Monsieur D'Arque
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A Christmas Carol 2009I just saw the new movie, and I am pleasantly surprised with it. Jim Carrey, in all four of his roles, never mugged or hammed it up, except in the moments of Scrooge's "happy madness" towards the end.
The production, apart from a few "action sequences" without dialogue that send Scrooge on his spectral journeys, was strikingly faithful to Shakespeare's. However, its largest diversion from the other movies is its decision to make many moments genuinely frightening. SPOILER: In particular, the end of Scrooge's visit with the Ghost of Christmas Present is unusually unsettling, as Ignorance and Want metamorphose into the ills of society. Meanwhile, the Ghost seems to have a heart attack, and falls to the ground, dying but still laughing its increasingly unsettling laugh, even as it rots away to a grinning skeleton.
In general, I liked the film, and respect Carrey for being subdued where he needed to be.
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Brother Marvin Hinten, S.
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Re: A Christmas Carol 2009 | Monsieur D'Arque wrote: | | The production, apart from a few "action sequences" without dialogue that send Scrooge on his spectral journeys, was strikingly faithful to Shakespeare's. |
Don'tcha mean Dickens'?
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idTAPthat89
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I'm going to see this tonight with Nathan! It's at the IMAX in 3D so that should be legit  Glad to hear good things about it.
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Monsieur D'Arque
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Yes, i mean Dickens. This is what I get for doing homework and internet simultaneously.
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kiwiholly
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Looking forward to seeing this now! A Christmas Carol was the very first show I was ever in! 
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Beagle On Stage
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Re: A Christmas Carol 2009 | Monsieur D'Arque wrote: | | In general, I liked the film, and respect Carrey for being subdued where he needed to be. |
And it only took him fifty years to master this staple of basic acting. An actor playing Scrooge doesn't warrant respect "for being subdued where he needed to be." That should be a given. I respect people for doing well, not for doing well compared to what shortcomings were widely anticipated knowing who it was.
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Monsieur D'Arque
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Carrey showed a side of himself that he is not known to have, nor one he is commonly rewarded for. He is or was the biggest ham comic of his generation, and he is now branching out, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to be a more serious actor.
His Scrooge is, if not the greatest, certainly a respectable one. There are no moments when one feels he is "out of character," and his performances as the other ghosts are quite effective and affecting. Though the peculiar accent given to the Past, which sounds something like a Welsh Peter Lorre, was a bit jarring at first, his Ghost of Christmas Present, simultaneously jolly, powerful and truly menacing, is probably my favorite of all protrayals of the second ghost.
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ActingDude17
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I've seen the movie twice already and loved it both times. I'm currently in a regional production of the show actually.
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