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Oh man, it's a busy weekend for movies. There are two opening today that you absolutely must go see: Serenity, from Buffy-creator Joss Whedon, and Mirrormask, from the Jim Henson Company and writer Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean. We've been waiting all summer for A Good Movie to come out, and now, FINALLY, at long last, there's two reasons to go to the theater with our expectations high.
Both are mandatory viewing, but we recommend Serenity ever-so-slightly higher, due to its having a bit more mass appeal. Romance! Intrigue! Stunning fight scenes! Sexy love scenes! Sparkly dialogue! Surprising fatalities! It's pretty much everything we were hoping a Whedonesque movie would be. You don't have to have seen "Firefly," the TV show on which the movie is based, to jump right in; with some clever flashbacks and a Touch-of-Evil-esque introduction, everything is set up: crazy girl on the run from evil government, hiding on a run-down ship in a time that resembles post-Civil-War reconstruction but is set 500 years in the future. Someone scary is chasing our heros for secrets they don't even know they have; and in this movie, evil really IS everywhere, from a psychotic government agent to space-cannibals to horrible secrets embedded in a graceful 17-year-old girl. It opens pretty much everywhere in town today.
Mirrormask is a bit less bombastic than Serenity; it's a gentle and wonderous adventure, rather than an explosive quest. Helena's family runs a circus, and, as always seems to happen in fairy tales, when she wishes that her life was more normal, the universe hears her and shows her the implications of her wish. Straddling two worlds, Helena has an ailing mother to worry about in real life, and a crumbling fantasy-realm to save, populated by man-faced cats and books that flit about like butterflies. Director Dave McKean is known for his gorgeous artwork, and much of the film feels like a painting come to life; co-writer Neil Gaiman is pretty much a deity among storytellers, with an incredible grasp for weaving intricate tales. Mirrormask is simultaneously eerie (such as a jagged eight-legged eyeball that spies on our heroes and leaps onto faces) and whimsical (such as a prime minister who gently argues with a chicken over whether it is or isn't a magical talisman). Mirrormask opens today at the Lumiere and runs for the next week; whether it expands to other screens depends on how urgently and repeatedly you purchase your ticket.
We recommend frequent and repeated viewings of both.
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