Tag Archives: a series of unfortunate events

Netflix Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 2)

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Series of Unfortunate Events Season 2

Things are about to get much, much worse… In a good way???

Before I say anything else, I should probably tell you that Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events may be one of the most faithful (and well done) book-to-film adaptations I have ever seen. The casting, the characters and costumes and settings… so much of this series seems to match perfectly with what I saw in my mind as I read the books. Netflix is doing an amazing job, and I really respect them for that.

Although it has been a while since I read the books, from what I remember the show seems to stick pretty close to them. I do like that the creators of this show decided to flesh out VFD a lot more than it was in the books. I am very intrigued to see how everything works out in the end, and especially how they handle the final installment of the series, which I personally thought was a bit of a let down.

However, the nature of the books which have been adapted means that this show continues to get darker and darker with each episode, as more and more terrible things happen to the Baudelaire orphans, more clueless or downright awful guardians take custody of them, and Count Olaf hatches yet more schemes to steal their fortune. The Baudilaires themselves are also faced with increasingly difficult moral choices as they descend further into the winding mystery around VFD and try to just keep themselves alive and safe… or as safe as they can be in vile villages, horrible hospitals, and carnivorous carnivals. The visual tone of the show gets darker and darker along with the story, with each episode’s color scheme a little drabber than the last, and each new, terrifying location a little more grimy and dingy.

This show seems to be a lot darker than the books, but maybe that’s just because the acting is so strong, the visuals so awful and compelling, the dark humor so on point, that it really just drives home the atmosphere that the books were originally getting at. While I did find it a little creepy, and slightly disturbing in parts, I was very impressed with this season, and I’m excited to see how Netflix will handle the third one, and finale of this series of unfortunate events.

Final rating: 5 out of 5 stars

“Can things get even worse for the Baudilaires? Oh, yes the can.”

Content note: This show is rated PG. However, this season does introduce Esme Squalor, Count Olaf’s evil girlfriend, who wears ridiculous, supposedly fashionable —and often rather revealing— clothing, and also sometimes makes remarks which could be taken as innuendo, or not, depending on how you look at it. These off-color remarks were one rather annoying addition to the show that I noticed, as I don’t remember anything of the kind in the books. There were also references to same-sex couples included in the dialogue a few times (The Quagmire triplets refer to their guardian and ‘her wife’, at one point a character mentions his two moms, etc.), another thing I don’t remember seeing  in the books. This show, especially the current season, is also quite dark, and a little depressing, so I would recommend caution for younger children, even if they’ve already read the books.

I hope you enjoyed my review of A Series of Unfortunate Events, Season 2! Have you read the books and/or seen the show? Do you prefer one over the other? What do you think about the show’s inclusion of more stuff about VFD? Let’s chat in the comments!

See you again soon.

🙂

Netflix Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 1)

Posted on by under Movie Revies

Come on, Netflix, let this get another season! Or two…

I loved watching the 2004 Jim Carrey Series of Unfortunate Events film almost as much as I enjoyed reading the books, so when I heard that Netflix was doing a remake (of sorts) you can imagine my trepidation. Would they get it right, the tone, the humor, the casting, the sets? Would it be as good as the movie? Would they do (gasp!) the rest of the story?

And now, the verdict is in: The tone is good, the humor is good (some parts had me laughing out loud, and I was watching this late in the evening when other people were asleep…), the casting is good, the sets are spectacular. But there are two things I had trouble with: It’s not steampunk, and it’s not British.

<Cue ridiculous rant that has very little to do with my final thoughts about the show>

The first six episode of the eight episode season are, basically, a restatement of the Jim Carrey film. This is to be expected, of course, as the show is an entirely new undertaking, and does not pick up where the film left off, at the end of the third book in the series. Although there was plenty of extra details and scenes from the books which had not been included in the 2004 film, I was rather amused when some of the shots used in the episodes were composed in exactly the same way as shots from the film. This was probably a nice homage to the Jim Carrey film, but still a little bit odd and jarring, at least to someone who notices such things, like me. Other, normal people probably won’t care at all.

In fact, I’m sure they won’t.

#filmstudentproblems

Another thing that struck me was the casting. The acting is brilliant and well done, even the children and extras (and don’t get me started on the fact that the new Violet Baudelaire looks a lot like actress Emily Browning from the film). But nobody, I repeat, nobody had a British accent, not even Lemony Snicket who, while played  in a wonderfully deadpan manner by Patrick Warburton (who I am sure I must have seen in some other movie), began to annoy me with his non-British-ness. In the original film, Lemony had been portrayed as a mysterious British guy, always shown in silhouette, which was exactly right, and I had enjoyed his narration of parts of the movie. While Patrick Warburton’s narration was humorous and reminiscent of passages from the book, I found it to be slightly overused. And, for one thing, he’s definitely American. For another, I felt a bit cheated that he was just shown to us right away, without the mystery of the original film. Yes, there is mystery in the show (I, for one, am wondering what exactly they plan to do with the VFD) but in the film there had always been a sense of ‘Who is this mysterious narrator? Why doesn’t he show his face? Who is he hiding from?’ Patrick Warburton’s Snicket does not appear to be hiding from anyone.

And, about the steampunk…

The books had always struck me as being very British, as had the film, which also exuded an air of delightfully witty and whimsical steampunk. The show is not steampunk. It has been called steampunk, but probably by rather misinformed people. It is not steampunk. It is trying very, very hard to be steampunk, but it’s just not.

<End ridiculous rant>

By now, you probably think that I hate the show, and are wondering why I said I hope that it gets a second or third season. But I don’t hate the show. Netflix took a chance and revived an old story that, as far as I know, has kind become a little bit of a cult classic. And the result is very good. The casting, despite not being British in any way, shape or form, is amazing. I think I might even like Neil Patrick Harris’s performance as Count Olaf a bit more than Jim Carrey’s! It’s not steampunk. It’s definitely not. But it brings the world of the Baudelaires to life in a very new way. I think newcomers to the story, and old fans alike, will very much enjoy Netflix’s version

As I said, there are eight episodes in this season. And while the first six cover fairly old ground in a sort of remake of the Jim Carrey film, in the last two we get to see book four, The Miserable Mill, brought to the screen for the first time ever! Let me tell you, I was very excited for this. Yes, we’ve seen the first three books before, but the show and the film do a fairly equal job with them, so you can take your pick. But they did the fourth book. And then they left it on a cliffhanger! And, maybe, we’ll be getting a few more seasons!

I would love to see the rest of the story told on screen. It had always annoyed me that there was only ever one Jim Carrey film… Come on, Netflix, make it happen!

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

“Good, well made, funny, but not enough British-ness or steampunkary!”

(Can you tell I have a problem???)

Heeey, did you know you can grab a free ebook copy of my historical fiction short story ‘Miss’ on instafreebie.com? Click here to check it out.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 15

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Day 15: Draw a book character

Quite recently, I read A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, so for today I have drawn the three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny. This drawing was done with inking pens and Prismacolor pencil crayons.

30ddc-day-15

*Special Note* Today is the halfway point! In fifteen days, it will be October 1st. You still have a chance to enter my Goodreads Giveaway for a change to win a signed copy of Behind Her Mask was Death. See you all tomorrow for Day 16!

Wednesday with Words: More Lemony Snicket

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So… Yes, I have come to inflict another miserable Lemony Snicket quote upon you. I quite recently finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, and although I don’t really like how it ended, I was left with the feeling that the books as a whole had a deeper meaning. This bit of dialogue, from The Grim Grotto, sums up, I think, Lemony Snicket’s biggest point: People aren’t wholly good or wholly bad.

chefs-salad

On my reading list this week:

Still Life by Jaqueline West: I still have a little bit left of The Strangers, but still I’m almost finished with this surprisingly wonderful middle grade fantasy series. It’s creepy, but cool, and would definitely be enjoyed by fans of N. D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards books.

Operative by Anela Deen: I was given the first too books of indie author Anela Deen’s Insurrection series in exchange for entering a Kindle Fire giveaway on her blog. They’re pretty short (Subversive, the first one, is only 30 pages), but definitely high on action. There are a couple of bad words and some sci-fi violence, but thoroughly enjoyable all the same. I’ll most likely be buying the next installments, because I simply must know what happens next. 😛

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: I’ve started school again, and this is my new literature book. My dad really likes it, and even though I’ve only read the first two chapters I’m finding it quite interesting as well.

Wednesday with Words is hosted by ladydusk.

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Wednesday with Words: The Element of Surprise

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Lemony Snicket has a style all his own. I’ve already heard another witty author, Terry Pratchett, in fact, use the phrase ‘the element of surprise’ in a literal way, but I think I like Mr. Snicket’s take a little bit more:

If you are ever forced to take a chemistry class, you will probably see, at the front of the classroom, a large chart divided into squares, with different numbers and letters in each of them. This chart is called the table of the elements, and scientists like to say that it contains all the substances that make up our world. Like everyone else, scientists are wrong from time to time, and it is easy to see that they are wrong about the table of the elements. Because although this table contains a great many elements, from the element oxygen, which is found in the air, to the element aluminum, which is found in cans of soda, the table of the elements does not contain one of the most powerful elements that make up or world, and that is the element of surprise.

Lemony Snicket

The Ersatz Elevator

On my reading list this week:

The End by Lemony Snicket: The problem with the Series of Unfortunate Events books is that they’re just too short. I read two of them in one day, at one point, but I am beginning to slow down a bit as I reach The End, if only because I’ve read so much Lemony Snicket in so little time that I feel I’ve got ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ coming out of my eyes, as well as entering into them. (There, you see? I’m beginning to write like Lemony Snicket as well!)

The Strangers by Jacqueline West: The Books of Elsewhere and A Series of Unfortunate Events are the two major things I want to finish up before school starts. I’m actually surprised to find that both of these series are much better written and ask much more thought provoking questions than I initially expected. Although the protagonist of The Books of Elsewhere can be a bit stubborn and, honestly, rather thickheaded at times, I’m glad to see that she’s learning at least a few important lessons as the series goes on.

(I’m also reading other stuff, I promise, but its stuff that I’ve already listed on here for previous Wednesday with Words posts, so I won’t list it again. You can check out the Goodreads widget on the right side of the screen for a more complete list of what I’m working on, if you wish.)

Wednesday with Words is hosted by ladydusk.

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