A Special Request From Your Host...

I know you've been wondering what the best way is to show your love for me, and, considerate host that I am, I stand ready to make suggestions! Today, September 30th, is special for those of you lucky enough to live in the States because, of course, today is the day Joss Whedon's Serenity goes on wide release.
Now, I've more or less come to terms with the fact that no Israeli distributor is going to touch this film with a ten-foot pole. The last Star Trek film didn't get a commercial release around here, for Pete's sake. But, suppose Serenity were to do really well on its opening weekend...

Planning to go see a movie? Planning to go see Serenity but haven't decided when? For the sake of Joss Whedon's career, and any chance we might have of seeing sequels, and any chance I might have of seeing this film on a movie screen, consider going to see Serenity this weekend.

Along similar lines, Matt Cheney is having in impromptu MirrorMask contest (if you're not going to see Serenity, go see this film, as it needs a good opening weekend in order to get a wider US release) by asking his readers to suggest an Onion-style MirrorMask-related headline. My favorite?
"Mirrormask Fans Snubbed By Corpse Bride Fans, Mocked By Serenity Fans, Beat Up By Transporter 2 Fans"

Comments

Dotan Dimet said…
I think you might be a bit pessimisitic; I saw a Serenity trailer in Cinema-City last Sunday when I went to see Brothers Grimm. They usually don't show trailers for movies that don't get distributed, I think.

Also, it's getting a pre-release screening at ICon (TA CInematheque): http://2005.icon.org.il/programme.php#18_10_2005
http://2005.icon.org.il/event.php/7
Considering past history, getting a distributor to give you a pre-release screening at a con for a movie that's not going to be commercially released is about as easy as milking rocks.
Not that this should be taken as a license for overseas viewers to slack at doing your bidding...
September 30, 2005 9:47 PM
Abigail Nussbaum said…
The trailer is very good news - I've been looking for one for while now, but I guess I just wasn't going to the right films.

I did know about the ICon showing, but my brother, who has recently been inducted, can't make it. Plus, I've been to ICon screenings and they can get a little... rambunctious.

What did you think of The Brothers Grimm, by the way? My brother and I found it a mess, and we hated the Italian guy.
October 01, 2005 11:09 AM
Dotan Dimet said…
Well, this year they're doing a special event before ICon that's suppossed to be for the staff and lecturers, but mainly for the press. Reading between the lines, It looks like this event is piggybacking on a press screening of Serenity. More evidence of a planned cinematic screening.
So, even if you miss the bustle of ICon, I'll bet good money you'll see this movie in a cinema.

Brothers Grimm is indeed messy. Most of the characters - the Grimms, the annoying Italian, the Grimm sidekicks and the Frenchie (I think he was just as annoying as the Italian, except he had less screentime) - heck, anyone but the girl and the supernaturals - flaps about making a lot of noise and indulging in silly slapstick, gross humor and other stupidity that Gilliam "comic" characters are prone to. But the art is very pretty: I was in love with the first German village, like something out of Disney when Disney still made worlds that you could invade your dreams; the scenes with the Thuringian queen and the woodsman, and the mucking about the tower in the third act - was it snowing all of a sudden? - were evocative and magical. Oh, and the horse, and the gingerbread man...
So, this movie is parts fairytale picture book and parts not-very-funny vulgar kids' comedy.
Not great, but pretty enjoyable.
And this is Gilliam's "Bread and Butter" movie. I just hope his next "serious" film is as enjoyable.
October 02, 2005 11:19 PM

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