Rantastic - Movies

NOOOOOOOOOO!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 24 May 2006 13:55:19 -0400

Apparently since "The Da Vinci Code" is doing alright in theatres, Columbia Pictures is going to put "Angels and Demons" on the big screen as well.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

I feel about that book the way that really devout Christians feel about The Da Vinci Code. It's alright fluff reading, I suppose, as long as you don't take ANYTHING seriously. Because it is full of utter crap theories and downright lies.

For those of you who don't know, part of the book takes place at CERN, where my master's research was based. CERN does not have any sort of fancy spy plane. Nor sky-diving tunnels. Nor posh apartments for the researchers (who mostly live off-campus; there is a hostel for visiting students and researchers but posh is hardly the word you'd use to describe it). Nor a fancy glass cathedral-looking thing. And we definitely, definitely, do not produce bombs that could level all of Rome. If, and it's a pretty big if, if enough antimatter were to be produced, stored, transported, and finally set off with matter, it would give everyone a raging sunburn and likely some fairly nasty cancers or radiation sickness down the road, but would most certainly not level any buildings in the form used in the book.

Man, can I start the Scientists Against Angels & Demons movement now?

A Very Long Movie

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 08:49:01 -0500

Matt and I rented A Very Long Engagement last night. I had really wanted to see this when it came out because I loved Audrey Tautou in Amelie and I knew it had the same director. Of course, various things came up and I never got to the movie while it was in theatres. We saw it at Blockbuster last night and I decided to finally watch it.

This was maybe not the best decision as it was already past 8 and I was quickly starting to crash (so... very... sleepy...). Add to that the slow pacing of the movie, and the at times completely indiscernible subtitles, and I can't believe I stayed awake through the whole thing.

Seriously, the subtitles were so bad I had to go find a script online to follow along (that script has a few errors - numbers missing and whatnot - but at least I could read it!). This might not have been a problem for most people, but the wide-screen version of the movie on our smallish TV made for some pretty tiny type. Plus they used italics. Seriously, what the heck were they thinking with that? And then sometimes the subtitles were on light or dappled backgrounds. Argh!

Now I think if circumstances would have been different (bigger TV, less tired) I would have absolutely loved this movie. Normally I am totally a-ok with slow pacing (heck, look at the Firefly pilot). There are some little bits in the movie that are definitely identifiable as having the same influences as Amelie, but it is different enough that it doesn't feel like they tried to do the same thing twice.

Audrey Tautou is gorgeous (of course) and really makes you feel for her character. I loved that they didn't play her as sunnily optimistic; she was much more subdued, with a determined hope that you can see her questioning at times. Supporting characters never resorted to caricatures (with the exception of Urbain Cancelier, but that may have been because I recognized him from Amelie and the character's demeanor is quite similar). Also, Jodie Foster is in the movie! Big surprise there when I saw that on the case. Her French (to my untrained ear) sounded really good!

All in all, I would recommend it to people who like dramas or sad love stories. Just have a big TV. Or keep that script handy. And have some coffee first.

Serenity Opening Night

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 16:10:09 -0400

I'm a little behind with this, but I realized I had over a hundred other pictures on our digital camera that needed to be downloaded and organized before I did the fun stuff (ie. Serenity pics) or it would never get done. So my photo section has a few new additions from the trip home and our little jaunt out to Kananaskis Country.

Anyways - opening night! It was awesome. When we went to see Serenity at a preview showing in Seattle, a lot of the crowd had been at the previous screening and were, though still happy, a little blasé about the whole thing. The crowd on Friday night though - wow! I think Alana, Matt and I were likely the only ones who had seen it already, given that the pre-screenings were all (a) hard to get into and (b) very far from Calgary. So the crowd was just pumped. We chatted with other fans, who were also dressed up (some a lot more than us!), we sang The Hero of Canton, we had a great time. And the big shocking moment? You know, when {big gigantic spoiler here} happens? Watching the crowd's reactions was priceless, especially 'cause I knew it was coming - the huge laugh cut off right in the middle to give way to shocked silence. It was beautiful, I love it when movies have that much of an effect on me. And the emotions {the big gigantic spoiler} evoked were just as strong (maybe a bit stronger, even, as I was anticipating) as the last time.

Best of all, our theatre was SOLD OUT. It makes me so happy to see this little flick succeed, since so many people spent so long wanting it.

Can't wait to go again next weekend! :) It's a great little movie and I'm dragging as many people as I can everytime I go.

Happy Serenity Day!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 09:22:57 -0400

It's here, it's here!

Serenity opens today and I am SO EXCITED!

I am going tonight with my family and we're all dressing up in our Jayne shirts and some of us will even have Jayne hats, courtesy the Best Sister EVER who has been knitting up a storm.

Wheeeeee!

Batman Begins, The Inside, and just the littlest bit of Serenity

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 19:18:20 -0400

Matt and I went to see Batman Begins this past weekend. I actually kinda liked it! (I mostly went because I heard it wasn't too bad, and I also heard the Serenity trailer was showing before it (eeeeeee!) which it was and OH MY GOD I cannot wait for that movie to come out!)

It wasn't too much of a typical summer action flick; there was actually development of the story. Not so much development of Katie Holmes' facial expressions, sadly, but the rest of the story was well developed. I really like having the character justifications in the movie because I really enjoy immersing myself in a story, and it's easier to do that when the people in it aren't caricatures. I mean, the fight scenes were cool too, but the story being solid is what made me happy.

There was about a million Hey! It's that guy! guys in Batman Begins; Matt and I love to play the Hey! It's that guy! game... we often watch TV with the laptop close at hand so we can imdb people. The Inside, Tim Minear's new show, has a ton of guest actors from Wonderfalls lately. Also, at least two or three references to Buffy, Angel, and Firefly each episode and it's cracking me up. Too bad it's almost CANCELLED already. I hate you, Fox Network! I'd recommend people watch it if they'd like a more messed-up-character-driven twist on the typical cop show, but don't get too attached. Tim Minear only writes 13-episode mini-series anymore - Firefly, then Wonderfalls, now The Inside. At least I can get the DVDs. Tim, I love your work, but why for the love of God do you keep going back to Fox?

It's nice to have new TV for the summer, it would probably keep me from torturing my husband with Big Brother, which I am going to watch tomorrow because he's not here to stop me. However, he's at the Smithsonian right this instant, so I think he's probably getting the better deal.

Boy, I'm talkative while my husband is away, eh?

"Once you've been in Serenity, you never leave."

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Tue, 31 May 2005 09:31:26 -0400

So. The Movie.

It was so, so good.

I've never done the super-geek thing before. Well, not this bad, at least. I did dress up for Harry Potter once. But this time, we travelled about five hours to get to a movie, waited in line for five more hours, AND dressed up.

It was actually really fun. There were a lot of people there in costumes and everyone was really friendly and let us join in on their card games and board games while we were waiting (we forgot ours, oops!).

Seattle was really nice too. I kind of wish we had had more time, as I would have liked to gone on the underground tour, and I know Matt would've wanted to see the Boeing factory. But we did go to the Sci-Fi Museum, which was awesome, and check out the Space Needle. I think we'll have to go back again one day, when we're not in such a rush. Maybe take the Port Angeles ferry and drive through the mountains - I know how Matt loves driving the narrow twisty roads by Kananaskis. :)

Anyways - enough about possible future trips. Back to this one.

At the beginning of the movie, there was a short taped message from Joss. If you're a Firefly fan, just try reading this without tearing up a little. You could really see how much he loved this story in the tape - his voice even broke a little at the end. It just made the movie that much sweeter.

Hi, my name is Joss Whedon. Before we begin the special screening, I have a little story I want to tell you. It's about a TV show called Firefly.

Firefly went on the air a few years ago and was instantly hailed by critics as one of the most canceled shows of the year. It was ignored and abandoned and the story should end there, but it doesn't, because the people who made the show and the people who saw the show (which is...roughly...the same number of people) fell in love with it a little bit...too much to let it go, too much to lay down arms when the battle looked pretty much lost. In Hollywood, people like that are called 'unrealistic' ... 'quixotic' ... 'obsessive'.

In my world, they're called 'Browncoats'.

Whether you've watched the show, or saw the DVD's, or whether you've never set foot in the Firefly universe before tonight, the fact that you're here means that you are part of something...something that is a little bit remarkable. This movie should not exist. Failed TV shows don't get made into major motion pictures unless the creator, the cast, and the fans believe beyond reason.

It's what I've felt. It's what I've seen...in the DVD sales, the booths at the cons run by fans, the websites, the fundraisers... all the work the fans have done to help make this movie. It is, in an unprecedented sense, your movie...which means, if it sucks, it's your fault. You let us down, but let's not dwell on your failures because the work is not done.

I have to finish making it. Obviously not quite the final cut and you will notice some placeholders in music and effects, but we're very close. Once we are finished, we have to get people to see it. Now, obviously the studio is going to do their thing. There will be ads and trailers and all that joy, but this movie doesn't have stars and it doesn't have a giant mega-budget or even a simple salable premise. What it has is us, the people who believed unreasonably.

If this movie matters to you, let somebody know. Let everybody know. Make yourselves heard. If you don't like the movie, this is a time for quiet, silent contemplation. But, when the unfinished credits roll, if you still call yourself a Browncoat, remember the millions of people who don't...who might.

I want us to do this together. The cast is going to be appearing wherever they can. I'm going to be blogging and stumping and whatever I can think of. We've got Can'tStopTheSignal.com up and running...I'm fairly certain. We're all doing everything we can to make this the event that it should be.

Just remember, they tried to kill us...they did kill us...and here we are. We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty. Thank you for helping to get this movie as far as it has gotten.

Welcome to Serenity.

Aww, I'm so happy for him that he got his movie made, reading that again. And also, happy for me, since I got to see it. :)

Now, the review: If you loved Firefly, you'll love the movie. It's hard for me to see this with fresh eyes and decide if non-fans would get it, but I will say that it's damn funny in ways everyone would get, even if they're not following the storyline as closely. I would recommend Firefly to just about anyone, as it's written so very well, so do yourself a favour and buy the DVDs, rent them, get them from Netflix. Heck, I'll even lend out my set to people I know.

It was kind of interesting seeing this movie and Star Wars less than a week apart; granted, Serenity was not quite finished, so some things may still change. Star Wars has flash and cool FX that will probably be better than Serenity's even when they're done, but Serenity has characters who sound like they're having real conversations that actual people could have.

Of course, Joss fans could have guessed that would be the case; the writing is what attracted most people to Firefly or Buffy. I will say, and this is venturing firmly into spoiler territory, so highlight to view: this is typical Joss, and he will not hesistate to turn you to mush, make you laugh uproariously, or rip your heart out and stomp on it. And that's why we love him.

Pretty cunning, dontcha think?

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 25 May 2005 00:01:24 -0400

We are seriously geeking out tonight.

I made Jayne t-shirts, inspired by the above photo. To dress up for Serenity. Which we're travelling to Seattle to see.

I'm apparently a little excited. AND A HUGE DORK.

Serenity soon-ish

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Thu, 12 May 2005 19:21:28 -0400

So as Matt mentioned, I did indeed manage to score some tickets to the Serenity advance screening in Seattle. You had to be either quite sneaky, or quite obsessive, to get them (depending on how you look at it - if you didn't get tickets, other people were being sneaky, and if you did, you're just being obsessive). I had heard the night before that they were going to have another screening on May 26th, and seeing how fast they sold out last time, I was determined not to miss out again. My sister and I, thinking we had tons of time, were making vague plans and discussing the prospect of a trip to Seattle while tickets to the May 5th show were selling. Of course, by the time we actually tried for some, they were sold out. Whoops.

As soon as I read the announcement for the May 26th show, I was surfing around on Fandango looking for tickets, and I did the same thing the next day when I got up. The announcement said that it would be the same cities, and I guessed probably the same theatre, so I poked around looking for shows on the 26th at the Meridian in Seattle. Special Advance Screening? Must be it - bought six tickets hoping it wasn't WWF or something! That was 7:22 a.m. - tickets were sold out by 7:45 or so. I was lucky! They didn't update the official advance screenings announcement page until after it was sold out, and there were a lot of patient, and disappointed, people.

So we're going to Seattle. Eep. After three years of living in Victoria, we are finally going to make it.

I can't believe I'm taking a road trip to see a movie.

Serenity now!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Thu, 05 May 2005 10:38:24 -0400

Serenity, the big-screen version of Joss Whedon's Firefly is having some test screenings tonight in various cities in the States. I didn't get tickets for Seattle. I am bummed, mostly because if I had just checked my email that night like I do obsessively the rest of the time, I probably would have snagged some tickets before they sold out. Boo.

Matt mentioned last week in his blog that he was surprised I hadn't blogged anything about the trailer yet, and the truth was I was hoping to see it on the big screen in all its glory when we went to see Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy last Friday. We didn't, of course, because the SilverCity in Victoria is run by monkeys, or something. I was very hopeful, given the first two trailers were sci-fi-ish, that they'd be breaking out all the genre stuff for the Hitchhiker's audience, which, one would assume, would be most likely to actually go see it. Instead we got "treated" to Herbie and Chicken Little. We didn't even get the freakin' Star Wars trailer. Sheesh.

Anyway, I will have to satisfy myself with the small-screen Serenity trailer for now, and try desperately to avoid the huge glaring spoilers in the subject lines that are sure to pop up on the Firefly chat boards after tonight. Dangit.

There has been some neat fan stuff lately - trailers re-cut, re-scored, etc. Some good ones here and here (to the original theme, scroll down to near the bottom and find "Ballad of Serenity trailer"), and an old one made from clips of the series that I still absolutely love here (scroll down to Firefly movie trailer, it says it's down but it's not really, oh and the trailer has the wrong date & title on it, so just ignore that).

Yep, I keep trying to tell myself I'm just as happy waiting till September and watching the trailers. One thing that's helping is that the showings tonight are going to be a not-completely done print (I think probably without finished music), so at least when I see it it will be totally done with effects & soundtrack complete. Yep, I keep telling myself that.

Hold on to your seats, Joss Whedon fans

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 22:23:46 -0400

The first new Joss Whedon content in God knows how long comes out tomorrow... or, at least the trailer does. Fans of Firefly are in all-out party mode since the Serenity trailer will be appearing on the Apple website sometime in the next 24 hours. I'm refreshing every hour already.

If you don't know what Firefly is (or, God forbid, who Joss Whedon is), get yourself a copy of this delicious space-western DVD (buy, rent, borrow) and prepare to be entertained.

Dynamite!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 13:02:18 -0500

Matt and I saw Napoleon Dynamite on Saturday night. It was so, so awesome. I took a little while to get into it, but by the end I was loving it. There was one part of the movie that I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breath (canned heat in my heels tonight, baby!).

I highly recommend it. Of course, you probably won't be able to find it in regular theatres, so you might have to wait till December 21st when it comes out on video.

Or just download it off the eeeeeeevil internets.

I think I'll be buying it when it comes out; it's just that good. Plus I like supporting non-typical-Hollywood endeavours (see also: Bubba Ho-tep).

Movies and other stuff

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 04:38:00 -0400

We went to see The Bourne Supremacy on Monday night. It had a good story and was quite exciting. I only wish they had hired a cinematographer without Parkinson's; it would have upgraded this from a good movie to a great movie. If you still have yet to see it and are planning on going, make sure not to get a seat near the front, as I'm told the jumpiness will give you major nausea from up close.

The tin foil blinds are still up and working even better than I thought they would. It's actually been cool enough to sleep in here, yay! Of course, the weather cooling down somewhat may have something to do with that, but I'll take whatever I can get.

Matt is trying a new blog tool as Pyblosxom keeps breaking, so I may not have a pink blog for awhile. Boo.

Firefly movie official website arrives

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 07:50:00 -0400

It's here, kids! The shiny new Serenity: The Official Movie Website. Yay!

I made that banner myself, and now it's on the official site. Yay!

Firefly movie!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Sat, 21 Feb 2004 04:19:00 -0500

For anyone who doesn't know, I am a huge fan of Joss Whedon's short-lived series Firefly. Like many, many others, I saw maybe one or two ads on Fox, and said to myself, "Boy, does that show sound stupid."

Such is the beauty of Joss Whedon shows; they sound stupid at first, but by God, do they suck you in. The popular short description of Firefly was that it was a 'space western'. I mean, come on. A space western? It sounds utterly ridiculous. But once you get into the world and it's explained why there are horses and guns and really cute tight pants on Nathan Fillion's very fine ass, you can really believe that it's all totally reasonable.

I (like so many others) never watched this show while it was on TV. For one thing, it was Fridays at 8 and I was generally in the grad lounge at that time with my friends. The ads were stupid, and generally only pushed that it was brought to you by the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which I also thought sounded stupid at the time), and showed a shot of the space hooker sponge-bathing. Yeah, wow. Next, please?

Matt sat me down to watch it over the Christmas right after it was cancelled. I was smitten. I fell hard & fast for this show (Nathan Fillion's tight pants helping out with that!) After the cancellation and failure of any other network to pick it up, Joss cast Nathan and Gina Torres on Buffy and Angel, respectively, so I started watching them too. I am now a huge fan of both, with at least 8 DVD sets of Joss Whedon shows between Matt and I (and plans to acquire more as they become available). I really like watching TV on DVD; no commercials, no pre-emptions, no schedule. It's just like, hmm, what do I want to watch tonight? And I do.

Anyways, I've been a member of a few Firefly fan sites for a while now (pretty much since the show was cancelled). The hopes for another network to pick it up faded, a very interesting idea was brought forth by Jeremy Neish of putting the show straight to DVD for season 2 (which I was a huge fan of) and that faded, and then we started to hear buzz about a movie.

Now, I didn't want to get my hopes up too high; they'd been previously dashed on other possible resurrections.

Joss had said at a conference in LA that we would be getting an announcement by the end of January or so; with nothing forthcoming, I pretty much gave up. And then we started to hear other rumours... the script Joss had written wasn't acceptable to Universal (the supposed movie backer). They said they wanted less of an epilogue to a failed series and more of a springboard to a potential series return. Eep! Be still, my fan-girl heart. Anyways, the announcement was said to be delayed due to the re-writing of the script, and we started to hear more and more rumours. This past week, someone posted to fireflyfans.net that the movie details were being ironed out, and the working title was "Serenity" (the name of the spaceship). Well, lo and behold, look what's under"Coming Soon" on the Universal page! Plus, they've apparently bought www.serenitymovie.com (nothing there yet, though).

WHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I'm a little excited today. I can't wait to see this flick on the silver screen.