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James Newton Howard's A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series with additional music by Chris Bacon & Sven Faulconer)


Not Mr. Big

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From what I could tell, the opening song was different even from episode 1 to episode 2, different footage too. 

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18 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

 

 

I prefer it when it was Signs ;)

 

 

 

Yep, the Source Code main titles is steeped in JNH's vocabulary. 

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Three episodes into it, and I'm bored. It has its moments and I like its humour and Wes Anderson-lite approach, but it drags too much. Also, the music sounds like dull dishwater.

 

I prefer the film.

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I dont think it's as dull as you do, but it's not...great. I did very much enjoy getting to see Book 4 adapted in some way though. I say you should at least finish. It gets a little better. I'll probably watch just to see them do the other books.

 

But like you, I also prefer the film

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The biggest problem with the show is that it draaaaaaaaaaaaags out.  We've watched the first 4 episodes so far, and honestly everything that happened in them could have been summed up in 2 episodes, and probably should have since the showrunners should assume everyone watching has seen the movie already.  Or, they could have just considered the movie as the "pilot", and had this new cast take over for the remaining books only, or something.

 

I did think that episodes 3 and 4 were an improvement over 1 & 2 - the pace DID pick up, and the actors seem to be a lot more familiar with their characters.  Plus, that snake doctor guy was a nice breath of fresh air to break up every single scene being between the kids and Olaf otherwise.

 

 

BTW, about the music, I saw this post on FSM:

 

Quote

The episodes are credited:

JNH: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6
Chris Bacon: 7, 8
Sven Faulconer: 3

 

So there you go, JNH DID score the majority of the season.

 

Unfortunately, the music is nothing to write home about...

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It certainly isn't, the music, that is.

 

Also, is it me, or does the snake guy sound like he's doing as poor impersonation of Billy Connolley? I still liked him though.

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I don't remember any of the specific performances from the movie (haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater), other than Jim Carey's superior Olaf version.

 

One thing I like about the show is the anachronistic time setting (IE, it seems like roughly the 1950s, yet Olaf mentions streaming TV and buying things online, etc)

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7 hours ago, alextrombone94 said:

I prefer the film's cast. I think the TV show is much better produced though.

:blink:

 

The cinematography, set-design, makeup, special effects, and score of the film are much more impressive.  Makes the show look drab and cramped by comparison!

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Some of the obvious green screen work is really disappointing.  Like when the judge lady comes to Olaf's door with the lamb and he's talking to her, when its a closeup of her, she's CLEARLY on a green screen with the entire neighborhood behind her all fake.  Why couldn't they just film her outside in a real neighborhood?

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I did kind of enjoy the animation in it. I didn't mind the unrealistic shots. 

 

I probably won't watch any more, though - unless any of the later JNH is super good.

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

I don't remember any of the specific performances from the movie (haven't seen it since I saw it in the theater), other than Jim Carey's superior Olaf version.

 

They were all, more or less, quite good and memorable (Streep especially, in the Wide Window portion). But they did have an A-list cast to work with.

 

NPH is fine enough, but not nearly as entertaining as Carey.

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Some of the obvious green screen work is really disappointing.  Like when the judge lady comes to Olaf's door with the lamb and he's talking to her, when its a closeup of her, she's CLEARLY on a green screen with the entire neighborhood behind her all fake.  Why couldn't they just film her outside in a real neighborhood?

 

Sometimes the intentional look works, sometimes it doesn't. I wish they embraced that Wes Anderson-ish tone with more confidence. The writing and set-pieces has many moments of promise, but often gets deflated by either lack of budget, or just awkward pacing (the show's Achilles' heel).

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I'm surprised the netflix execs didn't ask for the early episodes to be tightened up, since its basically their current flagship show.  I assume as the series went on, the books got longer and more detailed (like Harry Potter book series), and there will be enough material to fill out 2 episodes each. But these early books they REALLY had to stretch things to fill 2 episodes!  And I think they made the wrong decision to do it that way.

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1 hour ago, Not Mr. Big said:

:blink:

 

The cinematography, set-design, makeup, special effects, and score of the film are much more impressive.  Makes the show look drab and cramped by comparison!

 

Well you have to take into account that it probably has a much lower budget than the film. 

Apart from the cast, it felt much closer to the original material to me. Having been a massive fan of the books (its literary style as well as its story) Lemony Snicket having a much larger role in the TV series was really good thing. I felt more like I was in the books than I did in the film. The opening scene on the beach is almost exactly how I'd imagined it. Also I think each book benefits from having more than just a 35/45 minute adaptation

I prefer the humour in the TV series. Outside Jim Carrey's portrayal of Olaf, I don't think film handles humour (that) well. 

Of course Thomas Newman's score is superior, but I don't think the music is as important in the TV series. I was too engrossed to notice the music to be honest, which is rare for me.

I just think the series is more suited to TV. I enjoy both adaptations, but I absolutely love the TV series.

 

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Can not agree more with this

 

I actually hated most of the music. It was all too in your face wacky for me. The only cue / theme I enjoyed was when Violet was thinking / inventing. I can only recall it cropping up twice though.

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If you're being serious, then maybe? I don't really associate him with super "out there" scores though. Thomas Newman I think captured a great feel in the film, but I don't think I've really heard Giacchino do that sort of thing (and he's my favorite composer besides Williams).

 

I actually thought James Newton Howard would've been a good choice, but this is too off-the-walls in the wrong direction...in my opinion.

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There's one nice theme for the children that recurs a few times, first accompanying that shot of Justice Strauss (Cusak) reading in her library. I'm not sure if it's for the orphans, or Lemony Snicket himself.

 

Overall I think the show works, but almost all the time I was distracted by how close it was to the film, bringing up those great performances from Carrey, Streep, Browning and Spall...

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It's not really a show where the music ever takes center stage. If the exact same music was in these episodes but it was written entirely by guys we'd never heard of, there would be practically no discussion of it anywhere.  But since its JNH it gets discussed.

 

We've finished episode 6 now and the show truly seems to be getting a little better with each episode.  I think NPH has finally sunk into Olaf (his sailor character was the least Olaf-like acting yet) and the kids are better too.

 

It's still not a great show by any means, but its fine enough.  Hopefully the next 2 episodes will be really interesting since there's no movie equivalent to compare to any more.

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Renewed Netflix today to check this out (plus OA, plus Saul is back soon, plus BoJack).

 

I'm halfway through episode 1 - the music is subtle and effective. Can't really ask for much more than that for a show like this where, as Jay points out, the scoring is more background. It didn't need JNH though - I can only imagine that he was attracted to the project.

 

I do hope there will be a release of some sort.

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On 1/19/2017 at 0:27 PM, Jay said:

It's not really a show where the music ever takes center stage. If the exact same music was in these episodes but it was written entirely by guys we'd never heard of, there would be practically no discussion of it anywhere.  But since its JNH it gets discussed.

 

True. 

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We finished the series last night.  The show absolutely gets better as it goes along, though its never great by any means.  Occasionally funny and that's good enough for a casual watch.  The biggest flaw I think they made was spending 8 hours in this world and only barely hinting at the larger picture - ie, why their parents died, what the secret society is, etc.  I completely understand that they don't want to reveal everything in the first season when they knew 2 more were practically guaranteed, but shit, give us SOMETHING to make us want to come back next year.

 

 

As for the score, I thought that the Chris Bacon music in episodes 7 and 8 was EASILY the best music in the entire season!  They actually let the score be loud, interesting, and take center stage in some montage sequences there.  He should score the rest of the series!

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Curious to know what people who haven't read the books think of the series. They do leave a lot of unanswered questions, even to people like me who've read them.

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6 hours ago, Jay said:

Well,  I haven't read the books, and Ive posted my thoughts on every episode... 

 I know 🙂

You should definitely read them, they are very good.

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16 hours ago, Jay said:

As for the score, I thought that the Chris Bacon music in episodes 7 and 8 was EASILY the best music in the entire season!  They actually let the score be loud, interesting, and take center stage in some montage sequences there.  He should score the rest of the series!

 

Similar to how Giacchino and Seiter's Fringe music was so-so and then when Tilton got in board he took it to a whole other level of quality?

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No, because even though it was drastically better, its just MOSTLY a quiet background kind of score, its not an important part of the show, its still rarely ever in the forefront, or full of melodic themes.

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I've never read the books, but I saw the film. I didn't really feel that anything very crucial was unexplained.

 

Now on episode 2 and I'm really enjoying this. Their use of Warburton as Snicket is way more effective than Law was in the film. It's also a lot funnier - NPH is perfectly cast as Olaf. It'll be interesting to see whether it starts dragging - I've thought for a while that books should be TV series due to the amount of subplot and 'ambience' that gets missed out of a film. Maybe this is a good test. I'm certainly happy I renewed Netflix to see this.

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I was a bit indifferent towards Snicket at first because I always imagined him just as a narrator. I thought I would prefer to not see his face but I end up really enjoying his appearance.

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I'm just finishing episode 4 and I'm very impressed. I disagree with those who think it's too slow - I'm loving the amount of detail which would've been completely lost in the movie.

 

The music seems to be getting less memorable the further I get, but I think it's more because it just sinks into the background.

 

Warburton's really sinking into the role of Snicket. Frankly he's kicking the shit out of Jude Law.

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Yea, I think he's the best part of the show. I like the two actors playing Mother and Father as well, but their scenes are very short. 

 

The music really does sink into the  background until finally in the last two episodes it's given a chance to shine in some montages. 

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Binge over. Season finished. (it's what happens when you're ill for 2 days and counting, and have run out of productive things to do).

 

Roll on season 2!

 

Awesome ending song too. (albeit with some terrible lip syncing)

 

And I just went and watched the intro scene from the film again - NPH is definitely better for this role than Carrey, who is more cartoonish. Harris really feels like a nasty piece of work. Clearly the two just went in a completely different direction. I think to an extent the series just has much better and 'free' writing. However, it's not entirely fair to compare 2 hours vs 8 hours.

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That was 7 and 8 right?

 

All I noticed from the latter part of the season was the nice cue as they entered boarding school. I think I stopped noticing the music largely after the first couple of episodes.

 

 wonder if he was also responsible for the instrumentals in the ending song?

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  • 1 month later...

I thought there was enough stuff in there to at least do a digital release. You've also got the main theme, 'It's the Count', and 'Not How the Story Goes'.

 

Given some of the obscure TV music that gets released these days, this is a clear candidate.

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It's possibly they'll time a score release around when Season 2 is about to premiere, and/or combine season 1 and 2 together into a single release.

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Essentially, using it as a marketing tool, rather than a chance to make the music available. I guess there's no BD release to 'celebrate' either. (as in, no one will watch it on physical media)

 

Given that virtually everything JNH does gets released (and Bacon had that obscure climbing score released), it would surprise me if we didn't see anything for Snicket.

 

(Yes, I know soundtracks are basically marketing tools. Doesn't make it ok.)

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