Tags:






...


"Twilight for boys!"
August 16, 2010 2:26 PM   Subscribe

(MeFi's own) defective yeti popularized the Bad Review Revue, but I think Scott Pilgrim vs The Critics may have perfected it!
posted by straight (134 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite

Heh. I saw a review somewhere (can't find it now) where the critic said something along the lines of 'I haven't read the books, but I'm assuming that Scott is supposed to be very masculine and heroic, so casting Michael Cera is a bad choice.'
posted by shakespeherian at 2:32 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


This movie actually has pretty good reviews.

I thought it was a funny, stylish, well-acted and well-directed movie, with a shallow storyline that stops it from being very memorable.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:35 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Huh. It's 81% at Rotten Tomatoes, so they've had to cherry-(raspberry?)-pick the bad ones, I guess.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:35 PM on August 16, 2010


There seem to be an awful lot of reviews focusing on the moviegoers more than the movie itself. It's very strange.
posted by KChasm at 2:36 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]


with a shallow storyline that stops it from being very memorable.

I wish they had kept more of the stuff from Book Six, where a lot of the themes are really cemented, Ramona reveals herself to be a wholly complete character independent of relationships with boys, we learn that Gideon is just as immature and insecure as Scott, and it turns out that Scott's ultimate enemy is himself, not Evil Exes.

In any case, I thought it worked very well as a movie. I pretty much agree with this thing:Scott Pilgrim Versus Itself.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:39 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Saw it last night. It was a fun film with a few dead spots (112 minutes is far too long for this sort of movie, methinks), but I can see why older viewers might take offense. Too many of the pop culture references will fly over their gray heads and, to be honest, that's about 80% of the raison d'etre of "Scott Pilgrim".

on preview: I think KChasm is onto something. If you hate videogames and the people who play them, then you're not going to like this film at all.
posted by spoobnooble at 2:41 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Lamentable Weekend Gross — what happened?

Apparently it's not doing so well. After this and Kickass I have to conclude that anything I'm looking forwards to is fucking doomed.
posted by Artw at 2:45 PM on August 16, 2010


I'm not familiar with the original material but this movie looks like a lot of fun. And I just learned Edgar Wright is the director, which automatically adds three stars to my final review score. The trailers remind me of the No More Heroes games, and I like those. I also liked Kick Ass and I'm excited about Sucker Punch, so I assume I'm square in the target demographic for this movie. I'll be seeing it at some point, for sure.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 2:47 PM on August 16, 2010


...and Number 1 at the box office is The Expendables, which just looks utterly terrible.
posted by Artw at 2:47 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I really liked Scott Pilgrim; it has video-game fun, anime fun, comics fun, movie-making-references fun, and just all-around fun. Right from the 8-bit Paramount opening, complete with MIDI Paramount theme, I knew I was in for a good time.

And I'm 41 years old.

I think the reviewers who panned it don't get it. That's fine, but I wish more of them would own up to saying "This movie is aimed at people I don't relate to, so maybe I'm not the best person to review it." Heck, one review I saw said that it was based on a video game. At least do the least amount of research necessary to review the thing.
posted by tzikeh at 2:49 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


For those interested, Creative Screenwriting did a podcast with some of the creators. It's in iTunes and is free.
posted by dobbs at 2:50 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I thought it was a solid movie, if not the best of the summer; Rotten Tomatoes seems to agree with me (it was at approximately 80% last I checked). It was fun.

As mr_robot said, whoever runs this blog must be cherry-picking. I don't get the point. I'm not impressed. It's not like Sex and the City 2, where the sheer force of the wave of bad reviews was insurmountable and the reviewers found endlessly entertaining ways to explain just how bad the film was.

I feel like hating Scott Pilgrim is cool because hating Michael Cera is cool.

I also think this film will pick up next weekend, as the buzz has definitely increased since Friday.
posted by good day merlock at 2:51 PM on August 16, 2010


After referring to the first part of the movie as a "dork-pandering assault," The Boston Phoenix reviewer goes on to say that Michael Cera's performance is "irritating" in part because of "the non-stop Pavlovian laugh track provided by the audience at the screening I attended." (As far as I know, that's a first: "You made the audience laugh, you irritating actor in a comedy, and that's what's wrong with you.")

NPR
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 2:52 PM on August 16, 2010 [5 favorites]


Heck, one review I saw said that it was based on a video game.

I have been telling people that Scott Pilgrim is the first good video game movie.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:52 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm a female gamer of the right age and haven't seen the movie yet, but it's been clear, even from the positive reviews, that there are a lot of bewildered critics out there. So much so that you end up with awesome NPR reviews like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Unfortunate Tendency to Review the Audience.
posted by Diagonalize at 2:54 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]


I have been telling people that Scott Pilgrim is the first good video game movie.

What? Everyone knows that's Morghal Combaght.
posted by Artw at 2:54 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Whoops, preview fail. Sorry about that, East Manitoba Junior Kabaddi Champion '94.
posted by Diagonalize at 2:54 PM on August 16, 2010


Scott Pilgrim did fine with the critics, it's the general movie-going public that doesn't seem very interested in it. It came in fifth this weekend getting beat Inception which has been out for a month.
posted by octothorpe at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010


I didn't see Scott Pilgrim but I think HWood needs a moratorium on Cera. The very funny Youth In Revolt book became the middling Youth In Revolt movie thanks to him.
posted by dobbs at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010


I'm looking forward to checking it out later this week. I love the comics, but I'm also not really seeing Cera as a good choice for Scott.
posted by yeloson at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010


It came in fifth this weekend getting beat Inception which has been out for a month.

Most of that is people going back to figure out why anyone thought it was good.
posted by shakespeherian at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


Scott Pilgrim's many defects can be ignored for the sheer virtuosity of Wright's direction. He pulled tricks I've never seen in films before. Makes menvery excited to see how he's evolved his work with Simon Pegg.
posted by Rory Marinich at 2:56 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Huh. I'm surprised that this is getting labeled "misogynistic," but I probably shouldn't be. Scott is pretty self-absorbed and the point of the movie (to the degree that is has one) seems to be "pull your head out of your ass, dude, and act like a grown-up in your relationships" but I have to guess that depiction of Scott's bad habits is being mistaken as condoning it. Any of the women who've seen the movie care to weigh in?
posted by Amanojaku at 2:57 PM on August 16, 2010


That seems to be very much tied into the "every last aspect of the 6 volume comic wasn't crammed into an hour and forty five minutes! BETRAYAL!" attitude.
posted by Artw at 3:01 PM on August 16, 2010


I think the ad campaign was a misfire. The clips and bits included in the trailers didn't do much to sell the movie and tried to make up for it by being everywhere.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:01 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


shakespherian - thanks for posting that. My BF, who loves comics a lot, wants to see it tomorrow. That article makes me hesitant, though; I really don't want him to be disappointed.
posted by kavasa at 3:02 PM on August 16, 2010


Extraordinarily Nerdy Niche Film Not Playing To Wide Audience Shock
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:02 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


I don't know if this is a factor, but I wonder if the movie's publicity efforts ended up eating its own audience. Almost everyone I knew that was really excited about seeing it had already seen the movie in an advance screening.
posted by greenland at 3:04 PM on August 16, 2010


I was surprised to see how many people thought that this movie had blockbuster appeal. It has seemed more like an indie film with limited appeal from the first trailer all the way to opening weekend. I saw it and loved it, but the marketing seemed to be targeting comic book fans and video game fanatics along with the small group of movie goers that enjoy quirky indie flicks. I haven't been a comic reader or video gamer in over 15 years, but I like Jason Schwartzman and Michael Cera and it looked like fun, which is why I went. And I was rewarded with a movie that was visually stunning and quite fun.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:04 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


So this is ten quotes from bad reviews of a movie in fancy text?

Honestly, I really am wondering if I'm missing something more here.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 3:04 PM on August 16, 2010


Extraordinarily Nerdy Niche Film Not Playing To Wide Audience Shock

Hey, come on, it worked for Sereni— oh wait. Fuck. *sigh*
posted by kmz at 3:07 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


So this is ten quotes from bad reviews of a movie in fancy text?

And two are from the AV Club review, which came with the disclaimer:

Though it didn't work for me, SCOTT PILGRIM is one of those rare failures that are more invigorating than 95% of the movies I think are successful. In other words, essential viewing, flaws and all.

So there's that.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:09 PM on August 16, 2010


I'm reading a history of Spaghetti Westerns at the moment, so this sort of thing makes me sigh and shake my head and say "Well Django Kill and The Great Silence bombed..."
posted by Artw at 3:14 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Winsome Parker Lewis : and I'm excited about Sucker Punch

I can't even begin to articulate how much I want Suckerpunch to be the movie that the trailer presents. I read somewhere that after 300, Zack Snyder wanted to do something similar but with a (nearly) all female cast instead of (nearly) all male.

It looks so much like my dreams it's scary.

*fingers crossed*

pleasebegoodpleasebegoodpleasebegood...
posted by quin at 3:17 PM on August 16, 2010


I'm assuming it'll combine Zack Snyder's patent formula of nerd bait and actually being kind of dull and crap, so I'm not really excited by it in the slightest.
posted by Artw at 3:18 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


XQUZYPHYR, it's the exclaimation points added to each quote that make it art.

(also, there's 3 more pages of quotes)
posted by straight at 3:19 PM on August 16, 2010


. . . Ramona reveals herself to be a wholly complete character independent of relationships with boys, we learn that Gideon is just as immature and insecure as Scott, and it turns out that Scott's ultimate enemy is himself, not Evil Exes.

Maybe I'll at least read it, then. I've been very wary of the concept, as much as I love the 8-bit aesthetic, because when the plot was explained to me I thought immediately that it couldn't be for someone in their thirties. If there's one thing you learn by then, it's that a girl has got to fight her own evil exes in this life.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:19 PM on August 16, 2010 [7 favorites]


I like the idea of Scott Pilgrim, but I'm not sure I'm actually going to get up off my butt and go because I know it'll just turn up in my Netflix queue in a few months. This is exactly how I felt about Kick Ass, which is currently sitting on my shelf waiting for me to watch it and send it back to Netflix. Maybe I'm one of the people who's ruining movies because I won't go out to see the good ones, but I can't get that excited about it (as opposed to Inception, the only new movie I've wanted to go out to see all summer).

The snarky reviews of the audience don't affect me one way or another. I'd rather hang with the people I know who liked it than most movie reviewers anyway.
posted by immlass at 3:19 PM on August 16, 2010


I am not huge into video games now and have not been for some time, so I don't expect to have much insight into that part of the film. However, having to fight evil exes as a metaphor for dealing with the baggage of a mate's previous relationships was inspired. You know that bit about how, when you have sex with someone, in an epidemiological sense, you're having sex with everyone they've ever "been with"? That applies on some emotional level, as well. "I'm not Terry, I'm not the one who did that to you" is something that shows up on your radar whenever you're dating someone who has some kind of Big Deal Past.

Also? The fight scenes had better choreography than those in The Expendables.
posted by adipocere at 3:22 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]


The most horrifying thing about The Expendables is apparently it's NOT a Scary Movie style parody.
posted by Artw at 3:24 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


I feel like hating Scott Pilgrim is cool because hating Michael Cera is cool.

Let's not do this. Let's not turn Michael Cera into the Strokes, where a genuinely good commodity gets cast aside because backlash against it's own hipness. Michael Cera is genuinely shitty, and the main reason I don't want to see this movie. Not because it's cool not to like him, but because there is no good reason to like him. He's the poor man's Jessie Eisenberg to me.
posted by Roman Graves at 3:29 PM on August 16, 2010


I can't even begin to articulate how much I want Suckerpunch to be the movie that the trailer presents.

Short of Snyder donating all the movie's profits to the Palin in 2012 campaign, there's nothing that could be wrong with this movie that would stop me from seeing it.

I can already predict many a conversation I'll be having come March 2011:

"No plot! Poor acting! Silly script!"
"Did you miss the samurai troll with a chaingun?!"
posted by Amanojaku at 3:29 PM on August 16, 2010 [5 favorites]


Because of backlash against its own hipness. Sorry, I get a little rabid when talking about Cera.
posted by Roman Graves at 3:31 PM on August 16, 2010


I'm assuming it'll combine Zack Snyder's patent formula of nerd bait and actually being kind of dull and crap, so I'm not really excited by it in the slightest.

"Did you miss the samurai troll with a chaingun?!"
posted by Amanojaku at 3:32 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


I went yesterday with the family. My dad— who is in his mid-fifties and hasn't touched videogames since playing Streets of Rage 3 with me ten years ago— enjoyed it the most. He hasn't laughed that much at a hollywood film in a long time. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow with friends.
posted by yaymukund at 3:34 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


Michael Cera is genuinely shitty, and the main reason I don't want to see this movie. Not because it's cool not to like him, but because there is no good reason to like him.

I actually really liked Michael Cera in Arrested Development! He played that character perfectly! And then he just KEPT GOING WITH IT
posted by Greg Nog at 3:35 PM on August 16, 2010 [9 favorites]


Synder could easily make a samurai troll with a chaingun boring as fuck.
posted by Artw at 3:36 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Is this a Juno hate thing?
posted by Artw at 3:36 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


Amanojaku, Snyder himself has described Suckerpunch as "Alice in Wonderland with guns" which sounds like a hilarious parody of a video game elevator pitch regardless of whether or not you think the movie will suck or be awesome.
posted by straight at 3:39 PM on August 16, 2010


Yeah, Cera was perfect in Arrested Development--in the sense of "made me laugh very frequently".

I haven't seen much he's been in since, but I do get the sense that he's a little overexposed these days.
posted by everichon at 3:42 PM on August 16, 2010


I find it the comments about how "no one over thirty will get this" very funny -- because the books are about 20-somethings in the early 2000's, and the author is currently 30-31. This is a film MADE for 30-year olds. If anyone younger/older gets it, that's nice.

Actually, since we're that age, and we know people who lived, hung out reading comics and playing video games in the neighbourhood the comic and film are set in, my husband is convinced that this film is the closest Hollywood will ever come to depicting our real world -- death matches, and all. (No one I knew was in a band, but one friend did do one of the back covers of the comic -- and that is the closest brush with fame I'll ever have).
posted by jb at 3:44 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Edgar Wright > Zack Snyder.
posted by cazoo at 3:44 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


and it turns out that Scott's ultimate enemy is himself, not Evil Exes.

Well, that's what he learns at the end of the movie too - I was slightly concerned when the final battle started that it was gonna be a bit too "boy wins girl by fighting boy" but it ended up making fun of that, and having "boy wins self-respect by fighting boy with 2 girls" or something along those lines. (And then the solo round, which was hilarious.)

The movie was smart, funny, and most excitingly, original. The only other movie I could sort of compare it to would be Kung Fu Hustle - because it took place in a similarly hyperreal universe. But other than that it was about young people faced with not understanding each other, and I thought pretty well done. All the characters were interesting and likable, and while it was more about scott pilgrim than other people, not in a way which diminished any of the secondary characters...
posted by mdn at 3:52 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


It's exes, not ex-boyfriends.
That reviewer obviously did not see the movie.
posted by Dr. Zira at 3:53 PM on August 16, 2010 [8 favorites]


Anyone who has not seen Kung Fu Hustle should really just stop what they are doing and go see it right now. And then go see Shaolin Soccer as well.
posted by Artw at 3:54 PM on August 16, 2010 [12 favorites]


Sorry, forgot to put in this link in my above comment.
posted by Dr. Zira at 3:56 PM on August 16, 2010


If there's one thing you learn by then, it's that a girl has got to fight her own evil exes in this life.

Yeah, the books are very mature and nuanced in the way they deal with relationships and allowing everyone to be their own person (except when they are emotionally stunted and are incapable of that (which, actually, is most everyone), but that's the point), and there are a lot of literalization-of-metaphorical-emotional-conflict tropes beyond just Scott's having to fight his girlfriend's exes. For all their hilarity and frenetic smash-cutting seemingly-short-attention-span antics, the books do a great job of honestly addressing the shortcomings and realities of their characters, and virtually no one is one-dimensional.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:57 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm upset at Scott Pilgrim for stealing the "versus" meme from The Tick (if not directly, due to the easy assumption that every lazy headline writer in the media will use it in the title of reviews and analysis pieces. WE GET THE GAG.)
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:57 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Well, that's what he learns at the end of the movie too

Yeah, I was mostly talking about SPOILER ALERT the way the film handles Nega Scott as opposed to the books
posted by shakespeherian at 3:58 PM on August 16, 2010


Any of the women who've seen the movie care to weigh in?
I just saw it today, and I don't see the alleged misogyny. If anything, the movie is more respectful of women that it is of men. In fact, Scott Pilgrim could just as easily have been a female character as a male character - the life lesson sort of works for everyone. male or female, gay or straight. Ramona's entire character is a model of female empowerment; plus, I got the sense that Knives matures into a Ramona at the end of the movie. Plus, you've got an adorable bad ass little girl drummer giving Kieran Culkin the finger.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:12 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'm not a big fan of Sera, but I thought he was fine in this. His wasn't the best performance in the film, but there are a lot of great ones to compete with. Kieran Culkin was great.

I thought the movie was a blast. It seems like a bunch of people are deciding to miss out on a hilarious and creative movie (sporting some really kick-ass action scenes) out of some misplaced hatred of "hipsters." I'd find it hilarious if I didn't want everything to come up roses for Edgar Wright.
posted by brundlefly at 4:13 PM on August 16, 2010


Old people can't relate to video games, more at 11.
posted by Gin and Comics at 4:18 PM on August 16, 2010


I've gone from wavering to actually looking forward to this movie, but I'd be stunned if it were better than Kung Fu Hustle. In fact the first three (six, twelve, I can't remember) trailers I saw of Scott Pilgrim, I thought, "this movie would probably be better if Stephen Chow were directing it."
posted by furiousthought at 4:25 PM on August 16, 2010


Roger Ebert has really made a big deal out of a couple things, recently:

1) He always reviews movies based on their intent. If it was trying to be schlocky horror, he'll note that he doesn't really like schlocky horror, but that the movie did a good job. If it was trying to be a dense, emotional drama he won't complain that it didn't have enough action. Hell, he refused to condemn Human Centipede!

2) He thinks that video games are stupid, and has no experience with them at all.

I'm incredibly curious to read his Scott Pilgrim review, I can't quite imagine what he'll say. Alternatively, perhaps he'll simply recuse himself. That would probably be the smart thing to do...

And by the way, I really loved the movie. One of the best things I've seen on screen in a very long time, although not as deep (and therefore not as good) as the books. shakespeherian's link really clarified for me what was missing, but even still it's well worth seeing.

Surprisingly, Cera did a really great job. As my friend put it, "He's not necessarily playing the same Scott Pilgrim as in the book, but he is definitely playing Scott Pilgrim".

On preview, don't underestimate Edgar Wright, furiousthought. It was really well done.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 4:27 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I haven't seen the movie, but it's interesting to see all the buzz surrounding it. Fanbois and fangirls seem (or at least seemed, before it came out a few weeks ago) to be rabidly anticipating this film. It was very hyped-up. That's probably the reason a lot of critics felt no remorse at putting on their snooty-snobby hat and shitting all over the film and the fanbois and fangirls that created the hype to begin with. An action that creates and equal and opposite reaction, and all that.
posted by zardoz at 4:30 PM on August 16, 2010


I wonder how much of the weekend revenues have to do with distribution. I went to see it on Friday, and it was only playing on two screens in downtown Toronto!

I loved the movie, even though it did change the story in a number of significant ways, left out some of my favorite characters (Joseph), and removed most of the explicit Akira references (I really wanted Edgar Wright to use the Tetsuo theme when Todd reveals his vegan powers).

I'm glad he left in the vegan police, and the actress who plays Julie Powers is fantastic.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:35 PM on August 16, 2010


shakespeherian's link really clarified for me what was missing, but even still it's well worth seeing.

I should probably note that that link is basically nothing but spoilers.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:47 PM on August 16, 2010


Oh, and speaking of Edgar Wright, he directs action scenes better than regular action directors. The fight scene between Scott and Lucas Lee & his stunt doubles begins with a shot that lasts probably about 20-30 seconds, all from a decent distance so you can tell what the fuck is going on. None of this action-means-let's-have-a-jumble-of-quick-cut-closeups-so-you-can't-tell-what's-going-on nonsense.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:51 PM on August 16, 2010 [13 favorites]


I have not seen it yet, though I'm sure I will, and I predict I will like it, but I just want to register my disapproval of the movie's marketing slogan "An epic of epic epicness", which makes me want to poke my eyeballs out for some reason.
posted by ericost at 4:56 PM on August 16, 2010


Oh, and speaking of Edgar Wright, he directs action scenes better than regular action directors.

It'll be interesting to see what he does with Ant Man
posted by Tenuki at 4:56 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I just want to register my disapproval of the movie's marketing slogan "An epic of epic epicness"

I actually think that works remarkably well -- it's completely content-free, aside from massive enthusiasm about nothing in particular; I think it's sort of the perfect tagline for the title character.
posted by Greg Nog at 4:58 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


Guy in his mid fifties here. This was my favorite film of the summer. Beware of ageism and get off of my lawn.
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 4:59 PM on August 16, 2010 [5 favorites]


I am a pretty kneejerk Cera-hater and I loved this movie.

I felt was far more alive, fresh, imaginative, and just plain entertaining than the over-rated Inception (which I admired but did not at all "love").

In the end it was one of the best times I've had in a theater in months. There's an audience for this flick and they will find it. Just like with Kick Ass, another great flick that should have put up huge numbers but just never took off with the mouth breathers for some reason.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 5:00 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


So, while watching the movie (which I loved and all my friends can now stop asking me to read the books. I totally will now!) but I got this strange Truman-Show feeling halfway through when I started to suspect the entire movie was made to appeal to me and me directly. So many things too ..on the nose and exact. If nothing else, it feels exactly like how being 22 in the 21st century felt ..and I wanted to put on all my loudest music and jump around.

Then again, after they opened the movie with *that song* it could've been 2 hours of someone hitting a chicken puppet with a foam-bat and I would've been happy.
posted by The Whelk at 5:10 PM on August 16, 2010 [6 favorites]


Is this where I point out that bits of duel #4 actually came from the obscure Free Scott Pilgrim one-shot from Free Comic Book Day 2006 (towards the bottom of the page here)? Because I keep waiting to be hailed as a clued-in hipster fanboy genius for catching that, and it hasn't happened yet. C'mon! Hipster fanboy genius!
posted by ormondsacker at 5:12 PM on August 16, 2010 [3 favorites]


Will Scott Pilgrim Make Its Money Back? Kick-Ass Shows The Way
posted by Artw at 5:13 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I felt was far more alive, fresh, imaginative, and just plain entertaining than the over-rated Inception (which I admired but did not at all "love").

So... after this and Inception that's pretty much it for movies worth waiting for this year isn't it? Nothing else is coming to mind.
posted by Artw at 5:15 PM on August 16, 2010


you can come to my video-game themed art parties (NSFW, Self-link) you like ormondsacker! You'll find lots of clued in hispster fanboys!

(the fact that I've made and constructed props for video-game themed art events is another one of the reasons I think the movie was for me and just for me. I hope you people got something out of it too.)
posted by The Whelk at 5:19 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Between this and Inception I feel like both ends of my obsessions have been catered too.
posted by The Whelk at 5:19 PM on August 16, 2010


The Whelk, you need to read the books.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:35 PM on August 16, 2010


Do they contain more Wallace quotes I can work into regular rotation?
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on August 16, 2010


So, as a general geek and nerd who is only recently into video games, will I enjoy the movie without reading the comics first? Should I read the comics and then see the movie or just go see the damn thing in the theater?
posted by kmz at 5:39 PM on August 16, 2010


It is arguable that Wallace is the main character of the books.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:39 PM on August 16, 2010


I was wondering if anyone could comment on how is the movie going down in Canada?
(and What does Douglas Coupland think???)
posted by Bwithh at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2010


kmz, I saw it with no foreknowledge and loved it, as did the non-video game playing guest I brought with me.
posted by The Whelk at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2010


kmz: Just go see the damn thing. I went with my wife and a friend, neither of whom has read a single panel from the books, and they both loved the movie's teeth in.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:40 PM on August 16, 2010


Seen it twice, loved it, think it's Cera best performance yet, not surprised at all that it's not making big bucks.
But it will kill on DVD. The film practically demands a second viewing in slow motion so you can pick up every little thing the brilliant Edgar Wright put in.

And Cera being a poor man's Jessie Eisenberg? Bitch please, strike that and reverse it.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 5:55 PM on August 16, 2010 [4 favorites]


Cera and Eisenberg are very different talents. I can't imagine Cera in The Squid and the Whale, and Eisenberg in Arrested Development wouldn't have nearly the patheticness that George Michael requires ('I was going to smoke the marijuana like a cigarette').
posted by shakespeherian at 6:00 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


I was wondering if anyone could comment on how is the movie going down in Canada?

I don't know how it's going down generally, but I saw it in Toronto on friday and I don't think I've ever been to a movie where the audience was so thrilled to be there. I loved it - quite a bit different than the books but true to their spirit.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 6:02 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Spoilery comments!
posted by danb at 6:46 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Also saw it in Toronto, and our crowd was also pretty enthusiastic. As someone who'd never read the comic and worried that the trailer was cynically pandering specifically to me, I really liked it despite its flaws (much like Inception, but for entirely different reasons). On the specifically Toronto tip, it's really nice to see a relatively big-budget, action-packed, non-Cancon film that's not just filmed in Toronto, not just set in Toronto, but actually in love with Toronto. To give you just one example: the Lee's Palace interiors are actually sets built for the movie, but despite the fact that I'd been there THE NIGHT BEFORE, it actually took me a few seconds before I could say, yup, that's not actually Lee's Palace. They even got in the detail of the dual-level railings with the wooden railings where you could rest your pint. It wasn't just Toronto; it was the Toronto I actually lived in, all done up in spitcoat 8-bit finery.
posted by chrominance at 7:24 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


So, as a general geek and nerd who is only recently into video games, will I enjoy the movie without reading the comics first? Should I read the comics and then see the movie or just go see the damn thing in the theater?

kmz: I saw it without having read the comics and I loved it.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:40 PM on August 16, 2010


i hate michael cera and hipsters but really wanna see this movie. also, that tumblr site's layout is really sexy. me likey.
posted by liza at 7:44 PM on August 16, 2010


Is this where I point out that bits of duel #4 actually came from the obscure Free Scott Pilgrim one-shot from Free Comic Book Day 2006 (towards the bottom of the page here)? Because I keep waiting to be hailed as a clued-in hipster fanboy genius for catching that, and it hasn't happened yet. C'mon! Hipster fanboy genius!

By the Power of Greyskull, I hereby ordain ormondsacker HRH King of the Hipster Fanboy Geniuses.
posted by Dr. Zira at 7:49 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


It's really weird, but while I hated this comic on initial exposure to it, I've been reading the sample pages on Amazon and cracking up. I may just have been in a bad mood in, um, all of 2005. The movie looks great.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:51 PM on August 16, 2010


Huzzah! Cake for all!
posted by ormondsacker at 8:02 PM on August 16, 2010


It wasn't just Toronto; it was the Toronto I actually lived in, all done up in spitcoat 8-bit finery.

Bryan Lee O'Malley drew pretty much every location in the comics from actual locations around Toronto, and Edgar Wright has said in a few interviews how great it was to get to see the specific places from the book in real life.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:08 PM on August 16, 2010


My wife and I (ages 40 & 46) saw it on opening day and both of us absolutely loved it.

Now I need to get my hands on the source material.
posted by tdismukes at 8:18 PM on August 16, 2010


the Lee's Palace interiors are actually sets built for the movie

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? You could've fooled me!

Anyway, yes, another Toronto resident weighing in here. Saw the movie this Sunday and absolutely ADORED it.
posted by tantrumthecat at 8:18 PM on August 16, 2010


Gin and Comics: "Old people can't relate to video games, more at 11."

Video games have been around for a long time by now. The Atari 2600 came out when I was in Junior High and I'd been playing arcade games for a few years before that. So even us middle-aged folk have grown up playing video games.
posted by octothorpe at 8:20 PM on August 16, 2010


I think the ad campaign was a misfire.

I think I'll watch the movie on DVD based on how many people I respect seem to like it, but I thought the trailers made the movie look just awful, like Juno* with CGI. I've been unable to get over the shot where the animated meter in Scott's (I think) head that goes from "no clue" to "clue."

*Sometimes, I'll be doing something totally unrelated and the piece of dialog "honest to blog" will pop into my head and I'll get angry all over again.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:22 PM on August 16, 2010 [2 favorites]


grr. was supposed to go to the cast and crew screening last week, but was too busy working.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 8:42 PM on August 16, 2010


I saw it last weekend and loved it. I can see that it doesn't pass the Bechdel test, and I'm looking forward to reading the comics to get more detail on the female characters, but it didn't bug me in the movie. It still felt like the female characters were having really interesting lives outside the frame of the movie, and that (with the exception of Knives) they didn't share Scott's obsession with Scott, he and the camera just happened to be moving through their lives right now. It's probably a subtle distinction to make, between having an off-screen life and being two-dimensional, but it felt like a definite directorial choice to me.
posted by harriet vane at 8:46 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


ACTUAL TXT MESSAGE EXCHANGE I WAS JUST INVOLVED IN

THEM:

So, Kieran Culkin just stole your personality

ME:

I like to think of it as an homage

THEM:

You have to act totally different now, people will think you're coping.

ME:

Whatever Knives.
posted by The Whelk at 8:48 PM on August 16, 2010 [11 favorites]


Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???? You could've fooled me!

I KNOW! But there are a few crucial signs that all is not what it appears to be:

1) the Lee's Palace sign is painted on the back of the stage, not on the wall of the cubicle that juts out of stage right (or is it stage left? anyways, the right side if you're looking from the crowd's point of view);

2) there are railings on the left and right sides, but NOT in the back, in front of the soundperson's station (which also appears to be missing entirely);

3) I'm pretty sure there's a scene where Scott, Ramona and some of Sex Bob-omb are standing by the bar, and the configuration's all wrong. It's like one of those U-shaped bars, with the bartenders in the middle; Lee's Palace doesn't have a bar like that.

Of course, I may have imagined some or all of this evidence; like I said, it took me a while to convince myself it was all a fake. But man, even if it was, I don't care. It was a really good fake.

Bryan Lee O'Malley drew pretty much every location in the comics from actual locations around Toronto

Oh yeah, I saw that collection of images before I went to see the movie, and I vaguely knew the comic was set in Toronto. I guess what I meant was that the Toronto in the film was a Toronto I could actually relate to. Earlier this summer, Torontoist posted this selection of stills from Atom Egoyan's Chloe, and while I recognize a few of the locations—I live not far from Levack Block, for example—Egoyan's Toronto is populated almost entirely by people with more money, education and cultural appreciation than I. For fuck's sake, YORKVILLE takes center stage in a lot of those shots. I don't like Yorkville. I never feel comfortable there. I'm like an interloper amongst all the celebrity gawkers and the shoppers buying outrageously expensive jeans at Holt Renfrew.
posted by chrominance at 9:11 PM on August 16, 2010


Lee's Palace doesn't have a bar like that.

it used to
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 9:18 PM on August 16, 2010


while I hated this comic on initial exposure to it, I've been reading the sample pages on Amazon and cracking up

I don't know how far you got into it the first time around, but I didn't really warm to the series until the third volume. Up until then, the characters just seemed really shallow and the video game stuff was annoyingly distracting. Unfortunately, a few months ago I heard a really off interview O'Malley gave and it sort of soured me on the whole shebang.

Anyone who has not seen Kung Fu Hustle should really just stop what they are doing and go see it right now. And then go see Shaolin Soccer as well.

I'm sorry, but I spent three goddamn days downloading a movie featuring Jack Palance as a retired Afghan buzkashi player of much repute, so your made-up words movies will just have to wait their turn.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:59 PM on August 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yeah kmz, just go see it. From my experience yesterday you don't have to have read the comic or be a particularly hardcore gamer to enjoy the hell out of it. I saw it as part of my 44th birthday celebration so count me among the over-thirties who somehow managed to make it through the movie without stroking out, though I did have a borderline age-inappropriate moment when Leather Ann Veal showed up.

(There's a pretty cool app with previews of the first chapter or two of the comic. It reads surprisingly well on an iPod Touch but I'll probably still buy it in paperback.)
posted by Lazlo at 11:24 PM on August 16, 2010


Leather Ann Veal

Her?
posted by shakespeherian at 6:44 AM on August 17, 2010 [3 favorites]


I like Michael Cera. I like Edgar Wright. I like video games. I like the lady I'm going to see this w/ tomorrow night, & I like the theater I'm going to see this in. So piss on ya, fun police.
posted by broken wheelchair at 6:45 AM on August 17, 2010


Michael Cera is genuinely shitty, and the main reason I don't want to see this movie. Not because it's cool not to like him, but because there is no good reason to like him.

LEAVE GEORGE-MICHAEL ALONE
posted by mippy at 7:09 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Anyway, I'm looking forward to this coming out, even though I haven't read the comics (much) or seen any of Edgar Wright's other films. Mainly because I want Ramona's hair.
posted by mippy at 7:10 AM on August 17, 2010


Metafilter: Did you miss the samurai troll with a chaingun?
posted by evadery at 7:44 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


watching the movie has made me curious about the comic. thanks to the scott pilgrim vs itself article.
posted by metafus at 7:48 AM on August 17, 2010


Lucas Lee movie posters.
posted by shakespeherian at 11:25 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Mainly because I want Ramona's hair.

SPOILER ALERT: You'll have to make a choice.

Also, slight reiteration of what I'd said above -

41
Female
Hyper-aware of misogyny and sexism in our culture (I know this comes as a shock to anyone who has ever read any of my comments)
Loved the movie. Really loved it. Laughed damned hard, and appreciated *all* the female characters.

(Brandon Routh's vegan would be my pick for stealing the movie, if it weren't for Kieran Culkin's impeccable, understated comic performance.)
posted by tzikeh at 11:42 AM on August 17, 2010


I'm sorry, but I spent three goddamn days downloading a movie featuring Jack Palance as a retired Afghan buzkashi player of much repute

Hey, written by Dalton Trumbo!
posted by Artw at 11:42 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


if it weren't for Kieran Culkin's impeccable, understated comic performance.

Kieran Culkin really does steal every scene he's in - or more precisely, take the scene away, buff it lovingly and return it to its proper place with his calling card delicately placed under one corner.
posted by DNye at 3:26 PM on August 17, 2010 [7 favorites]


Dammit. Now I really, really want to see Lucas Lee in "Thrilled to be Here."
posted by Dr. Zira at 8:55 PM on August 17, 2010


The good news is you're going to live.
The bad news is he's going to kill you.
ACTION DOCTOR
posted by shakespeherian at 7:23 AM on August 18, 2010


ACTION DOCTOR needs to scream LIVE! and DIE! with equal volume and force.
posted by The Whelk at 7:41 AM on August 18, 2010


"Coin Killer Apprehended"

The inevitable Simpsons-i-zation
posted by The Whelk at 8:16 AM on August 18, 2010


I loved the pixelated sword. .
posted by smackfu at 6:28 AM on August 20, 2010


Scott Pilgrim was bloody awesome. That is all.
posted by kmz at 9:39 PM on August 22, 2010


Now that I've actually seen Scott Pilgrim, this list of quotes is doubly great. The snark makes me laugh, plus it's a handy list of film critics whose opinions I will never, ever trust again.

What a great movie.
posted by straight at 11:02 AM on August 24, 2010


Go and Pay to See Scott Pilgrim Right Now ...if you want more movies that are good to be made, you lazy torrenting fucks.
posted by Artw at 9:29 AM on August 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Actually it seemed like all the rabid fans saw it in the many, many preview screenings. Some months ago.
posted by smackfu at 9:38 AM on August 25, 2010


...if you want more movies that are good to be made, you lazy torrenting fucks.

It ain't the torrentz that's killing Pilgrim. There ain't no decent torrent out there... only a cam copy with a partial soundtrack in English with a big chunk in Russian. Or so I've heard.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:41 AM on August 25, 2010


I've never read the comics, am in my late 20's, am a girl, and absolutely loved it. It's the most imaginative, fun, and fresh film i've seen in ages.
posted by ukdanae at 7:26 AM on August 26, 2010


Heh. There's a Music credit to Freddy Mercury for that Flash Gordon sound effect. That fills my nerd heart with additional glee.

BTW, anyone else find the soundtrack album somewhat unfullfilling?
posted by Artw at 9:59 PM on August 29, 2010


The score is better, with all the 8-bit music music, but I like Sex Bomb-Omb as done by Beck.
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 PM on August 30, 2010


Come to think of it, the soundtrack album for Hot Fuzz didn't really capture how the movie sounded either.

( There is a Spaced soundtrack CD, but I haven't really checked it out because I had 99% of the music used in Spaced anyway. No, really, I really did. Such a different life...)
posted by Artw at 9:56 PM on August 30, 2010


I may have graded it on a curve due to the generational specificity ("Stephen Stills" is now in the running to play me in the movie of my life, too) and I reserve the right to change scores, but...

House (1977) 10
Miller's Crossing (1990) 10
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) 10
The Night of the Hunter (1955) 10
Airplane! (1980) 9
Blazing Saddles (1974) 9
C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004) 9
Casablanca (1942) 9
Nobody Knows (2004) 9
Decasia (2002) 9
Dune (1984) 9
In the Mood for Love (2000) 9
Fight Club (1999) 9
Forbidden Zone (1982) 9
Grindhouse (2007) 9
Groundhog Day (1993) 9
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 9
Branded to Kill (1967) 9
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) 9
Bicycle Thieves (1948) 9
The 400 Blows (1959) 9
Night of the Living Dead (1968) 9
Rashomon (1950) 9
Repo Man (1984) 9
Singin' in the Rain (1952) 9
Tokyo Drifter (1966) 9
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) 9
The Big Lebowski (1998) 9
The Graduate (1967) 9
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) 9
The Wild Bunch (1969) 9
Time Bandits (1981) 9
After Life (1998) 9
Hero (2002) 9
Young Frankenstein (1974) 9
Zardoz (1974)

posted by jtron at 6:18 AM on September 1, 2010


Scott Pilgrim in Space!
posted by Artw at 9:27 AM on September 3, 2010


« Older "It was two final actions in the weeks before Mr. ...  |  I want something like Facebook... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments