Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
Movie Review: Serenity
Serenity: A Bill Wood review
One problem I had with this mixed-genre, way-cool, sci-fi fest was that it’s title kept putting me in the mind of the Seinfeld episode Serenity Now, where George’s father would utter “serenity now” every time he was about to get mad. But that’s my problem. Another problem was that Pat and I gave this flick Three Thumbs Up. Three? Well, Pat gave it two and I gave it one. When I told Pat he could only give it one, he replied, “If God had intended man to be ape, he would have given him only one thumb.” I was left, literally, holding my thumb. The next daunting mind itch, was trying to figure out exactly which John Wayne movie writer Joss Whedon (who also wrote the TV series Firefly, upon which the movie is based, also Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was channeling. I think it was Chisum, where rogue rancher Chisum fights the power with fellow rebel Billy the Kidd. Whedon cooks up a tasty genre-fusion stew here. There’s Wayne-esque dialogue, mainly from Mal (Nathan Fillion), the troubled, but secretly stalwart ship’s captain. “No more runnin.” But then, there’s ultra-satire from the rest of the crew that could have come right out of Doug Adam’s Hithchiker’s Guide series. Zoe (Gina Torres): “If we stay here we’re all going to die.” Jayne (Adam Baldwin): “Well…I might live through it.” The Zombie angle is nicely played by the Reavers, hyperaggressive canibals whose origin is a big plot point. Tales From The Crypt fans will love the decayed flesh-fest on the planet Miranda. It gives a whole new meaning to the term “Mirandized”. The humor popped up frequenlty enough to keep me cortically engaged. Watching River (Summer Glau), weird psychic and beautiful ex-ballerina, kick ass in the most erotic art form ever, energized a different part of my brain. Sorry, it’s my brain and you can’t go there. The corporatized reviewers are all predicting poor receipts from this cult-oriented project. To that, I say, who gives a shit.
Summer, will you marry me?
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