USA TODAY Review by cljohnston108

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USA TODAY Review

POSTED BY: CLJOHNSTON108
UPDATED: Friday, October 7, 2005 13:58
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VIEWED: 7793
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Thursday, September 29, 2005 11:10 PM

Pure apathy.

Quote:
USATODAY.com - 'Serenity' has moments, not much else
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2005-09-29-serenity_x.htm

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

Though diehard fans probably will take issue, Serenity is mostly sci-fi silliness attempting to be something more substantive.

It is based on the short-lived Fox TV show Firefly, which attracted a cult following, and writer/director Joss Whedon squeezes out a few clever moments. But the characters are generally uninteresting and one-dimensional, and the futuristic Western-style plot grows tedious.

The story takes place 500 years in the future, when Earth has been destroyed by a war and the solar system taken over by a fascist alliance. A group of scruffy-but-hot rebels aboard the spaceship Serenity takes on the legions of evil fascists.

The frontier is planetary space. Much of the conflict centers on a psychic prodigy (Summer Glau) whom the bad guys want to exploit and the good guys have mixed feelings about because she's often more trouble than she's worth. As one member of the Serenity crew puts it, she's "a mite unpredictable." But she can kick butt like nobody's business.

The dialogue, delivered mostly in Southern accents, is intended to be funny and fresh, but much of this Western-influenced sci-fi adventure story feels reheated. And lines like "I aim to misbehave" or "I missed you something fierce" just sound grating and forced.

There is the occasional laugh when the drawl disappears and a contemporary sensibility takes hold. Someone tells a cohort knowingly: "It's not your way." And the person asks, "I have a way?"

Still, when films based on successful and beloved TV series have fallen flat over the years (like The Avengers or Twin Peaks) isn't it asking for trouble to make a movie version of a TV flop?

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Friday, September 30, 2005 2:11 AM

ANSEM

All these bad reviews I'm seeing seem like the movie isn't going to be good unless you've seen and like the show. They are just basically saying, "Well these characters that a bunch of people have warmed to and can actually feel for, are just crap." I bet everyone watching the movie with the guy liked it.

~~~~~
Angel: They talk about me in the chatty rooms?

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Friday, September 30, 2005 9:36 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

But it's that attitude of "Well, the show was cancelled after only 10 episodes, so that should tell you something," that really honks me off...

"Still, when films based on successful and beloved TV series have fallen flat over the years (like The Avengers or Twin Peaks) isn't it asking for trouble to make a movie version of a TV flop?"

---------------

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke

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Friday, September 30, 2005 9:42 AM

SEVEREN

USA Today sucks anyway! Except for sports page.

http://www.constitutionparty.com

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Friday, September 30, 2005 9:42 AM

SEVEREN

At least Ebert liked it; three stars.

http://www.constitutionparty.com

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Friday, September 30, 2005 11:23 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

Yeah, the reason I even bothered with this one is because every Friday Mark & Brian (LA morning radio team) go down the list of new movies and announce how many stars USA Today flung 'em.

I've been listening to these guys for close to twenty years (cuz they're great!), and I know they like Sci-Fi stuff, and Westerns, and they appreciate clever dialog...

But when any of Joss' shows get mentioned, they just kinda say, "Eh, never seen an episode."

I tried calling them a few months ago, to try to give 'em a heads-up on "Serenity", so that they'd have time to get up to speed on "Firefly" by Netflixing the DVDs, but Mark said that the trailer he'd seen with "Batman Begins" looked "like they were trying really hard to sell something that was crap." When I said, "No, no, no! It's really amazing! Here's how it is..." I could hear Brian huff'n'puff, then I got cut off.

Nobody else ever called in with a better presentation.

This morning, the conversation went something like...

Mark: From the USA Today, the movies opening today... uhhhh, 'Serenity'? Anybody? It's got no names that I recognize. Sounds like a foreign film.

Brian: (sarcastic) It's not one of those that got writin' on 'em, is it? I hate those. You gotta read the whole time...

One of the call screeners calls out, "It's science fiction!"

Brian: Oh! Ohhhhhh! I've heard about that, then! A friend of mine was telling me it's supposed to be reallllly good!

Mark: "Well, they gave it two stars."

Also every Friday, they talk to Scott Foundas, movie critic for the LA Weekly.
He generally hates everything I like and vice versa and he has a voice like Eeyore, which has a tendency to drain the energy right out of me.

Luckily, they didn't talk to him today, because he was busy with something else, and hadn't seen any of the new movies.

---------------

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 6:38 AM

JOEMO

Here is what I find funny. USA Today is the only source that I have seen that gave it a bad review. Every one else is giving it 4 and a half out of 5 stars. Heck, it ran number 2 in the box office for the first weekend.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 7:52 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

So, I'm listening to Mark & Brian on Monday, waiting to hear somebody say something about the BDM.

Brian reads the weekend box office tally from 10 up, and when he gets to "Serenity", he says, "...and number two I'm really interested in seeing! What a great buzz this movie's getting... Uh, uh, 'Serenity'. It's supposed to be like a science fiction, outer space Western, based on a, uh, TV show, right?"

Kelly Gates, the News girl, chimes in, "Uh huh, 'Firefly', that's right?"

Mark says, "It's just, I'm watching the trailer for this thing, and it looks... okaaaaay... but they're flashing the words "From The Mind of Josh Whedon"..." Kelly corrects him, "Joss." "...and I'm like 'Who the hell is Josh Whedon? Dude! Get over your name!'"

Mark typically takes his family to at least two movies in the theatres every weekend, regardless of quality (He'll go off and see cheesy flicks like "Cabin Fever" or "A Sound of Thunder", just so he can goof on 'em Monday), but just not this weekend. Hmmmm.

---------------

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 2:48 PM

TADKIL

USAT is McPaper anyways.

There are several ways to approach this.

1) Every time you stay at a hotel that gives you USAT with your room, tell them you do not want it and you want it substracted from your hotel bill. That's the way the program works. The $.75 is added to your bill. If the folks won't do that report them to www.accessabc.com. These are the folks that evaluate USAT's volume number and tell their advertisers whether or not their volume is good.

2) Cancel your subscription, if you do subscribe. If you subscribe to a Gannett paper in a local market, cancel your subscription to that newspaper. Call and tell them why. Ask for the Publisher.

3) Write emails to the officers of Gannett. You can get that information here. www.gannett.com
Calling the review elitist and insulting is a good place to start.

4) Anytime you see a USAT at a newsrack in a store, put another newspaper from a different company on top of it.

5) If you are feeling spiteful, place $.75 in a USAT newsrack and then take the newspaper out of the door. Flip the other papers inside over so the headline is facing down. Throw out the newspaper you purchased as you should not steal.

6) Every time you see someone reading the USAT tell them what a horrible and poorly written rag it is. Explain to them how they can avoid getting stuck with it on their hotel bill. See item 1.

Gannett is a corrupt and petty company. USAT is a horrible newspaper. Use your voice.

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 3:02 PM

SPACERACER

I hope I don’t offend anybody here, but I’m not too surprised at Ms. Puig’s (is the “u” silent?) critique of Serenity. I’ve read a few of her reviews and feel that with her, there was a major disconnect. This isn’t the kind of movie she should critique…not in her prevue. Heck, she missed the reason we left Earth (destroyed in a war vs. there were just too many of us), so she probably missed a lot of other parts as well (probably to busy responding to text messages on her Blackberry to pay attention). It could be she’s led a privileged life and spent most of it in big cites…hob knobbing with the social elite and just don’t understand plain talking country folk. Maybe she thinks the language spoken by the crew is cheap or literally slack. Don’t matter to me, I heard a “county” girl give a very different critic on the radio last week and it went like this, “there is a new movie out there that I had heard very little of and was very pleasantly surprised with, it’s called Serenity. This plot is well thought out, it’s funny, it’s sad and very well acted. You probably haven’t heard of any of the actors before, but after this weekend, you will. “ I like her’s better.

SpaceRacer

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Tuesday, October 4, 2005 9:19 PM

SAMWIBATT

I think this is about as good as we could expect from News McNuggets. It would have been nice if their reviewer had paid attention to the movie - I really do wonder if she saw it at all.

Plus I think the BDM is a bit too anti-establishment for USA Today's editors to allow it to get a good review. Feh.

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Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:34 PM

BAPTISMO

What I hate is they say the TV show was a flop while obviously without any knowledge of the history of firefliy and hoe Fox farked it up their own selves.

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Thursday, October 6, 2005 6:41 PM

SAMWIBATT

Quote:
Originally posted by baptismo:
What I hate is they say the TV show was a flop while obviously without any knowledge of the history of firefliy and hoe Fox farked it up their own selves.

I wonder...do the same people own Fox and USA Today? You'd think a paper with funding like USA Today must have could afford a competent reviewer, if they bother to send one at all.

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Friday, October 7, 2005 5:41 AM

CLJOHNSTON108

Apparently, Scott Foundas simply decided to blow off seeing any movies the previous week because he wanted to spend some extra time writing.
He just spent 20 minutes reviewing "Good Night, and Good Luck" & "Wallace & Grommit" for Mark and Brian, and talked about "A History of Violence" a little bit, after Brian said, "...since we didn't talk to you last week."

Alas, there seems to be no power in the 'verse that can bridge the gap between those that bring me the most joy: Joss and M&B.
"Never the twain shall meet", I reckon.

---------------

"All that is required for evil to triumph is for the good man to do nothing."
--Edmund Burke

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Friday, October 7, 2005 12:46 PM

QUASARWINDS

Joss posted this on the OB

Post subject: Worst. Movie. Ever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

was probably "Summer Holiday" with Mickey Rooney. Can you believe that kid was the biggest star in the world? Funny world.

Meanwhile, I'm just rounding out the weekend with a little praise for my dear peeps. Considering everything we've had to overcome, this is an extraordinary achievment. And you guys have been in the front lines. I lurk, I know all. So thanks. Some of you might know that this flick means more than a little to me.

Yes, the second weekend will tell all, as we've always known. I'm not here to push you guys -- you push yourselves way harder than I could anyway. I'm just trying to figure out how to get the message out to the guys that aren't you, that don't know any of you, and that don't run into someone who saw the film. I'll be hounding the extremely patient Uni execs on that very subject. Like the lady said, "People have to know".

It's not that there HAS to be a sequel. It's just that I've got so many IDEAS...

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Friday, October 7, 2005 1:58 PM

CLJOHNSTON108

Quote:
Originally posted by Quasarwinds:
I'm just trying to figure out how to get the message out to the guys that aren't you, that don't know any of you, and that don't run into someone who saw the film.

Yeah, see, that's the same problem I'm running into: Turning folks on to the Whedonverse with words alone.

I had a friend over, and I put on the Firefly DVD, and the guy was hooked within ten minutes (largely cuz he had nowhere else to go)!
I can't do that with everyone that I suspect would like this!

When I just tell them about it, I just get these glazed looks.

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