SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (R) Unfolding in a perpetual moment just before the light gives out entirely, Tim Burton's new film is a velvety noir boasting more nuances of black than the Eskimos have names for snow. It's also a musical, based on Stephen Sondheim's popular 1979 stage production, although Burton eschews all but the faintest trace of Broadway glitz, giving the movie an exquisitely morbid look and an intimate, even claustrophobic feel. The director plays it close to the bone here, toning down personal ticks while letting his unmistakable style shine through the darkness, so that Sweeney Todd emerges as a blood-rare slice of Broadway for people who normally can't stand the stuff. Johnny Depp inhabits the title character with heartbreaking intensity and a hint of self-mockery, while the film layers on style in luxuriously decaying heaps, its cleverly devised color scheme — an essentially monochromatic palette with tasteful splashes of blood-red — a distillation of everything Burton's done to date. As elegant as it all is, be warned that Sweeney Todd doesn't spare the blood, and throats are slit with gleeful abandon, in abundant and graphic detail. Also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen. 4.5 stars
WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY (R) John O'Reilly makes the leap from second banana to top fruit in this appealingly ridiculous comedy from director Jake Kasdan and co-writer Judd Apatow. The movie is basically framed as a spoof of Ray (which was itself an unintentional spoof of the whole musical bio-pic genre), but it's also a Forrest Gump-like trip through time, with O'Reilly's title character morphing from '50s crooner to Dylanesque poet to Brian Wilson-esque acid casualty and recluse. Some gags tend to go on too long and repeat themselves too often, but most of what happens here is unabashedly outrageous and very funny. The cameos alone are worth the price of admission, with Jack White showing up as Elvis, Frankie (Malcolm in the Middle) Muniz turning up as Buddy Holly, Jack Black and Paul Rudd as squabbling Beatles, a whole bunch of faces from Tina Fey's SNL/30 Rock inner circle, and Eddie Vedder as himself. Also stars Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Kristen Wiig and Raymond J. Barry. 3.5 stars
