Jayne: Yah! Get along!
Mal: You know, they walk just as easy if you lead ’em.
Jayne: I like smackin’ ’em.
Book: Hope this corral’s strong enough to hold them. “Shepherd’s” a purely figurative title, you know.
Zoe: Next time we smuggle stock, let’s make it something smaller.
Wash: Yeah, we should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
Firefly — Episode 5 — “Safe”
Today Disney released the first full trailer for The BFG, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the book by Roald Dahl. I hope to have a longer breakdown of the trailer later this week, but for now take a look below and let me know what you think. I’m personally thrilled that Spielberg and Disney are finally teaming up on a film, and I’m excited to see Spielberg returning to animation (even if The BFG is not fully animated). I loved what he brought to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which felt 100% like a Spielberg movie while still capturing the essence of what makes animation special. The BFG will feature a lot of motion capture, including new Oscar winner Mark Rylance (from Spielberg’s previous film, Bridge of Spies) as the titular character, but it appears that Ruby Barnhill’s performance as Sophie will be live action. The BFG is one of the few Roald Dahl books I haven’t read, so I can’t speak to the film’s faithfulness in adapting the original story, but Spielberg is my favorite director and I have faith in his ability to craft a compelling story. And it’s nice to see him return to family movies every now and then. But take a look at the trailer and let me know what you think, and hopefully I’ll be back to talk about it some more later in the week complete with screencaps!
Most films that aim to be as topical as Eye in the Sky tend to be boring slogs, more concerned with hitting each hot-button issue or pulling the right strings than with telling a compelling story. Eye in the Sky, however, manages to do both. It’s a white-knuckle suspenseful tale of a mission to apprehend potential terrorists in Kenya while also managing to bring depth and subtlety to the debate about drone-based warfare. In many ways the film is a cinematic version of the Trolley Problem, the famous thought experiment that is a favorite in Intro to Psychology classes and occasionally makes appearances onscreen, and where another film about the drone war might come down definitively on one or the other side of the debate, director Gavin Hood has instead crafted a story complex enough to not offer any simple answers yet simple enough to foster a healthy debate. And while Eye in the Sky does an excellent job of showing just how muddy the waters are when it comes to drone strikes, in the end the audience is likely to see in the film a reflection of their own beliefs, whatever they may be, but regardless of your feelings you should come out of the film with something more to think about.
Scotty: It’s a shame for a good Scotsman to admit it, but I’m not up on Milton.
Kirk: The statement Lucifer made when he fell into the pit. “It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.”
Spock: It would be interesting, Captain, to return to that world in a hundred years and to learn what crop has sprung from the seed you planted today.
Kirk: Yes, Mister Spock, it would indeed.
Star Trek – Season 1: Episode 24 – “Space Seed”
Buffy: My mom… said some things to me about being the Slayer. That it’s fruitless. No fruit for Buffy.
Angel: She’s wrong.
Buffy: Is she? Is Sunnydale any better than when I first came here? Okay, so I battle evil. But I don’t really win. The bad keeps coming back and getting stronger. Like that kid in the story, the boy that stuck his finger in the duck.
Angel: Dike. It’s another word for dam.
Buffy: Oh. Okay, that story makes a lot more sense now.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season 3: Episode 11 — “Gingerbread”
‘Ah, Mr Babbington, there you are: sit down. I dare say you know why I have sent for you?’
‘No, sir,’ said Babbington instantly. It was worth denying everything as long as he could.
HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian
Mal: So, she’s added cussing and hurling about of things to her repertoire. She really is a prodigy.
Simon: It’s just a bad day.
Mal: No, a bad day is when someone’s yellin’ spooks the cattle. Understand? You ever see cattle stampede when they got no place to run? It’s kind of like a… a meat grinder. And it’ll lose us half the herd.
Simon: She hasn’t gone anywhere near the cattle.
Mal: No, but in case you hadn’t noticed, her voice kinda carries. We’re two miles above ground and they can probably hear her down there. Soon as we unload, she can holler until our ears bleed. Although I would take it as a kindness if she didn’t.
River: The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
Mal: See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with, long as she does it quiet-like.
Firefly — Episode 5 — “Safe”
The Love Pirate 