WRT to Ebert's inadequate description of Zoe, can someone remind me if they made it clear that Zoe and Mal were in the war together in the movie? Zoe did more than be Wash's wife in the movie, but I can't for the life of me remember if they clearly delineated her long-term relationship with Mal. It's been a while since the preview, and I'm not sure I would have noticed it's absence even while I was watching it.

Weird things about the Globe review:

an enormous space-faring jalopy
a post-war, post-Earth, multiracial universe.

Nuh? Well, enormous is relative, obviously. But "multiracial"? I mean, it is, yes, but that makes it sound as though there all those Blue Sun posters are really about Multicultural Day.

Weird things about this post:

Why have I not left yet?!?!

Emily, my crew and the NoVA Firefly Meetup are going to...um...meet up...at the Gallery Place cinema for the 7:20 show. (Near the Hagen Das place at the entrance)

The other options are Hoffman 22 (very nice and on the Yellow Line) and Potomac Yard (not very nice, nor Metro accessible).

I guess the Uptown was way too much to ask.

Everyone, please go to Slashdot and vote - the current poll (right side of screen, a little ways down) is on Serenity

The poll:

Serenity

• will rule my world
• will dominate my thoughts
• will be ignored
• will be shown with acts shuffled
• now

Although there's no option that really says that the movie is bad, but if more people vote for "rule," that might help.

On Slashdot polls, you may vote once per IP address. (Not to say that anyone here would try to vote more than once.)

The LA Times gives a good review, with no spoilers and a proper ranking of Zoe:

The crew and Capt. Mal share a love-hate relationship built on loyalty and self-preservation that is tested at every turn. The next in command is Zoe (Gina Torres), who served alongside Mal in the war and is Serenity's military tactician when they get into scrapes (which is often). Her husband, Wash (Alan Tudyk), is the ship's pacifist pilot. The heavy artillery comes in the form of Jayne (Adam Baldwin), a mercenary always on the lookout for a better deal. Sensitive Kaylee (Jewel Staite) keeps Serenity running with her gift for all things mechanical.

The comic exchanges among the crew initially seem like mere banter until you realize that Whedon is presenting well-developed relationships involving rejuvenated archetypes — something that will not surprise Whedon fans, who will be the ones in the theater laughing the loudest. Don't worry, the rest of us soon catch up.

There's an 11:35 showing 3 miles away from me.

I think I'm going to be celebrating my last day of unemployment by taking in the matinee...

I like this from the times (I never thought of Summer as being like Barbara Steele, but, except for the eyes, I can kinda see it):

Mr. Whedon sketches his characters with quick brush strokes, leaving his appealing cast to fill in the holes with banter and serious-looking busywork. Everyone takes to their task well, though only Mal and a fierce Whedonesque creation called River (Summer Glau, a pint-size Barbara Steele) take root. Hot-wired to kill and on the run from her government masters, this spooky beauty floats through the ship in a series of fetching shifts that make her look like an errant Martha Graham dancer, every so often going entertainingly berserk and wreaking Michelle Yeoh-style damage. Underlying River's murderous power - and perhaps her government-induced psychosis - is a lost little girl trying to carve out a place and a self to call her own.

Wired liked it:

As a writer of dialogue, Whedon is a superstar, and, unlike other genre screenwriters, he does more than provide a few good catchphrases. Wisecracks, playful banter, metaphor, irony, double entendres, even quiet, emotionally weighted moments -- Whedon does it all.

...

And it's those human elements -- the undeniable chemistry between the crew, the tense standoffs between good guys and bad, Mal wrestling with his conscience -- that make Serenity work. This film is intended for grown-up adults and smart teenagers, and the story never seems dictated by what might be called the action-figure imperative -- the need for a movie to drive toy and video-game sales.

eta: and I forget the link again: [link]

I swear, I must have a blood clot in my brain too.

Warning: Fairly big-ass spoiler in the very last paragraph of the Wired review.