Beetle Juice

Tim Burton, 1988 (8.4*)
Sure, it's silly and uneven, yet this comedy of Tim Burton's is perhaps his funniest film. A young newlywed couple, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, who excels at comedy, move into a very nice New England country cottage, then nearly immediately drown in a freakish car accident. They wake up as unknowing ghosts, apparently still alive, yet soon realize that they are not in reality any longer.

A new family led by spouses Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones, and with a young, nihilistic teen played by Winona Ryder, buys the house and moves in. The newlywed ghosts want the family to leave, so they try haunting them away. They fail and enlist the help of "the ghost with the most", Beetlejuice, wonderfully played by a hilarious Michael Keaton.
Actor Glenn Shadix [photo rt] has a wonderful turn as the interior designer, Otho, who dabbles in the occult, pretending to be an expert when he has no real experience. [This review is being posted in his honor, as the actor was found dead today in his Alabama home, at 58, apparently after falling from his wheelchair]

Basic comic nonsense ensues to the delight of the audience. Don't look for much here other than comic fantasy, which this delivers quite well. Actor Keaton chose this film (over Burton's Batman) as the one of his work he'd put in a time capsule if limited to one.

Quote: "Go ahead, make my millenium!"
Quote2: "Hey, this could be a good look for me" (after having his head shrunken)

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Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton, 2007 (7.5*)
Best Picture (GG)
This has to be seen to be believed, as Johnny Depp shows that he has a David Bowie-esque singing voice in this musical about a barber who murders his victims in Victorian London, while girlfriend Helena Bonham Carter, who also sings quite well, cooks them up into Mrs. Lovett's meat pies that become the popular delicacy in London.

This is not for all tastes, and is actually quite gory, so it will likely appeal to teenagers more than anyone. As a successful stage play, there wasn’t realistic butchery like this, just simulated violence, so it would work better as a musical fantasy in that medium than it does in cinema. Some of the Stephen Sondheim music is actually quite unique and good, and this was one of the biggest musical plays since the 50's. Depp’s awesome range as an actor now has to include musicals.

More: for those interested in the gory story without any music, check out The Tale of Sweeney Todd with Ben Kingsley as Todd (!), and Joanna Lumley as Mrs. Lovett.

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Big Fish

Dir: Tim Burton, 2003 (9.0*)
This is my favorite Tim Burton film – he finally seemed to make a fantasy with heart. This is about a man, Billy Crudup, who is fed up with his dad’s Albert Finney’s "tall tales", but realizes he may not live forever so he ought to get to know him before its too late. The stories were from years of being a traveling salesman in the South, so he begins to piece together the facts (and finding his real dad), some of which we see in flashbacks, with Ewan McGregor playing the young Finney character who strikes off on his own looking for his calling. Look for heavily made-up Helena Bonham-Carter, who inhabits a hilarious leaning house. Full of magic and parables, such as one town takes your shoes when you enter so you can't walk away, tossing them over a high wire above main street. Even the dvd menu is magically animated, with the tree you see going through all four seasons if you wait - best menu ever! Four Oscar nominations, including Picture and Director.

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