Scott Pilgrim vs. Your Mind (Movie thread; spoilers)

[JustAName]

So I went to go see the midnight showing last night, and I've been flailing and telling everyone to go see it since. SO GOOD! Admittedly different from the books, and I'm OCD enough that that usually pisses me off, but it was a good adaption, and I liked it. Also, the passwords for the club made me happy.

To me, Gideon was a *great* character. I mean, I probably wouldn't like the guy were I to meet him, but he was a fantastic character. Well done.

[korri]

I really enjoyed it too! It was just a lot of fun and the way they incorporated a lot of the comic-ness was great. I know some people might not have liked that very much, but I thought it was really cool.

Everything seemed the same way I thought it should be. I approve!

[Hakaryu]

Amazing movie, best I've seen in a long time.

[goat]

THAT WAS LIKE A MOVIE BURRITO.

I AM FULL OF MOVIE.

It was very, very good.

Cera was alright, good in some parts, worse in others. Everybody else was spot on, especially Knives and Kim.

The bits that were changed were.. interesting. I think it kind of worked both ways, but I prefer the books.

[Gordon Fearman]

I wouldn't say it was amazing. It was good. But not amazing. There were some flaws though. Particularly Kim's character got the short end of the no-depth stick. Or maybe the long end. I...uh? Envy also got the variable length end of that stick. So it didn't really make a lot/any sense when Scott apologised for his behaviour. Because we don't know what he did.

Also, there is no blizzard. Why can't he see her? I can see her. Hell, I can still see the swings like 50 metres away.

That chip thing was a little weak, but whatever.

They called Young Neil 'Neil' like 50 times. That joke made no sense.

So this movie like takes place over how many days? 'Cause he pulls out the 'l' word fast.

Anyway, that's it. It was damn funny and the fight scenes were awesome. Now everyone mourn that X-men patch. It's dead now and it makes me just a little sad for some reason.

[epocalypse]

Scott Pilgrim Versus The World...

Well, I just saw it, and I loved it. As far as the story and changes go, I think it is an excellent adaptation, and is actually superior in terms of being a complete and focused story when compared to the comics. It actually has Michael Cera's best performance (and a genuinely good performance regardless) to date, and the rest of the cast and the music are some of the highlights. I'd say the primary difference in the film is that it is far more about Scott, the Band, Ramona, and Knives in the now than it is about the past (and, therefore, the exes). It's a far tighter and more consistent story, with fewer plot holes, and operating in a tighter time frame than the comic. The more full concentration on the musical and fantastical aspects, and the point that Scott leaves the band but stays friends all work better for me as a whole, even if that means that some of my favorite scenes can't exist in film version. I'll probably see it again and buy it on DVD.

That said, the film, though a noble and thoroughly enjoyable experiment, is in the end just that, the first of a new kind of aesthetic, video game comic punk camp, if you will, and doesn't succeed as well as the comic does or Edgar Wright's previous projects do at being a complete and widely enjoyable experience, being far too limited to a certain audience, and even that, shooting it self in the foot slightly as it maps new grounds and goes to new places. It is nigh unintelligible to anyone not completely well versed in video game and internet culture, and it's comic cartoon aesthetic presents some of the same problems. This hypercamp format didn't always work for me, even as someone who genuinely loved the film (the sitcom laugh tracks are a great example, as for me they undercut the genuinely funny lines being said, and didn't make sense for the characters present, Scott in particular, who is our primary POV). I prefer the movie as a story, but the books as a fully realized piece of art, and though not disappointed by the film, was the least blown away by it of my personal summer big three (This, Inception, and Toy Story 3). I give it a solid 8 out of 10, as very good movie, spot on and focused adaptation, and absolutely fantastic experiment.

All that said, and I'll say it again, Cera was, in my opinion, fantastic in this movie. It's a spot on performance that if anything improved off the source material. Along with the soundtrack, my favorite part of the film, and I will defend his honor against all comers.

[Gordon Fearman]

Meh. Cera was better than I thought he'd be at the role, but still not the best cast for Pilgrim. You know who was though? Wallace Wells. Not for Pilgrim but for Wallace. He was brilliant and hilarious. And fantastic. And awesome.

[epocalypse]

Yes, Culkin was great as Wallace, but exactly what I was expecting. Michael Cera really worked for me in the role, and he out did my expectations and added some new strokes I really liked. My opinion and all that, but he worked for me well and good.

Aside from that, I think you and I are actually on similar pages about the film, Fearman, though I think I'm rating it a bit higher (I'm getting about a 7/10 vibe off your comments, amirite?)

I have only gained more respect for everyone involved, and I'm really looking forward to continuing to watch Edgar Wright's films. Also, I'll probably pick up the sound track and score.

[Gordon Fearman]

Yeah, that one song by Sex Bobomb was pretty cool. And yeah, what was up with that Seinfeld parody. I still don't get it. I think I saw a 24 parody somewhere, and that was funny. But the Seinfeld one was stupid. So yeah, if pressed to give a number score, something like 42/60, yeah.

Also, the twin battle was cooler in the movie than the comic, but also lacked the backstory so yeah.

[epocalypse]

(I'm getting about a 7/10 vibe off your comments, amirite?)

So yeah, if pressed to give a number score, something like 42/60, yeah.

Indeed, sir, well played.

*blows bubbles from smoking pipe*

Also, the twin battle was cooler in the movie than the comic, but also lacked the backstory so yeah.

True on all counts, but even with less backstory, it made more sense.

Also does anyone else feel that Crash and The Boys actually got the shortest end of the stick? I mean damn, that's rough.

[Gordon Fearman]

BATTLE OF THE BANDS MOTHERFUCKER!!! WHOOO!!!!



Also, what the hell happened to the crowd in the Gideon fight. It's weird that they just disappeared. I mean, I get that they would spread out, but I'm pretty sure they just disappear. Who will update Wikipedia now?

[JustAName]

Quick response: I enjoyed it as its own entity; Wallace was effing amazing; Cera was actually cast for this long before he started getting typecast in movies; I think Stephen Stills got the short end of the stick

[goat]

That said, the film, though a noble and thoroughly enjoyable experiment, is in the end just that, the first of a new kind of aesthetic, video game comic punk camp, if you will, and doesn't succeed as well as the comic does or Edgar Wright's previous projects do at being a complete and widely enjoyable experience, being far too limited to a certain audience, and even that, shooting it self in the foot slightly as it maps new grounds and goes to new places. It is nigh unintelligible to anyone not completely well versed in video game and internet culture, and it's comic cartoon aesthetic presents some of the same problems. This hypercamp format didn't always work for me, even as someone who genuinely loved the film (the sitcom laugh tracks are a great example, as for me they undercut the genuinely funny lines being said, and didn't make sense for the characters present, Scott in particular, who is our primary POV). I prefer the movie as a story, but the books as a fully realized piece of art, and though not disappointed by the film, was the least blown away by it of my personal summer big three (This, Inception, and Toy Story 3). I give it a solid 8 out of 10, as very good movie, spot on and focused adaptation, and absolutely fantastic experiment.

I was talking about that this morning with my girlfriend. There were surprisingly few people at the theater for the movie last night, though we went to a 9:25 showing. They had barriers set up for a line, but only about 20 people were there to stand in it before they let us in. The house wasn't even half full.

I wonder how many people are getting turned off of it by not understanding the IP/what it's about. If I hadn't known the back story, I would've assumed from the previews (if I were the average person, anyway) that the movie were like speed racer. But then again, this really isn't for them.

I find myself in the predicament of having to say to some people "OMG that movie was amazing.... but you shouldn't go see it because you will totally not understand like 80% of it and it will probably look like so much flashing lights and sound effects to you". For instance, I would not recommend this to my folks.

[epocalypse]

Indeed. Although that said, the 9:25 I went too was absolutely stuffed with target audience, and that was in Pasadena.

[korri]

Also, what the hell happened to the crowd in the Gideon fight. It's weird that they just disappeared. I mean, I get that they would spread out, but I'm pretty sure they just disappear. Who will update Wikipedia now?

From what I got, the entire crowd was Gideon's lackeys. So Scott fought them all and killed them, and the rest of the crowd just left...

I dunno if it makes sense, but thats just how I got it...

[epocalypse]

I actually thought that did make sense. I'd run for my life once people started being sliced down into pocket change.

[Vanguard]

So, I saw the movie at midnight on opening day (had nothing else to do and hey, who the hell needs sleep?) and I have to say that it was everything that I expected. The music was amazing, the humor was just as witty and clever as in the comics, the action was entertaining and over-the-top and the visuals were stunning.

Still, I think the movie had one main problem, and that was that the story felt rushed. I understand that they needed to compress six books worth of story and plot into a two-hour movie, but taking the story's timeframe down from a year to, what, a week was a bit jarring. Because of that the exes didn't get that much screen time, much less buildup to establish them as characters (much). The Katayanagi twins suffered from that one the worst. Did they even have lines?

And this may just be me, but my biggest gripe is that they under-utilized Envy in the movie. She was set up prior to her appearance more than most of the exes but after Todd gets taken out she just gets put on a bus and isn't brought up again. An entire potential subplot involving Envy, Todd cheating on her with Lynette and a bit of insight into some of Scott's "damage" was just kind of passed up. Hell, they even gave both the Hammer fight and the weakpoint at the back of the knee to Roxy, which was kind of disappointment.

(The Hammer Fight was, for the record, still really frick'n epic.)

Again, this may just be me, but the entire "Envy" arc and Volume 3 was my favorite part of the comics, so it was kind of disappointing to see that barely any of it other than the bare bones made the cut, and even despite that the movie was still awesome.

If you've never read the comics, go see the movie. You'll love it because, and face it, if you're on these forums you're in this movie's target audience.

~V

[AlexanderDitto]

RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGEEEEEEEEEE.

How can it be that in the entire city of Philadelphia NO theaters within a reasonable distance are showing Scott Pilgrim?!

NONE of the theaters within walking distance are showing Scott Pilgrim.

GODDAMNIT the theater RIGHT NEXT to my university only has 6 cinemas and they are showing SALT and DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS and THE EXPENDABLES

AND
NOT
SCOTT
PILGRIM

I am going to STAB SOMEONE IN THE FACE AAAAUUUUGGGGHH.

I want to see this movie! T_T

[aeric90]

Just got back from seeing it.

The casting was, for the most part, spot on. I wasn't sure about Cera but he plays Scott with the ADDness that matches the character pretty well overall. Kim and Knives were perfect as well. I also just can't say enough about Wallace. Kieran Culkin was awesome and I'm ashamed I ever doubted him for the roll. I wish I was just as cool a gay guy as he was and pretty much lost it when he talked about the gay rule book.

However I wasn't sold on Ramona in the movie. I don't know if it's the casting or the directing but she seemed... well to be honest she was a bitch. I never got the impression that she was anyone special. I also got the impression that most of people in the movie weren't sure about that either. I don't know if it's the rushed pacing that made her character suffer but other than the subspace dream obsession there wasn't anything that made me believe that Scott was in love with her.

Otherwise Edgar Wright really understands this generation's pop-culture and that's what really made the movie. He did his best to adapt the 6 volumes into one movie and make it make sense overall and though not without it's faults it's still one of the best movies of the year.

Special moment: Scott being flung through the faux New York City backdrop, tearing away the Empire State Building to reveal the actual CN Tower behind it in the exact same place. Beautiful.

PS: One of the trailers that ran was for the movie Devil, a horror movie in an elevator, that seemed to have some of the audience freaked out... until M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared and EVERYONE LAUGHED. No Joke.

[Vanguard]

PS: One of the trailers that ran was for the movie Devil, a horror movie in an elevator, that seemed to have some of the audience freaked out... until M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared and EVERYONE LAUGHED. No Joke.

That exact same thing happened when I went to see it. Once his name popped up, everyone stopped taking it seriously.

[Genghis Ares]

I never read the comic, but I really enjoyed this movie. Really funny, I loved the style and effects and all the characters. Overall, it was a really great movie.

[AlexanderDitto]

PS: One of the trailers that ran was for the movie Devil, a horror movie in an elevator, that seemed to have some of the audience freaked out... until M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared and EVERYONE LAUGHED. No Joke.

That exact same thing happened when I went to see it. Once his name popped up, everyone stopped taking it seriously.

This happened when I went to see Inception, and I've heard it from friends in Ontario and South Carolina. It is happening all across the country.

This fills me with glee. For ruining the movie adaptation of my favorite TV show, he deserves it, one thousand times over.

[epocalypse]

same thing happened to me with the Devil trailer. In fact, I think I was the first one who broke out laughing, which everyone took as the cue to follow suit.

I gotta to say, Ramona being a bitch really didn't bother me at all. It kind of matched my reading of her in the book.

I mentioned earlier that I actually like the version of the story (i.e. the straight up plot) better than I do the books "original" plot (although I think the books are a more successful piece of art over all). I say "Original" in quotes because volumes 5&6 were only in outline form when they were making the movie, and it's easy to see how they were based on the same outline. In fact, looking back at volume six in particular, some of the lines, especially from or about Gideon seem to be overtly referencing the changes and difference between the movie and comic versions.

The main reason I like the movie's version better, even losing some characters and scenes I like from the comic almost entirely, is because it's tighter, more consistent, and removes one huge plot hole in the comic. That plot hole comes in book 6, and it's the point that Scott's youth was almost entirely normal (by our world standards) and that he only remembered the fighting for Kim flashback as being similar to the current situation because of Gideon screwing with his mind. What I don't like about this version is that it makes it seem as though Scott and the rest of the Canadian's for the most part lived in a world where things like battling and the super natural cartoonish physics laws of the world didn't normally exist. It's the one thing that's really been nagging at me about the last book, because it presents the potential point of view that all of the weirdness of the world is actually in Scott's head, and that he's been seeing it through an almost schizophrenic lens. In general, I'm glad that they kept the story more in the now, because the flashbacks to Scott's youth in general created problems like this for me, because they seemed to meteor between reinforcing the world and making it ring false. The tightening of the plot and time compression of the movie made the world and story as a whole far more focus and consistency.

Also, I got to say, I like Envy being less pronounced. Primarily because she's a huge bitch, and I really wanted her dead like an evil ex in the comic (and the movie, but they got rid of her and gave her no closure, which bitch didn't deserve in my opinion). This is also because Envy was a plot hole in the books (in my mind, at least). She was treated too well, and was made sympathetic after Todd went boom. That's exactly the thing though, She was at least a big of a jerk as Todd, and bigger jerks than Roxy, Patel, Lee, and debatably the twins, yet she didn't have to pay for her crimes with her life, which seemed like how she should have been treated. Giving her no real presence and closure in the movie was a great change, cause I hated her guts in the book. I mean, Lee and Patel at the least seem like much nicer people than she ever was. I also don't want to hear the whole "Well Todd cheated on her" angle because EVERYBODY cheats on EVERYBODY in Scott Pilgrim. The only characters who never, by my measure, was cheating or nearly cheating on other characters were Patel, Lee, and Stacey. Oh, and Knive's school friend. Probably some others but they are far in the minority.

In short, F@!# Envy.

Wait, what was I talking about?

[JustAName]

PS: One of the trailers that ran was for the movie Devil, a horror movie in an elevator, that seemed to have some of the audience freaked out... until M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared and EVERYONE LAUGHED. No Joke.

That exact same thing happened when I went to see it. Once his name popped up, everyone stopped taking it seriously.

This happened when I went to see Inception, and I've heard it from friends in Ontario and South Carolina. It is happening all across the country.

This fills me with glee. For ruining the movie adaptation of my favorite TV show, he deserves it, one thousand times over.

In our theater we got a bunch of boos and someone yelling, "You ruined Avatar!" followed by laughter and applause.

[Gordon Fearman]

PS: One of the trailers that ran was for the movie Devil, a horror movie in an elevator, that seemed to have some of the audience freaked out... until M. Night Shyamalan's name appeared and EVERYONE LAUGHED. No Joke.

That exact same thing happened when I went to see it. Once his name popped up, everyone stopped taking it seriously.

Dudes. We were laughing long before that. Of course, we were laughing at how terrible nearly every trailer looked. Like Skyline. Skyline looks stupid. The aliens had giant space vacuum cleaners.