Judgy, Judgy

I just had a good slap-in-the-face reminder not to pre-judge.

I was taking a look at some popular Christian web portals, forums, blogs, and such and found myself at The Christian Century. On the front page, I saw a thumbnail of Burton's Sweeney Todd and the headline of a review of the film:

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The opposite of entertaining

I admit, I immediately assumed that some non-movie-going, school-marmish, non-reviewer would be waxing long about how bloody, sinful, and detestable the movie was.

Boy, was I wrong!

First of all, the author (Steve Vineberg) made no remarks about the film's moral character. Secondly, he clearly had full knowledge not just of Burton's work, but also of Sondheim's and even Brecht's. Finally, although I basically disagree with his conclusion, his argument was well-written and well-founded.

It's a good day when people surprise you!