Tag Archives: Joss Whedon

Review: The Butler

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I suppose this review should actually be titled “Review: Lee Daniels’ The Butler”, because of a silly dispute with Warner Bros. which required them to turn the simplistic title of The Butler into something that sounds vaguely ridiculous. But title disagreements aside, The Butler is an interesting amalgam of a film, which works as a whole even when some parts don’t hold up as well as they should. It’s one part biopic, one part fiction, with a healthy serving of Forrest Gump along with a good deal of racial politics. It has an immensely impressive cast and a solid balance between the family drama at the heart of the film and the somewhat gimmicky side of the story. Plus, it’s one that’s destined to tug at the heartstrings.

The Butler tells the story of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), who began life as a boy picking cotton on a Georgia plantation in the 1920s and ends up as a butler in the White House. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day

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Dollhouse, Season 1: Episode 3 – “Stage Fright”

Paul Ballard: We split the atom, make a bomb. We come up with anything new, the first thing we do is destroy, manipulate, control. It’s human nature.

Victor (as Anton Lubov): Yeah, people are mostly crap.

Quote of the Day

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Dollhouse, Season 1: Episode 11 – “Briar Rose”

Alpha as Stephen Kepler: Carrots! Medicinal carrots! Personal use medicinal carrots that were here when I moved in and I’m holding it for a friend!

Mega Friday Favorites: Favorite Shots from Serenity

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

Joss Whedon gets a lot of praise for his writing, often at the expense of his skills as a director.  He is able to get creative and varied performances out of his actors, though some of that can also be attributed to his writing ability.  However, seeing Serenity on the big screen again reminded me how creative he is with a camera.  So I decided to take today’s Friday Favorite to go beyond just my usual one item and instead highlight all of my favorite shots from Serenity.  Some of these are great examples of Joss’s use of visual storytelling, others are creative or unconventionally framed, and some are just ones that I like the way they look.  And while some of the credit has to go Jack N. Green, Serenity‘s cinematographer, when you listen to Joss’s commentary on the film and read his script it becomes apparent how many of these shots he planned far in advance.

Continue reading →

Quote of the Day

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4: Episode 8 – “Pangs”

Spike: A bear!  You made a bear!

Buffy: I didn’t mean to!

Spike: Undo it!  Undo it!

How do you write about something you love?

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Harry Potter is an obsession of mine, but it’s something I have a hard time writing about.  The depth of feeling I have about the books keeps me from being able to explain myself in a coherent way, because the emotional experience is so raw and personal that it overwhelms me, and I can’t find the words to express it.  I listen to the audiobooks constantly (because I have more time to listen to audiobooks than to read, lately), getting to the end of Deathly Hallows and starting over again with Sorcerer’s Stone.  It’s pretty much constantly on my mind, and even if I’m not actively thinking about it, it’s always nearby.  (The only piece of jewelry I wear other than my wedding ring is a ring I designed which has 7 symbols on it, one of which is the sign of the Deathly Hallows.)  I may proselytize about the church of Joss Whedon, but Harry Potter means more to me than anything Joss has created, though I rarely talk about it due to its personal nature.  I find myself disappointed and heartbroken whenever I try and fail, so I often just keep my mouth shut.

This puts me in an odd position with regards to the Harry Potter movies.   Continue reading →

Tucson Can’t Stop the Serenity 2013 Recap

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Inside the Fox

This past weekend was our annual Can’t Stop the Serenity event in Tucson, and I thought I’d share a few observations about the evening.  There are still many upcoming CSTS events for 2013 scheduled around the world (including Melbourne, Phoenix, London, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia), so you might be able to find one near you.  If not, there’s always next year.

This year’s CSTS in Tucson was at the gorgeous 1920’s Fox theatre, for the 3rd year in a row.   Continue reading →

Firefly/Serenity Cross-Stitch

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Serenity Cross Stitch

Generally speaking, I’m not big into arts and crafts.  Writing is my creative outlet, and my hands shake too much for most kinds of artwork.  However, cross-stitch is something I can do, and it’s something relaxing and fun that can be done while watching a movie or TV show in the evenings.  However, I often get bored with most cross-stitch designs, because there’s not a lot out there that interests me.  So I set out to see if I could find one based on the TV show Firefly.  (I previously did one based on the Dick Tracy poster, which I might post sometime in the future.) Continue reading →

This is not the Joss Whedon article I intended to write…

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I had every intention of writing an article exploring Joss Whedon’s treatment of sex in his various works, and then I started doing some research online.  When I write articles like the one I was envisioning, I worry about unintentionally copying someone else’s ideas, so do a bit of searching to make sure that I still have something new to say.  Sometimes I find that someone else has put out an essay that says exactly what I wanted, only better, and I’ll simply abandon my idea.  Other times, I’ll find an article arguing the opposite of what I want to say, but in a way that allows me to write my opinions as a rebuttal (this worked really well for my Star Wars prequel analysis).  It’s important to read a variety of opinions, because challenging ourselves is the best way to grow, both as a writer/blogger and as a person.

But something different happened to me when I started searching for articles about Joss Whedon and sex.  I still have a lot to say, and maybe I’ll write that analysis soon, but for the moment I’m giving up on it.   Continue reading →

What Should Joss Whedon Do Next?

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A few weeks ago, when Much Ado About Nothing official premiered, Entertainment Weekly ran a short article about who Joss Whedon should look to for inspiration.  They asked his actors from Much Ado and they came up with some interesting suggestions.  Alexis Denisof recommended something by Charles Dickens.  Reed Diamond and Clark Gregg wanted to do more Shakespeare, specifically Twelfth Night and my personal favorite, The Tempest.  Several people brought up Anton Chekhov, perhaps Three Sisters.  I’m sure there are many plays that he could adapt in a similar style, in a short period of time with a tiny budget, and I hope that more Shakespeare is in his future.

But I nearly spit water all over my computer screen when I read that Joss, himself, said, “I’m a huge Dickens fan.”   Continue reading →