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  EW review: 'Serenity' has characterAlso: OK 'Emily Rose,' stark 'Water'By Dalton Ross  YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(Entertainment Weekly) -- I should begin with a disclaimer: I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy who squealed, whined, and wept when "Firefly" was taken off the air. I was far more furious when other sci-fi entries like "Harsh Realm" and "Farscape" were criminally canceled. Still, I did enjoy the show's space-Western premise. The good news is that follow-up film "Serenity" is as accessible to newbies as it is to hardcore fans. The bad news is that the film's story line -- good guys (Nathan Fillion, back as Capt. Malcolm Reynolds; his crew) protect a woman (Summer Glau's ass-kicking psychic River) whom bad guys will do everything in their power to capture lest she reveal a secret diabolical plan that would unmask them as superbad guys -- seems taken straight out of a bottom-shelf Schwarzenegger flick ("Eraser," for those of you scoring at home). It also doesn't help that most of the film's antagonists amount to little more than souped-up space zombies. Still, the wild, wide-open universe that Joss Whedon has created is freewheeling enough to keep things interesting. The director mentions in one of three featurettes that a book about the battle of Gettysburg led to his sci-fi Western epiphany, as he would "become obsessed with the idea of life on the frontier, and that, of course, makes me think of the Millennium Falcon, because most things do." The EXTRAS make much of "Firefly's" resurrection onto the big screen, but the most amusing moment occurs during Whedon's introduction for an advance screening of the film, when he credits fans for bringing the show back to life. "It is, in an unprecedented sense, your movie," he says. "Which means if it sucks, it's your fault. You blew it." In that case, we give all of you a B. EW Grade: B 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'Reviewed by Kirven Blount While Satan is nothing if not a control freak (he's in the details, after all), he still likes to cut loose and have a good time. But there are too many lines like "This case sounds like a quagmire. If I'm smart I'll leave it alone" in "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" to do justice to the process of casting Old Horny out. Jennifer Carpenter contorts her way through a spine-tingling performance as the afflicted naif, the sets are richly tricked-out, and the demonic visits are chilling. But for a smart film to become great, it's got to have, dare I say, soul. EXTRAS In the "Casting the Movie" featurette, director/co-writer Scott Derrickson claims that Carpenter's chameleonic audition "altered my entire approach to making the movie." In his commentary he says he sought the "slow, dreadful feeling" of an Ingmar Bergman film and that his obsessing moved cinematographer Tom Stern to quote Clint Eastwood's warning against the "paralysis of analysis." EW Grade: B 'Dark Water'Reviewed by Alisa Cohen First came the Ring cycle. Then ... the rinse cycle. Yep, even the washing machine houses something sinister in this J-horror remake. Yet "Dark Water's" not as soggy as it sounds. As Dahlia, a single mom menaced by a custody battle, abandonment issues, and gallons of H2O, Jennifer Connelly handles another messy role with grace. "Motorcycle Diaries" director Walter Salles guides her through the muck with a fairly steady hand, establishing an eerie sense of place with slime green tints and relentless rain-soaked shots. Though the gotcha! finale is as hokey as the original's, the cheap shocks are otherwise kept to a minimum. The forces behind "The Grudge 2" should take note. EXTRAS No commentary, but in four featurettes the creative team spouts off about spooky sounds (editor Daniel Rezende used the heartbeat from his wife's ultrasound to give "voice" to Dahlia's migraines); real-life phobias (Ariel Gade, who plays Connelly's 5-year-old daughter, overcame her fear of water during filming); and Roman Polanski (as an homage, John C. Reilly's character is named after the real estate agent in "Rosemary's Baby"). The deleted scenes, in contrast, are rather skimpy -- and entirely skippable. EW Grade: B Click Here 
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