'The King's Speech' Clips

These are good. No, not good. Entertaining. When was the last time you were entertained by a movie?

Acting, direction, writing, character -- all there. Would not be surprised if 'The King's Speech' took home a basket full of statuettes.

'The King's Speech'

Love this trailer. Love any movie about England and WWII. Waiting.

Horror Musical?

That's Tim Burton, Stephen Sondheim, and Helena Bonham Carter during rehersal of 'Sweeney Todd'. Producer Richard Zanuck calls it a 'horror musical'. NPR has a write up of this difficult-to-peg movie.

Coming This Christmas?

Yes, that's Johnny Depp holding a straight razor. And yes, that's Helena Bonham Carter looking her frampled witchy best in this still from 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'. According to the trailer, exclusively presented here, this musical -- a sort of mix of Dr. Phibes and Saw -- is due for release this Christmas. Not exactly family fare and it doesn't strike me as good counter-programming, either.

This could be another poor choice for a release date. Recently, we saw 'Grindhouse' limp out in its debut Easter weekend. And, one of the most perplexing Christmas releases: the super-serious 'Munich', which came out X-mas of 2005 and promptly proceeded to fall flat. As dumb as it sounds, I think Sweeney should open over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm not sure why I think that would be better -- maybe it's the association between carving up a turkey for dinner and slicing innocent victims up with a razor. I'm writing a letter to Santa to ask his opinion. Dear Santa...