Scott Pilgrim vs. the World vs. the critics

"The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional of the embarrassment he can tolerate."
--Douglas Englebart

I am going to come right out and say it. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is not for everyone. But it is for most of those Generation X and Generation Y people, like me, who grew up with comics, video games, indie rock music, an increased focus and value on fashion and an unequivocally short attention span. We should really be called the ADD generation...in fact consider it coined. We now officially the ADD/ADHD generation. And ADD generation I give you my review of Scott Pilgri.....hey look a butterfly.

This movie starts out with a bang, turning the Universal Pictures production screen and theme music into an 8-bit piece of joy that was not only very creative but set the pace for the movie from the get-go. The guy behind me who complained throughout the movie really should have realized what he was getting into at this point and walked out.

The story, without giving anything away, is based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera: Superbad, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) an out of work, disenfranchised, Canadian 22 year old, struggling through life and women to make sense of the world while his band tries to make it big. He meets a girl, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead: Live Free or Die Hard, Death Proof, Factory Girl) and in order to date her and essentially live happily ever after has to defeat her seven evil exes played by Satya Babha, Chris Evans, Mae Whitman (who played Ann on Arrested Development), Brandon Routh, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito and Jason Schwartzman.

I know what you are thinking the plot sounds unoriginal and boring. But it is so far from the truth. The writing is witty in a way that only Cera can deliver, which is helped when he is surrounded by people like Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down, The Secret Lives of Altar Boys, The Cider House Rules) and Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air, Twilight Series). I would like to add that Culkin has surpassed his brother Macaulay Culkin by leaps and bounds. Along with the writing though the plot is made original by the seamless incorporation of dream sequences, video game references and graphic novel imagery. Th film is quick, sharp and has fully embraced and pokes fun at its nerdiness and it hipster attitude. At one point during the movie in the background you can clearly hear someone say, "yeah but their first album was so much better than their first album," or the in the first fight scene the passing comment that, "pirates are in this year," completely poking fun at the elitist hipster stereotype that comes with the indie rock and fashion scenes nowadays.

The cinematography is creative, metaphorical and makes countless references and homages to pop-culture and the influences of the original graphic novels. But the sensory joyride does not stop there. The soundtrack, which is arguably the glue that holds the film together as Scott Pilgrim's band: Sex Bob-omb and their struggles parallel the struggles that Scott Pilgrim has in his basic relationships. The music is clearly influenced by Plumtree who was the original inspiration for O'Malley's graphic novels, as well as the general indie/garage/grunge sound that came out of Canada in the 1990s.

Overall, Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) did an excellent job shooting, casting and writing this film. He could have easily made this your standard-fair, nerdy romantic comedy based on a cult comic film (yes I know the difference between a graphic novel and a comic so don't start complaining yet fanboys, fangirls and fantrans*). Instead, Wright tried to be as inventive as possible, placing O'Malley's own imagery directly into the film as well as being influenced and resembling work by a wealth of different directors includin: Aronofsky, Kubrick, Tetsuya Nomura and Tarsem.

This movie is much more worthwhile than Dinner for Schmucks (2 hour snoozer, go see the original French version) or the Other Guys (actors doing the same role...again).

Making the Grade

Acting: This is easily Michael Cera's best movie, really using his awkward nature to its fullest potential. Mary Elizabeth has definitely set herself apart from a lot of female actors as a lead with a range of talent. Kieran Culkin steals many of the scenes that he is in, and has been likened to a young Robert Downy Jr. (minus all the blow). Jason Schwartzman and Chris Evans lead a supporting cast that is funny, and just as engaging as of the leads. A-

Special effects/Visuals: Stunning, most films geared towards young adults of the ADHD generation are not typically visually pleasing unless they have a ton of explosions, but this film takes on a very artistic albeit nerdy tone, making for film that makes you never want to take your eyes off the screen. A

Music: The music really sets the tone for the entire film and is incorporated in a way that shows its importance but doesn't take away from the general flow of the film. The music can be a little too similar, and if you are not into the Canadian indie scene and prefer something a little more auto-tuned and Kanye West-like, you are not going to enjoy the soundtrack one bit. Though the music also suplements the comedy in its own way. B+

Re-watchability: I doubt I will ever get tired of this film there is so much to see throughout the entire movie that you could find yourself watching background and not follow the plot and still be entertained. If you haven't yet see this film as soon as possi...ooh a puppy. A

Overall Grade: A-

*I have met a very aggressive treky who also happened to be a tranny as well, so I am not just be PC here. I am writing this on a Mac how can I be?

Show her the totem...

THE TOP DID NOT FALL.

In case you wanted my opinion.

New News is Good News

"Beginning is easy--continuing hard"

--Japanese Proverb

Yes! I have returned from the dead. I hope everyone is doing well. In my hiatus I did a lot of soul searching and blah, blah, blah...so on and so fourth. Actually to be completely honest, I just sat on my lazy ass and watched movies. But I am back now with some wonderful, albeit nerdy, news, and a few updates from older news stories I have mentioned before.

Conan Has a New Face

The Governator (left--in case you didn't know, duh), as Conan the Barbarian, crushes fiscal responsibility with his pecks. Jason Momoa (right) poses as Dex from Stargate: Atlantis already looking like he could fit the part of a barbarian quite nicely.

Mike Flemming is reporting that Jason Momoa (Stargate: Atlantis) is slated to play the new screen version of Conan the Barbarian. He was chosen over Kellen Lutz, which in this writer’s opinion was a good move. There has been too much Twilight blood in places it should not be, I prefer it dripping out of a vampire’s mouth and that is about it. Anywho, production is supposedly starting in mid-March and barring any terrible problems on set, or from Paradox Entertainment, this movie should be out in a few years. The next question is, will it be Schwarzenegger style campy or a shiny, CGI, action-drama remake. Personally I am hoping for a little bit of both, but we shall see.

Wolverines Are Here to Help

These are supposedly some of the propaganda posters that appear in the Red Dawn re-make. If this is any indication of the level of attention to detail, we are in for a dynamite movie.

Apparently being called a, “live-action Call of Duty,” the re-make of Red Dawn should be great way to spend two hours in the movie theater. This time the Wolverines are not going to be fighting Russians though. This time, it’s the Chinese. The screenshots that I have seen show a lot of explosions of the Michael Bay variety, but the plot should be much better. Not only that I am curious to see if Tom Cruise’s son is as stiff an actor as he is. But aside from the fact that this movie is FUCKING RED DAWN RE-MAKE, I always get excited for a new director to come along and offer a new point of view from Hollywood. Granted, I am not expecting anything revolutionary in the cinematic realm from director Dan Bradley, I do expect a lot of amazing stunts. For those of you who have never heard of Bradley, because he is totally a household name up there with Spielberg, Scorcese and Ron Howard…Bradley has been the stunt coordinator for several very impressive movies like, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy, Three Kings, Crank, and Spiderman 2 and 3. Not only that but he has also done stunts in several movies, so his on the job experience should come in very handy here. Overall, some critics may be concerned about what sort of message this movie will put forward, especially now that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come under fire from the Chinese governments for her comments on censorship in China. Nevertheless this will be a deliciously entertaining fireball of a movie.

Don’t You Forget about Hughes: A Fond Farwell

“Most of my characters are romantic rather than sexual. I think that's an essential difference in my pictures. I think they are more accurate in portraying young people as romantic - as wanting a relationship, an understanding with a member of the opposite sex more than just physical sex.”

--John Hughes

John Hughes, 1950-2009

This summer continues to take celebrity icons away from us. John Hughes passed away Thursday morning of a heart attack while taking a walk in Manhattan. He was only 59.

Hughes was the director who helped make the MTV generation who it was. His comedies helped to foster a sense of fashion, music taste, and humor. He did it so effortlessly, giving the appearance of true to life tales. His characters were relatable, loveable and really seemed to speak to the teen angst, human condition.

Very few moviemakers can say they made movies as timeless as The Wizard of Oz. But Hughes is one of those special people, and it was not just one movie but dozens. Fifty years from now people will still be able to watch his movies and not just enjoy themselves but also relate to them.

Hughes had an innate ability to capture the multi-faceted lives of teenaged kids growing up in the age during a time of excess. Movies such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Uncle Buck, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty in Pink, Vacation and of course Home Alone really struck a chord with the 1980s youth. But even now 20 years later, these films are still entertaining to watch, because even though the decade is different. The angst is not.

Hughes can even be seen as a contributor to the recent hipster boom as people who were mere children during the heyday of his filmmaking careers can look back and relate to how his characters felt, or at the very least how they looked.

Not only that but he put child stars on the map. Molly Ringwold, Macaulay Culkin, Anthony Michael Hall, John and Joan Cusak, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Matthew Broderick all became household names in part to their roles in Hughes’ movies.

It wasn’t just his ability to capture teen angst and create a complete, beautifully crafted film; it was his attention to detail and more importantly his ability to find humor in the mundane, films like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Mr. Mom, and The Great Outdoors are prime examples of his craft. His writing was spot on even though he only directed eight films in his career. As a former advertiser turned movie household name, he achieved so much in the family comedy genre. His films never offended, they dealt with important topics but always made sure they were gently wrapped in comedy.

John Hughes had a gift of making movies that anyone from any generation could watch and laugh at. There were times when my family and I would watch these movies and everyone could always be on the same page because the humor was ageless. So John thank you for creating films that were memorable and could bring people closer to one another. You will be missed.

Mrs. Frisby to Return to the Big Screen

“I say, if you believe what you read in the comic strips, then you believe that mice run around with little gold buttons on their red pants and drive cars.”
-- Mort Walker

The movie world sent me some great news this week, with the announcement of a new adaptation of one of my favorite childhood books. That book is none other than “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.”

I was very excited to hear that this movie was announced for several reasons. The first being the animated film, The Secret of NIMH, (1982) was a phenomenal movie and really captured the essence of a haunting story. The second reason, is the fact that in a new era, the spin and interpretation of all of the intense sociological and political commentary that takes place in Robert C. O’Brien’s, Newberry Medal winning, book will show much this book stands the test of time.

Originally written in 1971, and inspired by the work of John B. Calhoun at the National Institute of Mental Health or NIMH (you see what O’Brien did there? Pretty clever!). Mrs. Frisby, has to deal with being a widow trying to protect her home from destructive humans, and enlists the help of Nicodemus and other Rats who escaped the research facility with knowledge comparable, if not exceeding, that of humans.

There is very little information out about this movie though rumor has it this film should be released sometime in 2013. Thus far Neil Burger is the only person attached to the film. Burger will be writing the screenplay, but in all reality he may direct as well, since that has been the case for all of the movies he has made, even though that is not a very long list.

Burger does have a knack for writing and directing darker films. To his credit, he has written and directed, Interview with the Assassin, The Illusionist, and The Lucky Ones. He is also in the process of making a remake of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein. He took over directorial duties on this film after Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini both dropped out. To his credit Burger has worked with some great actors even if his movies have not been great successes. Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams (The Lucky Ones), Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist), have all worked with Burger, so it shows he can bring in big name talent if necessary. It would be interesting to see Edward Norton or Tim Robbins doing voice acting for this movie too.

At any rate this will definitely be a movie to look out for, especially if Where the Wild Things Are turns out to be as big a hit as I think it will. But until then I highly recommend reading “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” or checking out The Secret of NIMH before the new edition comes out. You won’t be disappointed. Secret of NIMH is comparable to other fantastic, animated mouse movies like The Great Mouse Detective and The Rescuers Down Under for its darkness, or The Rescuers and An American Tail for their political and social commentary. Needless to say I am excited.

A Review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Doing is overrated, and success undesirable, but the bitterness of failure even more so”
--Cyril Connolly

Yet again it becomes quite clear that Hollywood is relying on a big-named series to make money, while leaving movie patrons grasping for more yet happy it is over. In a nutshell when I went to see the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the experience went something like this. It started late, more people clapped and cheered at the end of the Where the Wild Things Are trailer than they did at the end of the film, and one of my friends literally snored her way through Dumbledore’s death. So if you haven’t guessed by now, this will not be a very positive review.

The hype machine sucked me in for this one. Admittedly I have not been a fan of the series as a whole, but I did enjoy watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and I expected David Yates to come through again, especially since, I really find J.K. Rowling’s sixth addition to the series to be one of her best Harry Potter books. It had a ton of emotion a very strong love story that did not completely consume the main plot of the book and one hell of an ending. You would think anyone could make a great movie out of her creation, but the movie adaptation fell flat.

The majority of the book deals with three major plot points, who the Half-Blood Prince is, the increased Voldermort/Deatheater presence, and the budding love interests of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. Unfortunately most of these major points are glossed over in a few short scenes none of which gives the viewer any closure. Instead the majority of the film is spent watching Draco Malfoy skulk around Hogwarts, with at least four shots of him pulling a dusty rug off of the Vanishing closet (I am almost positive they just reused the same shot for each time), and Lavender Brown fawn over Ron (and if you hadn’t read the book before seeing the movie, you could have easily not known who she was considering they mentioned her name about two times the entire movie.

More disappointing still, was the fact that many of the characters that are already quite popular, were noticeably absent on screen, thus missing out on the immense acting skills of Maggie Smith (Prof. McGonagall), Alan Rickman (Prof. Snape), Emma Watson (Hermione), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), and David Thewlis (Remus Lupin). All of these actors had very little screen time, Lupin and Neville each had about one scene with a speaking role, and everyone else with the exception of Hermione, Snape and Luna had about two or three scenes with decent speaking roles.

The plot was very hard to follow because much of the important bits of the story were reduced to one or two scenes and never spoken of again, or alluded to much later in the movie. For example, Apparating and Snape teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts were mentioned once. Hermione and Ron’s love relationship was dealt with well as far as acting goes but was restricted due to the writing. Watson and Daniel Radcliffe were able to really stretch their legs in only a few scenes relating to their respective love interests and they excelled, but those scenes were few and very far between.

Most of the new characters were introduced haphazardly and despite all of the early hype around Luna Lovegood’s character, she was hardly developed past an odd behaving sidekick. The new Potions professor, Professor Slughorn (Jim Broadbent, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, Vera Drake, Brazil), was a prominent character throughout the movie, but little time was spent explaining who he was, and when it did occur it felt a little rushed.

The most disappointing part of the whole movie was the ending. When I read the book I shed a tear or two for Dumbledore when he died, and was very surprised to find out Snape was the Half-Blood Prince, yet my first thought when Dumbledore died was, “that’s it?” For a movie that had such a jumpy plot, I was very surprised to see how rushed the ending was.

There were still a few bright spots in the movie, Yates was able to capture the darkness and evil that shrouded everything in the wizarding world, and most of the special effects were dazzling and complimented beautiful scenery shots that had a varied depth ranging from desolate beauty of the landscape around the Hogwarts train, to the gorgeous yet dark landscape around Hogwarts. I was very pleased to see how much many of these young actors have matured, Radcliffe, Watson and Rupert Grint really demonstrated their knowledge and understanding of who their characters are supposed to be and more and more quality actors are being placed around them for these films, making a cast of some interest.

Finally, Yates made a good decision to show how much everyone is growing up through subtle shots of couple congregating in dark corners making out, more drinking and lots of sneaky drug references, that made the actors feel more adult than in previous films. These

Unfortunately these positive qualities are blanketed by sub-par writing and plot choices. I can honestly say that this was easily one of the worst films given the potential and if there is one person pleased about how this movie turned out, it was Chris Columbus the director of the first two films, because I am sure he could have come up with a much better plot than this one. I am now even more hesitant to see if Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows can deliver a strong ending to the series, especially since they are cutting it into two movie, but at least they will be able to make a more comprehensive, interesting, and less confusing plotline.

Making the Grade

Acting: Most of the acting was great but severely restricted by the poor plot. B+
Plot: Nonsensical, choppy with a poor focus, predominantly on other characters besides the three main protagonists. F
Special effects/Visuals: The special effects were great and the landscape shots were very enjoyable to watch but several shots were repetitive and unnecessary (read: Malfoy and the Vanishing Closet). B-
Music: Aside from the theme song the music was either ignorable or not present. Thus it did not lend or detract from the movie. C
Re-watchability: None Whatsoever, read the book. Unless, for some reason, you want have a Harry Potter Movie marathon. D+
Overall Grade: C-

David Lynch We Love You

Hello everybody, new blog post coming very soon. But until then here are the true words of Mr. Lynch to pass the time.