'Serenity' Listed as One of the Most Unfortunate Movies Titles Ever
POSTED BY: cbsteve
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 5, 2008 20:16
VIEWED: 32125
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:Well, I was 21, and I instantly loved it- so much so, that until Serenity came out, it was my favourite film of all time. The voice over is not awful- it lent a 40's film noir feel to the flick, and the reason it was commercially unsuccessful was that the 'hero' got beat up by EVERYBODY and it rained all throughout the movie.
Originally posted by cbsteve:
I was around when "Blade Runner" first came out and saw it in its first run, when they still had that awful voiceover by Harrison Ford. Many peole wnet to see Blade Runner because it starred Harrison Ford, Han Solo of Star Wars. we all expected the same thing, sci/fi space battles and laser blasts. What we got was this deep thinking man's sci/fi which I couldn't appreciate at the time because I was 16 years old.
How refreshing to read that someone here actually LIKES the voice-over! I saw the movie in the theater in 1982 when it opened due to Starlog's profile of the movie. I loved it immensely. I had the original VHS video and played it to death... Many years later I was DUPED into buying the "Director's Cut"....what a bunch of crap! There is SO, SO MUCH of the movie that you WOULDN'T HAVE A F**CKING CLUE ABOUT if not for the narrative...little insights into Gaff & Bryant & Rachel & his ex-wife who calls him sushi and ALL the replicants...SO MUCH of the movie is in that narrative that I don't see how ANYONE...including Ford himself can say the narrative is lame.
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Quote:The voice-over elevates it from just 'one of the greatest sci-fi's of all time' to 'one of the greatest films of all time', IMHO.
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
How refreshing to read that someone here actually LIKES the voice-over!
It adds an incredible texture to the film.
Battyisall
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Just found this topic and I would have to agree. I think Serenity is a great name for the movie now that I'm a fan. But when it came out I had never heard of Firefly. I was working out of town and had some time to kill. I went to the movies and had a choice between History of Violence and Serenity, both were about to start. I thought Serenity must be a chick flick and went to see History.
When I came out I saw a poster for Serenity and kicked myself for not realizing it was a Sci Fi movie.
Had the name appealed more to the masses (me at the time) instead of the Browncoats (Me at the present) I would have seen it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Colt999:
Just found this topic and I would have to agree. I think Serenity is a great name for the movie now that I'm a fan. But when it came out I had never heard of Firefly. I was working out of town and had some time to kill. I went to the movies and had a choice between History of Violence and Serenity, both were about to start. I thought Serenity must be a chick flick and went to see History.
When I came out I saw a poster for Serenity and kicked myself for not realizing it was a Sci Fi movie.
Had the name appealed more to the masses (me at the time) instead of the Browncoats (Me at the present) I would have seen it.
I'm not sure what that title would have been. I mean, does "I Am Legend" conjure up visions of the last man on earth? It sounds more like a boxing movie, maybe about Ali, to me. As others have said, movie failings have little to do with titles.
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ChrisRunner......I liked your statement about the reasons Blade Runner failed at the box office....in addition I'd like to add the following:
a) "Big" hair was "in" then, & Dekkard's buzzish cut was a bit strange to see then.
b) His funny little checkered & multi-colored tie was too "mind-boggling" to comprehend for the average beer-swilling average Joe neaderthal.
c) The movie, in general, like Roy's many amazing soliloquies, is a huge collection of endless fascinating visual & philosophical images and concepts, and trivial tidbits galore...Oceans 13 it t'wasn't.
d) And yes...I was alive and aware then, so to me it's a fact that there wasn't any advertising what-so-ever....anywhere,...nothing... other than sci-fic mags.
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Bit of a side note here but i would advise everyone to read Killer Angels it's one of the best books i've read.
Back to Serenity. I think that the main reason that it's called Serenity was aside from being a Tie in to the series. The movie is about Mal and River getting a measure of 'Serenity'. River gains some measure of Serenity by having the weight of the Miranda knowledge taken from her shoulders. Mal gets back to a better place mentally, by being proud of standing up for a cause as illustrated by his conversations with the agent. Also he's proud of how he handled River. In a smaller way the tensions between Simon and Kaylee are resolved a little bit :P. well that's how i sees it.
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Quote:
Originally posted by cbsteve:
I was around when "Blade Runner" first came out and saw it in its first run, when they still had that awful voiceover by Harrison Ford.
I think I'm the only Blade Runner fan that actually PREFERS the one with the voiceovers :P Ah well to each his own.
I will say, the title Serenity is a bit weak. It just has no flash..though neither does Firefly really. Its too bad that flash is needed to make a movie a box-office success, but the honest truth is the general public makes decisions based on split seconds of marketing. If they didn't see the trailer for Serenity, chances are the name alone was not going to "grab" them.
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Yeah, Jongsstraw said about Blade Runner:
d) And yes...I was alive and aware then, so to me it's a fact that there wasn't any advertising what-so-ever....anywhere,...nothing... other than sci-fic mags.
I remember going to see Blade Runner because my older brother read about it in Starlog, the big sci/fi mag back then. He said it had Harrison Ford so I was in. A bit disappointed the first seeing, no space battles or lasers, but now I appreciate what a great movie it is. And I still like the no-voiceover version. I think the voiceover was good to fill in the gaps and to understand it better, but I like to watch a movie and see it from my point of view, to try to catch all those different layers. Every time I see Blade Runner (at least once a year) I see something new and that's great.
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I had heard of the sci-fi series Firefly but knew nothing about it. I don't hear a lot about new movies and never heard of Serenity. I found the movie in a rental place and the description looked interesting. I absolutely loved the movie though I thought it would have worked better as a mini-series. It was only after watching the bonus features I discovered that the movie came out of the series Firefly. I rented the first disk of the series and loved it too. I now own Serenity and have ordered the Firefly series.
As for the title, I don't think that it was a bad title. Although I feel that it didn't give the impression that it should have. I seriously doubt, though, that the title was responsible for poor performance at the box office. I also don't have any suggestions for a better title. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject.
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Quote:
Originally posted by pachelbel:
I'm not sure what that title would have been. I mean, does "I Am Legend" conjure up visions of the last man on earth?
That particular title conjures up the White Zombie song "I am Legend". When I first heard about the movie I figured Rob Zombie was set to direct another film.
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We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
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