Combustible Celluloid


New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

 
Home | Archive | About | Cinematical.com | Lists | News | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter!  
 



Ajami ***
Green Zone **1/2
Remember Me **1/2
She's Out of My League ***
2009 Oscars
More
 




Blank Generation
The Box
Capitalism: A Love Story
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak
Undead: The Vampire Collection
Up in the Air
The 25 Best DVDs of 2009
More
 

Film Features

2009: The Year's Ten Best Films
The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
My 2003 Interview with Brittany Murphy
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2009
Richard Linklater
John Woo
Jared and Jerusha Hess
Essential Halloween Movies
Michael Stuhlbarg
Jane Campion
Bobcat Goldthwait
Hugh Dancy
Kathryn Bigelow
Willem Dafoe: The 2009 CineVegas Interview
David Carradine
A 2002 Interview with Edward Asner
Vinessa Shaw
Henry Selick
2008: The Year's Ten Best Films
The San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards 2008
The 25 Best DVDs of 2008
Bruce Campbell
Darren Aronofsky and Marisa Tomei
Josh Brolin
A Tribute to Paul Newman
Steve Coogan on Hamlet 2
Manny Farber (1917-2008)
Bernie Mac (1957-2008)
Emily Mortimer
Brad Anderson
Don Cheadle at CineVegas
Abel Ferrara at CineVegas
Tina Sinatra
My Top 100 Films [Updated]
My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
The Top 50 Movies of the Past Ten Years (1997-2006)
Terry Zwigoff on the new Bad Santa Director's Cut
Alfonso Cuarón Interview
Guillermo Del Toro Interview
Christmas Movies
Combustible Celluloid's Big Guide to Halloween & Horror Movies
Cult Movies
Actress Interview Gallery
The Top 100
More Features and Interviews
 

Film Books

Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
Guide to Essential Movies, by Joe Leydon
Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood, by Robert S. Birchard
Profoundly Disturbing, by Joe Bob Briggs
A Third Face, by Samuel Fuller
Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
Agee on Film, by James Agee
Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks
Negative Space, by Manny Farber
5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
More Books
 



Home
Reviews A-C
Reviews D-F
Reviews G-J
Reviews K-M
Reviews N-Q
Reviews R-T
Reviews U-Z
 

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

 
SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Advanced Search

 
© 1997-2009 Combustible Celluloid



Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

Rating: 2 Stars (out of 4)

Biting Humor

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD.

From the start Lemony Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler) wrote his hugely successful children's stories A Series of Unfortunate Events almost as a dare. He brazenly scribbled as if he did not care one whit if anyone ever read them. They did not pander to children, and in fact took them in as secret accomplices, congratulating and rewarding them for reading books they were not supposed to.

On the other hand, the new movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events desperately cares what its audience thinks. More than anything it wants the audience to love its poor unfortunate lead characters, the Beaudelaire orphans: the inventor Violet (Emily Browning), the reader Klaus (Liam Aiken) and their baby sister, biter Sunny (played by twins Kara and Shelby Hoffman).

In its bid for unconditional love, the film softens Handler's work and adds in silly screenplay elements that string together plots from the first three books (The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room and The Wide Window), repeating themes and soothing the stories' natural darkness.

Jim Carrey plays the ever-present villain, Count Olaf, who dons various disguises to get his hands on the Beaudelaire fortune. Carrey overplays his hand by a good, long stretch and provides the movie with yet another cheap escape from true darkness. Instead of casting a really sinister villain (Gary Oldman?), it resorts to low comedy.

Most of the blame lies with director Brad Silberling, the wrong choice for this or any other movie. Besides a great deal of television, his credits include the soulless Casper and the gutless Wings of Desire remake City of Angels.

Even so, the movie has its high points. The young actors succeed with their lovely underplayed performances. (Their reaction to Carrey's mugging is shocked silence.) And the beautiful set design would not look out of place in a Charles Addams cartoon. Additionally, the closing credits boast a gorgeous piece of two-dimensional shadow-play animation that's worth the price of admission all by itself.

Otherwise, we have Jude Law providing the voice of the mysterious Snicket, Timothy Spall as the banker in charge of placing the orphans, Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty of the pythons and Meryl Streep having a ball hamming it up as Aunt Josephine. Catherine O'Hara, Cedric the Entertainer, Jane Adams, Jennifer Coolidge and Luis Guzman also star. Robert Gordon (Addicted to Love, Galaxy Quest) provided the screenplay.

Kids may get a kick out of a single viewing, but adults should instead track down a screening of Handler's other new movie, the clever and vicious black comedy Rick.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Lude Law, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Meryl Streep, Timothy Spall, Catherine O'Hara, Billy Connolly, Cedric the Entertainer, Luis Guzman, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Adams
Written by: Robert Gordon, based on books by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)
Directed by: Brad Silberling
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic elements, scary situations and brief language
Running Time: 110 minutes
Date: December 17, 2004

Home
News
Search Reviews
Classic Movies
DVDs
Features
Film Books
Gallery
Links
About
The Rating System
Email Me
All scribblings © 1997-2010 Combustible Celluloid