EW DVD review: Bewildering 'Snicket'
Carrey film leaves newcomers to series in the dark
By Jeff Labrecque
Entertainment Weekly
(Entertainment Weekly) -- Based on the first three novels of the deliciously malicious "Lemony Snicket" series, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" chronicles the misfortunes of the three extraordinary Baudelaire orphans, who are left in the not-so-loving care of a wickedly eccentric actor after their parents die in a mysterious fire.
You won't find Roald Dahl or Tim Burton in the credits, but clearly their works influenced this sinister saga. Like many of Dahl's books, "Snicket's" heroes are courageous children plagued by dim-witted adults, and the film's surreal visual vitality is right out of "Sleepy Hollow" and "Edward Scissorhands." (No surprise, as several crew members are Burton vets.)
In addition, Jim Carrey's untalented thespian Count Olaf is the most outrageous villain since Beetlejuice. Seeing Carrey give life to his bizarre trio of characters -- Olaf; Stephano, an Italian snake milker; and Captain Sham, a peg-legged sailor -- during preproduction costume tests is pure magic, the highlight of a generous two-disc set that includes more than 15 featurettes, ''orphaned'' scenes and two commentaries (one with the real Lemony Snicket).
''About 80 percent of [Carrey's] performance in the picture is really cobbled together from improv,'' says director Brad Silberling in ''Building a Bad Actor.''
Silberling incorporated Carrey's riffs, but he also couldn't resist organizing focus groups with young "Snicket" readers to (rather rigidly) preserve the spirit of the subversive books.
Ultimately, whether Silberling satisfies diehards is debatable, and unless you're already familiar with the entire series' story arc, you're bound to feel as alone as a Baudelaire and as bewildered as one of "Snicket's" oblivious adults. As Carrey deadpans in ''Interactive Olaf,'' ''If Van Gogh had a focus group, he might have two ears right now.''
EW Grade: C+
'Blade: Trinity'
Reviewed by Tom Russo
Blade versus Dracula. For a trilogy capper, the matchup makes all the sense in the underworld. But this main event is actually more like an undercard to Ryan ''Van Wilder'' Reynolds' unlikely coming-out as a ripped action hero in "Blade: Trinity."
Reynolds' Hannibal King and Jessica Biel's Abigail Whistler are the Nightstalkers, self-appointed sidekicks to Wesley Snipes' dour vampire hunter, and the new blood in a franchise that was due for a transfusion.
Writer-director David S. Goyer throws in some fun touches -- even a vampire Pomeranian works -- but it's King who rules.
Extras: Snipes, reportedly irked by getting such heavy backup, is as present here as a vampire in the daytime. As co-producer Peter Frankfurt delicately explains in a featurette, ''Dealing with ... lots of very dynamic personalities who need to be properly managed is always a challenge.'' Cut to a clip of Snipes laughing about the on-set tension.
Meanwhile, Reynolds and Biel supply commentary with Goyer, and an alternate werewolf-hunting ending hints at visions of a Nightstalker spin-off dancing in the trio's heads.
EW Grade: C+
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