On the Flipside

You know something that should really be banned? Dual-sided DVDs.

Seriously, I can never tell which side is which. There’s usualy a label on one side saying something like “Widescreen” or “Side A.” What really makes these things so bush league is that there’s usually no way of telling whether the widescreen version is the side with the label, or the reverse, since that’s the side that’ll be read by the DVD player. Even worse, I encountered one disc today that had the label “Fullscreen” followed, on the same label, with “Widescreen (flipside).”

“Hey, thanks,” I thought when I saw that. So, I put the “flipside” face-down, and found that the label lied to me.

Actually, this problem could be mostly solved if we could get a ban of fullscreen edition movies. Why would anyone prefer that to widescreen? Do there exist people who like to have the edges of the screen lopped off to fit standard television screen ratio? Get it together, people.

Bloggin’ for What?

One of WordPress’s niftier features is the “Blog Stats” page, which lets a blog’s owner know how many views he’s getting, and where they’re coming from. I bring this up because it appears that my top referrer for today is Summize’s page for Sweeney Todd, which I reviewed here, and their summary of me is what I like to call “mildly amusing.”

First of all, they got my name and my blog’s name wrong. They give the old name of this blog, “Oll Korrect for Class,” instead of the current name. Also, contrary to their summary, my posts are signed “_Ocelot,” not “ollkorrect.” I’m guessing that whoever put me up there just went by the URL. The lack of a picture of my blog also makes me look kinda, y’know, bush league. Like I don’t have the budget for a flashy setup.

I don’t have the budget for a flashy setup, but still…

What amused me the most, though, is the suggestion that this was a paid review. I’d be very interested to see what the stats are for individual reviews, but I don’t see a way to do that right now (I haven’t searched through the site real thoroughly yet, though). It looks like reviews just go up and down as people click whether or not a review was helpful, spam, or a paid review.

If anybody doubts it, no, I’ve never been paid for anything I’ve ever written, much less a little analysis of Sweeney Todd’s ending posted on “O.K.!” I don’t have the readership for that, unfortunately.

No, the reason I have this blog is the same reason I do everything. It amuses me slightly to have a blog, so I have a blog. If someone else is amused or enlightened by what I do here, great. If not, oh well. I don’t write this stuff for money, though.

Of course, if anyone out there has some spare change…

UPDATE: It looks like some of the oddities in Summize I address here have been revised. I’m both glad and mildly disappointed. With the changes, Summize got a little better, which is good because I actually like the site’s concept. On the other hand, the wrong name and not quite clearly worded “Paid Review?” tag had, in my opinion, more room for me to make jokes out of. Overall, the new setup is probably for the better, though. ^_^

Sweeney Todd

Warning: This review contains spoilers, so don’t read it if you haven’t seen Sweeney Todd and don’t want to know major plot points in advance.

I went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, director Tim Burton’s new film, Saturday morning. It was definitely the first horror musical I’ve ever seen, and unfortunately one of the few musicals of any sort made since 1960 or so. (Note, though, that I have not seen the original stage musical the film is based on, so I can’t comment on it).

Pretty much all musicals are stylish – that’s what makes them so great – and Sweeney was no exception. The settings, songs, costumes, and performances all contributed to the film’s dark atmosphere. The only exception was the subplot with Antony and Joanna.

Now, Joanna’s story does a lot to characterize Judge Turpin as the film’s villain, though Antony is the only major character who might be considered a hero. However, Joanna’s subplot with Antony also supplies the only part of the film that could leave the viewer with a feeling of satisfaction.

I say “could” because the outcome of the rest of the story is basically “everyone dies, the kid’s an orphan again, life sucks.” Joanna and Antony are still alive, though, and would seeem to have a decent chance for a happier ending, but Burton doesn’t show us what happens to them. Instead, the film ends with Toby killing Sweeney. Cutting from there to Antony taking his love interest in his arms and running away to a (possibly) happier life would have given the film a much more uplifting feeling at the end, and I’m guessing that’s why Burton left it out.

Whether this is the best ending is up for debate. Some people I’ve talked to about the film would have preferred more of a conclusion for Antony and Joanna. It certainly would have given the audience a greater sense of satisfaction, especially since the film does give a little hope for a happy ending for the main characters – not much, but a little. Such an ending, however, would have clashed with the atmosphere of the rest of the film. Antony’s sole purpose, I believe, is as a plot device. He’s the one who inadvertently chases Turpin out of Sweeney’s barber shop, allowing Sweeney to provide the meat for Mrs. Lovett’s delicious meat-pies from his other customers. His youthful optimism also provides a foil for Sweeney, and heightens the tragedy of the film’s main characters.

Showing Antony and Joanna rolling away to live happily ever after would have both to focus on an ultimately irrelevant sub-plot, and to demolish the film’s atmosphere just when it was at its strongest.

On a side note, one more thing the film made me realize is that I’ve never had a meat-pie. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a meat-pie. More of an English thing, I guess.