City of Cultural Murder

The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones is good for a laugh, and ranks somewhere between the cringe-worthy Twilight series and the downright horrific Percy Jackson series. It is quite entertaining, with the term mundane quite clearly applicable to the movie as a whole rather than merely humans. There is also the ubiquitous love triangle that makes all such movies so alluring. Stupid stuff

10/20

A Demon Wronged

Johnny Depp's triumphs never end. A coldblooded avenger in 19th century London? No sweat! Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is a man wronged - charged of a crime he did not commit and thereafter exiled, by the near-theaterically evil Judge Turpin, who then abuses his wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly) and even drives her to suicide. Benjamin returns to London under the alias Sweeney Todd, determined to seek the revenge owed to him. Sweeney Todd proceeds to partner with Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) and work as a barber at her meat pie shop on Fleet Street, and extract his pound of flesh - some would say literally - from those that have wronged him. Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - is a retake on a character much depicted on multiple media - the version herein is possibly a reasonably faithful adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Like most of the protagonist's work, the sheer brilliance of the protagonist's acting abilities takes this adaptation to a different level

15.5/20