Scott Pilgrim
Sep. 1st, 2010 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavySo Ramona Flowers only has seven evil exes? Blimey, I'm jealous.
I always find it difficult to write reviews of things I actually like, if only because it's a heck of a lot easaier to write jokes when you're being rude about stuff. There's a pleasure in sitting through yet another pile of cinemtic tosh quietly giggling to myself as I think about the scathing put downs I'll be using on the internet later which is lost when I'm actually enjoying myself in the cinema. And that's the problem writing about Scott Pilgrim vs The World, because I enjoyed myself very much indeed. Far more than I was expecting to.
In fact, I'll say something which I expect many people will find shocking. Blasphemous, even: I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs The World more than I did Toy Story 3.
In years to come, I'll probably spend more time re-watching Toy Story 3, but as a one-shot blast of entertainment Scott Pilgrim pips it. I was duly impressed. It's a fast-moving pop-culture referencing slice of fun which I can't help but recommend. In case you didn't know the story is of twentysomething slacker Scott trying to win the love of (literal) girl-of-his-dreams Ramona Flowers by defeating a league of her seven evil exes (not 'ex-boyfriends', in a long-running gag) in a succession of brightly-coloured and largely videogame-inspired battles to the death.
I'm going to do something else which you might find a bit odd now - I'm going to compare Scott Pilgrim vs the World to China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, because that's the closest comparison I can think of. When I first read Mieville, the thing which really struck me about his work was the easy audacity of his creativity. The way he'd put ideas down which a lesser writer would make a book out of, then throw them away on the next page with a sure confidence that he'd have another idea along in a minute. It's that speed of ideas - set up a situation and knock it down just to set up another a moment later - which I loved about Scott Pilgrim. Every scene is crammed with throwaway ideas which a worse film would have used to power the entire narrative: Demon Hipster Chicks (I want some), Vegan-based psychic powers, half-ninja goth artists...half the pleasure of watching is to see what the film throws at you next and it joyfully teeters on the brink of being ridiculous nonsense without ever fully toppling over the edge.
Apparently Scott Pilgrim bombed in the states, which I find utterly mystifying. Totally recommended
I always find it difficult to write reviews of things I actually like, if only because it's a heck of a lot easaier to write jokes when you're being rude about stuff. There's a pleasure in sitting through yet another pile of cinemtic tosh quietly giggling to myself as I think about the scathing put downs I'll be using on the internet later which is lost when I'm actually enjoying myself in the cinema. And that's the problem writing about Scott Pilgrim vs The World, because I enjoyed myself very much indeed. Far more than I was expecting to.
In fact, I'll say something which I expect many people will find shocking. Blasphemous, even: I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs The World more than I did Toy Story 3.
In years to come, I'll probably spend more time re-watching Toy Story 3, but as a one-shot blast of entertainment Scott Pilgrim pips it. I was duly impressed. It's a fast-moving pop-culture referencing slice of fun which I can't help but recommend. In case you didn't know the story is of twentysomething slacker Scott trying to win the love of (literal) girl-of-his-dreams Ramona Flowers by defeating a league of her seven evil exes (not 'ex-boyfriends', in a long-running gag) in a succession of brightly-coloured and largely videogame-inspired battles to the death.
I'm going to do something else which you might find a bit odd now - I'm going to compare Scott Pilgrim vs the World to China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, because that's the closest comparison I can think of. When I first read Mieville, the thing which really struck me about his work was the easy audacity of his creativity. The way he'd put ideas down which a lesser writer would make a book out of, then throw them away on the next page with a sure confidence that he'd have another idea along in a minute. It's that speed of ideas - set up a situation and knock it down just to set up another a moment later - which I loved about Scott Pilgrim. Every scene is crammed with throwaway ideas which a worse film would have used to power the entire narrative: Demon Hipster Chicks (I want some), Vegan-based psychic powers, half-ninja goth artists...half the pleasure of watching is to see what the film throws at you next and it joyfully teeters on the brink of being ridiculous nonsense without ever fully toppling over the edge.
Apparently Scott Pilgrim bombed in the states, which I find utterly mystifying. Totally recommended
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 09:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:32 am (UTC)The US geeks I know who've seen it loved it so they definitely should have targeted that market better.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 07:15 pm (UTC)I doubt very much it's that clever. From what I've heard the female character is gutted and turned into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. With her internal world removed in favor of the Michael Ceras being Michael Ceras hero.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 05:22 pm (UTC)It's exactly like hanging about with my mates, except I'm not there, and they're not my mates.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 06:30 pm (UTC)they do just seem exactly like my mates but a bit more crap though!
I also desperately wanted to frying pan Daisy in the face...
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 07:23 pm (UTC)Is The Expendables? Probably yes.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 07:18 pm (UTC)This is less than interesting when you live full of a city of just those things. I'm meh about it and think it might be Netflix-able. I doubt very much it's better than Zombieland.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:20 pm (UTC)August is one of the months when studios dump what they think isn't going to do well (which may become a self-fulfilling prophesy). A lot of people are on vacation, and you don't go to a movie while you're on vacation unless it's raining or you're at grandma's house. Plus people are getting ready for school to start if it hasn't already. The summer blockbusters come out over memorial weekend or the fourth of july. Next month the artsy movies marketed as oscar contenders start, followed by the big family movies between thanksgiving and christmas.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-01 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 09:27 am (UTC)It's like Ian Banks. Peaked with Use of Weapons, and then went into a precipitous decline thereafter.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 12:32 am (UTC)As for cinema sales in the US - I think they're all in decline. The market test nowadays is volume of Netflicks trade.