Post by ashley on Nov 11, 2004 16:59:39 GMT -5
LEMONY SNEAK PEEK
11.08.04
By Devin Faraci
Last week I had a chance to sit down and see about thirty minutes of the new Jim Carrey family film, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. You might be familiar with the source material – a series of kid’s books in a very dark vein, telling the endlessly sad tale of the Baudelaire children, who are orphans. They inherit a terrible amount of money, and this brings them to the attention of the wicked actor Count Olaf, who tries to adopt and kill the children for their money.
The first thing that became obvious is that director Brad Silberling pulls off the visuals with panache. The world of Lemony Snicket (he’s the writer of the books for the uninitiated (not really – Daniel Handler is the writer, but Snicket is a shadowy and still mysterious character in the continuing series)) is slightly surreal and feels like it’s been subtly timeslipped. Half of the time when you’re reading the books you’ll feel like you’re reading about adventures in the Victorian age right up until a car shows up, or a television. Silberling, whose previous career made me worried that this would be a Casper 2, grasps this aspect of the world, and every frame is full of delightful and small details, while everything looks just a bit fake. It’s absolutely perfect.
The next thing I had worried about was how the book’s delightful wordplay would be transferred to the screen. Jude Law, as the mostly offscreen Snicket, does a great job of narrating the story, and many of the better verbal bits go there, as well as being dropped into the character’s speech.
The kids were a big concern as well. There are three Baudelaire children, and the whole filmSNAKE centers on them, so they have to be good. Emily Browning, who was in the excellently named film The Man Who Sued God, plays Violet, the eldest. She’s going to grow up to be quite a beauty, and she’s great here. Liam Aiken, who played little Pete in Road to Perdition, doesn’t fare quite as well as Klaus. At least from what I can see here. Klaus is the middle child, and the smartest, but Aiken seems mostly stiff. The Hoffman twins, Kara and Shelby, are the youngest Baudelaire, Sunny. It’s almost unfair to have a movie with an adorable baby in it – whenever Silberling needs a laugh he can just cut to a reaction shot from the baby. And in the footage I saw he was quite happy to do it.
Finally there’s Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Long time CHUD readers know that I tend to despise Jim Carrey. I’ve never liked him as an actor and I have heard enough stories about him as a celebrity (from trusted people I know) to tend to not like him as a person either. But 2004 looks like the year I will be eating Jim Carrey Crow – first he was great in Eternal Sunshine, KIDSone of the best films of the year, and now he seems great here.
As a swaggering, hammy actor who takes on many disguises to chase the children, Carrey couldn’t have been better cast. The role demands the kind of broadness that he brings to most of his parts, and unlike movies like Liar Liar or Ace Ventura, you’re supposed to hate him and think he’s an annoying buffoon. It’s sort of freeing to be able to laugh at Carrey’s antics, and he’s completely at home in the strange and off-kilter universe Silberling is building here.
You know that a studio has a good feeling about a film when they’re screening portions of it early for journalists (there are movies that some studios never screen at all, even for review, never mind a half hour sneak peek), and I think Paramount is right to be excited about this – Lemony Snicket looks like a most fortunate event for the studio this holiday.
For more on the movie, check out the official website at www.unfortunateeventsmovie.com and also head here to watch the teaser trailer. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events opens December 17th.
Here's the link:
chud.com/news/416
Still no good word for Liam, but it's not like the reviewer saw the WHOLE movie, but i'm still waiting. And it wasn't like it said that Liam was BAD, just a bit stiff but a 12 yr.old boy on the brink of adolescence isn't going to be an open well of emotions is he - i think
11.08.04
By Devin Faraci
Last week I had a chance to sit down and see about thirty minutes of the new Jim Carrey family film, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. You might be familiar with the source material – a series of kid’s books in a very dark vein, telling the endlessly sad tale of the Baudelaire children, who are orphans. They inherit a terrible amount of money, and this brings them to the attention of the wicked actor Count Olaf, who tries to adopt and kill the children for their money.
The first thing that became obvious is that director Brad Silberling pulls off the visuals with panache. The world of Lemony Snicket (he’s the writer of the books for the uninitiated (not really – Daniel Handler is the writer, but Snicket is a shadowy and still mysterious character in the continuing series)) is slightly surreal and feels like it’s been subtly timeslipped. Half of the time when you’re reading the books you’ll feel like you’re reading about adventures in the Victorian age right up until a car shows up, or a television. Silberling, whose previous career made me worried that this would be a Casper 2, grasps this aspect of the world, and every frame is full of delightful and small details, while everything looks just a bit fake. It’s absolutely perfect.
The next thing I had worried about was how the book’s delightful wordplay would be transferred to the screen. Jude Law, as the mostly offscreen Snicket, does a great job of narrating the story, and many of the better verbal bits go there, as well as being dropped into the character’s speech.
The kids were a big concern as well. There are three Baudelaire children, and the whole filmSNAKE centers on them, so they have to be good. Emily Browning, who was in the excellently named film The Man Who Sued God, plays Violet, the eldest. She’s going to grow up to be quite a beauty, and she’s great here. Liam Aiken, who played little Pete in Road to Perdition, doesn’t fare quite as well as Klaus. At least from what I can see here. Klaus is the middle child, and the smartest, but Aiken seems mostly stiff. The Hoffman twins, Kara and Shelby, are the youngest Baudelaire, Sunny. It’s almost unfair to have a movie with an adorable baby in it – whenever Silberling needs a laugh he can just cut to a reaction shot from the baby. And in the footage I saw he was quite happy to do it.
Finally there’s Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Long time CHUD readers know that I tend to despise Jim Carrey. I’ve never liked him as an actor and I have heard enough stories about him as a celebrity (from trusted people I know) to tend to not like him as a person either. But 2004 looks like the year I will be eating Jim Carrey Crow – first he was great in Eternal Sunshine, KIDSone of the best films of the year, and now he seems great here.
As a swaggering, hammy actor who takes on many disguises to chase the children, Carrey couldn’t have been better cast. The role demands the kind of broadness that he brings to most of his parts, and unlike movies like Liar Liar or Ace Ventura, you’re supposed to hate him and think he’s an annoying buffoon. It’s sort of freeing to be able to laugh at Carrey’s antics, and he’s completely at home in the strange and off-kilter universe Silberling is building here.
You know that a studio has a good feeling about a film when they’re screening portions of it early for journalists (there are movies that some studios never screen at all, even for review, never mind a half hour sneak peek), and I think Paramount is right to be excited about this – Lemony Snicket looks like a most fortunate event for the studio this holiday.
For more on the movie, check out the official website at www.unfortunateeventsmovie.com and also head here to watch the teaser trailer. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events opens December 17th.
Here's the link:
chud.com/news/416
Still no good word for Liam, but it's not like the reviewer saw the WHOLE movie, but i'm still waiting. And it wasn't like it said that Liam was BAD, just a bit stiff but a 12 yr.old boy on the brink of adolescence isn't going to be an open well of emotions is he - i think