Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

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Posted by Dan Suomi (Member # 2585) on 12-17-2004, 09:53 AM:

Short and to the point here!! This movie blows!! I was so bored with it, Jim Carrey was NOT funny at all. I wish I had my 2 hours back.

[ 12-17-2004, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: Joe Redifer ]

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 12-17-2004, 11:29 AM:

For search purposes:
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-17-2004, 10:21 PM:

4:55PM today, Regal Cinema World 8 in Eugene, house #3. Unfortunately the presentation wasn't up par. The screen masking was set for scope, not flat, and the framing was obviously about a foot low. I told the manager, and they did frame it properly and bring in the masking, but the left edge of the image was still missing the masking by quite a lot (image shifted right). Reel 1 of the feature had the shakes -- looked like a bobble-headed doll. Everything else was steady.

If you haven't read any of the books and don't know what to expect going in, you might not like this. It's dark comedy at best. Or mostly just dark. I did think Jim Carrey was the best thing in the movie. That and the production design, which is very original. The kids are the only "normal" people in the story -- everyone else is over the top (and meant to be that way).

I was thrown off by the cartoon opening -- I thought I was in the wrong theater or something. [Wink]

OK, 2.5 stars out of 4 from me. It didn't suck, and I was adequately entertained by Jim Carrey and the excellent production values.

Is it just me, or is some of the dialog level too low? It seemed like the big effects sequences were plenty loud and dynamic, yet some dialog was almost muffled.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-23-2004, 10:24 PM:

Why didn't they just hire Christopher Lloyd to star in this movie? It would've saved all that makeup and expense of Jim Carrey.

Posted by Jonathan Couchenour (Member # 2848) on 12-24-2004, 04:31 AM:

quote: Brad Miller
Why didn't they just hire Christopher Lloyd to star in this movie?

Obvious answer: People will pay to see a 'Jim Carrey' movie, regardless of the film's merit; a 'Christopher Lloyd' movie, not so much.

Nonetheless, the resemblance is quite a coinkydink.

Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 12-26-2004, 09:30 AM:

I thought this movie was great...I love the music

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 12-26-2004, 05:44 PM:

Did anyone else have kids shifting "down the hall" to see the "Elf" movie??

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 12-26-2004, 11:18 PM:

Loved the music and the end title sequence. Overall, I thought it was good for what it was. The kids should like it. Especially the ones familiar with the books.

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 12-27-2004, 10:42 AM:

I have not read the books or seen the movie, but one of my favorite shows "CBS SUNDAY MORNING" had a segment yesterday about the author.

Anyhow, the author's intent is to introduce children to the realities of life in such a manner that they will understand; that not everything in life has the typical fairytale happy ending.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-27-2004, 10:26 PM:

As much as I hated this thing, the target audience...the kids who read this stuff...seemed to enjoy it based on what I heard walking out. I just don't see there being enough of them to keep this franchise afloat.

The previews made this look like a fantasy/dark comedy sort of thing, but it was just plain DARK.

One of the big problems I had was each time the kids tried to point out who the "man in disguise" was. Each time they're brushed off by an adult, they just STOP and stand there. When have you ever known a kid...even an extraordinary one...CAPABLE of holding back like that?

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 01-10-2005, 10:54 PM:

This was actually pretty entertaining. It did keep my attention throughout and I even chuckled at a few points.

The back and forth between Olaf and Sunny was pretty funny and the acting wasn't too bad. Overall pretty good.

3/5

PS: You all know this is coming. hehe. Emily Browning (17 this year BTW) is pretty cute IMHO [thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-22-2005, 01:14 PM:

Jim Carrey had some funny lines. The last 1/3 of the movie was a little slow, I thought. I agree with above posts, people who liked the books probably enjoyed it, otherwise might have a hard time "getting it."

A special shout-out to the end credits designer. They obviously lavished a lot of time and love on the credits, very impressive considering only about 1/100 of movie patrons will ever see them.

I have never read the books (or even heard of them), but I was entertained, so 3 out of 5 stars for me.