Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I know that SGS worked mostly on Barnabas, though.

That was certainly what we were initially lead to believe. But there have been so many conflicting stories since then regarding what Grahame-Smith contributed that it's hard to know what to believe anymore. 

2 days 8 hours 55 minutes 32 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Reminds me of a Moody Blues song.   

[Phil]

I just finished writing a 2000 word review of the film and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the movie...

[Phil]

Edit: I misread the post I was responding to. But I don't think much of August's contribution is left in the film.

[jimbo]

Although I have serious creative concerns about this movie I do want to see it succeed. I do hope there will be more positive reviews coming our way because the majority have been real poor. Now Forbes is questioning if it will be successful. http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerfriedman/2012/05/08/is-dark-shadows-the-next-big-hollywood-flop/

[Nancy]

Eh, knowing Johnny, he probably agrees.  What is probably more important to Johnny was that Frid himself was supportive.  I don't think it was ever Johnny's intent to replace Frid in any way.

The whole deal about whether or not Depp will replace Frid is, by itself, an illogical argument.  You can't replace another person.  You can do work like they did, maybe copy the manner in which it was displayed, but that's it.  Each work has to stand on its own.
 

I have joined several DS Facebook groups, but confess that I haven't spent a lot of time on them.  Taeylor's is by far the nicest and I apologize for not participating more there.  But I spot checked a few of these sites this morning, and I was horrified by some of the behavior I saw there. People are absolutely gleeful that Variety didn't give a rave review, or that the forecast isn't for Avengers numbers.

Sorry to sound so much like Spock but, again, that behavior doesn't make any sense.  Many, many critics have panned DS for decades so, if reviewers are right about the merit of a film or TV series, were they all right about how bad the original DS is?  How can we dismiss those reviewers yet embrace another? Because the reviewer agrees with us?  VARIETY panned one of my all-time favorite movies when it came out - the Alastair Sim version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  I think it's a fantastic film and one of the favorites of many at Christmas time. 

The FB pages devoted to nay-saying the movie from the time it was announced has in its own way been fascinating though occasionally alarming.   It's difficult for me to relate to people who spend lots of time telling one and all how much they dislike a film, dislike the directors and/or actors in a project.  I've shared those feelings about many film projectors but never thought to create message boards or FB groups for the purpose of amplifying my negative feelings for days, weeks, months.  It strikes me as an incredible waste of time to be steeped in negative feelings.  I can't but wonder what propels that need to express the negativity on an on-going basis for a prolonged period of time.  Why get that angry over a remake of a film even if it is based on an original you loved?  And why stay that angry for so long? 

Weird.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just finished writing a 2000 word review of the film and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the movie...

I haven't read any reviews yet - but I would expect most will be mixed because given what we're already aware of about the film, there will probably be things critics will like and there will probably be things they don't know what to think about. But then, isn't that the case with most Burton films lately? Though if the latest TV spots are any indication, there are already some rave reviews out there. But to balance them, I'm pretty certain there will also be reviews that hate the film...

2 days 7 hours 50 minutes 10 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Gothick]

I don't know to what extent this factor has been discussed here, but we are obviously all aware of disgruntled DS fans gunning for the project in certain forums. Where reviews are concerned, the factor to be aware of is that there are people in "the Industry," including a number of professional critics, who are gunning for Tim Burton and who have probably been sharpening their hatchets for weeks now in preparation for the movie's opening.

I can't go over the litany of reasons why so many people in the industry profess to have had it with Burton, but it's been a frequent topic in certain other forums where I have seen the DS project discussed.  This has nothing to do with people's perceptions about what DS should or should not be; it has to do with people perceiving that Burton has sold out/come to a dead end/stopped caring/is repeating himself/etc. and so on.

The Forbes mag piece seems a bit premature.  There are many cases of movies tanking with the critics and cleaning up at the box office.  Just think of the Adam Sandler films (I think these were mentioned previously), the hot tub time machine films, the hangover films, etc.

cheers, G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I do hope there will be more positive reviews coming our way because the majority have been real poor.

After reading the Forbes article, I checked Rotten Tomatoes, and since the article DS has gone up from 20% to 33%. However, not even one of the favorable reviews from the TV spots is currently listed there - and it's not like the spots are quoting from unknown critics...

2 days 7 hours 36 minutes 35 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Where reviews are concerned, the factor to be aware of is that there are people in "the Industry," including a number of professional critics, who are gunning for Tim Burton and who have probably been sharpening their hatchets for weeks now in preparation for the movie's opening.

That's certainly something else to keep in mind - with Burton as well as Depp. I mean, just look at some of the Alice in Wonderland reviews. Scathing would be putting it mildly.

There are many cases of movies tanking with the critics and cleaning up at the box office.  Just think of the Adam Sandler films (I think these were mentioned previously), the hot tub time machine films, the hangover films, etc.

There are really too many to list, which is one of the reasons I mused the other day if reviews serve any purpose other than for the critics to see their own opinions in print. Good reviews can help smaller films. But bad reviews hardly ever seem to hurt as much as the critics would like them to...

Though if written well, really bad reviews can often be hysterical to read - even when they're skewering a film you might have liked. Some of the Twilight Saga reviews are priceless - yet terrible reviews haven't hurt one of those films at the box office...

2 days 7 hours 29 minutes 34 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Nancy]

I seem to recall "Pirates" getting pummeled by critics too.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

DS is now up to 40% - and still none of the reviews from the spots are listed...

2 days 7 hours 20 minutes 41 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

The whole deal about whether or not Depp will replace Frid is, by itself, an illogical argument.  You can't replace another person.  You can do work like they did, maybe copy the manner in which it was displayed, but that's it.  Each work has to stand on its own.

Yeah, I think that you and I are in complete agreement about that.  Yet, I do kinda see the argument in one regard- whenever there's been more than one portrayal of a character/story, whether it be Barnabas Collins or Hamlet, there is bound to be a discussion of who gave the "definitive" performance.  And some will always have a specific person in mind as an answer:  Jonathan Frid, Laurence Olivier, whatever.  And they may fear that that definitive portrayal may be forgotten or diluted by someone else's portrayal.  I can see where that is coming from, but I disagree- as you say, Nancy, each work can stand on its own and there can be more than one definitive performance, if they're both enjoyed.  Or there can even be a definitive performance and an alternative version, if you will. 

Regarding reviews, I don't mean to say that I am reliant on reviews of a film, but I don't totally ignore them either.  I think of them as one of many tools to deciding whether a film interests me, others being the director, the cast, the genre, the story (including articles giving background on it), the trailer, etc.  And often I am more interested in what the review actually says than whether it's positive or negative per se.  When Roger Ebert was in his prime, I could usually tell from reading his reviews whether I would like a film or not, and not necessarily from the grade he gave it.  But he would always give enough interesting points pro or con that I could decide whether those points were things that were important to me or not.  Nowadays, I find his reviews less helpful than I used to, though I still read them.  And there are others that I do find useful.  All this said, I'd rather see a film I want to do well with fresh reviews rather than rotten ones!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you get ES.TV (which is the weekday version of the weekend show Entertainers) on any of the channels in your area, I just checked my DVR and discovered that Chloe Moretz is on tomorrow, Eva Green is on Thursday, and Michelle Pfeiffer is on Friday. And the show is always worth checking out because they do nice interviews.

2 days 6 hours 27 minutes 33 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I agree, madscntst, that sometimes reading a review can be quite interesting regardless if it's pro or con. Sadly though, reviewers who write that way seem to be a dying breed these days. And while it's often nice when a critic might share some of the same opinions I might have - or even cause me to question my own opinions in the face of theirs - more and more I seem to find that I don't put much stock in critic's opinions. I certainly don't find myself as amused by reviews as I once was. And it's most certainly a case that there's no longer anything like the influential critic whose review on its own could help or hinder a film. And maybe that's because so many critics seem to be cut with the same cookie cutter. There was once a time that you could read a review and know who had written it without ever checking the byline. Those days are seemingly long gone...


But getting back on topic, here are some more articles:

Chloe Moretz: 'Dark Shadows' After Party!

Exclusive: Chloe Moretz On Exploring Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows Red Carpet Premiere

Well Played: Bella Heathcote At The “Dark Shadows” Premiere

Eva Green and Michelle Pfeiffer Premiere Dark Shadows and More

2 days 5 hours 51 minutes 59 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!