After reading the Edelstein review where he cops to not knowing about the marriage, I was listening for that. Zoe's first line is something about her husband but they called each other "baby" after that, IIRC.

Like last time, I decided I didn't want to see Wash die, so I didn't.

The first Zoe calls him "her mister" but it's kind of hard to catch. But I'm sure that at least once Mal refers to Wash as "your husband".

The previews before the movie were: Saw 2, The Legend of Zorro, Stay,Harry Potter, Doom, and this movie called Jarhead with Jake what's his name from Donnie Darko and Jamie Foxx and someone else. It looks like it's one long ass recruitment ad. My friends are both ex Marines and they were snicker at it. It's very slick looking and the trailer uses Kanye West's Jesus Walks. Oh! and Aeon Flux.

Oh, god, Jarhead looked awful -- I'm so used to the story where the kid's all excited to go into the marines and then gets shellshocked and embittered. Here, he's all excited to go into the marines, and by the end, he's all "yay marines". WTF?

Yes, me & Jilli have pretty similar views. Both of us were completely unspoiled, both regretted seeing Book die, especially after he was given so little screen time, but that pales into insignificance compared to the shock at seeing Wash die. It's not even the suddenness or brutality of the death, it's that IT'S WASH! He has been our favorite character for some time and we're still pretty numb from the whole experience.

I have to credit Joss, that killing Wash with such swiftness and then sweeping into the fire-fight really made me wonder if anyone else was going to die. Every single injury made me wonder if this would be the next death. I confess I had a moment of fear that Firefly was taking the 'Blakes 7' route. Most movies these days rarely make you believe the characters are really in mortal danger but Joss managed to do it. So hats off to a masterful play.

That doesn't change the fact that I am fucking furious that he killed Wash. Wash was the teddy bear of the crew, the nice guy, the guy you'd want to have as a friend. I really would have preferred to have seen anyone else but Wash get killed. It was heartless.

I feel like Joss gave us these great toys, and we loved them and treasured them and made other people interested in them. Then he came back & swept up the toys with promises of greater things. Then before our eyes he broke two of the toys so that we could never play with them again.

So, while I understand the clever manipulation to make the audience truly fear for the lives of the crew, making the death be wash seemed just mean fucking spirited. I'd planned to see this movie a number of times in the coming week, but I don't have to stamina to see Wash die more than once a week.

Damn you Joss for making us care.

Jarhead is based on this autobiography that it seemed everyone in political circles was talking about a year or two ago. [link]

I'm not sure what to expect from it and I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping it unless I hear some compelling reason not to.

The theatre experience was actually kind of amazing. I was shocked-- I knew it was a nerdy group, but I expected New York style talk-backs and chatter. The crowd was reverent. Almost no talking by anyone. Total hush, and of course, gasps and claps at appropriate moments.

t taps foot impatiently, waiting for Plei to bring the silly snarky

Pete speaks for me.

I was so excited to come back from the movie and burble about it. It's the first movie I've seen on opening night in more than ten years, and I can't think of anything to say. I'm still stunned. I doubt I'll see it again, even when it comes out on DVD.