Late night posting

[peck72]

Hmm, I had intended to post about both Terry Pratchett's "Thud" and Joss Wheedon's "Serenity". But the more I think about them, the more I think I'm going to have to re-read and re-watch them both respectivly to be able to give them a proper review.

In, shorthand though, "Thud" is classic Terry Pratchett.
He has a good plot, intreging new characters (although, they're not really given the opportunity to develop much) and he's added a bit of extra depth to some of the old favourites (like Detritus). I do have to say though that this isn't going to get into my list of favourites. It doesn't have enough of a zing to really lift the story and the ending get's a little lost in itself even if it did make me actually become concerned for the life expectancy of one of the characters. This may have been amplified because I have heard him propose killing off the character before (several years ago, I hasten to add), although it may have been said then just to see the waves of panic go through the crowd of fans. If your already a fan then it will be required reading anyway (and it is worth it) but if your new to the Discworld books, you will enjoy it but you may just wonder what all the fuss is about

As for "Serenity" though, this really is a must see film.
I am a fan of the tv series "Firefly" that this film is spun out from and so went into it with the rose tinted glasses firmly in place. When I took the glasses off however the film was still as magnificent as I'd thought it would be. The set up at the start is quick and brief but contained all you need to know (although I did miss part of this due to having to find an usher outside to tell the projectionist that they had the camera set wrong and so everyone looked like they where 18 feet tall and 12 inches wide). The look of the film is just the same as the series but the western angle isn't pushed quite as much. All the characters are there even if Book is little more than a brief cameo (I did hear that he was the last to sign up for the film and so do wonder if he agreed only on the condition that he have a brief role and that there is no chance of him coming back in any sequels). They where never all going to get enough screentime - 9 characters plus introductions plus plot plus new characters makes for a bit of a squeeze in under two hours - but you still get to see enough of each of them to know that they're all there and are all well drawn characters. I'd be curious to hear reviews from people who havn't seen the series to find out if they feel the same though. My favourite moment though had to be this quote from Kaylee just before the Reavers attack and Simon says he regrets not having been with her during their time on Serenity.

Kaylee Frye: You mean to say as... sex?
Dr. Simon Tam: [pause, slightly pained but sweet smile] I mean to say.
Kaylee Frye: [considers, adjusts grip on gun] The hell with this, I wanna live!

As I said though, I really need to see this again to put together a proper appraisal of the film (Hell, I just really need to see it again and again and again) but it did all that my little fanboy heart wanted it to do and I really need to get myself one of these.

It is definitly the best film I've seen this year and I really hope there will be sequels or a new series. By the end of the film I was definitly in agreement with Mal though,

"I will get very choked up. Honestly. There might even be tears."

And because these are just too much fun to miss

<a href="http://monster.namedecoder.com">
<img src="http://monster.namedecoder.com/webimages/beast-PAULSMITH.png"
width="240" height="180"
alt="Poisonous Anthropologist-Upsetting Livestock-Snatching Monster from the Isolated Twisted Hills"
border="0"></a>

<a href="http://cyborg.namedecoder.com">
<img src="http://cyborg.namedecoder.com/webimages/edox-PAULSMITH.png"
width="240" height="180"
alt="Positronic Artificial Unit Limited to Sabotage, Masterful Infiltration and Thorough Harm"
border="0"></a>

Comments

looks ok to me.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the problem is that livejournal is escaping the html so that it looks like characters rather than acting on what you want it to be. Is there a setting in LJ to say treat this post as html?
Cant post as my openid for some reason :-(

aNDY