Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events
Thomas Newman
" Thomas Newman's A series of Eccentric Adventures "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a family adventure film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Starring Jim Carrey, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Timothy Spall, Billy Connolly, and Meryl Streep, with narration by Jude Law and cameos by Catherine O'Hara and Dustin Hoffman, the film tells the story of three orphans who are adopted by a mysterious Count Olaf as he attempts to steal their late parents fortune.
Considering the movie's a wacky combination of action, adventure, horror and drama, I guess it was an obvious choice to pick Thomas Newman for the role of composer, especially after last year's thunderous score for Angels in America. And honestly, whatever you think and remember of the film, expect it in musical terms here, eclectic, eccentric and as quirky as ever. In fact, I could basically sum up whatever I wrote about Finding Nemo, because I feel this is more of the same. Thomas Newman treats every track like a small opportunity to make it as unusual as possible, and as unique as can be. Here it's only louder and longer than in Finding Nemo.
Opening with a childish song (which is heard in full in track 23), the mood soon changes to at first the dark drama, followed by a tinkling motif which will return as something of a theme for the three children. Now considering the children meet all kinds of eccentric family members and strange characters, expect the music to follow the tone of their adventures. We have a tinkling music box idea ("The Baudelaire Orphans" and "VFD"), we have the children motif returning between marvelous fanfares in a rollicking action cue called "Hurricane Herman", we have the typical Newmanesque sneakiness in "Chez Olaf", scratching suspense during "An Unpleasant Incident Involving a Train", a wacky accordion moment in "The Marvelous Marriage", a cold threatening synthesizer effect that surprises you in "Cold as Ike", a wonderful violin loveliness over some "Verisimilitude" tranquility and an honest to god thrilling pirate motif in "A Woeful Wedding" that should have been used more appropriately in "Attack of the Hook-Handed Man".
The beautiful dramatic themes of Thomas Newman are sparse, but appear early on in "Resilience" and at the end in the lovely "The Letter that Never Came", while lots of darker sounding material and loads of ethnic flutes underscore the many different adventures the 3 children encounter. Truthfully, whatever it lacks of thematic coherency, it compensates with sheer original quality music. And whatever it delivers of unique and unusual adventure writing, it forgets with everlasting and memorable melodies. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a score that will surprise you, but also irritate you because of the many many MANY differences in tone and style. For me it's best to be seen as a background affair that does everything right during the listen, but forgets to add the memorable Thomas Newman quality to it that would have made it an everlasting experience. Because whatever it sees on screen, it supports through diverse eclectic and eccentric adventurous music.
Basically Thomas Newman in a nutshell
Track Listing
1. The Bad Beginning (3.20)
2. Chez Olaf (3.12)
3. The Baudelaire Orphans (2.32)
4. In Loco Parentis (1.28)
5. Resilience (2.30)
6. The Reptile Room (1.36)
7. An Unpleasant Incident Involving a Train (4.52)
8. Curdled Cave (2.04)
9. Puttanesca (2.41)
10. Curious Feeling of Falling (1.46)
11. Regarding the Incredibly Deadly Viper (2.34)
12. The Marvelous Marriage (0.53)
13. Lachrymose Ferry (0.38)
14. Concerning Aunt Josephine (2.09)
15. VFD (1.11)
16. The Wide Window (1.12)
17. Cold as Ike (2.45)
18. Hurricane Herman (2.19) Excellent track
19. Snaky Message (2.31)
20. The Regrettable Episode of the Leeches (2.45)
21. Interlude with Sailboat (1.05)
22. Verisimilitude (2.17)
23. Loverly Spring * (1.50)
24. A Woeful Wedding (3.22) Excellent track
25. Attack of the Hook-Handed Man (2.23)
26. Taken by Surpreeze (2.02)
27. One Last Look (1.42)
28. The Letter that Never Came (4.14) Excellent track
29. Drive Away (End Title) (5.05)
* Words and Music by Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein
Total Length: 68.58
Considering the movie's a wacky combination of action, adventure, horror and drama, I guess it was an obvious choice to pick Thomas Newman for the role of composer, especially after last year's thunderous score for Angels in America. And honestly, whatever you think and remember of the film, expect it in musical terms here, eclectic, eccentric and as quirky as ever. In fact, I could basically sum up whatever I wrote about Finding Nemo, because I feel this is more of the same. Thomas Newman treats every track like a small opportunity to make it as unusual as possible, and as unique as can be. Here it's only louder and longer than in Finding Nemo.
Opening with a childish song (which is heard in full in track 23), the mood soon changes to at first the dark drama, followed by a tinkling motif which will return as something of a theme for the three children. Now considering the children meet all kinds of eccentric family members and strange characters, expect the music to follow the tone of their adventures. We have a tinkling music box idea ("The Baudelaire Orphans" and "VFD"), we have the children motif returning between marvelous fanfares in a rollicking action cue called "Hurricane Herman", we have the typical Newmanesque sneakiness in "Chez Olaf", scratching suspense during "An Unpleasant Incident Involving a Train", a wacky accordion moment in "The Marvelous Marriage", a cold threatening synthesizer effect that surprises you in "Cold as Ike", a wonderful violin loveliness over some "Verisimilitude" tranquility and an honest to god thrilling pirate motif in "A Woeful Wedding" that should have been used more appropriately in "Attack of the Hook-Handed Man".
The beautiful dramatic themes of Thomas Newman are sparse, but appear early on in "Resilience" and at the end in the lovely "The Letter that Never Came", while lots of darker sounding material and loads of ethnic flutes underscore the many different adventures the 3 children encounter. Truthfully, whatever it lacks of thematic coherency, it compensates with sheer original quality music. And whatever it delivers of unique and unusual adventure writing, it forgets with everlasting and memorable melodies. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a score that will surprise you, but also irritate you because of the many many MANY differences in tone and style. For me it's best to be seen as a background affair that does everything right during the listen, but forgets to add the memorable Thomas Newman quality to it that would have made it an everlasting experience. Because whatever it sees on screen, it supports through diverse eclectic and eccentric adventurous music.
Basically Thomas Newman in a nutshell
Track Listing
1. The Bad Beginning (3.20)
2. Chez Olaf (3.12)
3. The Baudelaire Orphans (2.32)
4. In Loco Parentis (1.28)
5. Resilience (2.30)
6. The Reptile Room (1.36)
7. An Unpleasant Incident Involving a Train (4.52)
8. Curdled Cave (2.04)
9. Puttanesca (2.41)
10. Curious Feeling of Falling (1.46)
11. Regarding the Incredibly Deadly Viper (2.34)
12. The Marvelous Marriage (0.53)
13. Lachrymose Ferry (0.38)
14. Concerning Aunt Josephine (2.09)
15. VFD (1.11)
16. The Wide Window (1.12)
17. Cold as Ike (2.45)
18. Hurricane Herman (2.19) Excellent track
19. Snaky Message (2.31)
20. The Regrettable Episode of the Leeches (2.45)
21. Interlude with Sailboat (1.05)
22. Verisimilitude (2.17)
23. Loverly Spring * (1.50)
24. A Woeful Wedding (3.22) Excellent track
25. Attack of the Hook-Handed Man (2.23)
26. Taken by Surpreeze (2.02)
27. One Last Look (1.42)
28. The Letter that Never Came (4.14) Excellent track
29. Drive Away (End Title) (5.05)
* Words and Music by Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein
Total Length: 68.58