Forthcoming Films

I'm vaguely looking forward to the new Harry Potter film in November - having had mixed reactions to the first three (I hated the first two, but was happier with the third, although there were still bits that annoyed me), but some of the stills pictures I've seen look good - and the teaser poster is very tantalising !

And I'm very much looking forward to Serenity the big screen outing of Joss Whedon's shockingly short-lived Firefly series. The Great God Joss (as he's affectionately known by me, if no one else !) is the creator/writer/director of three fantastic TV shows: Firefly had a short-lived existence on American TV before the network bosses totally lost the plot and cancelled the show (sorry, but Joss writes ratings winners, the only explanation for their actions is that they lost the plot !); Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the other hand ran for an amazing seven years, and its spin-off Angel ran for five years. I came to Buffy late - it was the summer of 2002 and I was mostly out of work and I had read an article on the show in The Indepedent newspaper that made the show sound as if it was worth watching. I knew my brother was a fan and had the first season (at least) on tape, so I watched some, and got totally hooked. Buffy was a hero after my own heart - a committed and feisty young woman who despite being a warrior, had a caring heart. I was less sure about watching Angel because I hadn't found the character that interesting or likeable in the three seasons he appeared on Buffy, but I finally gave in last summer and watched all 5 seasons and enjoyed them (although I've yet to rush out and buy them as I did with Buffy !) When I heard that Joss was doing Firefly, I wasn't too sure about watching it - I'm not really that much of a Science Fiction fan, but I was persuaded (again) to try it, and again got hooked. The great thing about Joss' creations is that his charaters are utterly believeable, and I end up caring about them - which is what the best writers do, create characters whom you believe and care about... There's no doubt in my mind that Firefly could have run and run, like Buffy and Angel before it, but those TV execs couldn't recognise a good thing when they saw it. I just hope someone likes the Serenity movie enough to commission a second season for Firefly. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed !