[Koko Ed]

Serenity
This was the first movie I've seen in quite a while. Definately the best TV to film adaptation I have seen. Sure it's like an overbolown episode of Firefly and I thik the show would have been better served getting picked up by the Sci Fi network the movie is fresh and fun and captures the essence of the show without feeling it has to sacrafice everything to "go big" for the big screen. My wife who is not a fan of the show and had no interest in seeing it went anyways and enjoyed it alot as well. A-

The Gospel
An enjoyable film with great music, they don't surgarcoat that there are problems in the church even amongst the parishoners which these kind of movies tend to do and the scenes in the chapel are quite high energy but the acting ranges from stilted to bad and the story is heavy handed and cleans up too nicely in the end.C


The Corpse Bride
This stop motion curiosity is much more charming than Burton's previous stop motion venture The Nightmare Before Christmas which I admired more than I liked and the same goes for James and the Giant Peach.
WHat makes this one work is the three strong characters who form the lovers triange at the core of the story. Emily Watson's demure bride to be Victoria who in spite of her mother's controlling attempts to suppress her will still burns within her, Johnny Depp's Victor a meek but thoughful and resourceful fellow and most of all Helena Bonemah Carter's Emily who is the heart and soul of the film. She is vibrant, elegant, sensetive and sweet and would be perfect for Victor if she wasn't dead.
THe most interesting set up of this film is that there is no way the story can resolve itself with an absolute happy ending which most mainsteam aniamtion films desperately try to do. Someone is going to lose out and get hurt badly and I like to see a bittersweet aftertaste once in a while instead of a forced happy ending where everything turns out alright and everyone is happy. B+