Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
2004 Directed by Brad Silberling
Synopsis
Darkening theaters December 17.
Three wealthy children's parents are killed in a fire. When they are sent to a distant relative, they find out that he is plotting to kill them and seize their fortune.
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The 'Series of Unfortunate Events' series of books was my 'Harry Potter' growing up. Its grim but always hopeful tales, unique characters and extravagant lexicon endeared me completely and influenced my now long-standing affection for words. That said, I was initially rather sniffy towards this Hollywood adaptation, purely because of its mangling of the plots of the original books - which I now realise was probably necessary; 'Unfortunate Events' covers the first three books of the series - in incorrect order!
From almost the very beginning, 'Unfortunate Events' sets itself out as a grim tale. As Jude Law (voicing the author Lemony Snicket) says himself, "The movie you are about to see is extremely unpleasant". By not shying away from…
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I've been a fan of the 13 part book series since I was a child, so when this came out in 2004 I literally snatched it from Tesco and brought it home.
I was disappointed to find it's in fact a combination of the first three books mashed into one film, with the end of Book The First ripped up and stuck on the end of the movie. Surprisingly though, it does work.
Jim Carrey portrays Olaf perfectly, and although you could call it "over-acting," it's how Lemony Snicket always intended him to be.
By the time this had finished, I was reasonably happy, despite no promise of the rest of the series being filmed. 9 years later, there's still no sign of them. This makes me sad :(
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Spectacular.
Carey on his best form, and a support cast that manage to keep up admirably with him, which takes some doing.
Sequels needed!!!!!
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Jim Carrey's A Series of Unfortunate Impressions
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Te piensas que vas a ver una película más, sin nada especial, y Jim Carrey sale de la pantalla y te pega dos collejas.
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Martin's random top 10 list of actor's (living or dead) he would have preferred to play Count Olaf:
1. Edward G. Robinson
2. Alan Rickman (probably not, because of Snape, but still...)
3. Michael Gambon (I was going to say Gary Oldman as well, but let's cut our H.P. crossover here)
4. Michael Caine
5. Ann Coulter (*shiver*)
6. Ian Holm
7. Tim Curry (who read the audio book with a certain aplomb).
8. Jerry Orbach (R.I.P., a true master of delivering the quip)
9. Ryan Stiles (who, coincidentally, was in the theater with us and his children)
10. Christopher Walken (Hell, I would have taken Jay Mohr's impersonation of him).
11. BONUS COULD-BE VILLIAN: Montgomery Burns.
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it was cool
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The 'Series of Unfortunate Events' series of books was my 'Harry Potter' growing up. Its grim but always hopeful tales, unique characters and extravagant lexicon endeared me completely and influenced my now long-standing affection for words. That said, I was initially rather sniffy towards this Hollywood adaptation, purely because of its mangling of the plots of the original books - which I now realise was probably necessary; 'Unfortunate Events' covers the first three books of the series - in incorrect order!
From almost the very beginning, 'Unfortunate Events' sets itself out as a grim tale. As Jude Law (voicing the author Lemony Snicket) says himself, "The movie you are about to see is extremely unpleasant". By not shying away from…
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I loved these books when I was still in school, so it's pretty cool to see them brought to life like this. It captures the tone of the novels pretty well and features some great visuals. It's also a pretty darn fun movie, with Jim Carrey being enjoyably over the top and some wonderful black humor. It's too bad they never continued this as it was a pretty good adaptation of the books.
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Spectacular.
Carey on his best form, and a support cast that manage to keep up admirably with him, which takes some doing.
Sequels needed!!!!!
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Jim is terrible in this film. TERRIBLE.
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I love this film a great deal, perhaps largely due to nostalgia based on the book series as well as the film. However, I still think that it is a very well-made film, with excellent stylization and an interesting interpretation of the original source material.
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It figures. Of all the kid-lit adaptations, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events seems to be among the most faithful, the most visually dazzling, the most expertly cast, the funniest, and the most fun, so of course it was a flop. I would trade ten Bridge to Terabithias and fifteen Beautiful Creatures to have the two unmade Snicket sequels. Ah, well. We'll always have this song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-B6EWjyd-I
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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"This is the story of the three Baudelaire children. Violet loved to invent; her brother, Klaus, loved to read; and their sister, Sunny... she loved to bite. My name is Lemony Snicket and it is my duty to tell you their tale. No one knows the precise cause of the Baudelaire fire, but just like that, the Baudelaire children became the Baudelaire orphans."