Bloom, IN ______MOVIES__(edit to include TV)__opinions and news.

Dennis,

You are so right....I forgot about the singing part of that show,

and the rest of your (very much appreciated comments)
seem objective and accurate.

This film, was really made for the fan of Joss-s stuff,
which, I am not ( have never even seen one episode of Buffy)

and now that you mention it, there are a lot of inside jokes and
story-lines that only the fans know, which kinda skews this film
for non-fans.....I mean....heck....you gotta learn Chinese to
get some of this film.

http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/episode.html

 

I, for one, cannot stand watching Buffy or Angel. Frankly, I hate both shows. I don?t really care for Joss Whedon either. I find that most of his productions reflect his personality: corny, cocky, and highly overrated. But Firefly, without a doubt in my mind, is one of the best TV shows ever produced.

Don?t believe me? Just think about it.

Firefly airs on Fox, but gets canceled before all the episodes are even aired. It?s shown on Sci-fi for a couple weeks a year or so later. Other than that, Firefly hasn?t even seen any form of syndication. So how did they ever get the ?OK? to make a movie?? Did somebody totally lose their mind and just give Whedon the go-ahead without realizing what they?ve done? No.

When Firefly was released on DVD the sales were un-freaking-believable. Every Whedon fan, Science fiction fan, and pretty much everyone who enjoys watching TV that doesn?t suck went out and bought ?Firefly: The Complete Series?. It?s just that good, and that's why a feature was made out of it.

So yeah, maybe Serenity was only a sequel to the 14 Firefly eps. Maybe it?s not that great if you haven?t already seen the series. But really, what did you expect going into the theater? Did you go into it saying, ?Joss Whedon sucks and I?m never going to watch Firefly?? Because if that?s case, you probably weren?t going to like the movie anyway.

Now as for my thoughts on the movie: (and this is coming from someone who is a huge fan of the Firefly series, mind you) I?d have to say that Serenity was one of the best movies I?ve ever seen in a theater. The dialogue was very witty and clever; it made me laugh a number of times, something I haven?t done in a theater for a very long time. The cast did outstanding, the effects were on par, the sets were beautiful, the music fit the movie flawlessly? I couldn?t go on enough about it. The only problem with the movie is that people who aren?t already fans of Firefly will have a lot of trouble following everything. I HIGHLY suggest watching Firefly first to get a full feel of the story.

 

Auston do you have Firefly on DVD? Like own it? Because I'd really like to see it before I go to the movie just because it sounds like I won't understand it. Heck I hardly understand the prequels. Let me know!

And in my movie news... um... I'm going to Iowa this weekend with the marching band so I'm hoping to catch a screening of Cameron Crowe's new movie, Elizabethtown. YES I know Orlando Bloom is in it and that's like 50% of why I'm going (still out on Orlando and the American accent, he barely spoke in Black Hawk Down so it didn't matter). The other 50% is because most of it was actually filmed in Kentucky. The shots I've seen so far are just spectacular. Say what you will about the people of the state (and I'll join you) but the scenery of North Central and North West Kentucky is some of my favorite of all time. So if you want something to do, and wanna see a Cameron Crowe movie go check out Elizabethtown starting this weekend.

Ok I have to go to a meeting or something. Ugh... it's midterm time at school.

 

another Serenity comment from me

well, I intend to see this several more times and will be getting the DVD,
so that kinda solidifies my opinion on this film

Also, I have many GREAT new friends as a result of this film,
and as a fanatic fan myself, I kinda love all fanatic fans cause
.....for me.....they bring a lot of life to the party.

all though that birthday song thing is going on my all time
top ten list of......really geeky things

 

Well, in fact, my opinion going into the movie was that everything that Joss Whedon does not appeal to me, but I was willing to give this movie a shot. My humble opinion is that I didn't much care for this movie. I do not watch the shows, because everytime I have tried, I cannot get past the cheesy dialogue and the contrived stories. How many flipping times can a demon/vampire/insert other vile creature come to one freaking town? Buffy should have ended with the movie. She killed the head vampire in the movie, there was no need for the series. But, I digress.
Fact is: I should not have to watch 14 hours of cheesy TV drama to enjoy a 2-hour movie. I know all Joss fans take everything personal, so be haters or just accept that the common moviebuff, like me, will not like this movie. BTW, not to rub salt in the wounds, but how is the movie doing in the box office? $18 million in 2 weeks???? "OUCH-town", population this movie!!! (thanks Dodgeball)

Dennis

 

Wow, it's like you didn't read my post at all. I thought I made it quite clear that I do NOT like Joss Whedon or anything he's ever made except for "Firefly" and "Serenity". Yet you make it out like just because Buffy is crap, Firefly must be too. Sound logic, Dennis.

No, you shouldn't have to watch 14 hours of "cheesy TV drama" to properly enjoy Serenity. You shouldn't have to watch ANH, ESB, ROTJ, TMP, and AOTC to enjoy "Revenge of the Sith". You shouldn't have to, but it would sure help. That's just how it works -- sorry, all you common-moviebuffs.

BTW, not to rub salt in the wounds, but how is Firefly doing in retail sales? Number 5 on Amazon.com's DVD Top Seller list????

Amazon.com's Top Sellers (Updated Hourly)

I only wish I knew how many months/years it's been in the top ten.

 

ref serenity DVD on sales list,

well....by many reports, the DVD sales, have clearly set record sales
for a "failed TV show",
also, this "property" has already attained cult-like status, and will
be around for some time. It also seems pretty clear that a sequel will
also depend on DVD sales of the movie and the licensening of many products,
which by they way......is a lot!

Those of you wishing to join the browncoats and get your hands on
some of that shiney booty can try,

http://browncoats.serenitymovie.com/serenity/?u=CrimsonWench

http://www.cafepress.com/10thcrew

Ed

 

Yeah, sorry to rain on your parade...the movie just wasn't that good...And no you do not have to watch every Star Wars movie to enjoy any one of them...UNLIKE this movie which REQUIRED you to watch the TV show to understand it. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! Not very sound logic there!!! Besides, I never said that since Buffy sucked, this sucked...I gave it a try...I was not impressed with the movie, therefore...logic dictates that I have no reason to watch the TV show.
So, the TV show sold some DVD's...well isn't that just wonderful. The Chappell Show sold A LOT of DVD's, but does that mean it was good. NOPE! Only meant it was popular with a large section of people...much like high school...POPULAR does not equal GOOD, just like this. Every Joss fan that bought the Buffy and Angel DVD's bought these plus some Sci-Fi fans like yourself. I am sure that everyone of those same people will buy the DVD from this movie, that does not change my OPINION that it was not a good movie? IT was OKAY, not good, but along the lines of say The Day After Tomorrow...good FX, stupid dialogue and no interesting characters to speak of. Watch it once and there is no need to watch it again.
So, be like every other Joss Drone and take it as a personal attack that someone does not like what he does. Geesh, I am so over this stupid movie and talking about it!
Let's move on to some other crappy movie...anyone seeing The Fog this weekend?

Dennis

 

It's over. To your seperate corners and, really, if I read anymore I'm going to do something. It's coming down to what I see as personal attacks on people's fandoms and that's just below the f*ing belt alright? I know I'm not the CR but I'm going to get in the middle of this now because I know Eric is busy.

Yes, let's move the discusson on from Firefly (although I plan on going to see it Saturday and will post what I think as a NON JOSS/FIREFLY person who goes to see a movie knowing nothing about it).

The Fog- will not be seeing as I hate anything that comes with a "scary" premise.

Other movies coming out this week/weekend...

The Fog

Elizabethtown

Domino (another one I kind of want to see with Kiera Knightly as a bounty hunter)

Still playing...

Waiting (this looks actually really funny and relatable... at least from the one trailer I've seen)

In Her Shoes (chick flick I'm sorry but this is something that my mum, sister, Aunt and I are all going to see together, as sister)

Two for the Money

Good Luck, and Good Night (a true life plot movie about the earily days of broadcast journalism, I've read/heard good things about this one if that's your cup of tea/coffee/hot cocoa)

And maybe someone on here can confirm for me... is Doom the movie based on Doom the computer game? It IS a computer game... right? Plus it has Karl Urban, Eomer from Lord of the Rings, in it.

 

I am almost 100% sure it's over the computer game (my brother used to play it, surprised...I thought not). Though, if Karl Urban is in it...

 

I saw the trailer for Doom during the Serenity movie, and it made people laugh because it looked pretty bad...bad as in bad, not bad as in AWESOME! There was a lot of "first-person" perspective for the movie...works for a video game, but not for a movie.

The Fog is a remake of a Jaime Lee Curtis movie from like 1979 and stars Smallville's Tom Welling. It looks pretty lame, but if you are looking for a little scare, it might be worth it???

Dennis

 

I am currently in the world of old movies on video and am
currently watching ICE STATION ZEBRA, on laser disk
.......uh, remember I got about 3000 of these things

anyway, I have owned this movie about 10 years on laser disk
and have never watched it (also a curse of owning so much junk)

Must report, it is not as good as I remember it, tho it has
intro music (before the credits) and an actual intermission
( do any movies even have this anymore )

and ususally, intros and intermissions and exit sections to
a film provide the composer a chance to show off his stuff
and write some music that does not have to serve a scene
in the film.......yawn, not in this case, and in fact, the
music for this film is monotonous.

 

JARHEAD,

better than I thought.

Focus on telling a story and presenting a point of view,
without the kinda of shock theatre special effects that
often take away from the story. R-rated for nudity (male),
male "horse-play" (you be the judge), and language/situations.

The films focus was on the frustrations of military life (very successful)
over the horrors of war (no where near as graphic as films like Saving Private Ryan)

The music was kinda mis-used, except for the Wagner,

but, it was really good music, with the best listen to it
occurring during the closing credits. An experience,
(except for opening day Star Wars films), I almost always,
experience alone in the theatre.

JarHead, was a pretty good slice of life film with a specific view,
and not so much a story starts here and ends there kinda film.


Ed

 

I really enjoyed Jarhead for what it was: a movie about the waiting around for war. Those marines spent so much time waiting, going crazy and to have so little action in that four day war just killed them.

The acting was above par, the direction was pretty decent and the story was exactly what I thought it would be from the previews. There were a lot of my students going to this movie for the action and there was so little that they all hated it.
Oh well, it was pretty little movie.

Dennis

 

Am looking forward to the following movies,

THE PRODUCERS.....remake
KING KONG.........remake
SUPERMAN RETURNS....or it looks like will continue

MONSTER HOUSE.....looks like fun.
HAPPY FEET........some kind of wacky animated penguin movie

oh, and I also just saw Harry Potter,
here are some of my thoughts that I already posted elsewhere,,

Harry Potter,

well, I am not a big fan, and I have not read the books,

but, as a film this was one of the better one this year.

For me, it is basically, a teenage geek does good at sports
and suffers with grown-ups in high school as everyone feels
out of place learning to dance, go to the prom and
(god forbid) talk to the oppisite sex,

using magic and supported by
GREAT special effects,

Kudos to Lucas special effects guys on this,
as they were fun, and all worked really well.

Lowest point for me was.......the Love Song....
oh, you did not hear it?
well, Fans who stayed to the very end of the ending
credits did......it was........gag-awful, but will
probably be on the CD

Other than that, the music was pretty good and
Patrick Doyle should be looked to for future projects.

wish the school was as mysterious as it was in the first one.

 

Rent was due today at 12:30 so I took my younger sister to the movie before her shift at work.

Being a Rent-head myself I went in a bit skeptical. I'd heard bad and good. I was excited to get to see 99% of the original cast together again (OMG Adam Pascal=total love *fangirl moment*) and was very impressed with Rosario Dawson. She had big shoes to fill in my opinion and I thought she was splendid as a 19 year old junkie.

The music, was well... the music. Some of the lines that are sung in the musical are turned into spoken word in the movie, which irked me and intrigued me at the same time because in my head the characters were singing them.

It was nice to see New York as new Yorkers see it, I guess. I've never been but really all you see is Times Square and such on TV. You never see the rest of the town, where people actually live and work so that was kinda cool. Touching moment late in the movie when they're holding a shot of the skyline and there was the World Trade Center again. Made ya stop and think, like always.

Also, it was touching due to recent events in my life. I won't lie and tell you I didn't walk out of there in tears. It was just that moving to see the play again and to think about how my friends are going to get through this in the coming months.

So I give it a B in the end. B because they left out my favorite orgy song (yeah I said it, orgy song). Other than that it was a beatiful picture that really touched me and made me realize how real the AIDS fight really is in America even in 2005.

Then on the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart, intrigued by everyone's talk of the Seperation on the Twins figures. After I picked those up I went to check out the Rent movie CD for my sister (I have the Broadway version but thought she's like the movie one better) and found the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack instead. The music is composed by our own John Williams with solos from Yo Yo Ma and Itzak Pearlman (who I saw live last year and he's just amazing). So if you're looking for some new, Japan inspired John Williams (because honestly, there really isn't a Western sound to it) music, pick the CD up.

 

You're kidding me. Japan inspired John Williams music with Yo Yo Ma and Itzak Pearlman?

*Adds to Christmas list*

 

Yeah, it's some of the best stuff I've heard in a while.

 

RENT......yikes, how could I forget to mention this one!

Yes, this is on my list!

I even have the Karaoke version of some of these songs....

http://www.karaokeunlimited.com/product_info.php/songlist_id/5730/products_id/12006



ref seeing New York as New Yorkers.....Just last year, I had an opportunity to do this.

All I can say, it is why America has always loved stories about New York and Broadway,

life is very different and very diverse and very fun and ......well.....very.....very

ok must now add more to my holiday list as well.

ref RENT......I am guessing that you are talking about the
HAPPY NEW YEAR song that is on the Broadway Cast Album and not the Soundtrack?

In other RENT related observations,

Love Heals....is noted as a bonus track on the Movie Soundtrack.
(note, no such track like this listed on Cast Album)

also on Cast album are these tracks not listed on Soundtrack,

Happy New Year
You OK Honey
On The Street
Contact
and various voice mail stuff.

Ed

 

The song I was talking about not being in the movie which gave it a B was Contact. I just think that song is great for some reason.

Love Heals is on the movie soundtrack as a bonus. But because I don't have it in my posession yet... I haven't heard it. *will remedy that in a few minutes* And the soundtrack for hte movie was select songs from the movie, not everything. Just the popular ones to appease the new Rent fans.

"You OK Honey" was turned into speaking parts as were the voice mails and most of Happy New Year but it all kinda worked.

 

Good morning all!

This is not exactly Star Wars related, but myself and one of the filmmakers are huge SW fans. Next Saturday (the 10th) the Bloomington Cinephile group will be hosting a film festival for independent film makers at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater downtown. The first installment of "Last Chapters" (http://scottschirmer.com/lastchapters/default.htm) titled "Full Moon Sonny" will be premiering there, so come out and support us if you can! See if you can pick me out in the makeup! Make sure that you tell your friends, as all of the proceeds will go directly back to Indiana filmmakers, so that the work can continue. Hope to see you there. Here is the website with the specifics:

http://www.cinephileforum.com/news1.html

 

Two movies I recently viewd.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Film : C+
Acting : C-
FX : D+

First off I want to acknowledge that most everyone around here loves Johnny Deep, Well I do to for the most part But WOO el`Steenk'O for him in this role. I found him creepy stupid and plan o' CRAZY as Wonka. GO to prove Jean Wilder is the KING and will always be the KING in this role. The little guys CGI over and over was to much and I begin to hate it after seeing them for a "short" time. The two bright notes for this was ,I loved there chose for Charlie and uncle Joe.Very good actors. Although not as good as the original crew. Yes,This is closer to the book then its 1973 predecessor , I did enjoy the back ground on his farther and I am WAY glad the 73 version left OUT the bad childhood of Wonka! Nuff said.


Christmas with the Krank's
Film : B+
Acting : B+

I went into this film not expecting to much because a family member and a friend told me this movie pretty much sucked. I for one was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Getting past the typical "Trailer is the best part" thing I still laughed load till the end. Im starting to think that Tim Alan was made to make Christmas movie's, IE Santa Clause 1 & 2.
I loved the little guy that played the umbrella Santa. And Dan Ackroyd was funny ,but Is it me or is every movie he has done since Tommy Boy been the SAME character ?

Nuff said.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Is in one word OUTSTANDING. I was as excited for this movie as many of you were for HP. And it past my expectations 50 fold. I cried in joy after watching it, It was that good.
I plan to see it many more times.

* * * * * OUT OF * * * * *

 

Just saw Narnia tonight as well,

pretty darn good, made me want to read the books

thought the White Witch was very strong as the evil
center piece of this film, though some
early editing choices seem to weaken her,
but the actress really got this perfect,
best most believable evil person I have seen
in a long time. I truely believed the
focus of the evil queen to the end, where she
got even better!

 

This is all about Narnia as well! From someone who read the books (yes, I am one of those people who goes "the book was better") possibly for the first time I'm able to say "they're about even". They did a wonderful job of keeping the book intact, and I can't remember any part where I thought they were taking too much of an artistic liscence.

As for the actors, the White Witch was unbelievable in her role! Lucy just captured the pure-heart of her character and the other kids were good as well. Plus, the Aslan's voice wasn't half bad . Honestly, if you were thinking about seeing it, do.