Creator of three of the greatest TV shows ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. Also screenwriter for a handful of big movies (including Toy Story) and eventual director of movies. Maker of modern myths, his stuff will be taught in universities in another hundred years or less.
Serenity (2005) -- Not so much the "movie version of the TV show Firefly" as it is the next chapter of what had happened before. I'm not sure how the movie looks to someone who hasn't seen the series, but I imagine it's still good and interesting, that it just doesn't have all those immediate recognitions of characters and what's going on, but that you can certainly feel that the back-story has been fleshed out. For fans of the show, I'm sure the movie was bliss. Not as much of the "western" stuff here (no horses, for example) and some of the other little things from the show were lost (not nearly as much Chinese), but everything here works well for the movie. Lots of unanswered questions were answered, lots of loose ends tied up, while at the same time Joss Whedon left things wide open for future installments, since his way of telling stories is to provide just enough closure to be satisfying (especially if nothing else is made--always a fear while making his TV shows) but leaving enough room for future developments. Ultimately, TV is the best medium for Whedon because of this storytelling preference, but I think he could also work well with the movies if, say, he puts out one of these movies a year, or maybe two of these movies a year. Bring back the old fashioned serials, why not? So the movie itself: great characters (especially Mal himself; Nathan Fillion is awesome), great story (kind of a retelling of Gulliver's Travels if you think about it), great action, lots of emotion. Maybe Joss Whedon will be able to break the shackles of TV after all and become a storytelling giant in the movie world. A
Copyright (c) Oct 2005 by Rusty Likes Movies