
I am so in love with Henry Selick’s animated 3D masterpiece Coraline that I will see it a hundred times more, and if so allowed, many times thereafter. Such a luscious and ample world it creates. From the very launch of the film, a tiny whiff of shadowy wonder swiftly frees my inner child, taking him by the hand, touching the oh-so-curious nature of his heart, to place him delicately at the foot of magnificent awe and splendor.
Based on Neil Gaiman’s superlative book, Coraline achieves a classic ambience, a look and feel that has and will continue to weave itself into the very fabric of our culture. Fantastic characters, visual parades of pomp and circumstance, Gothic flights of fancy all wrapped within a musical score by the stirred maestro Bruno Coulais, and this Coraline is easily and without question this generation’s Wizard of Oz.
I have heard the whispers of caution to the kiddies. Ignore them all I tell you. For flying monkeys grabbing little girls and puppy dogs in the land of Oz certainly had me running for the covers when I was just a child, and the very reason I went back for more each and every year. Life IS scary after all, and unpredictable, and wondrous too. That’s why Coraline fits the bill so scrumptiously.
I will not waste your precious time on regurgitated storylines or detailed moments that spoil the surprise, but rather encourage you to go out and buy your ticket straight away at once without delay. For when I sat in the theatre full of adults and wee ones chattering and guffawing about nothing much, the moment Coraline parted the curtains, there was a hush that lingered throughout the entire film. Only the collective waves of revelations, yelps, and opulent ovations remained until the final credits rolled. A wondrously fabulous thing indeed!
In e†ernity,
Brazillia R. Kreep
CORALINE’S PLIGHT
So ignored cute Coraline
From her lips began to whine
On this n’ that and other things
O’ How her mind performed handsprings
Into shadows here n’ there
Places where y’go nowhere
Up n’ down n’ all around
In n’ out n’ quite housebound
Coraline would soon begin
A journey everywhere within
Through a tiny modest door
Supernatural decor
T’find such splendid things
Upside down round rumblings
Pings n’ pangs n’ bings n’ bongs
Dings n’ dangs n’ dips n’ dongs
Coraline exhausted all
Soon t’sleep before nightfall
Then t’wake back home n’ then
Open up the door again
Pops n’ pows n’ booms n’ bangs
Fits n’ fizzes n’ Tweets n’ twangs
All of it was grandiose
Words of it were quite verbose
Yet a price She’d have t’pay
As the darkness came t’stay
Deeper darker days appeared
Wild this was so awfully weird
How she wished it in reverse
Creepy creatures t’disburse
But too late our sweetie be
How she’d pay so dearly
Coraline knew but did ignore
Be careful, kids, what you wish for
Filed under: NEWS, REVIEWS | Tags: © 2008, Brazillia R. Kreep, film, Johnny Depp, Musucal, R. Productions, Sweeney Todd, There will be Blood

by
Brazillia R. Kreep
I’ve had several acquaintances like our odd Mr. Todd, but they never hovered in my life very long. They always had somewhere else to go–in a hurry–that I often thought they were bigwigs in some dark commerce or the arts, surgeons or maybe even lawyers at the least. So that when they changed their addresses, my letters to them returned unopened, I assumed they sold their properties and were living off another adventure across the salty seas. Actually, that’s not all together fair. One letter, from a Mac Z. Thumb was returned t’me, opened, with a perfectly formed bloodstain and a smear or two on the flap–a lovely souvenir. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is one of those shady characters. He has a past that would toss you about at night. Your fingernails gauging the bedpost in the moonlight for fear you might never sleep t’dream again. T’is good t’pity and fear the man.
Filed under: REVIEWS | Tags: © 2008, Brazillia R. Kreep, film, Johnny Depp, Musucal, R. Productions, Sweeney Todd, There will be Blood

by
Brazillia R. Kreep
The history of the Barber of Fleet Street is as long a winding road as any title character has ventured. Todd himself first appeared in 1846 as a villain of a popular “penny dreadful” (so coined because of the cost & the content) magazine serial entitled The String of Pearls. It was a hit. In 1920 he surfaced on the boards in a melodrama penned by George Dibdin-Pitt simply entitled Sweeney Todd. Then our Mr. Todd made several film appearances in English fare until he landed back on the boards in an American Broadway Musical, music and lyrics by the Great White Way icon Stephen Sondheim. That production transformed the dastardly Todd into a forlorn anti-hero instead of the murderous robber he truly was. Who could complain, really? It starred two titans of the stage Len Cariou as the deranged Sweeney and Angela Lansbury as the scene-stealing, love-starved Mrs. Lovett. And fun was had by all. Sweeney has seen several stage revivals until the Demon Barber waited patiently to be brought back to life by a super star, pretty-boy, actor extraordinaire named mister Johnny Depp-thank you very much.
A Gothic treat, a naughty piece of eye candy that seldom disappoints, Mr. Burton’s blood ballet is a lovely slice of art. It is not the penny magazine or the stage play or even the musical it was based upon, but an entirely new beast. A terrifying opera with fangs where Depp sings his bloody heart out. He holds it up for all to see, still beating, dripping crimson-goo as he rock-stars all over the celluloid screen. Wonderful. See it on DVD in a Deluxe set with all the pomp and circumstance affordable for the price. Just remember to pay homage to a villain on equal footing as The Ripper, play it at the witching hour with the lights out, a few candles burning around the house. A glass of red wine, a potpie perhaps, and, oh yes… there will be blood.
THE ROT OF SWEENEY TODD
In the attic there he rots
Sweeney Todd plots n’ plots
Of ways to spill the blood of men
Then spill some more t’say amen
T’nightmare’s of his great love lost
Aught t’avenge at any cost
Sharp razor blades
Pot Pies in spades
The Demon Barber shaves n’ shaves
Though a price this Todd will pay
Sweltering plates of blood t’weigh
T’pour them over frozen heart
Thaw the pain t’dare depart
From filthy attic in the sky
Down below were demon’s fry
T’devil’s purge by fires hot
Fore’er our Sweeney Todd will rot


