Category: At The Movies

Shiny

I discovered Firefly at the perfect time — late 2004, two years after the Fox TV network mishandled the brilliant science-fiction series, canceling it after only 11 of its 14 wonderful episodes were aired.

The show gained a significant following after it was released on DVD, gaining enough of a fan base to convince Universal to greenlight a movie that answered some questions and tied up some loose ends. That was when I found the show — about four months before the film, Serenity, came out.

I had time to binge-watch those episodes several times after falling head over heels the first time through. As I recall, I watched three episodes the first night, three episodes the second night, and eight episodes the third night. I concluded it was the best TV show I’ve ever seen, and I haven’t changed that opinion in 22 years.

And so I watched with interest earlier this month as Nathan “Malcolm Reynolds” Fillion released a series of videos in which he approached the other seven living stars of the show with the message: “It’s time.” “We’re doing this.” “I can’t do this without you.”

And I was distracted from the worst snowstorm of my lifetime by Sunday’s announcement that the eight original cast members are lending their voices to an animated revival of Firefly, which apparently will be set in the time between the last TV episode and the movie, which is good because two main characters die in the film.

Animation makes sense because all of the actors have gone on to other projects, including ongoing TV series, and also because, well, they’re all 24 years older than they were back then. Their voices are the same, but their faces mo longer look like they did between the last TV episode and the movie.

Everything is lined up to launch the cartoon except a network or streaming service to carry it. Fillion is shopping it around, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm from the fans. The last few nights I’ve been rewatching some of my favorite episodes — “Out of Gas,” “Ariel,” “Objects in Space” — and confirming that it’s still my all-time favorite TV show.

There’s always a chance that they won’t recapture the magic and the new stories won’t ring as true as the old ones. Perhaps some of the magic came from the mystique of being canceled with so many stories left untold.

Still, it will be a treat to see these beloved characters interacting in that rickety old spaceship again. I was in a movie theater for the first showing of Serenity, and (Lord willing) I will be in front of the TV set when the Firefly animated series premieres.

W.B. at the Movies: Song Sung Blue

You know your date is into the movie when she cries out in shocked surprise at an unexpected twist. Such it was Tuesday afternoon as Mary and I finally watched Song Sung Blue on its second-to-last day at the local theater.

We knew it was about the true-life Milwaukee Neil Diamond interpreters Lightning and Thunder, but we knew nothing about the duo’s real-life ups and downs, so this particular scene came out of left field. Mary literally cried, “Oh!” I was both equally shocked and quietly pleased that she was enjoying the film so much that she reacted so strongly.

Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman are amazing in the lead roles, and I’m not surprised to see Hudson nominated for the big awards. It’s a breathtaking performance — literally, as Mary can attest.

We may be among the last to see this Christmas Day release in the theater. In this day and age, it should be streaming any day now. If you haven’t seen Song Sung Blue, make it a point when it hits TV and try not to learn any details of the plot in the meantime.

Journey through a lifetime of stuff

The end of my regular 100-mile round-trip commute last May had an effect I should have anticipated. For the past several years, most of my book reading was on audiobooks, and most of that consumption came during the two hours I spent in the car on the way to and from the office three to five times a week.

I’ve been logging the books I read each year since 1994. I read 31 books in 2025, 26 of them on audio — just half as many books as in 2024 and about a third of my average for the previous five or six years.

“When I retire, I’ll have time to read all of the books I’ve accumulated over the years.” Actually, most of the reading I’ve done has been articles that turn up during my scrolling on social media.

“When I retire, I’ll watch the movies and TV shows I’ve collected on DVD and Blu-Ray.” Nope — streaming services.

“When I retire, I’ll organize my ridiculous record collection and listen to an album or two every day on the turntable or CD deck.” Nope — Apple Music.

It’s all so damn convenient — except it isn’t, not really. I’ve just trained myself to settle for whatever turns up in the web surf instead of anything intentional or deliberate.

I could entertain myself for years with the books I’ve amassed, or by turning on the TV only to use the Blu-Ray/DVD player, or by sitting in front of the turntable and listening to my music collection.

It’s kind of nuts. I made these purchases along the way so I could revisit them at my old-age leisure, and here I am in my old age, letting them collect dust while I check out what’s new on Netflix.

I could save a ton of money by weaning myself from the streams and spending my nights with my stuff. The first week I could:

• Sunday: Watch Lawrence of Arabia;

• Monday: Listen to episodes of The Shadow, Gangbusters, X Minus One and the Jean Shepherd show;

• Tuesday: Listen to Rubber Soul, Kongos, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Bamboo, a band that played at Ripon College more than 50 years ago and whose record I still have not removed from the cover;

• Wednesday: Read a play by Shakespeare or Ionesco;

• Thursday: Finally watch Solarus, the Russian science-fiction movie that my late friend Wally Conger said is awesome but I still haven’t checked out years after buying the Blu-Ray;

• Friday: Watch two or three of the “50 Great Drive-In Movies” that I bought for 10 bucks back in the day;

• Saturday: Have a Godzilla marathon night with two or three of the 21 movies I own featuring the biggest monster of them all.

And after that first week, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the surface.

It sounds like a great plan, but I’m nearing the end of Season 2 of Homeland on Netflix, and I’m anxious to see what happens next. I think I might be more insane than Carrie Mathison.