I feel like I need to save this quote somewhere.
Scott Pilgrim...WTF??
- Thread starter stueyross
- Start date
I feel like I need to save this quote somewhere.
The movie overall was lame but her character was extremely likable and you never doubted why he fell for her.
I don't know. I didn't find her all that appealing or likable at all. In fact, comparable to Michael Cera's "shtick", while Zooey Deschanel's acting career hasn't quite devolved to that, I find myself seeing her repeating herself in a lot of other roles. That sort of mysterious, aloof quality that she seems to bring to nearly every role. It hasn't quite become that apparent, but it's starting to.
Ok, just got back.
WOW.
You all got me worried for nothing. This movie is the real deal. And I'm not talking about me liking it. I did, but that really doesn't matter. The point is not "liking it" or not but rather the fact that this will be pointed to as one of the trend-setting movies that kicked off the 10's. (Is that the way to say it? The 2010's? I dunno, whatever.)
The point is, this is this decade's Matrix in terms of how influential (and copied) it's going to be. I am nearly positive of this. Shall we count the ways in which this film will be seen by future film historians?
1) "Fun" graphics.
No, not the 'Pee Bar.' I'm talking about things like the band's sound creating visual cartoons. I'm talking about the subtle stuff like that (and not the stuff like music dragons fighting a monkey). This movie is the intersection where comics, video games, and movies all meet. Other films have claimed to do it but this is the first one who really pulled it off. Expect to see more "fun" effects like that over the next decade. Terminator 2 was almost 20 years ago and ever since then Hollywood has tried to ratchet up the realism in movie effects more and more. I think they've finally hit the "as real as it's gonna get" point and audiences are getting bored. They've seen it all by now.
Go ahead, make something even better than Avatar...I'm sure it can be done, but will anyone care? No, that race is over. Many will still pursue it but it won't get you special attention any more. Expect to see more Scott Pilgrim styled cartoon graphics and effects in the future. That'll be the "the new hotness" (as the kids like to say).
This is going to be the "bullet time" of 2010. I'll bet money on it.
2) De-Bournification
Matt Damon gave us a fantastic new action style for the 2000s. We were all shocked by the camera work in his Bourne films, but it really worked. And then we saw it work again and again and again. I know people are sick of it, but what's next? Surely we can't go back to the slow boring ways of old, right?
Well, no, but Scott Pilgrim has shown us a new way. We had a lot of zooms and fast cuts during the fights, but we also had a LOT of steady, slow shots mixed in! Watch the scene where Scott fights the stunt doubles. I swear there was a 10 to 15 second shot in there where the camera barely moved! (Aside from some zooms, I mean.) Add in all the split screens (where the camera doesn't move much) and you have a whole new action style that is VERY stable compared to what we're used to! Still fast, still exciting, but fundamentally opposed to everything we've gotten used to over the last 8 years of action movies.
As with #1, I think people will point to this as the start of a new era of film over the next 10 years. THIS is real "comic book style" film-making. It's exciting and I think we'll see more of it. (Watchmen, by contrast, was "super hero style," not "comic book style" like this one is.)
3) Video Game World
This is a small thing, but the way in which this world just accepts Scott's fights? I think we'll be seeing more of that soon, too. You know how the "road full of emergency vehicles" is a big 80's action movie cliche ending? I think that "the public just accepts random violence" will be a 2010's cliche. We now have screenwriters and directors who had video games their whole lives. Expect to see more films feel like video game worlds. Not all...but many. This film will be held up as an example of an early version of that.
~ ~
And that's just the big points...the stuff I think has historical value. What else was there to love?
1- They got to fight freak'n Tinkerbell. You all probably don't hear this often, but I doubt you're nerdy enough to really appreciate how awesome that was. Tinker Bell is pissed.
2 - The girls were all not that hot...which made them totally hot. Hard to explain, but Edgar Wright has a great sense for hiding beauty and then reveling it in little bursts, right when he wants you to see it.
3 - I know there's more, but it's late and I'm tired and am having trouble remembering stuff. But anyway, just see the damn movie.
~ ~
The ONE thing that I thought was over the top were the Vegan Police. Or maybe it was their magic fingers that got to me? Dunno...it was the one scene that made me say "ok, that's too far" and in this movie, that's saying something.
All in all, I loved it. A worthy successor to Kung Fu Hustle. I didn't think that would happen for many years, but I'm willing to give it that title.
WOW.
You all got me worried for nothing. This movie is the real deal. And I'm not talking about me liking it. I did, but that really doesn't matter. The point is not "liking it" or not but rather the fact that this will be pointed to as one of the trend-setting movies that kicked off the 10's. (Is that the way to say it? The 2010's? I dunno, whatever.)
The point is, this is this decade's Matrix in terms of how influential (and copied) it's going to be. I am nearly positive of this. Shall we count the ways in which this film will be seen by future film historians?
1) "Fun" graphics.
No, not the 'Pee Bar.' I'm talking about things like the band's sound creating visual cartoons. I'm talking about the subtle stuff like that (and not the stuff like music dragons fighting a monkey). This movie is the intersection where comics, video games, and movies all meet. Other films have claimed to do it but this is the first one who really pulled it off. Expect to see more "fun" effects like that over the next decade. Terminator 2 was almost 20 years ago and ever since then Hollywood has tried to ratchet up the realism in movie effects more and more. I think they've finally hit the "as real as it's gonna get" point and audiences are getting bored. They've seen it all by now.
Go ahead, make something even better than Avatar...I'm sure it can be done, but will anyone care? No, that race is over. Many will still pursue it but it won't get you special attention any more. Expect to see more Scott Pilgrim styled cartoon graphics and effects in the future. That'll be the "the new hotness" (as the kids like to say).
This is going to be the "bullet time" of 2010. I'll bet money on it.
2) De-Bournification
Matt Damon gave us a fantastic new action style for the 2000s. We were all shocked by the camera work in his Bourne films, but it really worked. And then we saw it work again and again and again. I know people are sick of it, but what's next? Surely we can't go back to the slow boring ways of old, right?
Well, no, but Scott Pilgrim has shown us a new way. We had a lot of zooms and fast cuts during the fights, but we also had a LOT of steady, slow shots mixed in! Watch the scene where Scott fights the stunt doubles. I swear there was a 10 to 15 second shot in there where the camera barely moved! (Aside from some zooms, I mean.) Add in all the split screens (where the camera doesn't move much) and you have a whole new action style that is VERY stable compared to what we're used to! Still fast, still exciting, but fundamentally opposed to everything we've gotten used to over the last 8 years of action movies.
As with #1, I think people will point to this as the start of a new era of film over the next 10 years. THIS is real "comic book style" film-making. It's exciting and I think we'll see more of it. (Watchmen, by contrast, was "super hero style," not "comic book style" like this one is.)
3) Video Game World
This is a small thing, but the way in which this world just accepts Scott's fights? I think we'll be seeing more of that soon, too. You know how the "road full of emergency vehicles" is a big 80's action movie cliche ending? I think that "the public just accepts random violence" will be a 2010's cliche. We now have screenwriters and directors who had video games their whole lives. Expect to see more films feel like video game worlds. Not all...but many. This film will be held up as an example of an early version of that.
~ ~
And that's just the big points...the stuff I think has historical value. What else was there to love?
1- They got to fight freak'n Tinkerbell. You all probably don't hear this often, but I doubt you're nerdy enough to really appreciate how awesome that was. Tinker Bell is pissed.
2 - The girls were all not that hot...which made them totally hot. Hard to explain, but Edgar Wright has a great sense for hiding beauty and then reveling it in little bursts, right when he wants you to see it.
3 - I know there's more, but it's late and I'm tired and am having trouble remembering stuff. But anyway, just see the damn movie.
~ ~
The ONE thing that I thought was over the top were the Vegan Police. Or maybe it was their magic fingers that got to me? Dunno...it was the one scene that made me say "ok, that's too far" and in this movie, that's saying something.
All in all, I loved it. A worthy successor to Kung Fu Hustle. I didn't think that would happen for many years, but I'm willing to give it that title.
^The Vegan Police thing is right out of the comic book though.
I haven't read them, but isn't it fair to say they cut a lot of things out of the film that were in the comic book? I understand they were pretty long.
So if they're cutting some stuff out, I'm just saying that they should have made the 'cut' list.
Not a big deal, I'm just saying it was the one thing that made me say "meh."
Much as I loved the movie I don't think it's going to radically alter the face of modern cinema when it only made $25 million worldwide after two weeks.
Doesn't matter. How many directors and editors saw it? That's all that matters. I am certain this film will be influential. Where do you think Blue & Orange came from? I have no idea but I bet it wasn't blockbusters. New ideas usually come from small movies and filter their way UP. They don't take risks on $200 million movies. Those movies takes things that worked in cheap movies and steal them after they've seen that they work. Whether or not anyone saw that cheap movie really doesn't matter.
To be fair though, it's only just opened in the UK and hasn't opened in a lot of places internationally, so that's nothing to go by for the international take.Much as I loved the movie I don't think it's going to radically alter the face of modern cinema when it only made $25 million worldwide after two weeks.
Well yeah, there was a hell of a lot missing, so I suppose they could have changed it, but you'd only have people complaining about needless changes then.
It reminds me of a petty complaint I had about Meet the Robinsons. There's a 4 or 5 second long shot where a character's head comes out of a toilet (they were looking for the garage and got lost).
I argued that the removal of that one shot would have made a big improvement to the film. That was another "over the top ridiculous" movie chock full of insanity but where I felt that one tiny thing went too far over the line and pulled you out of the film.
(And for the record, the bird wearing the bell hop uniform for NO REASON was totally fine. I loved that part. So there's no real easy way to measure this stuff.)
What can I say...I obsess over the little things.
The Vegan Police thing was both foreshadowed and lampshaded a lot better in the comics. I just got done reading all 6 volumes. They're awesome. 
The Vegan Police thing was both foreshadowed and lampshaded a lot better in the comics. I just got done reading all 6 volumes. They're awesome.
Yeah, the books were fantastic and of course you get more chance to flesh out and foreshadow a lot of things when you've got 6 200 page books, compared to under 2 hours of film.
The Vegan Police thing was both foreshadowed and lampshaded a lot better in the comics. I just got done reading all 6 volumes. They're awesome.
Definitely agreed, it's one of the very few nitpicks I have about the film... But, I totally understand why they did it that way. They saved at least 5 to 10 minutes of screen time with the change.
They'd already trimmed the Todd fight and Envy backstory down to the bone. I suppose they could've eliminated the vegan police and then re-included the Honest Ed's chase/fight and made that the main battle, but I imagine it would've been prohibitively difficult to shoot properly. I would've preferred it, though, especially considering how stylish the rest of the film was. It would've looked fantastic.
I like this shot of Todd from the video game.
The Punisher and Ayel know how to kick ass.
I took it as satire on hyperactive advertising and bargain-retail culture (it was only later I found out it was set in a real place). I imagined the effect as being something like every screaming used-car commercial that's twice as loud as the actual show, awful sham-wow style product demo, sensory-overload theme park or county fair, and cheesy flea market you could get lost in with lights and horns and people blaring in your face constantly from all directions.
Imagine being surrounded by Billy Mayes and Vince hawking their wares at you while a firetruck is running its siren during a rave.
It probably would've played better on-screen for you. I can only imagine how that kind of total saturation of light, sound, and miles of cheap bargain-basement crap would've come out in the movie's idiom.
Dusty Ayres
Commodore
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