January 6-12, 2005

screen picks

Screen Picks

by Sam Adams

The end credits of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Even if you haven't read Daniel Handler's mock-gothic children's books, the puffed-up Jim Carrey vehicle that is A Series of Unfortunate Events leaves you with the sense that it must have started with something good. Series flirts with a handmade, self-aware feel, but settles for incessant Carrey ad-libs and a vacuous slickness. It's not until the end credits that you see what might have been. Created by Axiom Design and MWP Productions, the animated sequence uses the illustrations from Handler's books to create a magic lantern show, with the tiny silhouettes of the put-upon Baudelaire orphans menaced by a screen-high Count Olaf. The blend of gothic sensibility, ancient technology and wink-wink self-consciousness recalls Terry Gilliam's animations for Monty Python's Flying Circus, which makes sense since Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen seems to be the template for the movie that might have been. Too good to play as families are rushing out of the theater, the credit sequence is long enough to suggest it was intended to open, not close, the movie, which makes you wonder: Was it moved to prevent children from getting restless, or because it raised their hopes too high?

Robot Boy release party (Fri., Jan. 7, 9 p.m., $6, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St.) By now, you've had plenty of chances to see Ted Passon's charming Robot Boy, with its faux-naif portrait of a suburban child whose controlling parents replace his organs with computer parts. But if you've missed the boat or just want another look, Passon, who also curates the Small Change series, will host a screening to celebrate the imminent release of the Robot Boy DVD, which includes Passon's video for The Moldy Peaches' Kimya Dawson, several bonus short subjects and extra footage of kittens acting cute. K Records will release the DVD in the spring, but copies are available through Passon's Web site, www.allagesproductions.com, or at the show for a lousy five bucks. Dawson, Dr. Dog and Jeffrey Lewis will make music of a celebratory nature.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (Fri.-Thu., Jan 7-13, 12:30, 5:05 and 7:30 p.m., Roxy Theater, 2042 Sansom St., 215-569-2000) Good news, my huckleberry friend: The Roxy revives the Audrey Hepburn classic for a weeklong run.

(sam@citypaper.net)