At the Sinny

The Dulcinea and I went to the midnight opening of Serentiy on Friday. I believe she's seen all the episodes of Firefly whereas I'm still waiting to see DVD 4. It was shown on the Ultrascreen at Point Cinemas. The Ultrascreen is about 3 times larger than your normal screen and is slightly concave. While the joint didn't sell out, there weren't many seats left. We both really enjoyed it. I mean it was a fantastic film! I was impressed with the script in that one really needn't have seen the series to understand what was going on yet it certainly enhanced watching the film. I can see people going, "Where did Inara and the Shepherd come from?" but not knowing their backstories wouldn't necessarily kill the fun. The cinematographer, Jack N. Green, did a killer job. The colors, the angles – everything was just great. Definitely a widescreen experience with several scenes featuring characters posed at the opposite ends of the screen. As for the story, several things from the series were resolved and some new ones brought to life. My only real complaint comes at the very end and concerns the fate of the villain. Other than that, the story was tight, kept my interest, and was just plain fun. There was the usual funny banter between the characters which made us laugh at just the right times to balance some of the more harrowing bits.


SPOILER ALERT!!!







I still can't believe that the Shepherd and Wash were killed. Still, that they did die gave me the impression that creator Joss Whedon is serious about telling his stories and that this wasn't just an attempt to grab Firefly viewers for a quick buck. And it was neat to find out the genesis of the Reavers and that it tied into Rivers' past. I also want to mention the villain who is known only as "The Operative". He is great (up until the very end, anyway) and I hope that, if they do a sequel, that he returns. I liked his ruthlessness, his devotion to his conception of the greater good, and the samurai qualities of the character.






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So, overall, I had a blast. Just great mindless entertainment. I think that fans will love it and folks who haven't seen Firefly will enjoy it too.

In some cinema news, I read that Keef Richards will probably not be in the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean:

"Johnny (Depp) and I spent a great afternoon trying to get these things (costumes) on. But that doesn't mean I'm doing it. At the moment I've turned them down. They're shooting while I'm touring. I'd love to do it if there was no hassle, but it would be a side trip. I know what my gig is. The idea of working for Disney gives me the shivers in the first place."

Paul Verhoeven has started shooting his next pic, Zwartboek (Black Book). I really love his early Dutch films and feel that his American films are grossly misunderstood. Americans have a hard time recognizing films that mock/parody America when they come out of Hollywood and have big name actors.

David Lynch has a new flick coming out soon. He has finished production or is nearly done by now. The whole thing has been quite hush-hush but there is this report from an extra:

I didn't get the script, we were only given a BREAKDOWN of our scene, and that's all. Lynch said very LITTLE to us on both days. The DP was more sociable, and the casting director was lovely. What I can gather is that it's a Twin Peaks-like mystery about a woman that dissapears near the San Gab mountains.

It was shot totally on DV and I think I read somewhere that Lynch has now sworn off film and will be using DV exclusively. And speaking of Twin Peaks, this same person reports:

The DP, who I'd met at lunch on the Wed and talked to a group of us (he was GREAT!) said David and Kyle are thinking about doing some "Dale Cooper" telemovies - the dude he played on TV. Nothing to do with Twin Peaks, I guess, just that character."

The trailers before Serenity were interesting. There was a rather lengthy one for the new Harry Potter flick which gave me the impression that it will retain the darker mood of the last one. Plus there looks to be lots of action. The trailer for Narnia was really cool too. That should be a lot of fun. The last trailer I recall was for Doom. It stars The Rock which makes for amusement in itself. The concept of a film based on a videogame doesn't exactly light my fire but it looks like some good creepy fun. There were a few scenes that mimicked the first person perspective of the video game which makes me think that perhaps some care was taken and some thought put into things beyond crass commercialization. We'll see. And speaking of films based on videogames, HALO is being turned into a movie. Look for it in summer '07. That whole synergistic control of our entertainment habits is nearly complete. Soon there will be movies and video games based on hamburgers and soaps. Pine Sol: The Movie.