Recap of Wed. Firefly showing in Austin w/ Jewel & Summer by happywaffle

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Recap of Wed. Firefly showing in Austin w/ Jewel & Summer

POSTED BY: HAPPYWAFFLE
UPDATED: Thursday, September 29, 2005 09:23
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Thursday, September 29, 2005 9:23 AM

Hey folks, it doesn't look like anyone wrote about last night's special Austin showing of Serenity, so I thought I'd give my brief recap.

The show was put on by the Alamo Drafthouse (drafthouse.com) and ubergeek Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News,, who by his own admission was not a big Firefly fan. The outdoor showing took place well outside of town on the set of the recent Alamo movie. It was the coolest possible setting: zillions of stars overhead, sitting in the courtyard of the frickin' Alamo, with a big inflatable movie screen on one end and barbecue pits off to the side.

Our host welcomed everybody and introduced Jewel and Summer, who said hi briefly. Then the show started with a funny video lesson on cursing in Chinese - same thing the Alamo did on its recent Firefly maraton. And finally, the big Universal logo, and the movie!

The world is not lacking for Serenity reviews, but here's my teensy spoiler-free recap: it was my second time to view it, and I still feel like it's a little slow to really get rolling, but gets increasingly good with every scene, with a hilarious line every five minutes keeping you hooked. By the end the audience and myself were fully invested, cheering on the big damn heroes, flat-out shocked at certain turns of events, and satisfied at seeing an actual quality work of science fiction.

(Side note: my friend had an interesting critique of the film: it's not Western enough. She makes a good point! I didn't see a single horse in the movie, and the saloon they go to is far from old west, so some folks might find it leaning too far in the sci-fi direction. Folks who care, anyway.)

Credits rolled and the picture got a big ovation, followed of course by the Q&A with Kaylee and River. They had a great "aw shucks" thing going; it's neat to see that they're just as big fans of the "Firefly" thing as we were. Learned a few interesting bits; Summer did "95%" of her own stunts for the movie, and "Firefly" marked the SEVENTH TV series that poor Jewel had been in that was cancelled!

Except for a few audio glitches halfway through the film, and confusion about which line goes where for the food-and-drink queues, the event was pulled off well. I am increasingly convinced Austin is the Happiest Place On Earth with stuff like this, thanks in large part to folks like Tim & Karrie from the Alamo Drafthouse, and of course Harry Knowles.

Not to end on a down note, but Harry himself was cool to the movie - you can read his recap at aintitcool.com. He thought the film was good but not great. All I can say is it's not a film for everyone. But it's definitely for me!

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