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Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tim Burton's visual interpretation of Irving's classic tale
Review: Tim Burton, as always shows his powerful views through visualization. The style of this movie could be compared to his earlier batman movies, only instead of creating a highly industrialized city, he lessens the tone to an eerie, old-fashioned town in 1799. The effect is stirring. The town of Sleepy Hollow alone is enough to give anyone the shivers. However it is the dark tale behind it that can keep you awake at night long after the movie has finished. Everyone is familiar to the Tale of Sleepy Hollow. We all saw the animated version a while back. Now Ichabod is a constable instead of a schoolmaster, but he still has the funny little quirks of the original. Even though he has strong motivation for finding out what really happened to the victims, he is still a shivering coward for large portions of the movie when it comes to encounters with the dead. Through the new screenplay, the story receives many a new twist. A whole new subplot joins in involving the possessor of the horseman's head, and a bit of background of the horseman himself (played by a growling and screaming Christopher Walken, who utters not one intelligeable word throughout his short appearances in the film). The screenwriter gives the movie a bit of a zany feel. The screenplay itself is not very well written, but surprisingly contrary to the atmosphere, this, as a movie, was not meant to be taken seriously (like Fight Club). There are quite a few clever lines (Villiany wears many masks, none of which are more dangerous than virtue."). Unfortunately every clever line has it's opposer ("Ah. Just in time to get your head chopped off"). All in all, this came out to be one of the most entertaining atmospheric, period movies of last year. Quite a bit of suspension of disbelief is necessary, but due to wonderful art direction mixed with beautiful (though by the book) cinematography, it is not too hard to believe in a town upstate, haunted by the legendary Headless Horseman. . .

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sleepy Hollow
Review: I found watching this DVD is like being in a movie theater. The Dolby Digtial 5.1 Soundtrack was pleasing. The picture quality was good, and had a nice essence of black and flesh tones. Also this is one great movie. It's scary, fun, sexy, and it has a lot of suspense.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Visually rich and creepy!
Review: Christopher Walken is the icing on the cake for this film... he is always perfect in every role he's cast for, and he's great in this film for the small amount of time he's in it.

The rest of the cast are also masters of their craft and do a superb job.

It was hard to get emotionally involved with the characters, however, so it was hard to really enjoy the film the way it was intended.

I love Tim Burton's work and I was excited to see this movie. He stayed true to the spirit of the original story in many respects and kept you guessing and on your toes for a while... but the movie languished and it was pretty flat when it was all over.

There is one awesome scene, in which you see the headless horseman exiting his hidden lair... seeing that just once almost makes the movie worth seeing (almost).

I'm not sure what was missing, but something was. The film was good at startling the audience in many places and the costumes and backdrops were excellent... a feast for the eyes for this genre. I can't imagine ever seeing this film again, however... it just left too much to be desired. There were a few light, humorous moments that were sadly too few and far between in the film. After seeing a film by Burton like "Ed Wood," and knowing what he is capable of, this film was a disappointment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: very good
Review: i really liked this movie,it was scary,it had a mystery to it,good acting,cast,everything!i was very scared from this movie.Johnny Depp is very good in this movie.so is Christina Ricci.this one had some witchcraft stuff in it and i really like those kind of movies.thats part of the reason i liked this.all of my friends like this movie.i only know like 1 or 2 people that dont like this movie.but they were in chat rooms so i dont know

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Creepy!
Review: This is a very good movie I love how Tim Burton portays his views of the movie in his weird twisted way. I also was amzaed at Francis Ford Coppalas flashbacks very scary. The acting was great and Chris as the headless hourse man was great I give it two thumbs, up way up.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I Love it!
Review: I loved Sleepy Hollow. Burton really hit the nail on the head with this. Over a span of 2 years, I went from a person that watched comedies and Disney films to movies like Sleepy Hollow and I Know What you did Last Summer. I have a very healthy respect for this movie, and everyone that has watched it knows why. I loved the horse scenes and how talented the headless horseman was, but was upset that I didn't get to see Icabod's head hacked off. Darn. =/ It was different from the book in some ways, but in many others was alike. All in all, Sleepy Hollow is one of my favorite movies now, and-though I am surprised it is rated R- was very interesting.(I loved the part where the people's heads came ou of the tree and were moving around. cool! <3 Jess)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Visually grand, weak plot.
Review: This good offering from Tim Burton is bound to please his fans. The movie is visually captivating, with a grand style all it own. The sets (almost all of it was done on soundstages) are magnificent. Johnny Depp's bumbling Icabod Crane is also an involving character.I also greatly admire Danny Elfman's musical score which adds immensly to the fim. "Sleepy Hollow's" only flaw lies with its script which departs greatly from of Irving's original story and eventually becomes a confused supernatural mess.As can be expected with Burton, the movie does have some gory sequences which venture on "overkill". Certainly worth a rental. Real fans will want the DVD which features an excellent matted image that keeps the movie's dark look sharp. Other features include a dull Tim Burton commentary which occasionly comes to life when he discusses a well rembered scene or problem encountered while filming. Of more interest is a 30 min. featurette detailing the filming and the comlicated special effects. Another 11 min. cast interview segment is included along with cast notes, trailers and a superficial still file (about 24 production photos). Surprisingly this is a Paramount release. Paramount has been stingey about adding extra features with past releases, perhaps they are begining to loosen up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nothing Succeeds Like An Old Horror Tale Masterfully Retold
Review: The words "horror film" conjures up for most of us the typical mindless schlock that has been dredged up the past few years in movies like "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and "The Blair Witch Project". "Sleepy Hollow" reminds us of how tales of terror were once told.

In this Tim Burton retelling of the old Washington Irving Story, Johnny Depp stars as Constable Ichabod Crane. Burton has cast Depp in some of his past efforts, notably "Edward Scissorhands", and it's not hard to figure out why. He turns in a very good performance in this picture, much more believable than his work in "Ed Wood". Christina Ricci portrays the love interest, Katrina Van Tassel, and turns in a competent, but uninspiring performance. Miranda Richardson is quite good as Katrina's evil stepmother, and the very underrated Jeffrey Jones plays the town minister. The best acting on this film, next to Depp's, is by Christopher Walken as the Horseman nee Hessian.

As with all of Tim Burton's pictures, there is a dark and gloomy appearance. For a change, it actually works in "Sleepy Hollow". I hated it in "Batman" and "Batman Returns". The pacing is a bit slow at first, but it quickly catches on. The ending is much more satisfying than any of the recent crop of "slasher" movies and overall has a more mature feeling about it.

From where I sit, this is Burton's best movie this side of "Edward Scissorhands", and Johnny Depp's best performance since that same film. I for one am glad that we have directors like Burton who still have a lot of respect for the older, more traditional horror stories. "Sleepy Hollow" is a perfect antidote to those who have become jaded by so much of the silliness that has pervaded this particular genre ever since "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not too gory period piece well done
Review: Excellent portrayal of colonial America and the story we all loved as children. Not too gory, but certainly not for little kids. Johnny Depp is good as an overconfident criminalist who is frequently forced to retreat. Loved every minute of this one and not so bad I had nightmares. Entertaining.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Style (plenty of it) and no content
Review: This is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. Thereis also a great soundtrack, fabulous cast and everyone performs justfine. But I wonder if the fans of this film honestly cared about the villain's plot revelations at the end. I doubt it. The 'plot' was an ill-fitting suit put on in a hurry and Tim Burton obviously had no interest in anything but the visuals (and his mate Johnny). Well, if that's all you want out of a film, then Sleepy Hollow is for you. It's pretty, atmospheric has nice music and some excellent gore action. And that's about all it has. Not to say the film isn't an achievement - it is, but in terms of narrative it is heavily flawed. Decide for yourself if narrative is important. I would rate this alongside Deep Blue Sea or Godzilla, both of which I have in my collection and both of which are fun/shallow diversions. While Sleepy Hollow is more artistic than Godzilla, Godzilla isn't trying to be anything but a big budget rollercoaster and in that it succeeds. I guess Tim Burton has succeeded too, in creating an extremely beautiful distraction. But I would not kid myself that it is anything more than that. It is a slick, visually splendid, highly stylised work of art with a forgettable plot thrown in at the end. I wish it hadn't disguised itself as something more substantial - I might have enjoyed it more. As it is, it was slow (losing more pace towards the end) and all the suggestions of depth turned out to be space-filling red herrings. I feel cheated. And I'm offended that Tim Burton felt he could throw in that lengthy chunk of exposition at the end without us noticing.


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