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Title: Alexz Aficionado Joined: May 21 2008 Posts: 2889

Syd Lexia wrote:

My main thoughts on SPvTW:

Although the film was made on a much bigger budget than Press Start, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World isn't as coherent or clever an homage to video games as its indie predecessor. It's entertaining as hell while it lasts, but Edgar Wright's direction and script lack the unifying vision that someone exceedingly clever like Terry Gilliam would have brought to the project.

Although the titular Scott Pilgrim is 22 years old, the film-making effort reminds me of a lot of high school. See, in high school, when you were given an essay question that you didn't quite know how to answer, you'd just keep writing and writing until the allotted time was up, then hope that some of the stuff you wrote done would be worth credit. This seems to be an increasing trend in Hollywood, too. Richard Kelly films are the worst offender in this regard, but Scott Pilgrim falls into this pattern. It is heavy on concept and cinematography, but disappointingly light on ideas, coherency, and execution.

At the end of the day, Scott Pilgrim is just another "shut your brain off and enjoy the fights" movie. It's an angstier, nerdier version of Expendables, with even less plot. But that's not really such a bad thing, is it?

You're not indirectly shading Southland Tales are you Syd? That's not all Richard Kelly has done, and to be honest, I didn't think the movie was all that bad.

For Scott Pilgrim, I think it was made for our generation. That group that appreciates the music used in parts, the references, and comic book pace it often takes.

The plot was of no real significance. That's definitely not why I went to go watch Michael Cera attempt to act. It was for a deliberate and conscious throwback to what I grew up with. In many ways this movie had a very "video game logic" mindset to it. It doesn't have to make sense, you just suspend disbelief while you watch, like another other movie or fantastic video game.

From a Director standpoint, and using whatever script they had, Scott Pilgrim would have been a challenge for anybody. Hand this off to Tarantino or Fincher and we would have gotten a very different movie. I don't think either one of them connect to us though and few mainstream Directors really do. I was happy with how it turned out and bring the Michael Cera films I like to 1.

This is a movie I'll see more than once and buy the DVD for. A LOT more than 90% of other movies I've seen I can say that for.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 05:11 am

Whatever script they had? I'm not going to argue that the plot is basically a video game, but you guys act like this movie came out of nowhere to exploit our generation or something. You realize the script they had is basically this, right?

Posted: Aug 28 2010 05:17 am

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

Whatever script they had? I'm not going to argue that the plot is basically a video game, but you guys act like this movie came out of nowhere to exploit our generation or something. You realize the script they had is basically this, right?

And might I add that it's a most excellent script. I like some of the improvements they made. The Lucas Lee fight is better in the movie than the books or video game.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 07:07 am

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

Whatever script they had? I'm not going to argue that the plot is basically a video game, but you guys act like this movie came out of nowhere to exploit our generation or something. You realize the script they had is basically this, right?

I've been told the comics tell the story better. The movie doesn't tell a particularly good story.

The movie starts off, and it's quickly established that this is a real, normal world. Then ridiculous, fantastical fights start happening. But everyone else sees them happen. So there's no ambiguity as to whether or not they happen; they do. There's also no explanation as to why Scott and these evil exes have super powers and why no one else seems to freak out when Scott kill the exes.

The plot is sloppy as hell. Press Start establishes right away that it takes place in a video game world with video game logic. Scott Pilgrim does not, but then slowly gets more illogical and never addresses it. That's poor storytelling, and everyone seems okay with it because it's filled with video game references.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Aug 28 2010 09:41 am

I'm sorry, but if you're thinking about things like that, Syd, you're thinking way too hard. I think a lot of the movie's charm is that nonsensical things do keep happening and everyone just accepts it. It doesn't need to be explained. You either get it, or you don't.

It's not a great film, but it's an excellent way to waste about 90 minutes. That's all I asked for.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 12:04 pm

Damn, I still REALLY need to see this. Especially since I just started plowing through the books.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 05:14 pm

Seen it three times already. I love this movie.

The movie is a bit weaker than the comics as far as plot goes, but a big part of the plot is Scott is a self absorbed jerk who grows up by developing empathy. In this regard the evil exes are primarily brought about by Ramona's past callousness, mirroring the people that Scott has hurt in his lifetime. Unfortunately due to time constraints, the lions share of conveying this point is loaded onto Knives, hurting the idea that scott must learn to care about others when the majority of characters in the movie exist as extras.

That being said, its fun, inventive, hilarious, with a tight screenplay and good music and a legitimate heart to it. I'd rather have that over the expendables, which has absolutely nothing going for it besides its lumbering 80's action movie nostalgia factor.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 06:18 pm

Inventive is not a legitimate descriptor for any movie ever. Whenever someone says "inventive" they usually mean "completely fucking pretentious".

Example: Across The Universe is a really inventive film!

Posted: Aug 28 2010 10:11 pm

Vantage Point was a very inventive film.

Posted: Aug 28 2010 10:31 pm

That's the word I've been looking for! Pretentious is exactly how this movie looks. Looks like it has that Hot Topic style of shameless hipster pandering of anything retro they could think of. Michael Cera also comes off pretentious, almost as much as that asshole from Scrubs.

But when it comes to the most pretentious piece of shit movie ever, Across the Universe is miles above everything else. Holy shit that movie was total garbage.

Posted: Aug 29 2010 02:32 am

We get it, Syd: you liked Press Start. I liked Press Start too. That doesn't mean you are required to hate this movie or that every sentence used to evaluate it has to be a stylistic comparison of the two.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Aug 29 2010 09:24 am

Sydlexia.com is a very inventive website.

Posted: Aug 29 2010 05:19 pm

UsaSatsui wrote:

Sydlexia.com is a very inventive website.

Zing!

Posted: Aug 31 2010 01:24 am

Syd Lexia wrote:

Inventive is not a legitimate descriptor for any movie ever. Whenever someone says "inventive" they usually mean "completely fucking pretentious".

Example: Across The Universe is a really inventive film!

I really didn't like that movie. I even wrote a scene by scene analysis for t a while ago and pointed out the stuff that was not necessary or badly done.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

So I rented the movie two nights ago and watched it with my wife.

To say that she fucking hated it is an understatement. When it was over she stood up, stared at me, and said, "You are so watching The Notebook or some other chick flick I know you will hate to make up for this one."

For me, the movie was just ok. I mean, I got a lot of the references, but that was actually the part of the movie I felt the least interest in. The plot was good enough to keep me watching and the action was entertaining. I would say it was a C+/B- movie. For someone who constantly relates life to video games, I can see that it would be more fun. That just wasn't me.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

I'm just going to assume that nobody here read the books. The video game references really aren't important at all. The trending to hipster fags assumption is also stupid.

Just read the damn books, then you'll appreciate the film. this constant analysis is like someone from the 80's picking apart the animated transformers movie when they've never seen the cartoon. It's not deep enough to get into character psychology, pretentiousness, or any of the other things that you guys are talking about, and it's not supposed to be.

It's like advent children: a film designed with entertaining true fans of the original in mind. nothing more, nothing less.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I strongly believe that any movie made from a book should be strong enough to stand on its own without further literary reference to its original story.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

i feel the opposite. its more about seeing physical representation of the events and the characters that you've imagined in your head while reading the books. That's how the first X-Men movie becomes watchable. It's not so much about analyzing the plot and shit, and more about finally getting to see optic blasts "in real life".

this is probably why when talking about these live action versions of cartoons and comics and stuff, changing things drastically for no reason pisses me off, but omissions do not.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 01:36 am

No movie will ever live up to the book. Ever. (Alright, Jaws and Men in Black were better, so there's like one per decade). I really liked the movie, but the books were great. You can't fit the books in 2 hours, so they threw something together that would be good enough. It was entertaining, it just wasn't the full story.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

which is PRECISELY why everyone should read the books before seeing the movie. It's almost like a companion piece to the books as opposed to an adaption to a different media, kinda like when some anime or video games have vocal dramas or webisodes or comics that tell you more.

except this time it's backwards.

also, I had no idea that Men in Black was a book.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 06:58 am

FNJ wrote:

which is PRECISELY why everyone should read the books before seeing the movie. It's almost like a companion piece to the books as opposed to an adaption to a different media, kinda like when some anime or video games have vocal dramas or webisodes or comics that tell you more.

except this time it's backwards.

also, I had no idea that Men in Black was a book.

Comic books actually.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I disagree. A story shouldn't be made into a movie if it can't be done well and thoroughly. Each person has their own preference for entertainment. While reading comics or novels may appeal to some, it may not for others. I personally enjoy movies and am not usually a fan of reading. I love non-fiction news and articles, but I can't really stand reading stories very often. So yes, I expect that if I watch a movie, it will be good enough to stand on its own. If it isn't, then I will flat out say that it wasn't as good as it should have been.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 02:02 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

I disagree. A story shouldn't be made into a movie if it can't be done well and thoroughly. Each person has their own preference for entertainment. While reading comics or novels may appeal to some, it may not for others. I personally enjoy movies and am not usually a fan of reading. I love non-fiction news and articles, but I can't really stand reading stories very often. So yes, I expect that if I watch a movie, it will be good enough to stand on its own. If it isn't, then I will flat out say that it wasn't as good as it should have been.

I disagree too, but you can thank douchebags like J.J. Abrams for people feeling differently. In particular, Cloverfield and LOST. Cloverfield and LOST both deliberately incomplete stories. And the reason they do this is because it allows them to manufacture cross-media goldmines. Oh, you want to know what happens in LOST? Well, you better buy the DVDs, the video game, play the alternate reality game, read the comics, read the books, and buy the Driveshaft CD. And don't get me wrong, I love LOST, but it's total bullshit that they pull that on you.

And Cloverfield just sucks.

A story should make sense on its own.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 03:58 pm

As sathien mentioned, FNJ, MIB were poorly written, shoddily drawn comic books. They were awful, and the guys made a fucking fortune cause someone picked it up to make far superior movies.

GPFontaine wrote:

I disagree. A story shouldn't be made into a movie if it can't be done well and thoroughly. Each person has their own preference for entertainment. While reading comics or novels may appeal to some, it may not for others. I personally enjoy movies and am not usually a fan of reading. I love non-fiction news and articles, but I can't really stand reading stories very often. So yes, I expect that if I watch a movie, it will be good enough to stand on its own. If it isn't, then I will flat out say that it wasn't as good as it should have been.

No, a story SHOULDN'T be made into a movie if it can't be done well and thoroughly But tell that to three attempts at I Am Legend.

Posted: Dec 22 2010 04:16 pm

TMNT was a series of not very good comic books that was later made into a not very good TV show, which led to some not very good Archie comics and some not very good movies.

And yet, it made it a shit ton of money.

Probably because the toys and video games were fun.