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Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Dir. Wright, Cera, Kendrick, Evans, Schwartzman)

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In referencing Kurt Vonnegut with its use of the last name of the author's "Slaughterhouse-Five" protagonist Billy Pilgrim, the movie seems to promise some amount of time-shifting social criticism.

I...what? Does he not realise Pilgrim is actually a surname?

...what?
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
derFeef said:
:lol This can´t be real.
That's what it is, though.
I mean, you can't do that stuff now and not bring to mind the Adam West Batman show. Edgar Wright is smart enough to know that.
 

Tain

Member
Why would be "awkwarded out" by video game references? I mean....you're on NeoGAF.

Maybe you're one of those self-hating gamers who doesn't want anyone to know they play games?

nah, I'm fine with people knowing I play games. Ask anybody at work! I can't help but get off-put with all the retro pandering stuff, though.
 

Chorazin

Member
Tain said:
nah, I'm fine with people knowing I play games. Ask anybody at work! I can't help but get off-put with all the retro pandering stuff, though.

If it's presented like it is in the comic it's not going to be pandering at all. It's just part of how Scott's universe works, eveyone accepts it.
 
Seeing this tonight with Wright and some cast members. I'm hoping the afterparty is sufficiently Pilgrim themed. Will post pics of any cool free stuff.
 

ezekial45

Banned
Count Dookkake said:
Seeing this tonight with Wright and some cast members. I'm hoping the afterparty is sufficiently Pilgrim themed. Will post pics of any cool free stuff.

Wheres this at, if you don't mind me asking.
 
The most blatant videogame things are the 1-UP and the fact that is says "VS" every time a fight starts. Everything else, from what I remember, is very subtle. Little sound effects or musical cues in the background. It's very well executed.
 
WordAssassin said:
The most blatant videogame things are the 1-UP and the fact that is says "VS" every time a fight starts. Everything else, from what I remember, is very subtle. Little sound effects or musical cues in the background. It's very well executed.

I've heard
The Legend of Zelda Music
is in it.
 

big ander

Member
Krev said:
That's what it is, though.
I mean, you can't do that stuff now and not bring to mind the Adam West Batman show. Edgar Wright is smart enough to know that.
That's not what it is.
Visual noises have been used in countless cartoons and comics. To say it's a specific homage to '60s Batman is extremely ignorant.

Excellent article about Scott Pilgrim reviews:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/08/12/129150813/-scott-pilgrim-versus-the-unfortunate-tendency-to-review-the-audience
Basically, the author says that she loved Scott Pilgrim. However, she sees why others don't enjoy it. But those that didn't enjoy it are being jackasses because they aren't saying why they didn't like the movie: they're insulting those who did.
 
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.")
:lol
 
DoctorWho said:
I've heard
The Legend of Zelda Music
is in it.
It is. I said there were gaming musical cues. People who don't know what it's from will think it's just retro chip-tunes music. Those that do know what it's from will appreciate it. It's a very well done scene and the music fits it perfectly.
 
The AVClub nails exactly how the movie is, but vastly underrates it when it comes to its grade. Even the reviewer himself doesn't agree with the score he himself gave it.

"BUT REALLY, ITS A GREAT MOVIE, SEE IT ANYWAY"
 
big ander said:
That's not what it is.
Visual noises have been used in countless cartoons and comics. To say it's a specific homage to '60s Batman is extremely ignorant.

Excellent article about Scott Pilgrim reviews:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/08/12/129150813/-scott-pilgrim-versus-the-unfortunate-tendency-to-review-the-audience
Basically, the author says that she loved Scott Pilgrim. However, she sees why others don't enjoy it. But those that didn't enjoy it are being jackasses because they aren't saying why they didn't like the movie: they're insulting those who did.
linky no worky
 

big ander

Member
Yep, it does work. Would you happen to have NPR blocked for some reason?

Another review from HitFix:
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-fien-print/posts/movie-review-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world
[Cera] just didn't fit my image of Scott Pilgrim when he was cast as the lead in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" and even after watching Edgar Wright's adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved series of graphic novels, my opinion remained unchanged. Did I go in with a negative predisposition? Well of course I did. It's the same way any of us goes into a filmed version of a familiar book or TV show unconvinced by a piece of casting (or so excessively convinced at a piece of casting perfection that we're blind to unrealized potential). You do it. I do it.

Guess what? I'm not changin' my mind. Cera gives a decent performance in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," but what he gives is a Michael Cera performance, augmented slightly by decently performed stunt work and simulated musicianship. He doesn't really embody the Scott Pilgrim of the books and, somewhat more damning, he also doesn't deliver the arc that's specified in Wright and Michael Bacall's script. In a movie that very much intends to be nothing less than transformative for the medium-at-large, Cera's failure to transform himself is less-than-ideal.

But guess what? Like the line from "Meatballs" says, it just doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter because even if Cera never becomes convincing, Wright has orchestrated a film with so much energy, so much style and populated by so many terrific supporting performances, that its central deficiency is masked. Yes, Scott Pilgrim becomes an afterthought in a film that has his name in the title, but it ends up being Wright's whiz-bang pop culture joy that's the real star of this sweet, funny, exciting film.
...
And as for the exes, they're played by an assortment of scene-stealers who reveled at the chance to drop in for a week or two, chew on the scenery, upstage Cera and leave. Chris Evans gives the funniest performance, Mae Whitman the most emotional, Jason Schwartzman the most nuanced and Brandon Routh the most enjoyably douchy.

If Michael Cera wasn't the Scott Pilgrim in my mind as I was reading the book, Mary Elizabeth Winstead most certainly *is* the Ramona Flowers in my mind.
Or at least she's the Ramona Flowers who took over for Shannyn Sossamon in my mind once it became clear that Shannyn Sossamon would be too old by the time the movie was made. I've already seen one or two critics complain that Ramona is needlessly enigmatic and a projection of male desire, as if there were an accident and not the entire construction of the character. Scott's difficulties understanding Ramona and coming to terms with her past stem from his own projected issues. It would make more sense if Cera didn't play the character with such passivity, but as in the book, Winstead's Ramona is protean fantasy creation who eventually gets to tackle her own issues.
...
Beating the "'Scott Pilgrim' is better as a book than as a movie" dead horse doesn't accomplish anything and it probably needlessly overshadows just how much I enjoyed "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World."

At some point, Edgar Wright will make a movie or TV show that isn't a pastiche of his various entertainment influences, but I wouldn't encourage him to move in that direction with any urgency. When it comes to features, he's 3-for-3 on projects that shouldn't necessarily work, but function as both parodies and exemplars of the things being parodied. "Shaun of the Dead" is a hilarious zombie parody, but also a sufficiently scary and gory zombie movie. "Hot Fuzz" is a parody of over-blown action movies, but it's also stuffed with set pieces that exceed nearly anything in the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced oeuvre. And "Scott Pilgrim" functions as a video game-flavored action movie, a slacker comedy and an ultra-earnest young adult romance, while winking at possible viewer fatigue for those genres.
...
For a certain demographic, the language spoken in "Scott Pilgrim" will serve as almost an entertainment Esperanto. For other viewers, a great majority of viewers, "Scott Pilgrim" may suffer from literal and thematic cacophony. It probably won't take viewers long to know which camp they fit into. If you cheer at the Atari-inspired Universal logo, if you groove on the jarring panel-to-panel editing, if you're ready to rock out to the Beck-penned Sex Bob-omb songs, if you accept the whimsical notion that the girl you love could literally rollerblade through your brain, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" will probably resonate on more than one level.

And finally, O'Malley added his last batch of backstage photos.

4882941356_4933e44375_z.jpg

4882334685_e49066ff43_z.jpg

4882941634_6e7a838e3f_z.jpg

4886366396_4773466665_z.jpg

4885762601_66c3afc991_z.jpg
 
DeathbyVolcano said:
That's incredibly typical, Ben. Music for trailers and spots are negotiated separate from in-movie usage and soundtrack rights.

Right but I remember when they released the trailer, all the songs were cited as being in the movie. Plus it was very 8-bity and sounds a lot like the rest of the soundtrack. LIKE "Death To All Hipsters" but not exactly it.
 

evil ways

Member
Movie was pretty cool. If you love Scott Pilgrim and have been mega hyped for this, you'll have a blast, or even if you don't know much about SP, but enjoy quirky humor and video game sounds or references, you'll be greatly entertained.

If you hate Michael Cera and arent in the demographic mentioned above, don't bother.

Schwartzman = godly, and even the rest of the characters especially Wallace, are fucking hilarious.
 

derFeef

Member
I am rewatching that music video over and over again. I can not believe that I have to wait 6 MORE MONTHS to see this movie. Life sucks.
 

ezekial45

Banned
derFeef said:

Interesting, they cut out 15 minutes of footage. He said it'll end up on the home release. :D

big ander said:
Yep, it does work. Would you happen to have NPR blocked for some reason?

Another review from HitFix:
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-fien-print/posts/movie-review-scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world

I just don't agree with his sentiments on Cera. I honestly can't see anyone else playing the role. In comments he suggests that Emile Hirsch or JGL (WTF?) would've been better.
 

Jintor

Member
Cera's not quite the same Scott, but that's cool. At no point in the film did I feel I was watching "Cera" instead of Scott Pilgrim. The only major difference imho is the look.
 

remz

Member
Jintor said:
Cera's not quite the same Scott, but that's cool. At no point in the film did I feel I was watching "Cera" instead of Scott Pilgrim. The only major difference imho is the look.
I haven't read the books at all, but it didn't feel like I was watching typical Cera, he was decidedly different from the norm.
 
big ander said:
Youth In Revolt man.
And I don't get why it's a problem when it works so often. For his character in AD he acts under that style, and it's perfect. For Superbad he's mostly that style, but with higher-reaching goals. And it works. In YIR his character is so much less awkward. He's more confident in what he does and isn't timid about trying to get what he wants or mouthing off.
In Year One, he's awful, but I don't really know if that's his fault because every single facet of that movie is so completely bad. In Nick and Norah is falls short, but so does most of that movie.
And from the reviews in this thread and the numerous clips of the film, it sure seems like he's not "Cera playing Cera." So I can't wait to see what he does with the Pilgrim character.
How was he at all not the usual Cera in Youth in Revolt? Usual Cera characters are characters that are awkward, geeky, and super strange when it comes to sex/girls. That's his exact character in Youth, only this time he creates that alternate personality that is more confident, but still kind of geeky. His character in Youth has the typical character arc of his characters where at the end they become more self assured. Its pretty much the same as all his other movie characters.

Anyway I don't know what to see tonight. This or Expendables. I'm so conflicted.
 

Belfast

Member
<3 Kim, but also <3 Aubrey Plaza. It's a shame to hear she's gotten pregnant, because that means someone got there before I did. D:
 

big ander

Member
Rahxephon91 said:
How was he at all not the usual Cera in Youth in Revolt? Usual Cera characters are characters that are awkward, geeky, and super strange when it comes to sex/girls. That's his exact character in Youth, only this time he creates that alternate personality that is more confident, but still kind of geeky. His character in Youth has the typical character arc of his characters where at the end they become more self assured. Its pretty much the same as all his other movie characters.

Anyway I don't know what to see tonight. This or Expendables. I'm so conflicted.
In YIR he's more determined and a lot less timid. Especially when you realize that it's just one Cera doing all of it.

Belfast said:
<3 Kim, but also <3 Aubrey Plaza. It's a shame to hear she's gotten pregnant, because that means someone got there before I did. D:
...Aubrey Plaza is pregnant?
Could have sworn to god that something like 2 days ago she said on a late night show "I'm not dating anyone, you'd have to put a baby in me or get nothing, so no nothing right now." And google returns nothing.
 
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