Stay Shiny

SERENITY (2005)
Starring Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Chiwetel Ejiofor

You’ll like this movie if: You know that Joss Whedon is one of the most underrated people in show business.

If you could bring back one TV show canceled way before its time, what would it be?  (Star Trek doesn’t count, since a show that spawns that many spin-offs clearly lives on.  Forever.  And ever.)

If you said the original Battlestar Galactica, fair enough, but we all know the new one is a lot better.  If you said Family Guy, they clearly did bring it back.  Twice, actually.  If you said Heil Honey I’m Home, you obviously have, shall we say, unusual taste.  (Yes, that was a real TV show.  Look it up on YouTube if you don’t believe me.  It’s exactly what it sounds like.  Guess why it didn't last.)

Me, I’d pick Joss Whedon’s short-lived series Firefly, which ran for three months in 2002.  If you’ve seen it, it’s very hard to argue it’s not one of the most fascinating TV shows of the last several years, especially since it doesn’t have much competition in the sci-fi/western crossover category.  It’s a mix that appears to not make a huge amount of sense - see: Cowboys and Aliens - but it worked here.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it.  Well, actually, I used to.  We don’t talk anymore.

Sadly, it got canceled after only one season.  But it says a lot about the show’s rabid fan following that they actually got a movie made out of it a few years later.  That would be Serenity.

It’s a continuation of the TV show’s story, which means the same cast, full of names you’d probably never heard of but who work so well together that you wonder why these folks don’t get more consistent work.  (Some actually have in recent years - one, Nathan Fillion, got a TV show, Castle, and parts in a few Halo games.)

One of them, a young girl named River Tam (Summer Glau, an incredibly underrated kicker of keesters), is on the run from the authoritarian regime that turned her into...you know what, I’ll skip it.  Fans of the show will know the whole story, and people who haven’t seen it yet really should.  Not only is it fantastic viewing, it also makes a lot more sense to watch it all in order.  I made the mistake of not doing that.  You can probably get away with it, but it works a lot better if you watch the show first.

Firefly had a certain light-heartedness, managing to balance the comedy and drama and action fairly well from episode to episode.  Serenity doesn’t quite feel like a longer episode - it’s darker and features a bit less witty banter between the cast.  If you do watch Firefly first, be prepared for a bit of a letdown when you pop Serenity into your DVD player.

But don’t expect to be incredibly disappointed.  Serenity is a quite well-made film, with a very nice cast and a quite underrated man behind the camera.  (You can catch Joss Whedon directing The Avengers pretty soon, which seems like a pretty decent career move.)  Serenity isn’t a thriller, per se, but it has its moments.  If one of the groups of bad guys, the Reavers, look like they’re basically zombies with a bad case of road rage, it’s still easy to see why the crew isn’t too happy about running into them.

Just promise me something.  When you watch this stuff and get wowed by it - and you will, trust me - tell your friends about it so they’ll spring for the DVDs.  Us fans want another one made.

Four and a half stars out of five.

One Seriously Close Encounter

PAUL (2011)
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kristen Wiig, Seth Rogen

You’ll like this movie if: You dug Shawn of the Dead and/or Hot Fuzz but wondered why there weren’t more tongue-in-cheek references to sci-fi classics in either of them.

Let me start this review off by saying that, if you can’t tell the difference between a phaser and Darth Vader, you maybe shouldn’t bother checking Paul out.  (Actually, if you can’t, you really need to ask the next person you see what the difference is, because you may be the only person alive who doesn’t know that for some reason.  Seriously, how could you not know that?  That’s ridiculous.)

After all, much of the film is done in homage to the sci-fi genre, which means you’ll see abundant references to - and this is by no means a comprehensive list - Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens, Indiana Jones, and for some odd reason, a 1992 drama called Lorenzo’s Oil.  Those who have never heard of that last one will see one joke going right over their heads, as it did mine at first viewing.

Thankfully, those without the requisite nerd cred will find at least one thing in this film they’ll enjoy, namely the title character (voiced by Seth Rogen).  Paul is incredibly vulgar and crude, if that’s not disrespectful to vulgar and crude people.  Yet he’s generally friendly, and gradually wins over the two incredibly nerdy Brits (Pegg and Frost, frequent collaborators) traveling cross-country in an RV.

Yes, the premise might seem a little thin, but it’s so easy to have fun watching this movie that you won’t even remember or care why these guys were in an RV to begin with.  For those who aren’t afraid to watch a movie filled with completely inappropriate jokes, that is.  Paul is like a road-trip movie...with aliens.  This, of course, coming from two of the guys who put together Shaun of the Dead, described on the posters as “A Romantic Comedy.  With Zombies.”  So if anybody knows good genre crossovers, it’s Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Oh, did I mention Kristen Wiig plays a Christian fundamentalist?  Yeah, it threw me for a loop too.  That’s another thing - if you believe in creationism, you may want to avoid this film.  It probably isn’t a massive spoiler alert to tell you that, in a movie about an alien, it doesn’t come out looking too good.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty riotous film, even if the large amount of casual profanity starts to get a little less funny towards the end and the love story feels a bit like it’s there to just be there.  If you are in on the jokes, or at least some of them, it’ll be more funny than if you’re just going for the wisecracking alien.  That would probably be enough, mind you, but start brushing up on the nerd universe anyway if you’re a little behind.  You’ll be very glad you did.

Four and a half stars out of five.

Star Wars Released...Again...

As many of you know Star Wars came out on Blu Ray September 16. There were some changes, some upgrades, and some cosmetic touch ups.

At the end of Episode III we see Darth Vader for the first time, hear his first breath underneath his famous mask and headgear. However we also hear him wail a ridiculous "Lucas Line:" 'NNNOOOOOOOOOooooooooo!' Not only did George Lucas bless us with that great piece of script writing recently, he decided to re-incorporate the same line into Episode VI. (I won't tell you where, you'll have to wait, watch and see.) Might as well get the negative out of the way first so we can get to the good stuff.

There is an astounding amount of never before seen footage the disk set gives the viewer. There are deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, and even MORE about creating the world of Star Wars. The extra features alone are worth the money, and as an added bonus you can watch the movies as well.

Episode I: This movie is slightly redeemed by being on Blu Ray because the high definition quality makes the scenery and other CGI effects look amazing. The wide shots of planets and space in all first three movies are mesmerizing. Other than that Episode I is as bad as it was when it was released back in 1999.

Episodes II and III are also spectacularly touched up. The scene on the Mustafar (lava planet) in the Episode III is breathtaking.

Finally the original three movies: IV, V, and VI.

There is no way to make an old film look like a new film. New special effects in old movies ruin the classic nature of old movies. That said, Lucas Films did a great job maintaining the classic nature of the original three movies while giving them all simple facelifts. Thankfully they didn't change Yoda, or the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, nor did they change the space battle scenes to incorporate modern CGI effects. The movies remain relatively unchanged, minus another gem from Darth Vader.

If you don't want to buy the set ($140, $80 on Amazon.com) I understand. But at least mooch off your friend's copy, watch, and enjoy.

May the force be with you.

When Monsters Bomb At The Box Office!

Sometimes, movies don’t do so well at the box office. Actually, films underperform in their opening weeks all the time - projections have them nabbing somewhere around $30 million, and they end up getting closer to $20 million. It’s not good news, but the thing about movies nowadays is that you can usually make your budget back, if not at the box office, then in DVD sales.

A couple of indie filmmakers will undoubtedly find that small comfort, after their monster flick, “Creature,” finished with $331,000 in receipts in its opening week. Now, before you say, well, it’s an indie film, what do you expect, keep this in mind: The movie opened in 1,507 theaters. That’s an average of $220 per theater. As The Wrap puts it (via Yahoo! Movies), “$220 is about what one row of moviegoers spent on popcorn for the last ‘Harry Potter’ movie.” It's also a record for worst debut for a film opening in more than 1500 or more theaters. (The film’s budget is apparently undisclosed, although it’s apparently a “microbudget.” To throw in a really low blow, apparently “microaudiences” go for that kind of film.)

Based on the trailer, which is featured via the link below, I can’t really figure out why this didn’t do so well. It could be the fact that the trailer features basically no footage that lasts more than a couple of seconds and is punctuated by a bunch of seemingly random quick cuts. Or that it features one more or less incomprehensible line of dialogue (about 1:31 in the trailer). Or that the creature appears to be descended from the bad guys in “Alien” (about 1:52). Or the film’s prominent tagline: “Terror...has...teeth!” What does it usually have?

Apparently, the filmmakers were unsure that people would remember the title, so they tossed it into the trailer four times. I'd say that was too much. Although it would be easy to make the argument, based on the box office numbers, that it wasn’t enough.

Link: http://movies.yahoo.com/news/creature-feature-s-opening-one-of-the-worst-ever-at-the-box-office.html

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Blog

Hello, and welcome to Two Guys and a Movie Blog.  You folks are fortunate enough to be reading our inaugural post.  That's right.  It's very exciting for us too.

The two guys here are Forrest and Zach (that's me).  We've known each other for a few years now, and like many films over the years, our relationship had a pretty rough start.  But that passed, and we've decided to write a blog about one of our shared hobbies: Movies.  (It was originally going to be a sports blog before I realized that Forrest is way more into sports than I am.  As in, he has a fantasy rugby team.)

Anyway, we'll be posting reviews pretty soon, and as often as we can/feel like.  If you like what we're doing, tell your friends.  Actually, you know what?  Just tell your friends anyway.  They may have different taste in blogs.

Thanks for reading.  We'll be back.

-Z