Sony; 2012
          Dropped by Ronnie Lee

A couple weeks ago I took a look around my room and realized that for my age and considering my moving habits, I have way too many things. Unfortunately, a decent portion of this current mass of belongings is made up of my record collection, dozens of which I rarely, if ever, listen to. If I wanted to fall back into old habits and pick up and move it would take at least two trips to and fro to get the job done, and I can’t have that. It all culminated in me finding myself half drunk and up at 5 a.m. one night fixated on what I could give away, sell, or in general do completely without. In order to appease this current obsession with dwindling my material possessions hard decision were called for and sacrifices had to be made. Over 100 of my records didn’t make the “can’t live without” cut, and were carefully put in a pile to be sold. My 2003 copy of Loveless was not one of these poor orphaned souls.

For years it’s been one of my favorite records, and a go-to for when I’m deep in the throws of an amp worshipping hysteria. It’s a legendary album with an almost cult-like following, and all that love and attention is completely warranted. When I first heard it, I’d never heard anything like it before, and thought a joke was being played on me upon hearing that it was originally released in 1991. Now, over a decade later, Loveless is still just as significant.

At first I wasn’t sure just how much could have been improved upon what I feel is close to a perfect album. Within the first 10 seconds of the opening track “Only Shallow,” I felt like I was hearing Loveless for the first time, like what I’d been listening to for the last few years were actually just some leaked demos, and this was the finished album. Whereas everything in the old mixes came together to form one unified wall of audio, the new version has sounds that stab through and stand out from that wall, making accents known that I’d either never before noticed or gave full attention to. Overall the new mixes are louder, but more importantly they’re very well defined. As loud as all the guitars and intermingling waves of sound are, the vocals float perfectly in the middle, with neither element fighting for attention, but rather accenting one another perfectly.
There’s also a very noticeable grit the old mixes lacked, probably due to certain elements being turned up, and the result is fierce tracks. Whereas the main riff in “When You Sleep” used to be catchy and enchanting, it now completely decimates the outro of “To Here Knows When” and pulls you along through it’s wake.

After hearing these new mixes, Loveless has maybe moved up from one of my favorite albums to the favorite. The remasters have dimensions that the previous reissues and initial release couldn’t match, and what those dimensions yield is an album that pulses, pummels and swoons in a way that’s impossible to shake.

I should also probably make note that I’ve been listening to this album in headphones, at an almost excessive volume, for maybe the last two hours. The headphones part, that’s very important. Anyone looking to buy a 2003 copy of Loveless on vinyl? Now that I’ve heard this I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore.

     
     
          Dropped by Anthony Fabozzi
          R, 1 hr. 23 min.
          Comedy
          Directed by: Larry Charles
          Written by: Sacha Baron Cohen
          and Alec Berg
          Staring: Sacha Baron Cohen,
          Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley,
          Jason Mantzoukas
          Released: May 16, 2012
          Paramount Pictures

The Dictator is the newest film from Sacha Baron Cohen (star, writer, producer) and Larry Charles (director) who previously brought the world Brüno and Borat. In this film Cohen and Charles lose the mockumentary style and focus the film on having more of a plot. The film tells the story of Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) who is the “Supreme Leader,” a.k.a dictator, of the northern African country of Wadiya.

Admiral General Aladeen is a stereotypical tyrant who executes those who disagree with him, treats women like property, exaggerates one’s accomplishments, lives in luxury while his people starve and is in constant development of a nuclear weapon. Wadiya is under intense scrutiny from the free world to stop any actions that would lead to them acquiring a nuclear bomb. Aladeen’s right-hand man, Tamir (Ben Kingsley), convinces him to go to New York City to address the United Nations before there are military actions taking against Wadiya. In New York, Aladeen is attacked, has his beard removed and has been replaced by someone impersonating him. Desperate to regain control, Aladeen is helped by Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas) the former scientist of nuclear weapons for Wadiya who is now a Mac “Genius” in NYC. The two devise a plot to put Aladeen back into power but many hilarious obstacles stand in the way; including the Admiral General falling in love with Zoey (Anna Faris) who is the owner of an organic co-op grocery store and believes Aladeen to actually be a refugee from Wadiya.

I feel like this is Cohen’s most complete film. Unlike Cohen’s two previous films, The Dictator is plot driven and moves at a good pace. This film has a story to tell and is not just setting up gag after gag. Larry Charles and Cohen are able to make a straight narrative film without losing any of their signature shock value and sharp satire that made Borat a cultural sensation. I am glad that the film makers got out of their comfort zone and did something different.

Unfortunately, this is the least funny of Cohen’s three American films. The tone of this film is more slapstick and less in-your-face outrageous. There are fewer “what the fuck am I watching” scenes than in Cohen’s two previous films, which garnered the most laughs. The film is still very funny, especially when Aladeen and Nadal are together, but like it or not Cohen’s amazing track record will undermine the reception he receives from the audience on this film. The film is also not helped by giving Aladeen an unneeded love interest in Zoey. I really think the film would have been funnier if they just focused on Aldeen as ruthless tyrant who is so stupid that he fails at any attempt to regain power. In the attempt to make a better film Cohen has allowed some of the comedy to fall by the wayside.

The strong point of the film is it’s excellent cast. Sacha Baron Cohen does an excellent job, as usual, with the lead character Efawadh Aldeen; and even though her role takes away from the overall film, Anna Faris is quirky, funny and charming as Zoey. The film’s standout is Jason Mantzoukas as nuclear scientist Nadal. Mantzoukas is hilarious when trying to deal with the stupidity of Cohen’s character. The film is at it’s best when Cohen and Mantzoukas are on the screen together. The film also has many great comedic character actors like J.B. Smoove, Chris Parnell and Fred Armisen in bit parts. There are two very funny celebrity cameos that I don’t want to spoil.

One of my favorite parts of the film is the music. Sacha’s older brother, Erran Baron Cohen, is responsible for an interesting mix of traditional film score and classic songs like R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts” and Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” recorded in Arabic. In a montage while the dictator is working in Zoey’s store, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5″ comes on and it was funny to here it sung in Arabic. Aiwa and Mr. Tibbz’s version of Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” is so funny that it’s my new ringtone.

I recommend seeing the film if you are a fan of Borat and Brüno as long as you don’t complain that it is different from those films. It reminds me of Woody Allen’s film Bananas and Mel Brook’s Blazing Saddles, without achieving the greatness of those two films. The Dictator is a good movie that I hope is a stepping stone to Sacha Baron Cohen making a great film.

Dropped by Ben Langevin

“Sally Hatchet lives in a hole in the ground.”
—Father John Misty

Father John Misty‘s (J. Tillman, formerly of Fleet Foxes) new video for single “This is Sally Hatchet” dropped May 10. Directed by Grant James (of MILKT films), the video is a chain smoking, shotgun loading, hell raising, western rock-n-roll work of art. The Coen Brothers would be proud. Sadly, there is no Aubrey Plaza in this one . . . . Father John Misty’s album Fear Fun debuted May 1 to rave reviews.

Watch the new video for “This is Sally Hatchet” below:

     
          Self-released; 2012
          Dropped by PMP

Florida is brimming with amazing bands that often go unheard. When I first created The Dropp, I did it with the intention of lifting the veil on some of the greatness the Sunshine State has to offer. It grew into a website much larger than my initial creation, and my involvement in the local music scene became so in depth that I almost felt covering anything in Florida was a conflict of interest and that I couldn’t objectively do so anymore. This presented me with quite a large problem.

As a musician and artist observing another fellow musician and artist perform or create, you will seldom hear any negative remarks tossed around. Sure there will be some positive not-too-harsh critique but nothing “real,” because one of the most important things in this industry is networking and creating friends. Knowing all of the bands in your community and scene and supporting them whether you like them or not is part of the job description, and in the end, hopefully it will pay off. So if everyone knows that I am “The Dropp guy,” then how can I ever honestly critique something? What if I hated it? Should I write an honest review of something I loathe and publish it on the internet for all to see? Do I want to be the guy that when I walk in a room to listen and watch a show, people are going to be afraid of my reaction or interpretation to it and the consequences that come from that? Then of course there is also the sense of hypocrisy of my own music I make as well—who am I to judge and say this about someone else’s music? There is an ethical boundary here that I am not allowed to cross, and therein lies the beauty of having writers and contributors and other people to write things and remove myself from the equation. Unfortunately, that also removes me to a degree further from one of my passions. So this is my dilemma, and as a result is a primary reason I remove myself from writing for my own publication as much as possible. I created the column From Our Ears To Yours to help me address this critical bias and issue and also get back to the core of what The Dropp is about: shining a light on the little guy and exposing some of the great unknown talent that I come across. However, every once in awhile I feel it’s necessary to do a full-blown write-up and share something that has proven to be truly evocative to me like Pseudo Kids’ “Stay Glad” EP.

I first came across Pseudo Kids a few years back through conversation of some mutual friends. I never really paid attention to the group, however, until meeting Dante Lima the bass player and backing vocalist of the band after one of the shows for my band Day Joy at his place of business here in Orlando—Say It Loud. Dante came up to us after the show with some encouraging words and a sense of enthusiasm that came across as nothing but sincere and genuine. It’s often hard to take compliments on your work especially in the situation I mentioned previously of another artist or musician complimenting you. As it just so happened the day after our meeting the band was dropping their new EP “Stay Glad.” I went home and listened to it with no expectations and finished it with a profound sense of appreciation and pride in our music scene here in Florida.

Pseudo Kids is a four-piece band hailing from Gainesville composed of members that obviously all have a strong passion for creating infectious and wholesome indie pop music that can be appreciated on all levels by any demographic. The band has been together for quite some time, as I learned from Dante, evolving and growing together from a sound that could be described as punk in its earlier days into what can be described as lush indie rock/folk in its current state. Their song structures are brilliant and built with an emphasis on the classic song. Sticking to a rock-n-roll band mentality, straying away from heavy effects and synthesized equipment and relying on the lush harmonies and full choruses that scream out at you throughout “Stay Glad”‘s short and powerful 14 minutes and 16 seconds.

While their 2010 EP “The Lost Year” is a wonderful record with plenty of hidden gems as well, such as “Goodbye Summer,” you can truly hear and feel the evolution in Stay Glad’s production and presentation. The EP starts off with “Car Crash Blues” a waltzy and dizzying track that is fairly representative of its title. CCB takes your hand and grudgingly leads you into and through a moment in your life that was so devastating you had to muddle through it with a sense of apathy and bewilderment and come out on the other side alive and wiser. The whole album has this sense of brilliant life combined with atrophy. The songs are in nature positive and bright but upon looking deeper you see the emotional wear and tear and decay from the stories being relayed in the songs. The second track, “Whats Wrong With Me,” is a prime example of this. It enters with a seemingly uplifting Real Estate-esque beachy guitar riff possessing a relatively carefree feeling until it is juxtaposed next to the lyrics, “I’m not giving up, I’m just giving in to the demons I have within / I should shut myself out I should see this thing through / Because its not worth the love I don’t get from you,” that wipe away any illusion of merriment in the song and express its true underlying emotions. “Hard To Be” follows and is perhaps in technicality one of the strongest tracks on the record and at moments one may be fooled into thinking Ed Droste and Daniel Rosen are at work behind the scenes, if not in reality at least in inspiration—especially in the ethereal 2-minute outro that beckons you into the final song “Pretend,” an ode to the suffocating life as an adult that lacks the invention, undying imagination, and creativity possessed by us as children that we crave and desire when wanting to forget reality and the world we live in.

In its most minimal sanguine moments Stay Glad reflects the sound of Florida. The feeling of living here; the earth, the bicoastal breezes that sweep through the center of the state, the sticky humidity that seeps into your pours and messes with your emotions and mind, the glorious palm trees on tourist T-shirts that don’t really exist in 70% of the state, our own struggle with our personal love-and-hate relationship with our place of dwelling and the pieces and moments that make up our lives. In its most sonically intricate, there are layers and song arrangements that display true craftsmanship, worthy of national recognition. Moments that recall the complexities of Grizzly Bear and the like. It’s hard to find real bands anymore. Bands that make real music and have real emotion and meaning in their lyrical content and song writing. Why a band like Surfer Blood from Lake Worth can be propelled to monumental proportions and notoriety and a band like this and many others in our beloved state go unheard will always baffle me. It is almost criminal.

Dropped by Robert Miller

Explosions in the Sky is a dynamic band that has been one of the go-to names for swelling post-rock numbers for over a decade now. Their complex composition has been the backdrop for a number of movies, documentaries, TV shows and even sports promos. There’s something about their thought-provoking music that has often been perfect as supplemental to another person’s work of art. Their last album, though, (Take Care, Take Care, Take Care) was often labeled by critics as predictable and even just boring. But if there was any sure standout track from that album, it was “Postcard From 1952,” a song that truly knows how to pace itself and reward the listener with a proper payoff.

The Texas band now has a music video for that song, and it’s co-directed by Peter Simonite, who shot some 2nd unit in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. The result is a music video intent on paying attention to detail. It plays out like a seven-minute series of slow-moving pictures of children and families, and what it ends up becoming is a true celebration of life itself. Paired with the beautiful video, the climax of the song gave me chills, and I don’t know about you all, but I miss when music would actually give me chills.

You need to see this one all the way through right to the climactic ending. Watch it below:

     
          Atlantic; 2012
          Dropped by Tommy Furio

Fresh off his widely successful first album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray, B.o.B delivers his sophomore album Strange Clouds. In B.o.B.’s second effort, there is no mistaking the serious tone, as he initiates the album with Morgan Freeman delivering a dialogue resembling a leader preparing his followers for a journey of enlightenment and perspective.

Throughout the entirety of Strange Clouds, B.o.B makes one theme extremely evident. The Atlanta rapper stresses that he remains a man of the people and has not been consumed by fame and fortune. In multiple songs he addresses this issue. Claiming that fame is not everything it is hyped up to be and while he accepts it, he recognizes that there is much more in life, such as unrequited love, art and growing up. He does an effective job of capturing the audience by attacking this issue from different angles. B.o.B sets up many of the verses in his songs so that the lyrics feel and sound as though he is writing a personal letter to a friend or family member back home, making the listener feel as though they are privileged to eavesdrop into a celebrity’s mind, as opposed to listening to manufactured and cheap rhymes.

The artist from Atlanta is a multi-talented musician and Strange Clouds further reveals his talents. The majority of the new set of songs has a very basic back beat that consists of a simple snare and bass drum pattern. While this quality sounds slightly primitive in today’s dominance of electronic and dubstep beats, it gives the album a distinct, live-sounding quality that is easy to listen to and acts as a great platform for B.o.B to rap intellectual and emotion-stirring lyrics and not be misheard or confused while fighting a dominating beat. B.o.B does a great job of creating diversity in his beats with sprinkling fun piano riffs, poppy choir parts, and other unique sounds, while assuring that these unique qualities never drown out the lyrics.

The first single, “Strange Clouds,” is the odd ball of the album. The beat is a futuristic sound that has a feel that it will never stop rising. The track also has a very hard drop resembling that of a dubstep song; however, this does not faze Bobby Ray, nor his featured rapper, Lil Wayne. Both conquer the song with lyrics describing how advanced, powerful, and unique they are, while flowing on the beat as if it was their space machine for their rhymes.

Strange Clouds is a very well rounded album, and it is obvious that it is B.o.B’s creation from each beat to each lyric. The theme is conceptual and the music is unique and easy to listen to for fans from multiple genres. B.o.B’s greatest talent may also be what hurts his mainstream success. The diverse artist’s will-power to shine through several facets of music hinders his commercial pop sound. Bobby makes it clear that he does not need celebrity cameos to propel his stardom.

On this edition of From Our Ears To Yours I will be highlighting artists that have slept on my floor in the past month. There has actually been so many that perhaps I should continue this through to the next edition of F.O.E.T.Y. It has been a raucous month for us here in the dropp house surrounded by long nights and amazing people and musicians. I’ll start off this first floor crashers edition with 3.5 amazing groups that span various different styles for your ears to enjoy as much as mine have.

Coolrunnings

Firstly I will start by introducing two projects from Knoxville Tenn.’s Brandon Biondo, Coolrunnings and Walsh. I’m not going to get to into depth on the Coolrunnings record as I’m going to save it for a full ear dropp write up in the near future. However I will say that “Dracula Is Only The Beginning” is hands down one of my favorite records this year so far. Biondo’s musical prowess is evident in the tympanic chasms that span these two projects. While Coolrunnings reaches into the primitive depths of your mind and the dark and strange corners of your heart, Walsh is more reserved and washes over you with ethereal electronic landscapes combed with groves and hooks deep enough to force your head bobbing and body moving subconsciously to its lush sonic waves.

WALSH

ISLES

Isles is another project of Mikey Maleki of Kodak To Graph. Maleki has the ability to enhance any musical project that he contributes to. While Kodak To Graph explores the more sample based aspects of his work Isles represents his sound working with a full band and input from multiple individuals. The resulting form is a beautiful languid sound that is reminiscent of the more poppy moments of Yo La Tengo, the spacious Krautrock elements of CAN, and the finesse of The Sea & Cake.  (BTW if you aren’t familiar with those three bands you should be)

Henry Krinkle

Henry Krinkle hails from Wellington, FL. A land that is more well known as the Polo Capital of the world and quietly nestled between the West Coast cities of Port St. Lucie and Ft. Lauderdale. Krinkle creates electronic music and remixes with lush beats, heavy phasing, plenty of breaks and drops that remind you of why your soul loves to rhythmically move to the sound of music.

     
          Sub Pop / Bella Union; 2012
          Dropped by Travis Reed

It’s been a couple years since I was sloshing around barren downtown streets drinking for free. It was some weird Sunday night a couple days post-New Years in January when I was trudging through awkward explantations of vengeance from one of my closest friends outside of BBQ Bar, when Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand walked up to us leaning on the fence talking. At first I was confused in regards to whether I had met them before, when Legrand cut my thoughts short and asked where they should go in town. We got into it for a spell about music and orlando until the obvious question exposed that they were the mystic Beach House from a couple weeks back that I had listened to while laying on Michaels’ swamp house room floor at Gnarnia with Peter. Beach House has been one of few bands since that day that have consistently intrigued me. Somewhat like old photographs that pop up every few years when I move into a new place. I think theres something instinctually entrancing about them. Over the years they have evolved into such a grand orchestration of sound, searching for something that will just explain it a little more. Beach House has given many others a similar desire for moments that you later long to relive like that cold January night.

I have had the leaked Bloom for a couple months now. It’s been refreshing. Last Wednesday they played here in Orlando, a city they had neglected for the first few years of their career. It’s funny how that happened. When they were here they were on Vacation. They got to see a community that was blooming in a way oddly similar to Baltimore eight years ago. When it was beginning and hadn’t been disturbed by much dilution. I believe the decisions that the duo made back then did something to their psyche. They became slaves to their own grand dream. On the last record they took a route that forced them to sacrifice their former lives, for one spent night-in night-out on the road back and forth to europe for months straight. This, though, is the record that was written during that time, and it sounds like it. Dark nights of long solitary roads to wonder what’s the reason? All this, and? Plus c’est la meme chose, plus ca change.

Sonically, things are much different on Bloom. They added a new drummer, although a live drummer isn’t necessarily new for them. The Teen Dream tour had a third to replicate the record live. This working addition to the texture of Beach House is what allows Scally’s backbone to shimmer. His unique taste for atmosphere is more warm and intricate then ever on Bloom. The manner in which he navigates the sea he’s learned to create dictates some of the most inspiring moments of Bloom. At this point Alex has become the handyman of the theatrical nature of Beach House’s live presence. It’s evident in this record that the dedication and accumulation of this intimate climate is what has created the ambiguos stories translated so personally to their audience.

Overall, the record is decidably larger with much more emphatic weaving of moods. Where Teen Dream expounded linearly, Bloom has taken a much more scene-oriented outlook on the world, both in the lyrics and in the mood of the sometimes foreign highway soundscapes. All throughout the record their are touches of field recordings that make Bloom much more intriguing, its as if the nostalgia of Teen Dream allowed Beach House to reach a point of inviting everyone to have this moment with them.

That is what makes music timeless. Like LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends”, or just about any song by The National, Beach House on Bloom have reached a point of finding a way to captivate an audience and ghost them into believing that they are the only ones in the room.

This is prevalent on “The Hours” as Legrand begins the track by whispering she thought she heard something. It then translates into her layering chants of delicate “ah’s.” It’s as if she’s daunting you to find her as she tries to find herself amidst crowds of adoring fans and her own private desires. The end of “The Hours” breaks down into a great segment that is signature of the entirety of Bloom‘s song structures. It repeats and repeats until your lost in the layers of your own subconcious much like wheels withering away on the moonlit desolate highways of America.

New Years provide an obtuse grasp at allowing oneself to embrace the feeling of age. “All I want it comes in colors . . . I keep these promises.” Legrand’s own stab at finding wisdom and how it never feels real until long after it’s gone. It makes the listener journey into the dormancy of their own un actualized dreams. Like beginning again, like faces in the mirror, looking to a feeling that’s light as an Autumn leaf floating away. She’s saying if you can see the moment before it comes maybe you can keep it forever, like wishes on a wheel. What was most exciting to me about this album is that it took me down tunnels of unfinished thoughts and discarded visions and allowed me to pause and ask myself what I truly desired. If I could have anything in the world, what would it smell like? What would it feel like? If I’d get tired of it after time, or if I could deal with the small strange paradise I had built for myself? I guess its a dark conversation for anyone. But when you got all alone time in and other people want to keep in touch, you’re still bound by your decisions. You’re bound by the road and your passion and lonely self; I guess then it becomes more like an ocean. I guess it turns into a soundtrack of antique squalor more like an old friend you see in your dreams. Bloom is like a quaint portion of silence in some distant sunset where you own the house.

     
     
          Dropped by Anthony Fabozzi
          PG-13, 1 hr. 57 min.
          Horror / Comedy
          Directed by: Tim Burton
          Written by: Seth Grahame-Smith
          Staring: Johnny Depp, Michelle
          Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Chloe Moretz
          Released: May 11, 2012
          Warner Bros.

Director Tim Burton and star Johnny Deep have been out spoken of their love of the 1960s cult soap opera Dark Shadows that ran for six seasons and over 2,200 episodes; and here, the two collaborate for their eighth time to bring Dark Shadows to the screen. The film starts off with an introduction to the Collins family in the late 1700s as they leave England to further their fortunes in what will become Maine. Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) is the womanizing son who is cursed to be a vampire after breaking the heart of a witch named Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). Angelique also kills Barnabas’ parents, makes his one true love jump off a cliff and finally buries him in a chain coffin. Barnabas is set free from his coffin some 200 years later in the year 1972. Barnabas seeks out his childhood home Collinwood Manor only to find some of his distant heirs still living in the now decaying mansion. Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer) is now the head of the Collins family and agrees to allow Barnabas to live in Collinwood as long as Barnabas is able to help the family rebuild its wealth. The evil witch Angelique is still alive and looks to stop the Collins family from regaining the prominence they once enjoyed before she cursed the family.

There are two reasons the film does not work. First, Burton and writer Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) never decide if the film is a fish-out-of-water comedy or a serious gothic horror film. The trailer would have you believe that it’s a “campy” comedy about a vampire from the 1700s, confused by the way people act in the psychedelic 1970s. While some parts of the film deal with the situation of Barnabas being confused by the way things are in 70s, the majority of the film is a gothic horror soap opera in the vein of True Blood or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It also does not help that the comedic moments are usually unfunny and tend to just slow the film down. If the filmmakers had decided to stick to a straight “Hammer” inspired film it could have been intriguing. The second problem with the film is that they stick to the source material, the original soap opera, too much. A lot of characters, story lines and background are stuffed into a film under two hours. The Dark Shadows soap opera had years and thousands of episodes to get the story told, but in one film, it is too much. It makes me think that Burton and Depp put everything they loved about the show in this film in fear that they would not be able to make a sequel.

I love Depp and really want to like all of his films. He tries so hard with the accents, makeup and costumes in each one of his parts, but I am growing bored of his act. In this film, I felt like I was watching Captain Jack Sparrow as a vampire, since the characters’ clothing and voices are not that far off. The rest of the cast is wasted as simple background for Depp’s character. Chole Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) is a great young actress and I was excited to see that she was in the film, but she is given little to nothing to do throughout. Eva Green as the witch Angelique is the only actor given any interesting material other than Depp and does a nice job of holding her own in the quirky department. The only parts of the film I really enjoyed all involve Green’s character.

As with all Burton films, the technical parts of the film shine! The film score, cinematography, set design, costumes, make-up and special effects are all top-notch. The costumes are a shoe in to get an Oscar nomination; thanks to the multiple award-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood who gets to take full advantage of a story that takes place in both the 1770s and the 1970s. Long-time Burton composer Danny Elfman wrote a haunting score that deserves a better film than this. Bruno Delbonnel’s (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) camera work is beautiful and does a great job of showing off the large and detailed interior sets.

I have to admit to being a pretty big fan of Dark Shadows as a soap opera, thanks to watching it with my mom, and I was really excited for a film version. Unfortunately, there is little to recommend about this film. Not every great book or interesting old television show is meant to be on screen. I am also desperate to see Burton do something original. Tim Burton: please stop remaking old films or new spins on fairy tales with Johnny Depp acting crazy. What happened to the man who made Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Ed Wood?