Joss Whedon's Serenity, just released on DVD, was easily one of the best movies of the year. Unlike most sci-fi flicks, this space western relies more on smart writing than CGI to engage your imagination. The film's intergalactic smugglers speak a cowboy English peppered with Chinese expletives that is as funny and as finely tuned as the gangster patois in a Mamet script, and the excellent pacing spins a stock plot into a meaty yarn that will leave you wanting more.