I should probably put out there that I have not seen the original Dark Shadows series. I believe I've heard a synopsis, but I couldn't tell you much about it. So really, I have no idea how this movie compares with the source show, but I'm going to guess it mostly just uses names and locations and probably condenses everything else into a few minor points. I guess what I'm saying is, that shouldn't impact my view of the movie, I am merely judging it on what I experienced... and that was generally pretty fun. Although I feel like Tim Burton's characteristic style has diminished, it is still recognizable in a few scenes, but outside of that, the Danny Elfman music, and Johnny Depp, I wouldn't likely take this for a Burton movie. I will say that I enjoyed the film overall. It's fun and the characters are quirky and the general plot is, well, overdone, but I get it. Mostly there are just lots of set-ups for this "fish out of water" scenario that Johnny Depp's character is thrown into as a vampire unearthed 200 years after being buried in an iron casket by the witch who cursed him with vampirism. Barnabas is forced to acquaint himself with 1972 and the curious ways of the people then (mostly hippies). His language is dated, his world views are dated, everything about his behavior is out of place, and that's where most of the humor comes from. Most of the rest of it comes from some sort of sexual reference or euphemism, which I was tickled by, though it was all a bit unexpected. Perhaps the most curious part of all of this is that it all turns on a romance between Barnabas and a woman who may or may not be the reincarnation of the lover that the witch killed 200 years ago... but very little screen time is spent on that relationship. It almost feels like they kept forgetting about it and decided to toss in a quick little reference here and there to keep people reminded what the main plot is, but it's never really convincing.I guess the most difficult recommendation would be to those who are familiar with the TV series, since I haven't seen it, I can't recommend one way or the other whether you should see this movie. I enjoyed it, but that's pretty much the best I can do.
This movie opened last week and based on box office take, I'm fairly sure everyone in the world has seen it already, so I question the need to even bother summarizing. I'll do it anyway... In short, Loki is a prick and wants to rule the Earth, so he forms an alliance with an alien race and goes about implementing some diabolical scheme to achieve the desired result. In response, Nick Fury forms the Avengers out of Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk and also Hawkeye. Fighting ensues (on both sides) and then New York is smashed and the end. I suppose it's not really that complicated, but it works and it works really well with fun little call backs to the source movies (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man) sprinkled about. Generally, in order for me to score a movie really high it has to provide some sort of life-changing experience for me, either through message or art. I would probably say The Avengers technically did neither. There's no real message to be had and it isn't especially moving in any other way... but it is enormously fun and does an excellent job of bringing together so many pieces and making it look effortless. I'm going to go ahead and give that credit to director and co-writer Joss Whedon, even if he can't take credit for it.
