568: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice / Letterboxd Reviews / Top 10 Tim Burton Movies

[00:00:00] One of my favorite scenes in the movie was, oh gosh, what's her name? Beetlejuice's wife? Ex-wife? Oh, Monica Bellucci? Yes. When she stapled herself back together. And I think Tim Burton just included her because they're together. Yeah. And he wanted the world to know how hot she was. And job done.

[00:00:25] Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 568. And my name is Henry. My name's Elle. And this time we are going to be talking about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and then some Letterboxd reviews as always, and then counting down our top 10 Tim Burton movies of all time.

[00:00:54] So thanks, as always, for joining us. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, all that good stuff. And, well, how are you doing? Doing all right. I've been pet sitting like every day. So it's going to be really nice to wake up and not have to take care of a bunch of pets. So looking forward to that. Cool. Cool. Yeah. What's been going on with you? I mean, not too much. I mean, I've said everything. Oh, okay.

[00:01:22] Yeah. So, other than that, not much else to say. Make sure to check out our premium podcast page at filmbuds.bandcamp.com. And all of our different links and stuff are in the show notes. So please follow us everywhere. And, yeah, well, should we get to Beetlejuice? Yeah, let's get the juice all loose, you know? All right. Well, we do have a clip for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. So take a listen. Is that Beetlejuice?

[00:01:56] First of all, I want you two kids to know this is a safe space. Okay? Feel free to express yourself. Don't be afraid. I sense there's an enabler here, but we'll get to that. You're a figment of my imagination. Really? Is this a figment of your imagination? Oh.

[00:02:12] All right. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now on Max, just in case you haven't seen it yet. It's directed by Tim Burton. Stars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci.

[00:02:30] And the synopsis is, after a family tragedy, three generations of the Deets family returned home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Liddy's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter Astrid accidentally opens the portal of the afterlife.

[00:02:50] Okay, so this was a very long-awaited sequel, and I think a lot of people were skeptical or some were because of Tim Burton's kind of up and down track record for the last decade. Well, isn't the last movie that he did, uh, was that Dumbo? Dumbo. Yeah. He had also directed the first four episodes or so of Wednesday, too. Oh, yeah, that's right. I totally forget that he directed Wednesday for some reason. I don't know.

[00:03:17] Yeah. And so, you know, I was definitely excited because Beetlejuice is one of my favorite movies of Tim Burton's, and I think it is of, I'd say, most Tim Burton fans. Mine, too. Yeah. And, well, since you're returning to the show, do you want to kick things off?

[00:03:34] Oh, wow. That's a lot of pressure. Literally everywhere you turned, there was a Beetlejuice ad. I honestly, like, I wonder how much they spent on marketing, just marketing alone. Yeah. Because everywhere you turned, like, turn on the TV, oh, Beetlejuice ad. Oop. Scrolling on TikTok, oop. Yeah. Beetlejuice ad. Was everywhere. So, it kind of reminded me of, like, Barbie in that sense because it was just so hyped up.

[00:04:05] Anyway, to my thoughts on the actual movie and not the marketing, but the marketing genius. I, honestly, I went into the movie very skeptical because any, any sequel done, like, 20, 30 years later, my thought is, like, oh, okay, it's going to be bad. You know, they're not going to be bad. You know, they're not going to be bad. It's not going to do the original justice because Beetlejuice is such a classic film.

[00:04:34] You know, it's referenced in a lot of TV shows, movies. So, that's what I kind of consider a classic film when it's, like, referenced everywhere. I think it had the same, you know, humor, the same style. Acting was great. The effects were great. Yeah. Um. Just cartoonish enough to be kind of 80s. Right.

[00:04:59] And I actually love that they did not include the actor that originally played Charles Dietz. If you guys did not know, that actor might have done some kid illegal things. But I love that they did, like, a claymation kind of thing. But, yeah, that was probably one of the most funny scenes in the movie.

[00:05:28] The only thing, though, is Catherine O'Hara. She's done the Schitt's Creek voice for so long that it kind of snuck its way into Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. And I wasn't mad about that, but that's something I kind of automatically noticed. Other than that, I literally no complaints.

[00:05:55] But they did include some of the, you know when Danny DeVito shrunk? Yeah. Um. They actually made that. Like, it wasn't, like, AI or. And they had a lot of that in the original movie because there wasn't, you know, a lot of effects or anything back then. So they had to create it.

[00:06:20] And I think that's what, you know, how Beetlejuice has stood out for everyone over the years. Yeah. I just really appreciated that they had at least some of that. Overall, I loved, loved, loved it. It met my expectations and exceeded my expectations. What did you think?

[00:06:46] Well, this was on my top 10 lists of last year. I really liked it as well. I mean, pretty much for all the same things you said it was. I think for one of the main things that I mentioned a while back was it was definitely the funniest movie he's done in about 10 years. Like, because that's one of the things that makes early Tim Burton so good is how funny his movies can be even when they get really dark.

[00:07:15] The overall, like, look of the movie is one of his best looking in a long time, too. It feels, like you said, practical but also does have that kind of 80s vibe. So even if it looks cartoony, it still works. It wasn't too complicated. It built on the first movie as opposed to just repeating the same thing or rebooting it. And the new characters, like Jenna Ortega was awesome.

[00:07:44] Justin Theroux was fun. Monica Bellucci, even though she doesn't have a lot to do, I liked her in it. The wedding stuff that they bring back, like at the end when Beetlejuice tries to marry, is it Winona Ryder again? Yeah. Tries to marry her again. It was a good tribute to the original film. Yeah, that was really fun. And then the Willem Dafoe storyline of him trying to fix everything or stop things.

[00:08:13] And he's like this underworld police force kind of guy. And score was good. Soundtrack was good. So really, I think even for people who haven't seen the original, I think you kind of get the gist. Oh, you could absolutely watch this standalone. Because it's, you know, like you said, it's a totally, completely different story from the original. The ghosts that were in the house are gone.

[00:08:40] And I honestly, I loved that they weren't in it. I going in, I thought I wanted them in the movie. But then going out, I'm like, I actually really appreciate it being a standalone thing. Yeah. And the underworld stuff with the, not to spoil it, but the love interest of Jenna Ortaik.

[00:09:04] I thought that was an interesting twist and how he tries to manipulate things and her infatuation with him. There are some things that maybe don't get totally tied up or rounded up at the end. And still, I really didn't care because it's all kind of enjoyably messy and chaotic. But yeah, it was one of my favorites of Tim Burton's, I think, of his whole career.

[00:09:30] Maybe not like top five, but definitely one that I can see myself going back to frequently. I agree. Yeah. Besides that, not too much else. I'm glad it did really well financially. I'm glad it didn't like flop and because it easily could have. Yeah. You know, it ended in a way where there could be a third movie.

[00:09:53] And I feel like there will be because Tim Burton, you know, said, wow, this has really brought me inspiration. Maybe he doesn't feel like Dumbo anymore. Right. Zing. I hope this is the first of many movies to come from Tim Burton because I am a huge Tim Burton fan. So big.

[00:10:20] I am dedicating a whole leg to tattoo pieces from his movies. There you go. So. All right. Well, it's a heavy four and a half for me. It's a five for me. Five. All right. Let's do some letterboxed reviews of Beetlejuice 2.

[00:10:45] And as always, if you want to have yours read or if you have a suggestion for a movie that you want to see reviewed so you can have yours read on the show, just let us know in any of the contact forms in the show notes. So would be happy to indulge you. Here is the two star rating from, I literally cannot pronounce this. Oc. Ocacala. Shaw. There you go. I butchered it.

[00:11:12] They say the juice is flat. Colorful sets. Eccentric characters. Loud music. So over the top, but somehow dot dot dot. Dull. Doesn't have the energy or magic of the first. A collection of subplots stitched together into a directionless mess. It's trying so hard at everything. Well, I completely disagree with you. Don't know what you watched.

[00:11:43] Wasn't Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, clearly, but okay. Barbiest or Barbiest. Hard to say which one. Let us know. Gave it four out of five and says, So nice to see Tim Burton having so much fun with this nonsense movie. Eva Sif or Evasive? Probably Evasive. Okay. I'm sorry. I cannot pronounce y'all's usernames. You're too creative for me.

[00:12:12] They rated it three out of five stars. Tim, your legacy sequel has three protagonists. Three antagonists. Five romantic airings. Six subplots. A baby. A sandworm. And a non-verbal puppet sidekick character. I think maybe you could have trimmed this down a little. No. No. Last one comes from Just Ken. I guess we're on a Barbie kick.

[00:12:41] And gave it five out of five. And says, Tim Burton is so back. I'm so happy that the sequel lived up to the original. And it's just as good and fun. I love this colorful world. Full of the dead. Ghosts. And so much fun deaths. Ha ha. Tim knew how to bring all the best parts to the first one. And make it just as great. For me, it's an absolute five out of five. And I would have loved to see it in theaters. But I couldn't.

[00:13:10] Such a shame. That is a shame. Yeah, that really is. It was awesome in theaters. Sorry to rub it in even more. Yeah. And you got the easy username. Hmm. Man. Well, there you go. And again, let us know your thoughts in whatever way. You could do it on YouTube, on Letterboxd, you know, social media, anything like that. All right. Well, let's end off with our top 10 Tim Burton movies of all time.

[00:13:39] Now, there are a lot. He's done a lot of movies. And my guess, I excluded it from my list. I'm guessing it'll be in your list is one of his biggest films or most popular is not one that he even directed, even though he's mistaken for having done it. Because in the titles, usually it says Tim Burton's X. Well, I can exclude. No, no, you don't have to. I mean, I don't care. And we're talking about Nightmare Before Christmas. Yeah. BT dubs.

[00:14:09] So that one is done by Henry Selick, who did Coraline. And so a lot of people think, oh, that's my favorite Tim Burton movie, even though technically you want to be a nerd about it. He didn't even do that, which is I didn't know that. He produced it. Yeah. He produced it. Yeah. Which I didn't know for the longest time. But Tomatoes, Tomatoes. OK. Yeah. Number 10. Do you want to go first or shall I? I'll go first. OK. Number 10 for you?

[00:14:39] Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Loved it. But, you know, not a one for me. You know, but still. Do you like it more than the original? I actually do. I. The original, you know, will always hold a special place in my heart. But the kind of backstory of Wonka was kind of interesting. And Johnny Depp really, you know, does it justice. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:08] So my number 10 is Corpse Bride. One of your favorites. Oh. And a great stop motion. And definitely one of the most, I think, celebrated and best gothic animated movies. And it's so dark. And I mean, there's still a lot of joy and laughter in it. But it's a very dour kind of movie. And it's dealing with death and, you know, murder and all these things. So I think it still holds up really well.

[00:15:36] Great cast and all around a very good movie. But don't you love that it's technically a kid's movie, but it's so dark. Yeah. I love it. I mean, that's how Nightmare is too. Really? Well, I think it's more light than compared to Corpse Bride. Corpse Bride is pretty and Frankenween-y. Oof. I'd say Frankenween-y is probably the darkest. Yeah. All right. Number nine for you? Sleepy Hollow. I love that movie. That's... No way. Yeah.

[00:16:06] All that I have to say. No, but the casting, the story, the makeup and everything. You know, he did a great job. Another great gothic piece. For sure. All right. Number nine for me is Sweeney Todd. One of my all-time favorite musicals. One of Johnny Depp's best performances, as well as Helena Bonham Carter. And honestly, that was like sort of the end of one of Tim Burton's primes,

[00:16:35] because then he got into more Disney stuff, and he... That's when the decline sort of started. Although he did do Frankenweenie after that, but that was, I'd say, his last great movie at that time. All right. Number eight for you? Big Fish. Okay. It's a really weird movie, but I've always, you know, really liked it. What is the lesser...

[00:17:02] It doesn't seem like a Tim Burton movie, but then if you watch it again, it's like, okay, it's really weird. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. All right. Number eight for me is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which we just talked about. So yeah, great movie. Number seven for you? I think that would be Frankenweenie for me. Mine too. Whoa, twinsies.

[00:17:30] No, but it's a movie that I can't watch multiple times a year, because you have dogs, and it just... It's so dark. Yeah, that's my number seven as well. And like for all the same things you do, one of the only movies that does make me cry. I remember when I first saw it and definitely cried and never really fails, so I don't watch it very often.

[00:17:54] And love the black and white look to the movie, the look of Frankenweenie and all the characters, the Frankenstein callbacks and all that. Right. Okay. Number six for you. Number six has to be Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is the movie we just talked about. Whoa, what a coincidence. All right. Number six for me is Edward Scissorhands.

[00:18:21] Of course, a classic, a favorite by many, and launched Johnny Depp's career for the most part, and remains one of their most celebrated movies, and has been very influential, and even for a Halloween costume, the guy's killing it. But really has both the gothic stuff as well as that super bright, suburban, like 60s lifestyle

[00:18:47] that Tim Burton has in a lot of his movies, and yeah, never really gets old, one of those. Number five for you? Number five for me is Alice in Wonderland. In my opinion, and this is coming from a huge Tim Burton fan, in my opinion, Tim Burton should do every single Disney live action, maybe. Put a little dark twist, you know, a little dark gothic twist on it.

[00:19:13] But I loved everything about Alice in Wonderland. And I loved that it wasn't the same thing, you know, necessarily, than the cartoon. Yeah. And that really did launch the Disney live action world. All right. Number five for me is Batman, the first one, which I think still remains one of the better

[00:19:40] Batman movies and is one of Jack Nicholson's best. And I love Michael Keaton as Batman, but Nippleson as the Joker and just the look of Gotham has yet to be really beat. I think it feels very comic book-y and very 80s, 90s in the best way. And yeah, a great, simple comic book movie that did really help comic book films stay alive. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah. Number four.

[00:20:10] Or it brought them more into a more serious kind of form, I guess, in movies. Okay. Yeah. That's fair. Number four. Number four for me has to be Edward Scissorhands. You know, it has the awkward comedy that Tim Burton movies have. And I loved that. It was so colorful, you know, and Edward Scissorhands is just like a goth, like emo kid. The snow scene. Oh, yeah.

[00:20:40] Classic. Yeah. All right. Number four for me is Batman Returns, which some people prefer the first one, but I like the Gotham and winter look. I like Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as Penguin. So I like the sprawling nature of the movie and I just find the plot and everything a little bit more engaging and interesting than the first one. Number three. Number three for me is Beetlejuice, the original OG. Yeah. It's awesome.

[00:21:10] Yeah. All right. Number. Number three for me is Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which is his first movie. And I think it still remains like one of the most like innocent but earnest comedies that I've ever seen. It's never takes itself seriously. It's always so goofy. Pee-wee is hilarious. And just the whole movie centering around someone stealing his bike and he has to go cross country to get it back. And it sounds like Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory.

[00:21:39] Yeah, but it's it's so cartoony, but still remains one of my favorites of his. All right. Number two. Number two for me is Corpse Bride. I even have a tattoo of Emily, aka the Corpse Bride, on my leg that I'm looking at right now. But Victor goes into the underworld after practicing, you know, his wedding vows on a tree. And so he thought it was just bones. Yikes.

[00:22:09] And then this older guy is like just killing brides for money. Yeah. Yeah. But I love the ending so much at just the butterflies and just, you know, she finds peace finally. Also, it shows in the underworld scenes with those dance numbers, Tim Burton's love of like day of the dead kind of imagery with the skulls and all that stuff. Yeah. I absolutely think they should do a live action version of the Corpse Bride.

[00:22:37] Would it be absolutely terrifying? That's OK. Yes, it would. But I am so here for it. They should have Johnny Depp as the skeleton guy who sings in the underworld. Maybe Timothy Chalamet. Yeah, I know that's. For Victor. And then the girl who played Furiosa. Anya Taylor-Joy? Yes. I can see that.

[00:23:06] As Victoria. And then for Emily, Laura Ruth Barrier. Oh, yeah. She was. She played Mary Jane in the Spider-Man movies, right? But Tom Holland ones. No. Is that not who I'm thinking of? That's not Zendaya. No. Well, Zendaya's. I thought that girl played like the quote unquote Mary Jane and then Zendaya was. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:33] So she plays the love interest who Peter likes at first, but then he falls in love with Zendaya. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So that's my live action list. If anyone takes advantage of this list, you can give me a percentage. Venmo. Yeah. Venmo me. All right. Well, number two for me is Beetlejuice. OG. Just a great movie. Yeah. What can you say?

[00:24:00] And we did actually review that some point last year, I think. Yeah, we did. Yeah. So you can check that out if you can. All right. Number one for you. I know this technically doesn't count to all the huge Tim Burton fans, but Nightmare Before Christmas. It's one of my all time favorite movies and actually got me into the Tim Burton verse. Yeah.

[00:24:25] And it made me really love Tim Burton movies, even though it's not it was produced by Tim Burton, not directed. And I mean, it is his story. So, I mean, he did. You know, he was the really the creator of it. Yeah. But we saw it for my birthday in theaters, the 3D version. Yeah. Very cool. That was so awesome. It gave me a little bit of vertigo and I felt like an old lady because of that. But other than that, it was amazing.

[00:24:53] It's a movie that I can rewatch over and over and over again. And it's a movie that's so close to my heart. And I even got Jack Skellington tattooed on me because it's it means so much to me. So thank you, Tim Burton. All right. Well, number one for me is Ed Wood with Johnny Depp. Interesting. Yeah, about the guy who's considered to be the worst movie director of all time.

[00:25:21] And Johnny Depp is this super like earnest director who is making horrible movies, but he absolutely loves them and nobody understands his vision. And I think it's definitely a sort of self-awareness of Tim Burton of I'm making these crazy, cartoony, visually ridiculous films. You may not understand it or you may not get it at first, but I love them and he has a passion for them.

[00:25:48] And so I think it's in some ways a commentary on himself, but looks amazing. The behind the scenes of Hollywood, Johnny Depp is doing one of his best, I think, and really a lesser known Tim Burton movie. And maybe because it's in black and white, less people want to see it, but it's really worth checking out. And it's one of his funniest, especially. So, yeah, my number one. I don't think a lot of people would say that. What?

[00:26:15] You know, I don't think a lot of people would say that for their number one, but I really appreciate that you said that. Thank you. Because not a lot of people know about it. Wow, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, I'm just putting it out. I would check it out if you like Tim Burton or if you like anything dealing with Hollywood or, you know, movie making. I think it's a good, good movie to watch. And or if you like Johnny Depp. So, yeah, well, there you go. And let us know your top 10 lists, top five, what you think of our lists, if they are good, if they suck.

[00:26:44] Let us know in whatever form that you can, if that's what you'd like to do. And yeah, bring on the hate comments, man. Yeah. All right, well, I think that is about it for the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review, share across the internet, stratosphere, universe. And yeah, just thanks for being here as always. And always nice to have you back on the show. Thank you.

[00:27:11] And I know I say this every single time, but I do actually plan on being on here way more often. I'm going to make a schedule. I know I always say that, too, but I'm serious. August 2025 is the year of Henry and Elle and the film buds. Every week, let's go. Let's do it. Which, I mean, when this episode is being released, you know, we're already kind of into this, but we are doing it weekly now, as is obvious.

[00:27:38] And so that will make it easier as opposed to the, like, dailies and stuff that was harder to organize. And only doing one movie kind of takes the pressure off a little bit. And it's kind of easier. We're trying to, you know, find the middle ground of what we can do. So, yeah. Well, hope you enjoyed it. Thank you guys for having me. Oh, thank you for listening. Anytime. We'll see you next time. All right. Bye.

[00:28:29] Bye. Bye.