Blood Lust Satisfied

I watched "Sweeney Todd" a couple of days ago, and loved it. "But, wasn't it violent and bloody, you ask?" Yes, yes, yes. It was. It isn't subtitled, "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for nothing, ya know.

On the other hand, there was that marvelous Stephen Sondheim music. Almost impossible to sing, because it is sometimes discordant, but that's what makes it so impressive. I'd bet there won't be a Stephen Sondheim night on American Idol any time soon.

Johnny Depp gave his usual flawless performance, and he can sing! Who knew? OK, everybody but me. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise. Helena Bonhan Carter was so-so, but she can't hold a candle to Angela Lansbury in that part. Nobody can. Sasha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman were well cast.

"But, about the blood?", you whimper. The thing is, although there was a lot of blood, you were never expected to believe that it was real. The whole movie had the feel of a Broadway musical, which it was, of course, originally. So, the blood-letting was more, oh, call it "theatrical" than realistic. It was red, it flowed freely, and without it, there would have been no show. Just don't think that you can cover your eyes only in the bloodiest parts, because you'll be peeking through your fingers for an hour and fifty minutes.

So, if you're even the slightest bit squeamish, you might want to give this movie a pass, but, you'll be missing a fine production.

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American Idol. It's fixed, you know. How else to explain the departure of Michael, who was one of the best, if not THE best singers of the bunch, in my very humble opinion. If you need even more evidence that the fix is in, look at last night's bottom two - Syesha and Carly. WHAT? After that cutie, Jason, and the infinitely forgettable Brooke stunk up the place Tuesday night?

Jason proved that he can't take direction, when Andrew Lloyd Webber tried, in his gentle, if twitchy way, to tell him that the song he had chosen was the wrong one, and he soldiered on, anyway. "Memory" from "Cats" was written for Grizabella, an ancient female cat. Jason, honey, you just can't bridge that gap. Brook, dear, you got away with starting and stopping one other time, even though we've been told that we didn't really see what we saw with our own eyes, in one of the first shows of the season. Enough of the "Drama Queen" act.

Personally, the only two I thought did a decent job with Webber's music were Big David and Little David, and Little David, not so much, actually. Note to Little David: It is supremely insulting to take Webber's music and put your own "spin" on it, a concept which Big David understood completely. Note to Big David: Thank you for showing respect for "The Music of the Night" by singing it as written ........... except for those last two NOTES! WTF?????? Not every musical number has to end with a loud screech, despite what we see on "Idol" every week. It's as though you just couldn't help yourself. A nice, soft ending is what was required. Nice. Soft. Even so, you were the best of the lot.

All in all, I think the powers that be on American Idol owe a heartfelt apology to Webber. The contestants, in general, just weren't up to the challenge that his music poses.

Next week: Neil Diamond music. Woo Hoo! Unless he watched this week, and suddenly discovers he is going to have a scheduling conflict.

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Speaking of blood-letting, I guess we can expect Hillary to go "scorched earth" for the rest of her campaign. Apparently, she's hoping to do some high-powered arm-twisting among the super delegates at the convention, in order to capture the nomination. Because, it is becoming more and more apparent that she can't win any other way. And, I would suggest that she needs to brush up on her math skills. She's claiming she is actually ahead of Obama, when you factor in Florida, where she campaigned in spite of her promise not to, and Michigan, where hers was the only name on the ballot, after she promised to take it off. For one thing, she is not taking into account the number of votes Obama got in Florida, even without campaiging.

Whatever. The super delegates will go along with Hillary to their peril, and I'm sure no one has to point that out to them. They would have to have balls as big as church bells to turn their backs on the voters and then try to claim that they are only doing it for the good of the country.

Stay tuned.