Up, close and personal

But not as good as the first by far. Swordfight is less thrilling and slower, characters are less defined and the bad guys are boring and histrionic. The final battle was dissappointing. No real plot, also. Do I have to tell you I did not like it? Save your 1.5 hours for something better ...

Even though the only Flockhart's performance I've liked thus far was Futurama's "When Aliens Attacks", I liked Darkness too much to not go watch Balaguerò Fragile. The film focuses on a children hospital, about to be abandoned, where only 8 kids remain because of room problems in the central one. Something in there is also trying to keep them inside, though. Callista is a nurse who lost a patient because of negligence and had a bad time trying to get over it. This is her very first job after the events and the hospital being haunted does not help much. However, she makes a friend in a sick, orphan kid who seems to know all about Charlotte, whomever is behind the strange phenomena. Curiously, this is not exactly a horror film. I liked Darkness better, but this one is okay, I guess.

So what did I do with my time this weekend? Dinner with friends ... check, scuba diving with lobsters ... check, lunch at seaside ... check. And, of course, travelling to Sitges to watch Serenity. I did not bring my browncoat, though, it was still hot :)


Guess where I am?

The arrival was ok and we had this big, big poster of the movie with River unleashed at the door. We had to wait there to enter, but things went pretty fluid and we had the chance to meet the big, bad shark. It's the 30th anniversary of Jaws, after all.


This is such a quiet and peaceful place ...

Then, we had to go through the tipically boring talks of organizers and producers before, finally, Whedon, Fillion and Glau walked the corridor. I was lucky enough to be at the corridor end of the first row, so I even watched Whedon jokingly pushing Fillion when they climbed the stairs (too bad he did not fell, I was just behind :P)


I was soooo slow ...

Unluckily, they only had 5 minutes talk and neither Fillion, nor Glau said anything. Maybe they had some activity with the journalists later, but we had no access to that. Finally, we managed to watch the film.

Serenity is pretty much what was expected: a brightly written story with shiny dialogues and good acting. The plot is well tied up and could be a closing to the series (though, of course, most of us expect it is not), plus it includes most whedonesque tricks to keep you holding your breath until very much the end of the story. It would have fit well in the series, though, as Firefly had film quality. The cast did well, even though usually cheerful Kaylee was a bit out of character, all touchy and gloomy (she explains pretty explicitly why after 5 minutes, much to the captain regret) and ditto for Inara, who spends most of her screen time scared and out of control (of course, that was to be expected, given the plot). The rest are their usual selves. Plus River is not used in excess. Not much to comment in order to avoid spoilers to people who have not seen the film. What are you waiting for, though? :D


The big event

I watched this movie last sunday and liked it a lot. Sceptic as I am with horror movies lately, this one is basically like Dog Soldiers, a well constructed, simple and grounded flick. It focuses on a group of friends adicted to risk sports who decide to explore a cave together. The idea is to keep it easy, but the cave is not as simple as it should be and there is something more in the depth with them. This is the most I can say without spoiling the argument for people interested in watching the film, I'm afraid. More details in here

Plus Josh Whedon's Serenity is on the screen since friday!! I'll have to wait to watch this one, but not for long. Got tickets for the screening in Sitges next Sunday :)