Space Video of the Day Archive
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2007
Space Video of the Day - 070910
Today's space video of the day is the pivotal scene from the classic science fiction movie 2001: a space odyssey. Open the pod bay doors please, HAL.
Space Video of the Day Archive
Space Video of the Day Archive
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Space Video of the Day - 070804
Today's Space Video of the Day is the "Blue Danube" scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is the Space Video of the Week. Be sure to check out the Space Video of the Day Archive
This is the Space Video of the Week. Be sure to check out the Space Video of the Day Archive
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
We Have A Winner
The Great Science Fiction Movie Poll is now over. Thanks to all who voted. The overall winner is certainly a popular movie, and although it isn't my first choice, it is definitely one of my favorites. And the winner is....
[drumroll]
Star Wars (Episode IV: a New Hope)
Now, if you have been living in a cave for the last 30 years and haven't yet seen this movie (how are you on the internet, if that's the case?), then you should probably go down to the video store and rent it. If you don't feel like sitting through the whole movie, then you can click here to see Star Wars in 30 seconds, reenacted by bunnies.
[drumroll]
Now, if you have been living in a cave for the last 30 years and haven't yet seen this movie (how are you on the internet, if that's the case?), then you should probably go down to the video store and rent it. If you don't feel like sitting through the whole movie, then you can click here to see Star Wars in 30 seconds, reenacted by bunnies.
Monday, April 23, 2007
There Can Be Only One
Well, here we are, finally down to only two movies remaining in the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll. I have to say, last week's results surprised the heck out of me, as I thought for certain that 2001 would have beaten Logan's Run. However, Logan's Run managed to squeak by 2001 by a single vote, and it now faces Star Wars in the finals.
This is it, the poll closes at 2300 GMT on April 30th. Tell your friends!
This is it, the poll closes at 2300 GMT on April 30th. Tell your friends!
Monday, April 16, 2007
The Great Science Fiction Movie Poll - Semifinals
Update, April 23: We're into the final round of voting.
We started out back on March 25th with 132 movies. Voting in the week following pared that number down to the top 32 movies by April 1st, then down to 8 movies on April 9th. Well, now we're down to the semifinal round, only four movies remain, the winners from last week's voting. You can vote once in each of the two semifinal polls (you have to click Submit separately for each poll), and voting closes on Monday, April 23rd at 2300 GMT. Be sure to pass the word around.
Last week I had the top eight movies in the quarter finals. The head-to-head matchups were based on the previous week's voting, with the top movie going against the 8th-place movie, 4 vs 5, 3 vs 6, and 2 vs 7. This week the winner of the 1 vs 8 matchup goes against the winner of 4 vs 5, and the winner of 3 vs 6 goes against the winner of 2 vs 7.
So, the first semifinal brings us one movie that totally blew away its competition last week, against another movie that just barely won its quarterfinal round.
The second semifinal matchup coincidentally pits one Harrison Ford movie against another. While this might make it a tougher decision for Harrison Ford fans, at least they can take comfort in the fact that a Harrison Ford movie is guaranteed to be in the finals.
We started out back on March 25th with 132 movies. Voting in the week following pared that number down to the top 32 movies by April 1st, then down to 8 movies on April 9th. Well, now we're down to the semifinal round, only four movies remain, the winners from last week's voting. You can vote once in each of the two semifinal polls (you have to click Submit separately for each poll), and voting closes on Monday, April 23rd at 2300 GMT. Be sure to pass the word around.
Last week I had the top eight movies in the quarter finals. The head-to-head matchups were based on the previous week's voting, with the top movie going against the 8th-place movie, 4 vs 5, 3 vs 6, and 2 vs 7. This week the winner of the 1 vs 8 matchup goes against the winner of 4 vs 5, and the winner of 3 vs 6 goes against the winner of 2 vs 7.
So, the first semifinal brings us one movie that totally blew away its competition last week, against another movie that just barely won its quarterfinal round.
The second semifinal matchup coincidentally pits one Harrison Ford movie against another. While this might make it a tougher decision for Harrison Ford fans, at least they can take comfort in the fact that a Harrison Ford movie is guaranteed to be in the finals.
Just a Reminder...
Today is the last day for voting in the quarterfinals of the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll. If you haven't voted yet, you really ought to. Voting closes at 2300GMT. Tell your friends!
Monday, April 09, 2007
The Great Science Fiction Movie Poll - Quarterfinals
Update, April 23: We're into the final round of voting.
Thanks to all who voted in last week's elimination round. The field of movies started at 132, was whittled down to 32 by the poll voters, and now has been pared down again - only eight movies remain. So, this week starts the quarterfinals round of the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll. You get to vote a total of four times, once in each of the four polls below. You have to hit Submit on each poll separately for your vote to count. I was a little late getting to this last night, so instead of next Sunday the voting closes next Monday, April 16, at 5pmMDT (2300GMT). The semifinals start next Monday, and the finals will start on April 23. Then on April 30th, the winner of the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll will be announced, with much fanfare and rejoicing. OK, no fanfare. And the rejoicing is up to you. Anyhow, let's get started; here's the quarterfinals.
Thanks to all who voted in last week's elimination round. The field of movies started at 132, was whittled down to 32 by the poll voters, and now has been pared down again - only eight movies remain. So, this week starts the quarterfinals round of the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll. You get to vote a total of four times, once in each of the four polls below. You have to hit Submit on each poll separately for your vote to count. I was a little late getting to this last night, so instead of next Sunday the voting closes next Monday, April 16, at 5pmMDT (2300GMT). The semifinals start next Monday, and the finals will start on April 23. Then on April 30th, the winner of the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll will be announced, with much fanfare and rejoicing. OK, no fanfare. And the rejoicing is up to you. Anyhow, let's get started; here's the quarterfinals.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Great Science Fiction Movie Poll part 2: the poll strikes back
Update, April 23: We're into the final round of voting.
Well, the first round of voting in the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll is now over. Thank you to the hundreds of people who voted. And now, it is time for round 2 of the voting. This week's poll is similar to last week's, in that you can select multiple movies from the list below. This week's list is the top 32 movies - as voted by Robot Guy readers - out of last week's list of 132 movies. You may select up to 8 movies from this list. The poll closes in one week, on Sunday April 8 at 2300GMT (5pm MDT). Of this list, only the top 8 movies will make it to the next round. You can only vote once on this poll, so if you have your heart set on a particular movie making it to next week's voting, tell your friends so they can vote too. Starting next week there will be a playoff format, movie vs. movie duels.
Update: Trumped! SFX magazine has conducted a poll similar to this one, and just released their results. Their survey polled 3000 people, so spread the word about this poll and let's see if we can get a larger audience sample.
Well, the first round of voting in the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll is now over. Thank you to the hundreds of people who voted. And now, it is time for round 2 of the voting. This week's poll is similar to last week's, in that you can select multiple movies from the list below. This week's list is the top 32 movies - as voted by Robot Guy readers - out of last week's list of 132 movies. You may select up to 8 movies from this list. The poll closes in one week, on Sunday April 8 at 2300GMT (5pm MDT). Of this list, only the top 8 movies will make it to the next round. You can only vote once on this poll, so if you have your heart set on a particular movie making it to next week's voting, tell your friends so they can vote too. Starting next week there will be a playoff format, movie vs. movie duels.
Update: Trumped! SFX magazine has conducted a poll similar to this one, and just released their results. Their survey polled 3000 people, so spread the word about this poll and let's see if we can get a larger audience sample.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
the Great Science Fiction Movie Poll
Update, April 23: We're into the final round of voting.
Update, April 1: Voting is now closed on this first round. Go here for the second round of voting.
Update: After I posted this, I realized that the format was unwieldy. It was a big hassle to vote in 16 separate polls to come up with favorite movies. Furthermore, there were some really tough choices to be made between some of the movies in several of the individual polls in this first round of voting. So, I have reworked the poll. Now, instead of picking one movie out of a group of 8, you just put a checkmark beside the titles of up to 25 of your favorite science fiction movies, and only have to hit the Submit button once. The new poll closes at 5pm MDT on Sunday, April 1st (2300 GMT). Sorry to those few people who took the time to vote in my unwieldy first attempt at this poll. The scores have all been reset, and you can all vote again.
I kept on thinking of great science fiction movies that I should have put in the list the other day, lots of them. And, Dan Schrimpsher asked me if I was on crack, for not putting Serenity at the top of the list (I'm not). Well, I figure that this is the sort of thing that calls for a poll. I searched through the Science Fiction category on the Internet Movie Database, and out of the thousands of titles there I selected 134 movies. Out of the list below, click on as many as 25 of your favorite science fiction movies.
The polling software allows only one vote per poll per IP address, so if you really really want a particular movie to make it to the next round, then tell your friends about this poll so that they can vote too. The more people who vote, the better the results will be.
Next week, I will make up a new set of polls, with only the top-scoring 16 or 32 movies (I haven't decided yet) from this poll. I'm leaning towards making this a playoff format starting next week. So, by the end of April or so, we should have the top science fiction movie, as voted by you, the Robot Guy readers.
Update, April 1: Voting is now closed on this first round. Go here for the second round of voting.
Update: After I posted this, I realized that the format was unwieldy. It was a big hassle to vote in 16 separate polls to come up with favorite movies. Furthermore, there were some really tough choices to be made between some of the movies in several of the individual polls in this first round of voting. So, I have reworked the poll. Now, instead of picking one movie out of a group of 8, you just put a checkmark beside the titles of up to 25 of your favorite science fiction movies, and only have to hit the Submit button once. The new poll closes at 5pm MDT on Sunday, April 1st (2300 GMT). Sorry to those few people who took the time to vote in my unwieldy first attempt at this poll. The scores have all been reset, and you can all vote again.
I kept on thinking of great science fiction movies that I should have put in the list the other day, lots of them. And, Dan Schrimpsher asked me if I was on crack, for not putting Serenity at the top of the list (I'm not). Well, I figure that this is the sort of thing that calls for a poll. I searched through the Science Fiction category on the Internet Movie Database, and out of the thousands of titles there I selected 134 movies. Out of the list below, click on as many as 25 of your favorite science fiction movies.
The polling software allows only one vote per poll per IP address, so if you really really want a particular movie to make it to the next round, then tell your friends about this poll so that they can vote too. The more people who vote, the better the results will be.
Next week, I will make up a new set of polls, with only the top-scoring 16 or 32 movies (I haven't decided yet) from this poll. I'm leaning towards making this a playoff format starting next week. So, by the end of April or so, we should have the top science fiction movie, as voted by you, the Robot Guy readers.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Favorite Science Fiction Movies
In honor of the 25th anniversary this year of Blade Runner, Sciencedude is taking suggestions for a list of the greatest science fiction films ever made. I emailed him my suggestions, and then had several "oh, yeah, that one!" moments afterwards. Here is my (revised) list of my top 25 favorite science fiction movies:
25. Enemy Mine. Lou Gossett Jr. makes a great lizard.
24. Outland. Sean Connery rocks as a space marshal, the only law on a mining facility on Jupiter's moon Io.
23. Innerspace. A fun take on Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage, starring Dennis Quaid and a seemingly-possessed Martin Short.
22. Silent Running. Bruce Dern saves the last of the trees in a space ship.
21. Dark Star. Teaching phenomenology to a bomb.
20. Tron. Hacker is scanned into a virtual existence inside a computer, forced to fight the eeeevil Master Control Program. Very cool special effects, and still entertaining.
19. Planet of the Apes. "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" The novel by Pierre Boulle was awesome, too.
18. Escape from New York. Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken rescuing the President from the hellhole maximum security prison that is New York circa 1998.
17. ET the extraterrestrial. Steven Spielberg's most successful movie, from back when Drew Barrymore was a cute, precocious kid.
16. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Richard Dreyfuss making mountains out of mashed potatoes. That Steven Spielberg sort of has a flair for the skiffy movies, doesn't he?
15. Altered States. William Hurt blowing his mind.
14. The Last Starfighter. How can you not love the story of a video-game geek who saves the galaxy?
13. The Terminator. Michael Biehn as the good guy, Linda Hamilton making the transition from wimp to tough guy, and some musclebound dude with a funny name: "I'll be back".
12. The Abyss. It has plot holes that you can drive a Mac Truck through, but this time Michael Biehn is the bad guy, and he's awesome as the bad guy. James Cameron went all-out in this movie, and Ed Harris literally (yes, I know that word is often mis-used, but I do mean literally) drowns in a highly-oxygenated fluid. Ya gotta admire that kind of dedication to the craft. Amazing special effects, particularly the water/alien thingy.
11. Alien. Sigourney Weaver as one of the strongest female characters, ever.
10. Blade Runner. Just what does it mean to be human?
9. The Fifth Element. Stop me if you've heard this plot before: Bruce Willis is an everyman with a violent past forced by circumstances to save the world and the woman he loves.
8. Gattaca. Have you ever wanted anything so bad that you were willing to do anything - even die - to get it?
7. The Matrix. Is any of this real? "You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
6. Forbidden Planet. Yes, it's 50 years old, but it's still awesome.
5. The Fly. The arm wrestling scene alone was worth the price of admission.
4. Serenity. I was lucky enough to go see this movie for free, in exchange for reviewing it on my blog. What a blast. "I aim to misbehave."
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey. After this film, the song Also Sprach Zarathustra will always be associated with space. If you're going to do a space movie, this is how to get it done right.
2. Star Wars. Yes, I know, it's an obscure art house film that nobody's ever heard of.
1. Destination Moon. The oldest film on the list, and still (in my not so humble opinion) the best science fiction film ever made. Made 19 years before the first actual manned lunar mission, it is amazing how much of the science and engineering that they got bang-on. Based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel Rocketship Galileo.
Other great sci-fi movies that didn't make my top 25, but which I nonetheless enjoyed: Bicentennial Man, Total Recall, the Blob, Logan's Run, Scanners, Rollerball, The Running Man, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Barbarella.
What would be on your list?
Update: D'oh! How could I forget the three movies represented in my nifty new title graphic? I, Robot (loosely based on the Asimov novel of the same name), Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. Of those three, only Frankenstein would make my top 25, right around spot number 18 or so, bumping Enemy Mine off the top 25 list. Sorry, Lou. I've also heard many good things about Metropolis, but since I haven't seen the movie I can't place it among my favorites. And I, Robot was fun but not one of my top favorites.
Another movie that I totally forgot about as I was making my list has to be Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan. Seeing Chekov getting "bugged", Kirk yelling "KHAAAAANNNNN!", Spock dying, oh the awesomeness. It would have to slide in there around number 20, which would bump Outland off the list, if not for my sleight of hand which allows me to bump Innerspace off the list instead. Not that I have anything against Dennis Quaid, bumping two of his movies off my list of 25, it's just that I probably should have put Outland higher on the list in the first place. Sorry, Dennis.
Some more sci-fi movies that I enjoyed, but which didn't make the top 25: Independence Day, Men in Black, Spiderman, Back to the Future, the Day the Earth Stood Still, Twelve Monkeys, and Spaceballs. Geez, I watch too many movies.
The Internet Movie Database also has a list of favorite sci-fi movies, as voted on by members of that site.
25. Enemy Mine. Lou Gossett Jr. makes a great lizard.
24. Outland. Sean Connery rocks as a space marshal, the only law on a mining facility on Jupiter's moon Io.
23. Innerspace. A fun take on Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage, starring Dennis Quaid and a seemingly-possessed Martin Short.
22. Silent Running. Bruce Dern saves the last of the trees in a space ship.
21. Dark Star. Teaching phenomenology to a bomb.
20. Tron. Hacker is scanned into a virtual existence inside a computer, forced to fight the eeeevil Master Control Program. Very cool special effects, and still entertaining.
19. Planet of the Apes. "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" The novel by Pierre Boulle was awesome, too.
18. Escape from New York. Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken rescuing the President from the hellhole maximum security prison that is New York circa 1998.
17. ET the extraterrestrial. Steven Spielberg's most successful movie, from back when Drew Barrymore was a cute, precocious kid.
16. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Richard Dreyfuss making mountains out of mashed potatoes. That Steven Spielberg sort of has a flair for the skiffy movies, doesn't he?
15. Altered States. William Hurt blowing his mind.
14. The Last Starfighter. How can you not love the story of a video-game geek who saves the galaxy?
13. The Terminator. Michael Biehn as the good guy, Linda Hamilton making the transition from wimp to tough guy, and some musclebound dude with a funny name: "I'll be back".
12. The Abyss. It has plot holes that you can drive a Mac Truck through, but this time Michael Biehn is the bad guy, and he's awesome as the bad guy. James Cameron went all-out in this movie, and Ed Harris literally (yes, I know that word is often mis-used, but I do mean literally) drowns in a highly-oxygenated fluid. Ya gotta admire that kind of dedication to the craft. Amazing special effects, particularly the water/alien thingy.
11. Alien. Sigourney Weaver as one of the strongest female characters, ever.
10. Blade Runner. Just what does it mean to be human?
9. The Fifth Element. Stop me if you've heard this plot before: Bruce Willis is an everyman with a violent past forced by circumstances to save the world and the woman he loves.
8. Gattaca. Have you ever wanted anything so bad that you were willing to do anything - even die - to get it?
7. The Matrix. Is any of this real? "You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
6. Forbidden Planet. Yes, it's 50 years old, but it's still awesome.
5. The Fly. The arm wrestling scene alone was worth the price of admission.
4. Serenity. I was lucky enough to go see this movie for free, in exchange for reviewing it on my blog. What a blast. "I aim to misbehave."
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey. After this film, the song Also Sprach Zarathustra will always be associated with space. If you're going to do a space movie, this is how to get it done right.
2. Star Wars. Yes, I know, it's an obscure art house film that nobody's ever heard of.
1. Destination Moon. The oldest film on the list, and still (in my not so humble opinion) the best science fiction film ever made. Made 19 years before the first actual manned lunar mission, it is amazing how much of the science and engineering that they got bang-on. Based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel Rocketship Galileo.
Other great sci-fi movies that didn't make my top 25, but which I nonetheless enjoyed: Bicentennial Man, Total Recall, the Blob, Logan's Run, Scanners, Rollerball, The Running Man, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Barbarella.
What would be on your list?
Update: D'oh! How could I forget the three movies represented in my nifty new title graphic? I, Robot (loosely based on the Asimov novel of the same name), Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. Of those three, only Frankenstein would make my top 25, right around spot number 18 or so, bumping Enemy Mine off the top 25 list. Sorry, Lou. I've also heard many good things about Metropolis, but since I haven't seen the movie I can't place it among my favorites. And I, Robot was fun but not one of my top favorites.
Another movie that I totally forgot about as I was making my list has to be Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan. Seeing Chekov getting "bugged", Kirk yelling "KHAAAAANNNNN!", Spock dying, oh the awesomeness. It would have to slide in there around number 20, which would bump Outland off the list, if not for my sleight of hand which allows me to bump Innerspace off the list instead. Not that I have anything against Dennis Quaid, bumping two of his movies off my list of 25, it's just that I probably should have put Outland higher on the list in the first place. Sorry, Dennis.
Some more sci-fi movies that I enjoyed, but which didn't make the top 25: Independence Day, Men in Black, Spiderman, Back to the Future, the Day the Earth Stood Still, Twelve Monkeys, and Spaceballs. Geez, I watch too many movies.
The Internet Movie Database also has a list of favorite sci-fi movies, as voted on by members of that site.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
take me out into the black
I went to a sneak-preview of Serenity tonight. You know how you see the trailers for a movie, and think, "hey, that looks really cool", and anticipate seeing it, then when it finally comes out you go see it and are left feeling empty and disappointed? Well, enough about the Revenge of the Sith.
Serenity was nothing like that. Where Sith was fast food that left you feeling nothing but gas, Serenity was a seven-course meal. Serenity is shiny.
Now, I have been a fan of Firefly (the TV series on which Serenity is based) ever since I first saw the series after the DVDs were released. So, I figured that my review might be somewhat biased. Therefore I took a friend's 11 year old daughter, who had never seen Firefly, to see it with me. Her response? "That was cool"... "Zoe was off da chain" (which I think means cool)... "awesome"... and to her dad: "Now you and (her sister) have to go see it too".
WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD
In Serenity, some of the mysteries that formed major plot points in the TV series get resolved: the origin of River's madness is explained, and also the origin of the Reavers. And yes, the two topics are related. Another mystery that drove the series is not solved, and indeed may never be due to action that takes place in the film.
Joss Whedon has a delightful habit: he takes a cliche, builds up to its oh-so-predictable conclusion, and at the last moment stands the cliche on its ear. Whether it is with a deft turn of phrase or an unexpection action, he manages to demolish cliches left and right.
For instance, the cliche might be the damaged ship, having taken a beating, attempting to make an emergency landing. In the cliche, the damaged ship manages a picture-perfect landing. In Serenity, when the damaged ship comes in for the landing, it is really rough, and large, crucial chunks of the ship get torn off.
In the cliche, the badly-wounded crewmember makes a miraculous recovery. In Serenity, he dies. And not in a Spock-cop-out way either, he's done for, fini. And to see two members of your regular cast kick the bucket? Unheard-of except in Whedon's 'verse.
In the cliche, the bad guy doesn't think he's the bad guy. In Serenity, not only does the bad guy know he's bad, he even says that he is evil. And he is comfortable with that. And instead of the good guy killing the bad guy, or vice-versa, at the end they agree to never see each other again.
There are some memorable moments in this movie: the hulking fighter Jayne getting knocked out by the waif-like River - twice; the space battle between the Reavers and the Alliance, instigated by the Serenity; the extraordinary grace of River as she fights entire rooms full of people.
And there are some memorable quotes as well. Jayne to Mal: "sure would be nice if we had some HAND GRENADES right about now." Kaylee to Simon: "you mean... like... sex?" Mal to the crew, talking about his conversation with Inara: "Did you see us fighting?" "no." "Trap."
All in all, this was a very satisfying experience. It had everything: comedy, tragedy, romance, violence, despair and hope. I definitely want to see this movie again.
Serenity opens across North America on September 30th. Go see it. Several times.
Update: Justin Buist reviews the movie here.
Update 2: another review by Jason Kuznicki
Update 3: Holy wow, thanks for the instalanche, Professor Reynolds.
Update 4: Orson Scott Card reviews Serenity here.
Technorati Tags: Science Fiction, Movies
Serenity was nothing like that. Where Sith was fast food that left you feeling nothing but gas, Serenity was a seven-course meal. Serenity is shiny.
Now, I have been a fan of Firefly (the TV series on which Serenity is based) ever since I first saw the series after the DVDs were released. So, I figured that my review might be somewhat biased. Therefore I took a friend's 11 year old daughter, who had never seen Firefly, to see it with me. Her response? "That was cool"... "Zoe was off da chain" (which I think means cool)... "awesome"... and to her dad: "Now you and (her sister) have to go see it too".
WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD
In Serenity, some of the mysteries that formed major plot points in the TV series get resolved: the origin of River's madness is explained, and also the origin of the Reavers. And yes, the two topics are related. Another mystery that drove the series is not solved, and indeed may never be due to action that takes place in the film.
Joss Whedon has a delightful habit: he takes a cliche, builds up to its oh-so-predictable conclusion, and at the last moment stands the cliche on its ear. Whether it is with a deft turn of phrase or an unexpection action, he manages to demolish cliches left and right.
For instance, the cliche might be the damaged ship, having taken a beating, attempting to make an emergency landing. In the cliche, the damaged ship manages a picture-perfect landing. In Serenity, when the damaged ship comes in for the landing, it is really rough, and large, crucial chunks of the ship get torn off.
In the cliche, the badly-wounded crewmember makes a miraculous recovery. In Serenity, he dies. And not in a Spock-cop-out way either, he's done for, fini. And to see two members of your regular cast kick the bucket? Unheard-of except in Whedon's 'verse.
In the cliche, the bad guy doesn't think he's the bad guy. In Serenity, not only does the bad guy know he's bad, he even says that he is evil. And he is comfortable with that. And instead of the good guy killing the bad guy, or vice-versa, at the end they agree to never see each other again.
There are some memorable moments in this movie: the hulking fighter Jayne getting knocked out by the waif-like River - twice; the space battle between the Reavers and the Alliance, instigated by the Serenity; the extraordinary grace of River as she fights entire rooms full of people.
And there are some memorable quotes as well. Jayne to Mal: "sure would be nice if we had some HAND GRENADES right about now." Kaylee to Simon: "you mean... like... sex?" Mal to the crew, talking about his conversation with Inara: "Did you see us fighting?" "no." "Trap."
All in all, this was a very satisfying experience. It had everything: comedy, tragedy, romance, violence, despair and hope. I definitely want to see this movie again.
Serenity opens across North America on September 30th. Go see it. Several times.
Update: Justin Buist reviews the movie here.
Update 2: another review by Jason Kuznicki
Update 3: Holy wow, thanks for the instalanche, Professor Reynolds.
Update 4: Orson Scott Card reviews Serenity here.
Technorati Tags: Science Fiction, Movies
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