[ThisWeek] Serenity at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

This week at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre-

Kenworthy Film Society presents
Serenity (PG-13)
Friday, December 16
7:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday, December 17 & 18
4:15 & 7:00 PM
$5/Adult; $2 child 12 or younger
KFS passes accepted for Sunday showings
(see Review below)
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Coming in January: The Squid & the Whale, Paradise Now, Oliver Twist

Check KPAC¹s web site for dates & times. http://www.kenworthy.org

Regular Movie prices:  $5 adult, $2 child 12 or younger
KFS passes accepted year-round for Sunday movies!
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This week¹s review-

Serenity

Directed by Joss Whedon
Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, and some sexual
references

As reviewed by Scott Rosenberg writing for the San Francisco Examiner

"Serenity" is a tough film to review. It's based on a short-lived, but
much-beloved, cult television show, "Firefly," created by Joss Whedon, the
man behind "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Although the series was canceled
pretty quickly, its DVD release acquired a huge following, big enough to
convince a movie studio to continue the story on the big screen.

So, right from the beginning, a vast majority of the movie-going public has
never seen "Firefly," let alone knows what it is. In effect, this is like
trying to review "Return of The Jedi" for someone who's not only never seen
"Star Wars" or "Empire Strikes Back," but doesn't even know who Darth Vader
is.

Thankfully, Whedon wasn't arrogant (or stupid) enough to shun those folks
who missed the show, as "Serenity" the film stands well on its own.

Nathan Fillion returns as Malcolm Reynolds, a paint-by-numbers science
fiction hero in the vein of Han Solo. Mal captains Serenity, a transport
ship that's outfitted with a ragtag crew who fly under the radar of The
Alliance, an all-encompassing group that controls the universe, kind of like
the Federation in "Star Trek" ‹ only evil.

As you may have guessed by now, "Serenity" borrows a lot from other sci-fi
films.

In the beginning of the television show, Mal and company (the entire
television cast returns for the big-screen version) picked up a few
travelers, including Simon Tam (Sean Maher), a cocky doctor, and his young
sister, River (Summer Glau). Those two prove to be more than the entire crew
bargained for, as River ends up being sought after by The Alliance, which is
just the sort of attention that the crew tries to avoid.

For you longtime fans, "Serenity" is going to answer some of your questions,
most notably the origin of River ‹ explaining why she's able to do what she
does. After the long, long wait, the explanation is a worthy payoff.

If there's one thing Whedon is adept at, it's creating compelling characters
and writing fun stories. And that's exactly what you'll find in "Serenity."


As reviewed by Sean Axmaker writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Whedon's years in TV have helped him hone a clean, efficient, entertaining
style grounded in character and camaraderie.

The film's strength is compelling character relationships and Whedon's
trademark dialogue, a smarter version of the clichéd action-movie barrage of
wisecrack under fire, only better executed, laden in personality, and
enriched with evocative western colloquialisms of a frontier culture.

The characters may ride spaceships and fire lasers, but this is a true
frontier western, set in the wake of a polarizing civil war and driven by
heroes for whom family and community are synonymous.


As reviewed by Sam Adams writing for the Philadelphia City Paper

Joss Whedon's big-screen sequel to his space-cowboy show Firefly takes half
its length to start cooking, but once it does, look out: More than mere
genre twiddling, it's a full-blown head spinner with a gut-sock subtext.

Toning down the TV series' oater affectations (no horses, fewer dusty
outposts), Serenity taps the Western at its source with a story of renegade
ex-revolutionaries whose idealism hasn't quite been stamped out.

Skippered by Mal Reynolds, who in earlier years would have come to
Casablanca for the waters, Serenity's crew is a raggedy bunch, to say
nothing of their cargo: a traumatized psychic whose brain holds untapped
government secrets.

The shadowy alliance of worlds, whose badness is asserted rather than
explained, bring in Chewitel Ejiofor's ruthless bounty hunter, a chilly
fanatic who believes in the promise of "a better world" and doesn't care
what he has to do in this one.

That's right: It's pragmatic ideologues versus disillusioned democrats, with
the free flow of information (assisted by tech geek David Krumholtz) as the
Holy Grail. The knowing humor Whedon trademarked on Buffy is here in
abundance, but it falls away as the movie moves into its increasingly dark
and resonant second half.

Serenity's suggestions about government treachery and the "somnambulant
public" are as scandalous as anything since Spartan, and if the assertion
that information is all it takes to topple tyrannies might seem a tad naîve,
you're so shaken it feels like a lifeline.

In Whedon's world, the greatest threat to the republic isn't war but apathy,
and if it takes a pinch of willful self-delusion to muster the will to
fight, so be it.


Film reviews researched and edited by Peter Haggart
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Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre
508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
208-882-4127
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org
To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
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