Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

[tpfkabi]

michael cera looks way too old now. his chin is disappearing at an alarming rate and being replaced by a george lucas-like turkey waddle. it was hard to look at him sometimes especially in profile. Mary Elizabeath Winstead (whoever she is) did nothing except keep a stone face and open her big beautiful eyes. lady pubrick has hair like her so i could see the attraction but the film does nothing to really justify why this turkey-man is putting himself through all this bullshit.

that is the same thing i have been thinking since the movie came out and i've seen him do interviews.
i couldn't believe this mary elizabeth was the same one from Death Proof - the visual change seems more substantial than just the hairdo, but maybe that's it.

i don't have much interest in this film, but i'm glad it's making more Aubrey Plaza interviews happen.

[modage]

from ma blog:

I wanted to love this.  A few weeks ago I found myself completely addicted as I blew through the comic series in a matter of days.  I thought the books were charmingly geeky and (despite the lead character being 22), reminded me a bit of my high school years.  I love director Edgar Wright, whose Shaun of the Dead was one of my favorite films of the decade and imagined the series would be a perfect fit for his sensibilities.  But the film fell totally flat for me.

Despite some new additions (particularly towards the end of the film) and lots of condensation, the film was very faithful to the books.  It pains me to say it but I think the blame lies with Wright.  The film has an incredible visual style and inventive editing but the actors get swallowed up by the breakneck pacing.  Cera's performance reaches new found levels of wimp-dom, which is a shame because the range he showed in Youth In Revolt shows he could have been a great Pilgrim.  Which is why I have to blame Wright.

The tone of the film is so broad and stylized, it loses its humanity.  Even the comedy struggles to find its tone because things move so quickly.  To me the books are comedies that get interrupted by these crazy fantastical fight scenes.  The film could have benefited from a more natural pacing broken up by the insane fight sequences.  I'm trying to imagine if I would have liked it more or less without having read the series first, but I'm not sure it would have mattered.  It just didn't work for me.

[Gold Trumpet]

Ignorance is bliss because I was able to associate this movie with nothing but the basic video game references and so I allowed myself to just really enjoy this movie. Honestly, I should have hated this movie because all summer long, I have been in my own Scott Pilgrim battle for the heart of a girl and trying to get her over a recent ex. I even feel like I pined as much for her as Pilgrim does for his girl because I've liked her for 6 years now and finally she dumped her bf and opened her feelings up to me, but her fear of real romance eventually drove her back to him so all that work came to not. I got the shitty news a week ago and since she is going to law school in a few weeks, I have no option but to remain her friend. So I'm still temperamental over it and all I did was think about her throughout the movie, but I loved the visceral experience of just watching and laughing at everything like I was equal part dork with all the characters. Hell, I want to go see this movie again. Lots of fun.

Honestly, I don't think I can give a movie a bigger compliment than that review.

[Stefen]

I love in love GT!

[Pas]

Hell it's been how many years since we had a love post here?!

GT, that story is awful. Getting so close... and six years :-O Is her boyfriend a douche of some sort or a nice guy? Or maybe a Dane Cook type character who's half-n-half?

[Gold Trumpet]

Hell it's been how many years since we had a love post here?!

GT, that story is awful. Getting so close... and six years :-O Is her boyfriend a douche of some sort or a nice guy? Or maybe a Dane Cook type character who's half-n-half?

As far as their relationship is concerned, he's a douche. He's emotionally dependent and guilt trips her into doing things to constantly make her come back to him, along with do a whole lot of other asshole things. I kept challenging her to decide for herself and he kept putting spells into her head afterward so it left her emotionally vulnerable. So instead of be ready for an awesome relationship with me (like she was right after the initial breakup), he harassed her into feeling horrible and so she lost her excitement for me. The only relief I have is that I am sure this latest go back will not last because she will be far away from him at law school and the experience there will reclaim her self esteem, but I'm convinced her and I are done as a potential anyways.

[Gamblour.]

Haha, I'm glad GT liked this as much as I did, although I definitely didn't have such an intensely relevant, emotional connection, other than what the movie provides.

At worst, she will probably end up with him, be miserable for years, and throw herself at you, and that will provide you material for a great script one day! GT vs. Manipulative Douche.

[socketlevel]

I refuse to battle over any woman's heart. It never ends good. I'm not saying i won't charm them, but any male or female that is caught between a rock and a hard place between two different interests is really only in it for the attention. sadly, he/she needs so much attention that one person isn't good enough. well save that drama for yo mama cuz i just don't have the stamina to become part of that shit show anymore. not that i ever really did.

I'm glad you've come to see it as you guys are done GT and not secretly pining for her. this other guy sounds like a douche but she's got some accountablity too. imo find someone stable. the best relationships i've ever had are the ones where we're both totally into each other. in the case where there was another guy in the picture and even if you win, there will be another guy and it comes around full circle. it's not science fact, but it seems to be the pattern.

[Pas]

well save that drama for yo mama cuz i just don't have the stamina

Sell that to Kanye!

[pete]

dude.

[polkablues]

As frustrating as it is to be in love with a girl who's dating a douche, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, worse than being in love with a girl whose boyfriend is a great guy.  Trust me on that one.

So I just got back from seeing this movie, and I was mostly pretty much really basically happy with it.  It wasn't as structurally rock-solid as Edgar Wright's other films, but that's kind of a pitfall of the story itself; it's almost impossible to have a completely episodic second act like that and have it feel like it's actually building the drama rather than just ticking off boxes.  I like Michael Cera, but he has his limits, and this character exceeded them.  I spent the whole movie imagining what it would have been like if Johnny Simmons (the guy who played Young Neil) had been Scott Pilgrim instead.  In case you're wondering, it would have been awesome.

But there were so many great touches (the tying the shoe in the middle of the gearing-up-for-battle montage killed me), and Wright directs with such momentum, that I rarely found myself drifting.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a talent; she brings way more depth to that character than it had any right to have.  Chris Evans continues to be the most underrated comic actor in Hollywood.  Me and one other guy in the theater reacted very positively to the Thomas Jane/Clifton Collins Jr. cameo.  Anyway, I left happy.  Any problems that I had with it were swept aside by the things I liked about it.

[jerome]

argh i'm tired of waiting for this! it's not coming out for another two months in france :/

[Robyn]

You are lucky to get to see it at the cinema at all. In Sweden it will go straight to DVD in like a year. 

[Ravi]

I liked this too, despite its flaws. There's no real reason Scott fights for Ramona, other than she's hot, but its the perfect metaphor for the baggage we all bring to relationships.

Mod, I thought the performances stood up to the incredible visual energy of the film and centered it when it could have easily become overwhelming eye candy.  I have an irrational love of anamorphic flares and hipstery chicks, and this film has both.

[Gamblour.]

This movie is doing so poorly, I hope it doesn't hurt Wright's future projects.

But if the largely irrational hatred of Michael Cera that I hear from everyone and this box office are related at all, Michael Cera is box office poison and should really take a break and do something different.