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News / Columns / RT on DVD
RT on DVD: Oscar-Winning Sweeney Todd Slashes Away The Competition
Tim Burton's vibrant operetta leads releases new to DVD.
by Jen Yamato | March 31, 2008
Discuss Article
Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as Tim Burton's deliciously gory operetta-turned-film spectacle comes to DVD, the critical superior to the CGI/live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks and Jake Paltrow's dark romantic comedy The Good Night, starring sister Gwyneth, Martin Freeman, and Penelope Cruz.




Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tomatometer: 86%

Tim Burton turns his delightfully macabre sensibilities to the tale of Sweeney Todd, the bloodthirsty London barber with the sharpest straight razor in town. Adapting Steven Sondheim's Broadway play into an epic horror-musical feature film, Burton cast frequent collaborator Johnny Depp as the vengeful madman and his own baby mama, Helena Bonham Carter, as his meat-pie baking accomplice. Critics hailed the film as a lush, bloody affair true to both Burton's flair for the gruesome and Sondheim's original vision -- just don't expect perfectly polished vocals from its untrained leads. Pick up the 2-disc release for nine behind-the-scenes and filmmaker featurettes, a Moviefone Unscripted video with Burton and the Oscar-nominated Depp, and more.


Alvin and the Chipmunks

Tomatometer: 24%

The antics of lovable chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore have delighted generations of kids since their debut as a chart-topping gimmick group in 1958; now, critics say, the time for chipmunk love is no more. Updated as a family adventure blending live-action and CGI, the new pic finds the pop-singing trio helping a desperate jingle writer (Jason Lee) find a hit for the American Idol set - dismal stuff for grown-ups, especially those who look back with fondness on classic-era Alvin and the Chipmunks. Special features include an inside peek at Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, a conspicuous reminder that there are far better animated experiences out there than allowing oneself to get "Munk'd."




The Good Night

Tomatometer: 24%

A former pop star-turned-has been Gary (Martin Freeman) finds more happiness with his ideal woman in his dreams (Penelope Cruz) than he does with his sourpuss girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow) in this dark romantic comedy. As his dreams increasingly blur with reality, Gary must choose which life he'd rather have. Gwyneth's brother Jake makes his directorial debut with this Sundance entry, which the scribes say has plenty of interesting ideas unfortunately cobbled into somewhat of a snoozer. Eternal Sunshine fans may still find use of it; director Paltrow's audio commentary is the disc's lone extra feature.





The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream

Tomatometer: N/A

If you loved 1991's The Cutting Edge, and you watched ABC Family's 2005 sequel The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold, then you'll be interested to hear of this year's third installment, The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream. The cable-debuted trequel naturally follows the franchise formula of pairing a prim figure skater with a rough-and-tumble hockey player, but get this: the gender roles have been reversed, as a veteran male pairs skater (Matt Lanter) begrudgingly takes on a female Gretsky (Francia Raisa) to go for championship gold! Will the unlikely pair resolve their differences on and off the ice? Could -- gasp! -- romance bloom betwixt the two by movie's end? Pick up The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream to find out!




That '70s Show Season 8

Tomatometer: N/A

Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher may have left the show that made their careers in its eighth and final season, but the rest of that '70s crew stuck around to wrap up the hit series. Back in Season One could we have guessed that Donna (Laura Prepon) and Eric (Grace) wouldn't be together, that Jackie (Mila Kunis) would go for Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), or that disco would ever die? Twenty-two episodes, a handful of episode commentaries, a Season 8 in 8 Minutes featurette and plenty more extras comprise the four-disc release.




'Til next week, Ave atque vale.

Related Items
Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Good Night
The Cutting Edge
Celeb: Jake Paltrow
Martin Freeman
Tim Burton
Jason Lee
Gwyneth Paltrow
Penélope Cruz
Johnny Depp
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Comments (1-18 of 18 posts) | Reply
jokerboy1991
jokerboy1991 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 05:08 PM

Im definately getting SWEENEY TODD tomorrow it was really great. Not much else im interested in this week. I cant wait til next week for THERE WILL BE BLOOD that was ausome.

(Reply to this)
martinscorsese25
martinscorsese25 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 05:26 PM

man... i'm sad sweeney didnt got alot of oscar nominations.. i know it can't beat there will be blood or NCFOM.. i don't expect it to win.. i just wish i could have gotten oscar nods for being an amizing masterpiece by TIM BURTON..

here is my list of the things i thought the nominations this film will get.. some made it... alot didnt...

best make-up(win)
best art-direction(win)
best costume designed(win)
best cinematography--watch the film again, the direction of the photography was very good.(lose)
best sound editing(lose,bourne can't be beaten)
best director(lose,coens and PTA did a better job, but tim deserves recognition)
best picture(lose, it can't win againts films like NCFOM or there will be blood)
best actor(this isn't needed to be explained.. yeah i know depp's sweeney was probably one of the top 3 of his greatest performance, but everyone knows the guy who loves milkshakes is the one who will win(he deserve it)



(Reply to this)
Wallcloud
Wallcloud writes:
on Mar 31 2008 05:48 PM

yay! SWEENEY TODD has my $25

(Reply to this)
ManofStee1
ManofStee1 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:13 PM

Sweeney Todd on the 1st, There Will Be Blood on the 8th, Juno on the 15th and Cloverfield on the 22nd? This will be an expensive month...

(Reply to this)
Marktime
Marktime writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:15 PM

I'm excited to rent sweeney todd.

(Reply to this)
cora1984
cora1984 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:26 PM

WOW....I just read this on a hot forum on tall dating site~~~~~ Tallmingle.com which is a hot dating site for all tall friends and tall singles.


(Reply to this)
cora1984
cora1984 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:29 PM

Really? hard to believe.i heard this news times from many friends playing on a tall dating site~~~~ Tallmingle.com ~~~,i did not believe, i think that they are know nothing but dating and love.
i am wrong.


(Reply to this)
smushroom
smushroom writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:36 PM

Sweeney!..god it was so good and johnnys singing.OMG kool as hell

(Reply to this)
gee4411
gee4411 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 08:41 PM

i'm pretty sure That 70'show is awesome as... cant wait to get it lol
i really wanna see sweeney... in my town it has only just been released... (Australia to small town, its bound to take a while lol)


(Reply to this)
five_string_thing
five_string_thing writes:
on Mar 31 2008 08:52 PM

Do i wait for Todd to come on blu ray? Or, buy it tomorrow? decisions decisions

(Reply to this)
gsundt
gsundt writes:
on Mar 31 2008 10:24 PM

Yay Sweeney!

And cora 1984... WTF?


(Reply to this)
Gimy
Gimy writes:
on Apr 01 2008 05:26 AM

you nerds better be right about Sweeney Todd...i was pretty p2ssed to see how OVERRATED No Country was. i never doubt Depp but hearing all the hype from one of the Oscar's "best" and seeing that sh3t "ending" was ridiculous. good movie...then turned into complete garbage at the end. hopefully Sweeney Todd is an actual good movie through and through. but the more people hype a movie...the more often the movie tends to be overrated

(Reply to this)
Gimy
Gimy writes:
on Apr 01 2008 05:28 AM

by the way, season 8 of That 70's Show shouldn't be released...much like the last season of Friends shouldn't have been released...it was doomed from the start and it just didn't mesh into what the show had been. it was sad to watch...

(Reply to this)
jokerboy1991
jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 01 2008 09:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664292)
Why do you think NCFOM is overated? I thought it was the best movie in years.

(Reply to this)
tomwaitsjr
tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 01 2008 10:23 AM

I went to the tall mingle site, and to my surprise it was about Great Danes, Polar Bears, and a Giant can of Spam!

(Reply to this)
Gimy
Gimy writes:
on Apr 01 2008 10:41 AM

joka...it was overrated because it was a good movie UNTIL that ending. i'm sorry, thats why i couldn't say Brokeback shoulda won the oscar a coupla years ago(UNdramatic-bad ending) and there's NO WAY Old Country should have. it was the worst ending to a good movie i've ever seen. it was like one of my essays in school...i took time, wrote it well...then fell asleep the nite before and woke up the next morning...wrote a bunch of sh3t down...skippin parts JUST to finish it and turn it in on time. if it had an ACTUAL ending...it woulda been awesome. but it didn't, at all. if it just plain sucked, i could be a little easy on it...but it didn't. it was good...ntil that crap. shouldn't have won the Oscar...

(Reply to this)
Tim-A
Tim-A writes:
on Apr 01 2008 10:54 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664584)
........Um. No. It was an excellent film.

Maybe you should go read the book. There's a reason it won "Best Adapated Screenplay" too.


(Reply to this)
jokerboy1991
jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 01 2008 03:35 PM

In reply to this comment (#1664584)
That ending was great. The dream the character is talking about is suppose to symbolize on how the character gave up. Its so easy to uderstand if you just listen.

(Reply to this)
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