Work is crazy. I can't wait for the holidays to be over.
Oh, and Bill O'Reilly has a vendetta against Barnes & Noble, because he claims we are the "#1 retailer in the War Against Christmas". *rolls eyes* Get a life, dude.
Jason and I saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets tonight, which was quite fun. It wasn't as awesome as the first one, but it was a fun popcorn flick. It also made me think that ridiculous Shakespeare book Interred with Their Bones that I read would have been infinitely better as a movie, so long as done like National Treasure.
Also, Jess, Jason, and I saw a midnight showing of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Nothing, I mean nothing, could have prepared me for this movie. It doesn't matter that I've seen a video of the play; it doesn't matter that I've already been listening to the cast recording obsessively since Tuesday.
The ending freaked me out in a way I didn't think a movie could.
My heart was pounding; my palms were sweating. I felt nauseous, and I sat there for the last 15 minutes with my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open in horror.
The way Johnny Depp murders his victims can only be described as a blood orgasm, especially in the final scenes. But it wasn't just the monstrousness of Sweeney alone that made the end so vicerally horrific. All the characters, whether in the way they die or the way they kill, just upset me so much I can't quite express it properly. It's not even a matter of squeemishness about the blood; the blood was purposely very fake looking (typical of Tim Burton). The issue I had was the casual or even gleeful way these characters comitted absolute atrocities - murder, rape, cannibalism, lies, deceit, cruelty. I was disturbed on a very fundamental level. I also think the fact that this film is populated by actors I've always really loved made it more disturbing for me. Because you do sympathize with Sweeney's lust for revenge. You do wish Mrs. Lovett to win Sweeney's heart because she, despite everything, wins yours with her wit and humor. The charms of the characters and the actors pull you in and then drag you further than your sympathies can take you. You end up somewhere so dark, that I at least had a physical reaction.
All in all, this is probably the greatest movie musical I have ever seen. Sweeney Todd is a work of art the likes of which I didn't think Hollywood was ever really capable of making. But I really can't tell you if I liked it or not. It was amazing, brilliant, visionary - but I really can't tell you if I liked it.