And, it would seem, Spiceworld.

Never said anything of the sort. Spiceworld was an appalling movie. But I got what I wanted out of it -- the grounds to be able to see that with first hand authority, and I don't regret seeing it for a second.

(I went to the film with a co-worker who'd loaned half the office her DVDs. She was embarrassed by the people in costume.)

So were these people in costume behaving in an obnoxious way? Or just the fact that they were in costume was embarrassing.

I'm betting it's the latter. I took three of my fanspawn to the preview and two of them squirmed like mad at the costuming and the singing of "The Hero of Canton," even though previous conversations/arguments showed they could geek out as much as the next guy. I'd just call it the capacity for contact embarrassment.

Some fans wore costumes to the red carpet thingy.

I found that weird.

I'm completely cool with costumes in a con setting, but admit I inwardly cringed at that guy who dressed as Spike for PBP 2002.

Hec, was that little snark aimed at me? Because I prefer to be addressed by name if someone's trying to snark me.

Misha, I even know how to spell your name at this point. If I wanted your attention in particular, I'd let you know.

It was just the gleefulness in the review wanting to tear down Joss. A pre-reveling in the movie's perceived failure.

I don't even really have a fully formed opinion of the movie after only seeing the screening last spring. My initial impression was that the movie would only place in the middle of my personal Firefly ranking. For me, it wasn't nearly as good as "Out of Gas," or "Objects in Space" or "War Stories," or "Serenity." It was probably about as good as "Ariel" or "The Message" (which I liked better than a lot of people).

Unlike Strega, plot failures don't bug me that much as long as I get the Talky that Kristen alluded too. I got enough Jossy goodness there to entertain me, though I'd agree with her that he's had better efforts. I got my money's worth of fun out of it, anyway.

Ultimately, I don't know how you can make a two hour movie that maintains the continuity of a 13 hour series, and is also completely self-sustained. That seems (to me) like an almost impossible writing task, unless you've got material like South Park where character development and arcs aren't a primary concern.

I think the movie will do okay. It'll certainly cover its expenses and probably make a little profit - it wasn't a huge investment to start with. I don't think it'll make boffo b.o. and turn into a phenomenon.

I've never felt the costume love, and, considering how thorougly I loathed that episode, "The Hero of Canton" will only ever happen in my presence when I am stuck in Hell listening to it forever.

My conclusion, based on the screening in June (and no evidence that the movie's been changed much since then), was that it was a very Jossy movie, and was better than I had expected, based on how much I disliked the X-Files movie, but that it still wasn't that good a movie.

Entertaining, yes. But I could feel the plot skimming over logic, carefully avoiding the complicating details that only occur to one as one is on the way home, an hour later. There were a lot of false notes, some of them false despite my recognizing them as signature Joss, and the basic self-righteous Suddenly I Am Karen Silkwood-ness of the final reel was kind of -- lame.

Because it was a whizbang movie, I enjoyed it while it was happening. Because it was Joss's whizbang movie, I expected more than just whizbang and was left unsatisfied.

considering how thorougly I loathed that episode

Heh. Hec and I watched that very episode last night, and were snickering mightily at the Ben Edlundness of it all, and we spent this morning tottering around the kitchen, clutching at each other and going all cow-eyed and wobbly-lipped and saying, "You had a riot? For me?"

"The Hero of Canton" will only ever happen in my presence when I am stuck in Hell listening to it forever

No hell for Nutty. I decree it (eta: decree it even in spite of your Edlund!Firefly hate), and so shall it be, even if I have to spring you out (or both of us out, as may be).

Thats' okay. I'm an atheist. I don't believe in Hell. Unless you are talking about the Red Line on Monday morning, when it is packed and people don't understand how their elbows have mass and are pointy and the only way it could be worse is if those people were Geraldo Rivera.