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: The Other Guys

Possible spoiler alert!!

So I went to go see this movie without any expectations really. Well that's not true. I'm not the biggest fan of most Will Ferrell movies, and Mark Wahlberg has been letting me down lately. But when I walked into the theatre and took my seat, I was blown away.

The movie starts out showing these two cops P.K. Highsmith (samuel L. Jackson) and Christopher Danson (Dwayne Johnson) who are the most badass cops in the world. There's an epic chase scene which involves them crashing their car into a double decker bus, and then driving that double decker bus, turning it sharply sending the car stuck in the bus flying out towards the people they were chasing. All for a 1/4 gram of Marijuana.

Then it introduces you to "The other guys" Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg). Allen Gamble seems to be probably the biggest loser ever who likes to do work in accounting instead of having exciting gun fights like Jackson and Johnson. Terry Hoitz (who for some reason is convinced that peacocks can fly) was a cop who worked on the streets, however he accidently shot a famous baseball player in the leg and he wound up being partners with Gamble who never wants to leave the office building. This forces them both to fill out all the paper work that the popular cops leave behind, because they don't want to fill it out. Hoitz isn't as much of a loser but he is angry all the time.

Danson and Highsmith are chasing people who robbed a jewelery store, but turns out the small time robbers were professionals and they got away from Danson and Highsmith. Because they're too damn proud to live with the fact that people got away from them, let's say Danson and Highsmith "retired". Thus forcing Hoitz and Gumble to replace them. The movies plot unwinds from there and it turns out that these "other guys" are pretty damn good cops. Even though they sometimes get distracted by Jersey boys tickets, or they mistake "good cop bad cop" for "bad cop bad cop".

The other guys is an action packed joyride filled with tonnes of laughs. - R

Cool I have my own quote :D

The acting was also really good. I didn't expect that performance from both Wahlberg or Ferrell, and I really am not the biggest fan of Ferrell. But the two of them together I think made the perfect team both as characters and actors.

I think that'd I have to give this movie a 8.5/10 - it was really good, but not the best movie out there **cough inception cough**

Review: The Expendables

Sylvester Stallone is one of my favourite actors. Sure you can't understand him half the time, since he speaks only out of one side of his mouth, and he's often in mindlessly violent films such as Rambo or overcommercialized shlock such as Judge Dredd or Spy Kids 3D (my least favourite movie of all time), but when he gets a good role, he always steals the show.
Thus, when I heard that he was making The Expendables, I was excited to see him continue from the fantastic retread through his glory days that began with Rocky VI and Rambo IV, culminating in a new story coming straight from the classic 80's sagas. The fact that he was working alongside some of the biggest action stars of the past 30 years, including Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Mickey Rourke, only increased the anticipation. After finally seeing the film, at the last showing of the day, in an almost empty theatre, I have to say that it's pretty much what I expected, and nothing more.

The film begins by introducing The Expendables, a band of mercenaries-for-hire. Throughout the entire film, I only managed to garner two of the characters' names, Barney (Stallone), and Christmas (Statham), which seems slightly ironic considering Stallone's last two films had the names directly in the titles. The names of the characters didn't matter much to the plot, anyhow.
The film quickly introduces the crazy member of the group, played by Dolph Lundgren, who some may remember as Ivan Dravo in Rocky IV. After a mission in which he almost kills Jet Li (his character at least), he is reluctantly sent out of the group by Stallone.Shortly afterwards, Stallone is offered a job by Bruce Willis, which leads to an incredibly humourous scene in which Arnold Schwarzeneggar cameos as a rival mercenary.
The job is to remove the dictator of Vilena, being ripped apart by it's leader, General Garza, and his shadow-master, and Ex-CIA agent. After scoping the area, killing 41 soldiers in the process , Stallone and Statham decide the job can't be done, although when their female contact in the country is kidnapped, Stallone decides to head back alone.

Mickey Rourke tattoos Stallone

As you can see, the plotline is nothing too new or original, basically rerunning the best of what 80's action films had to offer. The story seems to serve only as a tool in which to pack the action that makes up eighty percent of the movie, which is a pity, seeing as drama can be very effectively played in an action film, as evidenced in First Blood. Mickey Rourke plays the only character I felt something for besides the thrill of the ride, and he only appears in a couple of scenes as a former teammate. There was, however, a lot of comedy, often poking at the actor's career outside of the film, such as Schwarzeneggar saying of Stallone "He loves to play in jungles" (a reference to Rambo).

Statham, Stallone, and Randy Coutre

Despite it's all-star cast, The Expendables isn't too great of an action film. The beginning is boring and drags on for too long, and the plot is a drag, but when it comes down to it, the action itself is what the audience paid to see, and that is excellent. It's great to see all of the best action stars together, even if it's not in the greatest movie. I loved Stallone before, and I love him now, even if I still can't understand what he's saying.

I'd say the film merits a 6/10 - Entertaining, but not too worth a rewatch.

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.