Serenity -- See It!
If you haven't seen it yet, go see Serenity. If you haven't heard the story on this movie yet, here it is: Joss Whedon created the television series Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Angel. His next series was a near-perfect little television series called Firefly. Fox aired it three years ago, tinkered with the episode order, shifted schedules, and ultimately pulled the plug after only 8 of the original order of 12 episodes had aired. The entire 12 episode season in order was released on DVD shortly thereafter and became one of the best selling series DVDs of all time -- not a bad little problem for the cast of the little series that could. Whedon was able to pull together a movie deal based on their "success" and fast forward to this weekend where Serenity picked up not only good reviews, but a solid second place in the box office dollars race. Best of all, it's got good word of mouth, a very desired effect in the movie business since WOM creates "legs" for a film. Let's hope Whedon -- and the rest of us -- get a second movie out of the deal!Serenity and Firefly are, by the way, westerns in space. Whedon grew up in the 50s and 60s and like every kid in those days learned to love the old west through a hefty dose of the Lone Ranger, Shane and mid-day matinee westerns. The world he creates parallels this pioneer way of life and is evident in dress, culture and even the way the characters speak. His captain and crew are a little band of criminals -- smugglers and thieves -- who ultimately will do the right thing time and time again. Go see this movie. Go buy the DVDs and enjoy!
posted by braingirl @ 2:56 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting (and gratifying) to learn that braingirl is a Browncoat. When I saw the audience that watched Serenity with me at Glendale yesterday, I thought: "These are my people!" A theatre full of pudgy middle-aged white guys. It was like watching a movie in a hall of mirrors.
Like you, I thought Serenity was great. I'd been expecting more of a "Cowboy Bebop" experience. CB is the only anime I have seen ... I initially started watching it because of the Yoko Kanno's music but later getting hooked on the content("come for the jazz, stay for the noir"). CB comes as close to perfection as any 22-minute 26-episode cartoon series is likely. But the Bebop movie was a little disppointing: While it was fun and inventive and better than most "live" movies and I did like it a lot, to be honest it was not that special. Clearly the discipline of 22-minute episodes was essential for the show's creators, when freed of that discipline they weren't inspired to take new creative leaps. Whedon did. My people and I approve.
John (who has been spam-free since the last grilled velveeta and spam sandwich his mom fixed for him).
And for an extra treat, if you haven't caught the very intelligent teen-drama Veronica Mars on UPN, catch it. Joss Wheden said in an interview that it was the best show he's seen that wasn't his. Very very smart TV. When o when will television and movie makers stop underestimating the audiences intelligence :-)
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