I thought I'd comment on some things in the entertainment realm.
Serenity
If you know me, you know I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon spawn like
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. In 2002, Whedon had
another series on TV called Firefly which only lasted 11 episodes
before the Fox network put the lid on it due to lackluster ratings.
Firefly still had life left in it, it seems. Universal made a deal with
Whedon to take Firefly to the big screen and this last Friday, the film
spawned by Firefly made its big-screen debut nationwide titled Serenity.
I was not planning on seeing Serenity anytime soon. In fact, if I was
planning anything, it was to wait until the film was available on DVD. But,
we got lucky. Christine managed to get my mom to agree to watch our kids
Friday night so we could go to a movie. That movie, of course, was
Serenity.
We made it to Jordan Landing about 25 minutes before the 7:15 show and
got in line. When we were behind the people buying their tickets, one of
the ticket clerks stood up and placed a "SOLD OUT" sticker over
the 7:15 showtime for Serenity. Dang!
Christine was depressed, but I was vigilant and resilient. I remembered
that the film was also playing at the Jordan Commons theater- so I used the
fancy shmancy features of my Treo PDA/phone to find their phone number and
had Christine call them while I started driving in the general direction.
Christine learned there was a showing at 7:45. We got there about 7:25
and I dropped Christine off at the door so she could get tickets (if any
were available) while I found parking.
Parking was, of course, a challenge in of itself, but I managed to find
a spot and proceeded toward the theater and tried to call Christine on her
cell. She didn't answer but called back and told me to meet her
outside theater 14. When I finally waded through the deep pools of
loitering theater patrons and made it to "14," Christine was
furious that I had taken so long. She obviously didn't know how far
away I had to park and then I couldn't run because of all the people
obstructing my way.
We got in and found a half-decent place to sit and I still had time to
run out and get popcorn and a beverage. Ahhhh. We made it. We were going to
see the film. The theater didn't sell out, that I know of, but it was
pretty packed in. A lot of geeks out on the town Friday night.
Now, the film was awesome. The story starts shortly after where Firefly
left off, so fans of the show got some continuity. There was a short
introduction to get Firefly virgins initiated and familiar with the
characters and it wasn't distracting at all.
River Tam (Summer Glau) in Serenity
The story was awesome. The characters were awesome. The acting was
spectacular -- partly due, I'm sure, to the fact these people
had quite a bit of time to settle into these roles before the film. The
writing was, not surprisingly, witty, brutal, and honest. Perfectly
Whedonesque.
The special effects were outstanding. Apparently, the same company was
used that did the F/X for the TV show. They made great use of their
expanded budget and produced imagery that blended perfectly on the big
screen.
My only complaint is that it seems like Joss shot the show a little too
much like TV. That's no surprise, really, because he hasn't had
that much experience shooting for theater releases. It wasn't bad, by
any means. I just noticed many times there were shots that were tight shots
of characters that felt a little claustrophobic on the big screen. They
could have pulled the camera back a bit- gave the scene some more breathing
room and it would have looked, in my opinion, better.
I thought the character of Inara was especially beautiful and
breathtaking to view even though her role in the film seems a bit small.
River Tam's facial expressions alone were worth the ticket price for
me. And, of course, Jayne never disappoints.
My verdict: I want to see it again in the theater. I will definitely own
it on DVD. I either want to, preferably, see the series return to
television with new episodes, or, alternatively, begin a film sequel
franchise.
Smallville
Last Thursday was the season five premiere of Smallville. Over the weekend, I downloaded the episode
and watched it twice -- once with Christine.
Very nice episode -- especially the shocking final 10 seconds of
the show which I didn't see coming.
It will be interesting to see how this season shapes up. Lois Lane is
now a full-time credited regular character. They gang isn't in high
school anymore and we know, from Buffy, this can be a cumbersome transition
for the writers. School is such a solid background. Now what?
The relationship between Lex and Clark is obviously more strained and
the relationship between Clark and Lana less strained, but Lana grew up a
LOT in the last season and now has her own agenda in finding the truth
about the mysteries of Krypton that affect her.
And now Clark knows that Chloe knows his secret. And Chloe knows Clark
knows. And Clark knows Chloe knows he knows.
Should be interesting. More knowledge-is-liability territory to explore
there.
My verdict: I'm still hooked! I want more.
Desperate Housewives
Like a lot of people, I had no interest in Desperate
Housewives when it was first promoted as the must see show on ABC
Sunday nights. It seemed like a trashy drama-heavy soap.
But, somebody did something right because halfway through the season
last year, I decided to download the 2-part pilot episode and give it a
spin. I was hooked.
I think the things that attracted me to the show (besides the attractive
actresses) were the music (Danny Elfman) and the pacing. During the first
season, the writers were whipping through storylines about ten times faster
than normal. After watching three or four shows, I felt like I'd
watched a whole season's worth of situations and plotlines.
Anyway, a week ago Sunday was the season two premiere and I downloaded
it last week. It was a good episode, although not as good as some of the
season one episodes. The episode, more or less, tied up loose ends from
season one and started to open up new mysteries for season two.
My verdict: Still interested, but it could lose my interest if it
becomes more of a traditional soap and less of something crazy like it was
in season one.
