did enjoy the film, however I still feel that it raises acloud of doubt whether Tim Burton's film-making abilities are still upto par. After the, in my opinion, minor disaster of Alice in WonderlandBurton needed to follow up with at strong piece to convince us that hestill has what it takes to deliver the special kind of magic he isknown for. I do not feel that Dark Shadows accomplishes that. It feelsin many ways confused, unfocused and sometimes downright sloppy.However, let's start with the good stuff. This movie is funny, likereally funny. Most jokes centers around the cultural clashes betweenBarnabas 18th century's manner and the wilderness of the 1970:s. We getthe scenes were he interacts with modern technology, starts toappreciate modern music and tries to comprehend the strange idealspeople have. This kind of humor could easily have become cheap andtiresome, but somehow this movie makes it work all the way. The actingis overall great. Johnny Depp is as solid as always, and Eva Green isgreat as the villain (she has a thing for playing evil sorceresses).One of my favorite performances though has to be Michelle Pfeiffersportrayal as the current matriarch of the Collins family. Shedesperately tries to keep the Collins family together and going, andshe has harsh and effective way that makes her easy to like. It's alsofun too see some quick cameos from Christopher Lee and Tom Savini (veryshort, keep your eyes open). The 70's music is also great and fits verywell to the visual. Hell, they even manage to integrate a creepy AliceCooper-ballad to a romantic scene.One of the major downsides with this movie is how it seems to beconfused on what kind of film it wants to be. It goes from being ahalf-serious comedy to a whacked out mindflip and back. It changesbetween lighthearted to really dark in a way that just doesn't mesh tome. Also, the script can be really sloppy at times, and the focus isnot always were it should be at times. This is best shown in theromance between Barnabas and Victoria Winters (played by BellaHeathcote). It is supposed to be very central to the story, but it isshowed to the sidelines and is not expanded very much. Instead we get alot of thrown in stuff that steals focus from the film. There is a lotof scenes that does nothing for the story and just comes off aspointless, and you can't but wonder why they did not replace thesescenes with... you know, point.All in all a mixed bag. Compared to movies like Beetlejuice, EdwardScissorhands and even later stuff like Sweeney Todd it doesn't pack asimilar punch. But dammit Burton, I know you CAN make movies. Maybe youneed do refresh yourself, give someone else than Depp a go, bring morefocus to your stories. I'm still a fan an excitingly awaits your nextwork.

amethystwings32

(2013-04-24 22:07:41)

where is the bite

I have never actually seen the show, but the movie looks amusing in adark humor sort of way. Johnny Depp 's character acts like a broodingchild . Who isn't pleased unless he get' his own way! As far the plotit is pure Burton all the way! As a person that used to watch the show.I was not happy with the way he did this movie. He said that he watchedand liked it yet he Burtonized it. I was looking forward to seeing ituntil I saw the adds for it and now I do not care if I see it or not.That was my mom 's view on the movie considering she was a fan of theshow. However I can't say it isn't up to par with the original. So I amneutral I found it be funny in an off beat sort of way. So you see ourviews differ . To sum it up if were avid fans of the Series then thismovie might not be to your liking. But to Dark Shadow virgins such asmuch as myself then this might have enough bite for you.

bluesman-20

(2013-04-24 12:22:58)

Welocme to Collinswood. My Name is Barnabas Collins

Dark Shadows was a classic TV show that ran until 1971. However DarkShadows the show had years to wrap up it's run this movie only has acouple of hours. Barnabas Collins is the rich son of the owner ofCollinsport he lives in the mansion Collinswood. the year is roughly1752. When Barnabas Rejects the love of angelique,She is driven to thedark side and finds a way to curse him with becoming a vampire. Shealso kills his true love Josette. Angelique leads a mob to Collinswoodand they drag Barnabas to a open coffin and chain him in the coffin andchain the coffin. and then bury it. when 1972 rolls around aconstruction crew uncovers the coffin and free Barnabas who promptlyfeeds on them. He returns home to Collinswood. And it is there he meetshis family and the nanny. Victoria Winters is a young lady with asecret. But then again they all have secrets. The film quickly movesinto Barnabas fighting to restore his family to greatness once more.and to destroy angelique for what she has done . He also struggles withhis curse and fights to find a cure.The Film is dark in some places light in others and it resembles a 70'svampire film. Still while it bears the names and the basic storyline itis not the TV Series. Dark Shadows the film is a honest effort toretell one of the classic Vampire stories of the Television era. JohnnyDepp portrays Barnabas Collins in such a Fried like manner that youknow he is doing this as a tribute to Jonathon Fried and a love for theBarnabs Collins character.Worth seeing. I enjoyed it a lot because it was different then any ofthe films released in 2012. And that's a good thing.

Andy Scott

(2013-04-20 00:08:38)

One of the best movies ever

This cannot be classified under any particular genre . A completelydifferent concept even from the usual Tim Burton fantasy movies. Thismovie is obviously not meant for a lot of people and has left a lotdisappointed . And that's NOT cos the movie was bad, but just that themajority viewers prefer watching a stereotype fixed movie and are notready to venture into something completely new and original. True, Iagree the the ending is a tee let down from the Super High Start. and Ihave given a star less for that. But apart from that - Tim Burton is agenius and can deliver something fresh for "those" in search of it. Andoutstanding performance by Johhny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and ChloëGrace Moretz, not to mention the rest of the STAR crew

Hunterdliteful

(2013-04-19 18:41:27)

A great night out

Despite all of the negative reviews, I took my twelve year old daughterand fourteen year old son to DS. We all enjoyed the movie thoroughlyand I am slightly irritated that we almost didn't go because I readmultiple reviews that said the movie was inappropriate for children. Idisagree, it might not be great for a six year old but this is a mildpg13 film. Tim Burton is most definitely on a comeback with this flick.Great story, good character development great cast incredible effects...even an awesome fight scene, disappointing that many will opt forthe Avengers when this is a far more original and time lastingmovie.......stop reading and go and see now definitely worth the covercharge

estebangonzalez10

(2013-04-07 06:51:56)

Burton and Depp this is getting too repetitive

¨It is said that blood is thicker than water. It is what joins us,binds us... curses us. My name is Barnabas Collins, and this is mytale.¨Dark Shadows is the latest collaboration between director Tim Burtonand actor Johnny Depp; it happens to be their eighth time workingtogether. The bond between them just might be thicker than blood. Theirfriendship began when they worked together in Edward Scissorhands morethan 20 years ago and it has developed from there on as they'vecollaborated with each other repeatedly, making some great filmstogether and others not so much. Dark Shadows will be one of thosefilms that fall in the not so great category and may perhaps be a signthat their collaboration together is getting old and repetitive. We allknow how great of an actor Johnny Depp is and he's always enjoyed toplay these kind of eccentric characters. That is why Tim Burton seemedto be a perfect fit for him as a director because he's such a great artdirector who is able to paint an eccentric vision of the world.Actually that is the only element that worked in Alice in Wonderland,and is what saves Dark Shadow from being rotten: the fantastic artdirection. Burton takes us back to the 70's with some wonderful visualsand recreates a small fishing town to perfection. Johnny Depp also getsto play a very eccentric character once again as he's a vampire who'sjust awoke from the 18th century, so it plays out as the classic fishout of the water tale. But just like in almost every Burton film, youcan't fit his movie into one specific genre as it mixes dark comedywith horror, fantasy and some romance. Dark Shadows at times fits inall of these categories and at others it's just hard to figure out whatBurton was trying to do. During the 18th century the Collins family leaves England and arrivesin America with the prospect of building a fishing empire. They do soand end up having the town named after them: Collinsport. They build anenormous mansion and have several servants working for them, but theyfall under an evil curse when their son Barnabas (Johnny Depp) breaksthe heart of a witch named Angelique (Eva Green). He tells her that hedoesn't love her and ends up falling in love with the beautiful Josette(Bella Heathcote). Angelique curses the family by killing Barnabas'sparents, Josette, and turning Barnabas into a vampire and burying himalive inside a coffin. The story then jumps to the year 1972 where weare introduced to the surviving members of the Collins family residingin the very same mansion which is now in evident decay: Elizabeth(Michelle Pfeiffer) and her teen daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz),Elizabeth's widowed brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller) and his tormentedson David (Gulliver McGrath), and their staff which consists of David'spsychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), Willie Loomis(Jackie Earle Haley), and Mrs. Johnson (Ray Shirley). Barnabas isreleased from his coffin by accident when some construction workersfind the coffin and open it. He returns to the mansion which is now inruins and after convincing Elizabeth of his true identity promises thathe will restore the family to its former glory. What he doesn't know isthat the town is run by Angelique now he is still very much alive andhasn't aged one bit.The first half of the movie worked for me as a very dark comedy. Iactually enjoyed the film, until the final act which just went a littletoo far in its bizarre act and eccentricities (even for Tim Burtonstandards). The final act was a disappointment, but I did enjoy mostparts of the story. Johnny Depp played his usual strange self andMichelle Pfeiffer was great in her role. She claimed to be a fan of theoriginal soap opera that took place during the late 60's and 70's whichthis film is actually based on. Despite the television show not being acomedy, this film actually plays out as one in the same way most70'sand 80's TV series are being turned into in recent years. I am abig fan of Chloe Grace Moretz and have followed her since her work in500 Days of Summer, Kick Ass, and Let Me In. I wish she had been givenmore screen time because she is always a delight to watch on screen andhad an interesting character. Dark Shadows is a very weird movie anddefinitely not for everyone; it won't be ranked among Burton's bestwork either (not even close) so I don't know if fans will actuallyenjoy this film, but I did have enough of a good time during most ofthe film to give this film a passing grade. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com

Doha Film

(2013-04-06 12:28:49)

A Lot of Fun

The Burton-Depp sense of exotic humor is back once again, making areturn after 'Alice in Wonderland' to hypnotize us with a vampire tale.Imagine a man from the 17th century landing in 1972. Now imagine thatman is Johnny Depp in a Tim Burton film… need I say more? Based on the1966-1971 soap opera of the same name, Depp finally realizes his dreamof incarnating the role of Barnabas Collins, a 200-year old vampire. Hereturns to the age of rock and roll and hippie nonchalance tore-establish the once very successful family business. But an oldaffair- with a now powerful witch- isn't about to let some 'noble'blood-thirsty ruin her fish kingdom. If you think our intro is absurd,wait till you watch the film.The film goes back to 1760, when the Collins' established Collinsport,a flourishing fishing port. They worked very hard on their family tradebut gave their son Barnabas a very precious piece of advice; thegreatest fortune of all is family. The wealthy young man grows up tobecome a Don Juan, breaking some hearts on the way including that ofthe aforementioned witch, the Collins's servant Angelique Bouchard (EvaGreen). When he finds his own true love, Josette DuPres, Angelique inan act of jealousy puts a spell on her rival, forcing her to jump from'Widow's Peak'. Baranbas meanwhile is doomed to suffer for eternity asa vampire. Angelique then turns the town against him, and he is buriedalive in a chained coffin.Two centuries later he is accidentally released, only to find atroubled and financially ruined extended family. However Angelique wasliving happily covered in wealth and beauty.History repeats itself in a different era, and the conflict is back onfire between the two former lovers. Baranbas's priority is to bringback the glory of his family history, while Angelique is obsessed withpower at any cost. It gets even better now that she has a new rival whostole Baranbas heart away; Victoria (Bella Heathcote) who recentlymoved to the castle as a governess of the orphaned David Collins(Gulliver McGrath).Besides the absolutely gorgeous 70's 'free look' apparel, versus thestark black Gothic persona, the outcome is "Shakespeare in the Park"(borrowed from 'The Avengers'), with the 1967 Moody Blue's hit 'Nightsin White Satin' in the intro. The dialogue is Shakespeare meeting AliceCooper, literally.Recent reviews have been a bit harsh on the film, but guess what? It'sa lot of fun.Find all of our film and festival coverage as well as our education andevents at www.DohaFilmInstitute.com. Follow us on Twitter @DohaFilm.

johnrmsn

(2013-03-20 23:39:38)

A cheesy horror dark comedy romance schlock-movie film that you need to have a taste for to understand it's humor and the endurance for its dry spells

It's all about Johnny Depp as Barnabus Collins. Every scene that yousee him, there's definitely a kind of atmosphere that follows himeverywhere. While the other characters of the film just seem boring,Johnny adds life to everyone in every scene he's in. It almost becamefunny in places. The humor is of the dry variety of comments/jokes.They are told in a creepy and weird manner by Johnny and solely byJohnny. Definitely not the kind of thing that you can laugh out loud tobut instead you think about what was just said, which makes for apretty boring movie to watch. Tim Burton shouldn't bother with asequel. If you want to watch a show about creepy monster types that thewhole family can enjoy, just watch the Addams family. Waaay moreenjoyable.

Miss_Yum_yum

(2013-03-20 06:09:41)

Meh...OK if you are bored this summer and want to get out of the heat

I love Johnny Depp. Also love Tim Burton, but this wasn't up to theirusual quality. The plot was riddled with moments of "huh???" Never mind that a vampiremovie by it's very nature demands willful suspension ofdisbelief...this one is waaaay out on a limb. Writers of this genreneed to "pick and stick:" that is, either totally reference theoriginal and don't even try to pick up viewers who don't know the DarkShadows of the sixties, OR quit throwing in stuff that MIGHT make senseif you remember the convoluted plot lines of long ago. You can't do amediocre job at both. There were multiple moments of total disconnect.The show had it's funny moments; don't get me wrong...I laughed outloud a few times. But I also found myself tilting my watch to catch thelight and check the time. The last fifteen minutes were gratuitous andjust plain silly. It had the visual loveliness of a Burton film, but I was expectingAlice quality, and it did not deliver. The music was forgettable, andthough there were nice references to popular tunes, the original musicseemed lackluster in comparison. I didn't get engaged enough with the characters...it was a case of"yeah, yeah...let's wrap this up." Honestly, I was disappointed with Dark Shadows. It could have beenreally spectacular. Sadly, it was not.

Kristine

(2013-03-13 22:59:12)

1972 and not one cameo appearance by Blackula? Tim, when did you stop having fun?

Boy, is there anything Tim Burton and Johnny Depp won't do together?This is the ultimate bromance I've ever heard of. Tim Burton is a gooddirector, but even more of a great visualist and story teller. He hassome really terrific and unique ideas and the reason he's praised by alot of fans is because he's different and doesn't bend over forstudios, he knows his audience and loves them. But when it comes to himremaking or rebooting something like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,Planet of the Apes, Alice in Wonderland…he's not as strong and focused.When he has his own ideas, he knows how to get the point across, butsomeone else's ideas, he doesn't seem to know how to take control andseems to be a fan boy more than how to keep the story straight. So he'sgiven us Dark Shadows, a cult favorite show from the 70's. I didn'twatch the entire TV series, but remember watching it as a kid on TVLand and loving the spooky feeling it gave me. Tim Burton instead ofgoing with the dark story line, gives us The Addams Family Revisited.In 1760, Barnabas Collins is a wealthy playboy in Collinsport and isthe master of Collinwood Manor. He breaks the heart of a witch,Angelique, who kills his parents, curses his family, and has his loverleap to her death from a nearby cliff and finally turns Barnabas into avampire and buries him alive in a chained coffin in the woods. In 1972,Barnabas is accidentally freed from his coffin by a group ofconstruction workers. He drains their blood and makes his way back toCollinwood Manor where he finds his once-magnificent mansion in ruin.The manor is currently occupied by Barnabas' dysfunctional descendants.Barnabas decides to restore his family name, but when Angeliquediscovers that he has escaped his shallow grave, she plots revenge andtries to win him back.There are good points in the film like Johnny Depp's performance, whichhe seemed to have a bit of fun with this role. Not his strongestperformance, but much better than what he's been doing this past year.He just clicks better with stranger roles for some reason. MichellePfeiffer, who seriously must've sold her soul to the devil to look thatamazing at 54 years old, does give it her all. The cinematography isjust beautiful and the castle looks amazing and almost takes you backinto the Hammer horror movies, speaking of which had a nice touch onhaving the film poster Dracula AD 1972 in the background at the movietheater and then have Christopher Lee being hypnotized by Johnny Depp.The jokes despite falling flat after a while provide a good laugh.We have an excellent cast and it feels like most of them really go towaste. Chloë Grace Moretz, who I really like, could've been a moreinteresting character but falls flat and randomly without explanationbecomes a werewolf at the end. Jackie Earle Haley is a drunk, HelenaBonham Carter is a tired alcoholic hag who wants to live forever andJonny Lee Miller is a greedy uncle…that's it for their screen time. Iwould've loved to see more focus on the family vs. Barnabas andAngelique going at it every five minutes of her begging for him backand him saying no constantly. Tim Burton had some good ideas for thisone, but like most of his remakes or reboots, he didn't fully get theoriginal message and didn't know where to go with this one. He makesBarnabas into a monster, then wants you to love him because he's cursedand trying to be good, but then murders people who try to help him, buthe's so good with his niece and nephew that you have to love him again.I'm not surprised that not as many people are liking this as theyexpected it would, from the trailer, this seemed a little too goofy andoff from the original series. I was just hoping that Tim and Johnnywould've put a little more thought into this one, we could've used agreat reboot to this cool, but dated TV series. But given some credit,at least they used a real vampire, Alice Cooper, who is 140 years oldand is still rocking like he's 20! 6/10

Karl Self

(2013-03-13 10:57:40)

Dark Shadows, bad dialogues

Dark Shadows is visually a great Tim Burton movie, but the script istotally insufficient. It's based on the eponymous late-1960ies soapopera, which is still one of the longest TV series (in terms ofepisodes) in history. I didn't know about the series, and it's hard togauge how many out of the 2012 audience have it on their radar -- veryfew will have actually seen it. Director Tim Burton is apparently ahuge fan of the series, which may have lead to him getting carriedaway. Or maybe condensing 1125 episodes into a 90 minutes feature filmis an impossible feat to begin with. What Burton came up with is thestory of a 200 year old vampire resurfacing in the colourful early1970ies (roughly the era when the run of the original series ended),which is mainly characterised by macramé, troll dolls and Alice Cooper.And a few stoner hippies. Unlike the original series, the 2012 featurefilm is a comedy, and the culture clash between the ancient vampire andhis modern-age family and surroundings could have been a functionalplot motor, but unfortunately it falls completely flat because thescript -- and especially the dialogues -- sucks. Hard to fathom in amovie that cost US$ 150 million. The result is a movie that is sodisappointing that I can't even recommend it for home viewing.

Emma Dinkins

(2013-03-08 23:03:23)

Chix Chat on Film Review: Some time spent with a vamp.

When I originally saw the trailer for Dark Shadows, my first thoughtwas why would Tim Burton remake this classic supernatural televisionseries drama about a tormented vampire named Barnabas Collins (JohnnyDepp) into a comedy? My second thought was this is going to suck, nopun intended. Turns out it wasn't really a comedy as much as it was acomedic take on the Barnabas situation. It was actually fairlymasterfully done keeping the tone of the film balanced between comedyand creepy, although the funniest comedic dialogue was in the trailer.I was pretty young when the series aired on television, but I didrecognize the names of most of the characters and their demeanors, sothe film did stay pretty much true to the Elizabeth Collins (MichelePfeiffer) persona of a cold and calculating woman putting her owninterests first. I don't recall much about her daughter CarolynStoddard (Chloe Grace Moretz), but I was more fascinated by Ms. Moretzthan her role. Did I miss the time warp memo? First of all wasn't shelike ten in Hugo and wasn't that just last year and now she's fifteen.Speaking of a time warp, how is it that Alice Cooper looked just as oldin 1972 as he does today? And for comedy sake the Alice Cooper being awoman joke is just old, as is the balls joke, and now I just feel likeI'm ranting. So here's the thing, I wanted to see a wildly originalfilm that would be fun and memorable, and it just didn't turn out thatway. There were the obvious Beetlejuice moments, and there were momentsthat the story was so stalled that I almost dozed off. I will saythough that the recreation of 1972 was pretty cool, as an eleven yearold I found the psychedelic age fascinating and hearing the CurtisMayfield Superfly soundtrack as a backdrop to that film with the nameprominently displayed on the small town movie marquee totally took meback. Unfortunately, that same type of fond memory was not the endresult from viewing Dark Shadows, even with Johnny Depp and MichellePfeiffer leading the cast, it just fell short. Angelique (Eva Green)was supposed to be a super villain and I found nothing about her or hervendetta to be at all interesting, the most interesting character wasWillie (Jackie Earle Haley), whose apathy was probably what I couldrelate to most, with that I give this film an amber light, only becauseof my Superfly moment.

mukava991

(2013-03-08 17:24:18)

starts okay, devolves into screeching camp

Tim Burton's reimagining of "Dark Shadows" is a mishmash. The original"Dark Shadows" TV series unfolded - sometimes leisurely, sometimesrecklessly - from plot to plot, highlighting along the way a variety ofcharacters including a warlock, a "phoenix," various ghosts,werewolves, psychics and spiritual mediums, witches, Frankensteins andmad doctors, professors of the occult, religious fanatics, and endlessvampire victims. Time travel warped the chronological flow for monthsat a time. It was the pull of the overlapping narratives, improbable asthey were, combined with the persuasiveness of the characters and theever-present unifying element of creepy musical underscoring by RobertCobert that kept audiences watching despite the tacky special effects,botched line readings and wobbly set pieces which, ridiculous as theywere, transmitted an otherworldliness which was alien to anything elseon the small screen at that time and which even today retains asingular character.First, let it be said that Burton and his writing team, faced withwinnowing out two hours of content from an ocean of possibilities, hadto make hard choices. Unfortunately they chose silly camp as theiroverriding style. The introductory scenes, set in the mid-1700's and narrated by JohnnyDepp, straightforwardly and melodramatically explain how BarnabasCollins, the young heir to coastal Maine seafood canning fortune, isturned into a vampire by the spiteful witch Angelique as punishment forfavoring another female. Being supernatural creatures, Barnabas andAngelique never die, so we meet them again 200 years later.But when we are whisked to the year 1972 as a construction crewinadvertently digs up Barnabas's chain-wrapped coffin, the moviesuddenly descends into broad CGI-assisted slapstick and ironic camp,with the most consistent theme being Barnabas as odd man out fromanother era mistaking electronic or mechanical devices such asautomobiles, TVs or neon signs as satanic apparitions. When we are introduced to the 20th century occupants of Collinwood, thefamily estate, the movie turns to the style of sometimes clever,sometimes over-obvious drawing room banter. Once the characters havebeen established the story galumphs along through a combination ofmontages (some with visual wit) accompanied by 70s pop music andoutbursts of violence (fights, explosions, a wild seduction) until thedreary mess finally ends.The trajectory of the plot - the struggle of Barnabas to save hisfamily from Angelique's curse and reunite with the modern incarnationof his 18th century lover - brings us too often into the outside worldof the nearby town with its noises, bright lights and bustle andcorporate board meetings and high-lit factory assembly lines, whichviolates the stark and morbid Gothic atmosphere that made the originalseries unique. Simple face-to-face dialogues with perhaps a bit offisticuffs or strangulation, a dash of poison or a bullet or two, arereplaced by endless orgies of environment-shattering mayhem, drowningout the melancholia that was one of the hallmarks of the series. We arebenumbed. Perhaps the lowest point is reached at a ball thrown by theCollins family to ingratiate themselves with the community which theyhave alienated over the decades. A remarkably well-preserved AliceCooper plays himself as the "entertainment," complete with rockensemble, while four cast members from the original series make afleeting and utterly pointless cameo appearance as guests among thecrowd. They seem insulted, degraded.Johnny Depp emerges with dignity as the conflicted vampire BarnabasCollins. He makes the character his own while also channeling keyaspects of the role's originator Jonathan Frid not only in hisalmost-British line readings, but also in the way he extends hisconsonants, particularly his s's, at the ends of words. He maintains ahaunted dignity, aided by some beautifully written lines in the 18thcentury style. The other cast members range from excellent (Chloe GraceMoretz as bratty Collins daughter Caroline) to good (Johnny Lee Miller,as the decadent Roger Collins, who could have been even better if hehad been given more of a chance) to sloppy (Helena Bonham Carter, asDr. Julia Hoffman, who tries to cure Barnabas of vampirism; she too isundermined by the script which makes her sober, thoughtful characterinto a pill-popping, carrot-haired lush for no apparent reason).It would be interesting if other directors took a crack at "DarkShadows." There is much in this iconic artifact of popular culture todraw from and it's a shame to let it go to waste. How about it, Mr.Lynch?