Asshat of the Week Award

Here is a letter to movie reviewer (sic) Jack Garner.

P.S. If you haven't seen Serenity, please go and see it. If for no other reason than to show Jack Garner he's the worst movie reviewer in the 'verse.

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Dear Jack,

After reading your review of Serenity it took a moment for me to realize that you obviously have never watched a single episode of Firefly on TV or DVD. That is most unfortunate as it is, in my opinion, one for the ages. It is full of real-life humor and real-life conflict, set in a space-western with the campy flavor of an old-school Saturday serial. I'll admit it may not be everyone's cup of tea but given that it's sold hundreds of thousands of DVDs, and Fox executives lay awake at night wondering how they let it get away, this show is loved by a lot of people. And apparently, they're going to see it in droves enough to make a $10,000,000 dent in the box office.

Unfortunately I believe with all movies you review you decide certain movies can be glossed over. Given it's pedigree, you probably felt Serenity was just another attempt to make easy money off a television series (ala Duke of Hazzard) and went into the movie with a preconceived notion of what it would be. You metion "less-than-stellar effects." Believe it or not people enjoy the stylistic approach Whedon (and other's such as Ronald Moore on the television series Battlestar Galactica) uses for his effects. They aren't the sterile cookie-cutter effects we've had to live with since Lucas re-released the "enhanced" original trilogy. Whedon uses his effects to assist with his story telling. Lucas uses them as a crutch.

You refer to average-to-poor performances from the cast. This surprises me considering you didn’t seem to mention any performance problems in the horribly acted Revenge of the Sith. I will neither agree nor disagree with your statement that characters and plot elements are lifted "willy-nilly" from Star Trek and Star Wars. But I find it interesting that you applaud Lucas (re: Revenge of the Sith review) for lifting ideas from "popcorn serials, samurai flicks and westerns", yet rip Whedon for the very same thing. As for the dialogue, if you don't get it, I'm not going to explain it to you. Thank goodness anticipated box office revenue doesn't have any effect on the depth or quality of your reviews.

For many years I have found you a solid rock in the world of movie reviews. If you panned the movie, I enjoyed it. If you raved, I gagged. Thanks for not disappointing me.