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Okay, last week I mentioned an actor named Chiwetel Ejiofor (actually I misspelled it, sorry about that) from the movie Inside Man. Go ahead. I dare you to say it.  Cuz I sure as heck can’t.  Wait, I found a pronunciation guide. (Ch(ew-it-tell Edge-e-o-four))

Anyway, he’s quite talented and has been in a bunch of  movies.  But the first one that I saw him in was Serenity. And since I just let a co-worker borrow my DVD and it’s now sitting on the floor next to my desk, I thought I would make it this week’s pick.

Okay, I was a little late to the whole Browncoat thing but once I watched my first episode on DVD I was hooked. If you have no idea what I am talking about… Long story short: Sci-fi western TV show called FIRELFLYfrom Buffy creator Joss Whedon gets canceled by FOX TV after a few episodes. Fans grow in number and a movie is released with okay box office results.

SHORT PLOT SYNOPSIS: Wow. It would help if you went out and rented the TV show but don’t let that stop you from watching the film.  About 500 years in the future, a young psychic girl with a secret is on the run with her brother and the crew of Serenity.  A deadly assassin (Ejiofor) is hired by the govt to track down the girl.

OVERALL: I’m not a big collector of DVDs because Iam not the kind of person that likes to watch a movie over and over and over again.

I own this movie. And I’ve watched it over and over and over again.  In fact, this past summer, I paid to watch this movie yet again for charity with a theater full of Serenity fans.  And I will give you an example of why I love this movie. There is a scene where the captain of the ship is deliberately going into a trap. He is taking the shuttle down to the planet by himself and he turns to his first mate and says this:

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: I’ll take the shuttle in closer. Zoe, ship is yours. Remember, if anything happens to me, or you don’t hear from me within the hour… you take this ship and you come and you rescue me.
Zoë: What? And risk my ship?
Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: I mean it. It’s cold out there. I don’t wanna get left.

Now just reading it doesn’t do it justice but I love the misdirection in this short excerpt.  I know it’s simple but for a split second you think that the Captain is going to tell them to hightail it out of there if they don’t hear from him.  But instead we get the comfortable back and forth banter between real people. That sort of stuff is in the entire film (and TV Series) That’s why I love this movie.

RENT IT? Yes, please. By all means.  Or you can borrow mine. In fact, come on over and I’ll watch it with you. I just bought some popcorn.

UPDATE: No Serenity 2 on the horizon at this point.  Creator Wedon is working on the show, Dollhouse, to begin airing on Fox in January 2009.

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