MOD EDIT: This thread was split off from here.

Okay. Saw Dark Shadows. In all honesty, it's probably the best film Burton has made in twenty years, but it still isn't very good. If taken scene by scene, you could almost think it's a good movie. The way Burton works is that he films very interesting scenes of very interesting things, but has no fucking clue how to turn that into a coherent story. Most of the plot lines come from left field, and ultimately are just left out there to catch butterflies, and ignore the rest of the game. There are a few parts, mostly at the end, where you will just sit there dumbfounded, asking yourself why the fuck that just happened, and if there is anyone that you can slap for letting it happen.

That being said, it is entertaining, and there were some very subtle nods to the original show that only people who watched it will get, such as an under her breath comment that Dr. Hoffman makes about David thinking that his mom is some sort of immortal, cyclical creature, and Victoria changing her name from Maggie Evans. Speaking of Victoria changing her name from Maggie Evans, that was easily the stupidest part of the film. It was clear that it was just a nod to a character from the series that they didn't include, but it made no fucking sense, as Victoria made up the name Victoria on the train from New York to Maine, after already getting the job to be the governess, showed up at the door, said "My name is Victoria, I'm the new governess", and they were all like "Oh, yeah, come in, Victoria. We've been expecting you". No, you weren't. You were expecting Maggie Evens, you dumb shits.

Tim Burton and Dark Shadows
 

I think all Burton movies are pretty much the same, at least character-wise.

Tim Burton and Dark Shadows
 

I think all Burton movies are pretty much the same, at least character-wise.

All Burton movies have the same flaws, and the same visual aesthetic.

All Burton movies have the same flaws, and the same visual aesthetic.

All Tim Burton movies are Tim Burton movies.

All Tim Burton movies are Tim Burton movies.

Deep, man. Deep.

Not as deep as your vagina, but deep.

Deep, man. Deep.

Not as deep as your vagina, but deep.

All Tim Burton movies are deep vaginas.

I have never seen a Tim Burton film, and I only know of him because of the internet.
I have, however, seen a film called The Bone Collector, and it was fucking shit.

No they aren't.

Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure are all fucking awesome movies. There was a time when Tim was a cool rebel on the Hollywood scene who did his own thing. That time is long over though.

Did you catch Jonathan Frid's cameo near the end?

All Tim Burton films are made by Tim Burton.

Apart from Nightmare Before Christmas.

I did. I also saw three other members of the original cast. The original Angelique, Maggie Evans, and Quentin Collins. The guy who played Quentin in the show was probably the only one that went on to have a respectable career after Dark Shadows. David Selby is an excellent actor, and has been in a ton of shit. I actually just saw him on Mad Men a couple weeks ago.

Which is hilarious, because that's the movie everyone knows him for. He was only about 50% of the creative force behind that film, the rest was Henry Selick, who also gave us James and The Giant Peach and Coraline.

Frid died pretty much right after the movie was finished. His voice will be missed.

Apparently, after they started shooting, Tim only turned up for a total of two days.

I'm going to be completely honest here:

The only movie I wasn't young enough to not remember seeing, that I've enjoyed of Burton's, is Sleepy Hollow.

Frid was an awful actor who is hilarious to watch stumble his way through his lines. The only reason that his character wasn't killed at the end of his story arc the way they had planned was because he was so awful at delivering his lines that the viewers thought they were watching a reluctant villian, and grew to love him. The writers eventually started writing his character that way purposely.

Another funny thing about Frid is that a few writers were fired from the show because the production staff couldn't make them understand that they needed Frid's dialogue to be as small as possible.

Based on the trailers, Depp didn't feel like he was trying at all to embody the campiness of Frid's character. Did the original Barnabas come through at all, or was Depp just playing every other British character he's ever played?

Depp has been great in most if not all of his roles I think. Pirates of the Caribbean, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Public Enemies, Chocolat, Alice In Wonderland, Rango, Sweeney Todd. Is there nothing this man can't do?

Hire decent PR.

About four of those roles are nearly the exact same character. I'll let you guess which four.

The costume was accurate. That's about it. Michelle Phifer (spelling?) was good as Elizabeth, and Helena Bonham Carter was perfect as Dr. Hoffman. I was very disappointed by Jackie Earl Haley's Willie Loomis. Willie was one of the most interesting characters in the show, and was very well acted. They basically neutered his character completely. Oh, and Chloe Moretz was a really good Caroline. The kid they had playing David was nowhere near as good of an actor as the original, which they should be ashamed of themselves for, seeing as he was a child actor on a low budget soap in the 60's.

OANST said Dark Shadows was entertaining, so I guess that's a seal of approval. I'm also a real sucker for style over substance stuff, which it seems to be.

You must be a huge Burton fan then.

It's fun to watch. I'll give it that. It isn't very good, but it doesn't really have to be.

You could argue that if it was actually a good movie, it would be going against the source material. Making a serious movie out of a campy idea is hugely popular among filmmakers these days, and I can appreciate that Tim Burton sees the absurdity of it and keeps it camp.

But.....it's not campy. The original is camp in the correct way (played completely straight, and funny because of that), while the movie is an intentional comedy.

Edit: Also, there are times when Dark Shadow's acting, and writing are both excellent. They did some really interesting things on that show that nobody else would have ever tried on television during that time.

I think this has potential to be a longer discussion about Tim Burton films, so I split it off to its own thread.

OANST/Sekto: Are you able to provide a Youtube clip that gives me an idea of what the TV show was like? Obviously a short clip isn't going to be the full experience, but I'd like to know what you mean by the campy-yet-straight nature of it.

All I've heard of this movie is that it's Depp being Depp for a couple of hours as he gets away with murder, is an unlikeable character, and drowns out the rest of the cast.