Scott Pilgrim...WTF??

[Robert Maxwell]

Sorry I didn't mean to sound abrasive.

Hm, that's not very Internet of you.

I saw the movie over the weekend and enjoyed it. I wish it had done better in theaters, if for no other reason than it would be swell to encourage studios to expand their horizons in terms of comic adaptations.

I just shake my head at people gloating over its failure. I hope they're not the same people who complain about Hollywood lacking originality every time a remake is announced.

But in the end, I got a movie I liked and six great volumes of comics. I can't really ask for more than that.

Same here! Sucks that it didn't do well at the box office, but that doesn't dampen my own enjoyment of it.

 

[Pilot Ace]

I just shake my head at people gloating over its failure. I hope they're not the same people who complain about Hollywood lacking originality every time a remake is announced.

While my friend hasn't been actively gloating over its failure, he was definitely hoping it would bomb when I would tell him about movies I was excited to see months before it came out.

And yes, he is also the type that bitches about remakes and lack of originality. I think we even had the two conversations in the same day. Sad, really.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I love it when Hollywood is willing to experiment. I just don't think this experiment worked. It's not for a flawed premise so much as a lack of proper pacing in its execution. It's just not as cute as it thinks it is. Maybe I'm too open to stylistic experimentation, to the point where I'm blase about the style itself.

Safe to say, Scott is supposed to be something of a douchebag.

Exactly. What I think makes the character work is that you're still rooting for him despite him being flawed and being a douchebag.

I wasn't really rooting for him. While I love flawed characters, they also have to have some kind of redeeming quality. Like in Rushmore, while Max could be very abrasive at times, he made up for it with his boundless enthusiasm & ambition. With Scott, I couldn't really pick out a single thing that I did like.

I also think that's why Romana is the town bike rather than the virginal figure you get in a lot of these books.

There's nothing wrong with having either as much or as little consensual sex as you want.

 

[JoeZhang]

I love it when Hollywood is willing to experiment. I just don't think this experiment worked. It's not for a flawed premise so much as a lack of proper pacing in its execution. It's just not as cute as it thinks it is. Maybe I'm too open to stylistic experimentation, to the point where I'm blase about the style itself.

Safe to say, Scott is supposed to be something of a douchebag.

Exactly. What I think makes the character work is that you're still rooting for him despite him being flawed and being a douchebag.

I wasn't really rooting for him. While I love flawed characters, they also have to have some kind of redeeming quality. Like in Rushmore, while Max could be very abrasive at times, he made up for it with his boundless enthusiasm & ambition. With Scott, I couldn't really pick out a single thing that I did like.

I also think that's why Romana is the town bike rather than the virginal figure you get in a lot of these books.

There's nothing wrong with having either as much or as little consensual sex as you want.

Nothing in the slightest but they tend to shy away from it in Hollywood productions.

 

[stueyross]

Sorry I didn't mean to sound abrasive.

You Sir, win the Internet. I apologise if I was touchy

 

[stueyross]

So...and interesting thing has happened over the last few days. The last time this happened was with Firefly which I originally didnt like at all. I'd watched the Train Job and was amazingly underwhelmed, I even disliked the music. But then I watched Out of Gas and was hooked ever since.

Something similar just happened with Spot Pilgrim

A couple of video game jokes, a film reference here or there and just the general flow of book 3 (i think) and I'm liking it a little better. Its still a little too slacker culture, theres still not enough of a hook for me, and I dont think the artwork is *that* good but it has grown on me.

I'm also slightly saddened that the film hasnt done as well as was hoped. Scott Pilgrim didn't just bomb at the box office ($10.5 million on its first weekend and a 52 percent fall on its second), but it is pretty much a disaster for the studio, Universal Pictures. With a budget of $60 million (possibly even more) and at least $30 million to $40 million in marketing, there's very little chance for the movie to make its money back.

Real fans of this deserved a good movie adaptation and from the sounds of it, the film doesnt quite know what it wants to be. I cant wait to see it myself, even though I think putting Michael Cera as the lead is a woefully misguided move. Blastr just published a bit of a dissection and had this to say about him:

Hollywood has a funny way of puffing actors up into stars just because they've been in a hit movie or two. "I don't know why or when this occurred, but somehow this industry became convinced without any evidence that Michael Cera is a star," an unnamed marketing executive reported.

Sure, Cera was in Juno and Superbad, but was he the reason they were successful? Not quite. Movies built around Cera since, like Youth in Revolt, have bombed at the box office. Couple that with the fact that the guy has been playing more or less the same damn character in every movie—an annoying, passive, whiny manboy with no self-assurance, no direction in life and no interest in obtaining either.

Have to say....I agree. Apart from that from what Ive seen the film looks gorgeous

Ah well...cant wait to see how the last book finishes......

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Well I thought the film was fantastic. I don't see why it hasn't done well because my friend who's never read the books loved it, and my nieces who have aren't really in to geeky stuff at all loved it too... we all plan on seeing it a few more times.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

I just shake my head at people gloating over its failure. I hope they're not the same people who complain about Hollywood lacking originality every time a remake is announced.

While my friend hasn't been actively gloating over its failure, he was definitely hoping it would bomb when I would tell him about movies I was excited to see months before it came out.

And yes, he is also the type that bitches about remakes and lack of originality. I think we even had the two conversations in the same day. Sad, really.

I hate to say this, but your friend is a twit and then some.

 

[Pilot Ace]

Real fans of this deserved a good movie adaptation and from the sounds of it, the film doesnt quite know what it wants to be. I cant wait to see it myself, even though I think putting Michael Cera as the lead is a woefully misguided move.

The thing of it is that Edgar Wright made a terrific adaptation for the niche that will get hooked by the material and that niche has praised it, but wide audiences are not willing to try it for whatever reason. Most reviews, amateur and professional, have praised it. The film succeeds at being a Comedy-Action-Romance through and through. I don't doubt it'll become a cult classic.

Perhaps Cera was a bad choice from a marketing standpoint because people are tired of him or what have you, but from a creative standpoint he plays a great Scott Pilgrim--not exactly the one in the books, mind you, but one that really works.

I hate to say this, but your friend is a twit and then some.

He definitely has his flaws and a lot of them are damned irritating and in your face.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was burnt out on Michael Cera a while ago, so I never bothered to see most of his movies in the last few years. When Scott Pilgrim came out, I had distanced myself from Cera enough that I was ready to watch him again, and I was pleasantly surprised by his performance.

 

[TheBrew]

Me too, RoJoHen. I'm not the biggest Cera fan, but he was great in SPvsW.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I also think that's why Romana is the town bike rather than the virginal figure you get in a lot of these books.

There's nothing wrong with having either as much or as little consensual sex as you want.

Nothing in the slightest but they tend to shy away from it in Hollywood productions.

Not just in Hollywood. I think there are some very peculiar attitudes that the overall culture has about sex right now that are very destructive. But that's another thread entirely.

 

[Small White Car]

I also don't think the character of Ramona Flowers quite works. While Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a lovely actress, the character often comes across as so frigid & lifeless that I really have to wonder why any of these men think that she's worth the effort.

AWW...man. I didn't want this to be true, but the moment I saw this:

...I was immediately reminded of this:

i.e. ~ A dull girl that the movie depends on everyone thinking is hot so they just gave her colored hair to make her seem unique and quirky but really she's none of those things so the movie is pointless and stupid but, ok, nice try with the hair trick, guys, maybe next time try something even more unique, like making her a competitive yo-yo performance artist, maybe that'll work. (deeep breath) *

I'm still gonna see Scott Pilgrim, but you all are not giving me a lot of hope here. I'm hoping you're wrong. (I'm seriously committed to this now. I'm gonna see this thing even though someone noted earlier that the playing of the Final Fantasy theme counts as a 'joke' in this movie.)

At least I've never seen a Michael Cera movie before so the whole "burned out" issue many are citing won't be a problem. I still want to like this movie so I'll certainly be giving it a fair shot.

* (And yes, I'm aware she probably looked like that in the comic. I'm not saying they literally colored her hair for the same reasons they did it in Sunshine, I'm just saying the end result sure as hell reminded me of it, however it happened.)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Romana is just as flawed a character as anyone else in the films and books...her arc is much more fleshed out in the books than in the movie and yes her hair is like that...remember that this is an manga. Wright wanted to be as faithful as possible. I've STILL not seen the movie yet and am aiming for next week sometime.

 

[Arpy]

Sorry I didn't mean to sound abrasive.

You Sir, win the Internet. I apologise if I was touchy

It's like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

 

[Mr Light]

It's Ramona guys, not Romana. This isn't Doctor Who

 

[JarodRussell]

RAMADA!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Worst. Hotel. Ever.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I also don't think the character of Ramona Flowers quite works. While Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a lovely actress, the character often comes across as so frigid & lifeless that I really have to wonder why any of these men think that she's worth the effort.

AWW...man. I didn't want this to be true, but the moment I saw this:

...I was immediately reminded of this:

i.e. ~ A dull girl that the movie depends on everyone thinking is hot so they just gave her colored hair to make her seem unique and quirky but really she's none of those things so the movie is pointless and stupid but, ok, nice try with the hair trick, guys, maybe next time try something even more unique, like making her a competitive yo-yo performance artist, maybe that'll work. (deeep breath) *

The quickest way to make a woman irresistably sexy is to make her be Zooey Deschanel. She's just got an X factor that enables her to rise above any potential pitfalls or deficiencies in the writing. I'm just sayin is all...

 

[JacksonArcher]

I dunno, I like Zooey Deschanel too but even she couldn't really elevate Yes, Man into anything tolerable and worth watching...