Scott Pilgrimage - PART II

Here's Part II of the Scott Pilgrimage that I went on with R and our friend Will, from Dreamview Photography.
Part I is HERE.

First off, where Scott calls Knives at Bathurst and Bloor. The phone booths are different, but the Insomnia sign is there..

Secondly, the Toronto Reference Library, where Knives attacks Ramona. Sadly, we can't take pictures inside without a permit, but some drunk guy came up to us and asked us to take pictures of him. R's written about that.

Nest is Lee's Palace. The art outside is different, but still pretty cool.

This Honest Ed's. The interior is described by Julie in the book as "Do you know how when a baby is born it just cries from the sheer horror of being alive?"

Dundas Square (or Yonge-Dundas, since that's the intersection). Always stuff to see here.

We actually ate here, at Sneaky Dee's. It was absolutely delicious. The nachos were like ambrosia.

Instead of just saying 'north', the bus I saw at the Dundas Coach Terminal was going to Montreal.

Cameron House. That picture was staring at me the entire time I stood outside.

And finally, The Chaos Theatre, which in reality is some sort of community center for the homeless, which just makes Gideon even more of a dick for turning it into a club.

 So that's the end of the Scott Pilgrimage. I have a couple of extra pictures that I may put up sometime next week, such as the house at Scott's address (which looks nothing like the book), or alternate angles of certain places.

For larger views of all the pictures here, check out my Flickr set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/53422866@N08/sets/72157624808597322/

Scott Pilgrimage

So I've heard of Scott Pilgrimage's before, and decided to try one. To the uninitiated, it's when people go out to locations specifically mentioned in the Scott Pilgrim books.

I decided to do something a little different, however, and went out with R and our friend Will, from Dreamview Photography, with the plan to recreate several frames from the books exactly.

Let's see how I did.

First we have Wychwood Library, where Scott first saw Ramona in person (as opposed to subspace/a dream).

Next we have the park where Scott and Ramona go on their first date. Wait, did I say date? Slip of the tongue.

 

Now, the park doesn't look quite the same in the picture, but notice that it does have the swingset, duck seesaw, and the splash pad (or whatever that concrete round hole is in on the ground)

Next, we see the Second Cup where Stacy Pilgrim works.

And the end of today's pictures (more tomorrow), Casa Loma, where Scott fought Lucas Lee, and R and Will agreed to pose for me.

Continue on to PART II

Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

So I'm going to post my own review along with D's, it's probably going to be a lot shorter but that's OK. Anyway, D and I went on what we like to call the Scott Pilgrimage, meaning we looked for locations in the comic books and in the movie on a map in Toronto, and we went to most of those locations...which...was...awesome. We decided to do that before going to see the movie itself (first time for me, second time for D).

So the movie starts out with Universal's logo and song, but slightly with a twist, it was pixelated and the song sounded like it was a midi file...awesome.

I was recently told that the movie was filmed after only the 4th book has been made, because during the movie I was like "Wait! That's not how it happened!!" So it makes sense that about halfway through the movie everything kind of changes. But that's not a bad thing, in truth the movie can stand on it's own without you having to read the comics before hand, and that's extremely hard to do considering it's based on comics.

The comics story is more about maturity and growing up, while as the movie touched on more the relationship part of things, and making new relationships and mending old ones.

The movie's pace was awesome. By that I mean there isn't one part of the movie where I was bored, it definitely was the first A.D.D movie ever. Like the director stated, when a musical has too much emotion going around, everyone breaks out into song...in this movie, when there is too much emotion, people break out into fights. Which is so cool. Michael Cera (almost forgot about this) was actually perfect for Scott. At first I didn't think so, because like many of you (and I know you thought this) I said things like "oh he's too awkward", or "he's such a one trick pony actor"....but I was WRONG! For all of those who thing they know Michael Cera, go watch this movie.

I could go on for like a Long time but I'm not going to.

I give Scott Pilgrim vs. The World a 9/10

Very well done, editing was amazing, acting was great, plot (of course) was great, but wasn't perfect because it could have had more of a relationship between Scott and Ramona.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Whew, just got back from the midnight showing of Scott Pilgrim, and I am bushed. However, before I head off into dreamland, I'll write up a quick review.

First off, a little story. Being an avid fan of the graphic novel series that the film is based on, I read all six books sequentially in order to prepare myself for the midnight showing. I finished the final one in line outside the theatre, perfectly in time for the film to begin.
The movie starts with a humorous twist on the Universal logo, setting the tone for the following two hours, before switching quickly to a cold opening that introduces most of our main players.

Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), obviously the star of the show, who, along with Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and Kim (Alison Pill),  is in the band Sex Bob-bomb, something that plays a larger part in the film than it did in the books. Shortly afterwards we're introduced to Wallace (Kieran Culkin), Scott's gay roommate, and eventually Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), his love interest.

The film begins in the same manner as the books, however, and only veers away from the original plotline further on in the story, though not in such a way as to disappoint fans. It could be considered an alternate universe version of the books, incredibly compressed and changing everything from book five onwards.
Several scenes have been recreated meticulously compared to the source material, with only minor dialogue changes, whereas others are entirely new or compressed, presumably to aid the transition from one media to another.

Each fight scene is a joy to watch, with cartoonish violence, comic book onomatopoeia, and points racking up with each evil ex defeated. The jokes, many of which are taken directly from the books, are hilarious, but the ones that truly stand out are completely new to the film. As has been mentioned multiple times in other reviews, there is a 'Seinfeld Scene', wherein for less than a minute the film takes on the music, camera angles, jokes, and laugh track of the 90's show. Sadly, those who know nothing or little about media (games, TV, and films), will probably miss out on much of what makes Scott Pilgrim so enjoyable.

With all it's frenetic action, popping visuals, dance-like fight choreograhy, and gaming references, it's no wonder the film so easily divides the generations, capturing the youth market whilst overly bombarding the minds of those fighting to keep up. Unfortunately, it's speed is also it's biggest flaw. Whereas the books take place over the course of a year, the film is set over a couple of weeks, allowing us to jump from one fight scene to the next more fluidly. This also makes the audience less understanding of Scott's desire to be with Ramona, and gives the feeling of rushing towards disaster. Everything wraps up nicely in the end, but I can't help wishing that an extra 15 minutes of character development and downtime was added onto the almost-two-hour film. Maybe then it would have risen more emotions in me than excitement at the visuals. I suppose that's enough, though.


I'll give the film an 8/10 - Great, but not perfect.

Scott Pilgrim is dating a high schooler!

 And so begins Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, the first book in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Tonight, at midnight, I'm going to see the film adaptation, something I've been waiting for since I heard it was being made.
Since it's premiere at Comic-Con, the critics have all been saying roughly the same thing: The older you are, the less likely you are to enjoy the movie.
It's probably a good thing it's coming out on the same day as The Expendables, then.Those who don't want to watch a  film with A.D.D. that tributes 8-bit gaming and celebrates youth may prefer Stallone's 80's style action-flick (which I am also excited for).

For those of you who don't know what Scott Pilgrim is, this is what it says on the author's website.

The poster... OF AWESOME!!

"Scott Pilgrim is 23 years old, living in the big city with his gay roommate, just trying to get by in this crazy world. He's in a band. He's lazy. He likes video games.
Scott Pilgrim likes the new girl in town, Ramona Flowers, but to win her heart, he has to defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends. Seven! Evil! Ex! Boyfriends! Lucas has muscles! Todd plays bass with his psychic powers! The Twins are twins! Matthew Patel is an Indian guy! AND MORE!"

Methinks that descibes it pretty  well. 

The books combine video-game references with hard-hitting (or at least slightly-rough-hitting) plotlines and incredibly deep characters. Despite it's simple graphic style, O'Malley somehow evokes complex emotions through the artwork, though isn't afraid to mix humour and depression into a single page (once it quickly sidesteps from relationship problems to "And then Wallace bought him sushi!")



I really hope they didn't mess up the film. As I'm heading into my 20's, I find myself feeling the same way as many of the Scott Pilgrim characters; confused about the future (and past), uncertain about relationships, and constantly referencing cultural icons from a generation gone by. Hopefully, hopefully, the film will be awesome and live up to my expectations.
Bring on the popcorn!