Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Here are three ways the world has gotten worse and not better in the past 15 years:

1. We live in a world where "The Situation" has more adulation and recognition than David Mamet. To fully explore the degree to which this is a crime against humanity would require more time and words than I could possibly muster right now.
   
2. It is now considered bad form to ask people out on dates either in person or on the phone. Today's kids believe it is to be done over text or email so as not to put the other person on the spot. Maybe one day we will get to the point where we can completely remove all genuine human interaction from our daily lives.
   
3. Filmmaker's today seem to believe that style is a legitimate substitute for story. It used to be that to be a wildly successful film, you had to craft a meaningful story to engage an audience to get them to keep coming back. Then Pulp Fiction (1994) happened and with it came a generation of directors who seemed more concerned with creating a slick, stylistic film than telling a great story.
   

And it is this last point that has caused the most consternation over recent years. It seems like time after time after time, I would come out of a theatre after seeing one of these slick, stylistic exercises in cinematic masturbation and think "How great could that have been if they combined that style with story? What would you get if one day someone had the crazy idea to tell a well crafted story with a fresh stylistic approach?"

The answer is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

This is a movie that is clearly targeted to a specific generation. The entire motif of the film is an homage to the Nintendo and X-Box fighting games that were ubiquitous in the 1990's and 2000's. The opening shot of the Universal Logo is done as if it done on the Nintendo gaming system circa 1990. Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) got permission to use the music from the game The Legend of Zelda (1986) because he believed it to be "The nursery rhyme of this generation."

So this film comes flying out of the gate with so many stylistic devices that speak to the MTV and video game generation that I'm bracing myself for another style-over-substance piece of dreck. I am almost white-knuckling the arm rests waiting for the combination of despair and anger to begin to wash over me. And even though I am being bombarded with cuts so quick it is difficult to keep track of what is real and what is fantasy, a strange realization starts to take hold of me. It occurs to me, I am not hating this movie. And here's why.

Just underneath the very stylized surface of this film is a story about a lost and adrift youth named Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who plays in a garage band and spends time with his Asian pseudo girlfriend named Knives (Ellen Wong). Scott keeps having these dreams where he sees this pink haired beauty named Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who all but ignores him completely even in his own dreams. Then one night at a party, he sees this same girl and approaches her and awkwardly and clumsily asks her out. He is of course blown off completely but it doesn't dissuade him from making it his mission to win her over.

Now right here, despite all the video game gimmicks, they have cleverly set up a classic boy meets girl story. Due in large part to the boyish charm of Michael Cera, we like Scott and want to see him develop something with Ramona.

So we have the classic set up. Now to fully realize a second act, we're going to need a series of obstacles and challenges that our protagonist must overcome to succeed in his mission. And this is where this film really pays off in merging the style with substance. Because instead the obstacles being the nauseating and tiresome teen angst that makes you want to poke out both your eyes with sharpened number 2 pencils (Twilight series, call your office) this film establishes Ramona's exes as the obstacles Scott must overcome.

One by one, Scott faces one of her seven exes and must fight them in a Mortal Combat style. It is during these fight scenes where we get the full effect of the video game style. But it works brilliantly because only through this style would we accept it as being believable. And it makes the fighting fun without seeming gory and violent. In each battle Scott must find a new and ingenious way to overcome these stronger and more powerful enemies.

Across the board the cast did a great job at making these characters fantastical yet believable at the same time. Cera and Winstead are very compelling in their respective roles but it was relative newcomer Ellen Wong who really impressed me with her portrayal of Knives. With this character she takes her from shy Asian school girl to badass martial arts fighter. At the same time she needs to uphold the critical third part of the romantic triangle that evolves between Scott, Ramona, and Knives. This romantic triangle is so well executed that even at the very end, I was not sure either who Scott would end up with or who he should end up with.

Perhaps the greatest achievement Edgar Wright boasts in this film is turning the final showdown between the hero and antagonist into a genuinely suspenseful and anticipated event rather than the usual eye-rolling bore. When Scott faces off against Gideon, we want to see him kick some ass. This segment provides enough genuine surprises to keep it fresh and interesting.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World succeeds by complimenting style with story. It is fun and fresh and certainly worth checking out in the theatre. It is probably the best date movie out in the theatres right now.

Should you want to bring a date, whatever you do – do not ask them in person. That is so 1998!

 

 

Rejuvenated and Rededicated

To the readers of this blog I have one thing to say – I am back and better than ever. One of those is actually true. I don't know if anyone missed reading this review blog while I was gone but I assure you I missed writing it. And so I return with a set schedule for upcoming blogs. From here on in you will find regular postings on Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons.

The Friday afternoon review will be the biggest film of the weekend. The one you are most likely considering seeing that weekend. The Wednesday review will be whatever I felt like seeing the previous day.

If you have suggestions for movies you'd like reviewed, feel free to let me know either on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments section of the latest review.

Tune in first thing Wednesday morning for the next review – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

The Switch

It has been three months and seven days since my last written review. That is 99 days in total. I apologize to my massive fan base (don't snicker, they could be out there) for my lengthy absence but I have been busy working on my own movie and TV stuff. So what cinematic achievement brought me out from my self-imposed exile? What could be so remarkable that I had to share my views with the world? Only one of the rarest phenomenons found on this earth.

First, let me give you some context. Here are some things that are incredibly rare in ascending order of rarity:

 

1. Ice Circles – This is a real thing, check it out here http://videosift.com/video/Ice-Circle-Extremely-rare-cold-weather-phenomenon
   

   
    

2. A Blue Sun – Now before you think I'm making this up take a look for yourself http://hubpages.com/hub/Blue-Sun---A-rare-phenomenon-captured-at-the-Pyramids-in-Egypt
   

   
    

3. The Udumbara Flower – according to Buddhist scripture blossoms every 3000 years before the coming of the next Buddha or Tathagata. I don't have a link for this but trust me, it is pretty rare.
   

   
    

But only one thing on this planet is more scarce than a profit-predicting flower found once every 3000 years and that is…the pretty good Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy. Faithful readers of this blog (seriously, again with the snickering?) will recall that back in March I predicted that the Jennifer Aniston vehicle The Bounty Hunter would kill the Romantic Comedy genre for good. Let's not forget that her other Rom Coms include: Love Happens, Rumour Has It, Along Came Polly, and Picture Perfect just to name a few.

So who exactly is picking these scripts for her? The only people more out of touch than her career advisers are LeBron James' PR team. I wouldn't have been surprised to see her on a one hour special on The E Network announcing "I'm taking my talents to The Switch". But in the face of history and the natural order of the universe, The Switch is a fun, enjoyable, and dare I say, touching film. So the burning question is WHY? The answer may surprise you.

The Switch is a comedy from the directing team of Josh Gordon and Will Speck (Blades of Glory) based on the short story by Jeffery Eugenides. Eugenides is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer so even without having read the short story, I'm going to go ahead and assume they had some strong story material from which to begin. The premise of the switch is that 40 year-old Kassie (Aniston) decides that she is going to have a baby despite not having a man in her life. The closest thing to a man in her life is her best friend Wally Mars (played brilliantly by Jason Bateman) who we know right away is in love with her. Kassie finds Roland (Patrick Wilson) a handsome Ken doll type to be the sperm donor. Of course things go comically awry when Wally accidently destroys Roland's specimen and, in a drunken haze, replaces it with his own. Flash ahead seven years and Kassie calls Wally out of the blue to tell him she and her son Sebastian (Thomas Robinson) are moving back to the city. When Wally meets Sebastian for the first time, he can't help but notice the similarities and, in time, realizes what happened. But how can he tell Kassie without losing her from his life?

Now if we stop right here, we can see that we have a fairly contrived comedic premise that appears to promise broad, over-the top gags and almost no genuine character development. And yet that's not at all what we get so again, the question is why? Much of the answer can be found within the two leads themselves.

Where this film succeeds where The Bounty Hunter failed is in the casting of Jennifer Aniston's love interest. In the Bounty Hunter, Gerard Butler was way over the top trying to wring big laughs out of every situation. He doesn't get many comedies and it seems like he was trying to get all of his comedic abilities out in one fell swoop. But here Jason Bateman does what he does best – play a character with understated charm that makes us feel like we are watching a real person rather than a stock sit-com character. As Wally, he is a neurotic, self absorbed man-child who doesn't have the courage to tell Kassie how he really feels for her. He doesn't play him for laughs but instead, holds back, giving the character real vulnerability.

And because Bateman is brilliantly understated, this allows Aniston to be portrayed in the best possible light. When she doesn't have to match Gerard Butler's frantic comic energy she can be the best version of herself as an actress. Don't mistake the opening of this review as Jennifer Aniston bashing. I think she is a tremendous talent. One need only see her in Friends With Money or The Good Girl to see just how great she can be. And here we get a glimpse of this again. (Minor Spoiler Alert) In the scene when Wally finally tells her the truth about being Sebastian's real father the camera stays on her reaction. We wait for her to get angry or sad or any other one note emotion. Instead her face reflects a combination of anger and sadness and a little bit of relief at the same time. It is this kind of depth that makes us keep coming back to her movies.

But perhaps the real secret to the success of The Switch is that the relationship that captures our attention is not that of Wally and Kassie but rather that of Wally and Sebastian. Robinson is amazing at matching Bateman's gloomy neurotic energy. As the movie progresses we see not only them becoming closer but more importantly, how they influence change in each other for the better. This relationship saves the film from having to go through the clichéd pitfalls of the boy-girl plotlines.

Alas, The Switch does have its missteps. After going almost the whole movie avoiding unmotivated and nonsensical character choices, we have the first encounter between Kassie and Wally after the truth has come out. I thought the last 10 minutes of the film was the ending to another, less sharp film. It left me a little uneasy but was not enough to ruin the movie for me. I just wish they would have worked a little harder at showing us why Kassie does what she does.

Don't expect this film to be single out on Oscar night but if you want to see a fresh, fun Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy, I would suggest you check it out. After all, how often do these come around?

By my count, once in a blue sun.
 

The Backup Plan

The best wing joint in the universe is Duff's Famous Wings on Bayview in Toronto. I go there every time I am in the city. What I love about Duff's is they have a wing so hot, when someone orders it they ring a bell and set off the flashing red light. This is the dreaded Armageddon wing and it is one level hotter than "Death". That's right - there is a wing level hotter than death. One night while watching my buddies Lee and Rob enjoy Armageddon wings, I decided I would try one. Up to that point, the hottest I would go is "Super Hot" and I couldn't imagine going any hotter. But I was of the mindset that even thought it might be an unpleasant experience, I wanted to try one to see just how bad it could be. The answer – worse than I ever imagined. Long story short, that wing made me its bitch. But it also taught me two very important things: (1) Lee and Rob are clearly better men than I and (2) Never do anything you know will be unpleasant just to see how unpleasant it could possibly be.

A lesson I should have heeded when I was considering going to see "The Backup Plan".

Now I knew this was going to be a bad movie. Anyone unfortunate enough to be exposed to the trailer could tell this movie was going to suck big time (please forgive the professional film review jargon) but I wanted to see just how bad it could possibly be. Cue the bell and flashing red lights.

From the very first image, it was clear there was something off about this movie. We see a close-up of Zoe's (Jennifer Lopez) feet and hear her inner monologue as she frets over not getting a pedicure before the procedure. Turns out she is being artificially inseminated and at this moment she is obsessing over the horror of the doctor seeing her toenails in that condition. And that was all the comedy included in that scene. It was then that I knew that the people behind this movie don't know how to bring the funny. And nothing that unfolded over the next 104 minutes did anything to dissuade me of this notion.

But being simply un-funny is not the biggest sin this movie commits. This movie goes on to commit the cardinal sin of betraying and undermining the movie's entire premise. The premise of The Backup Plan is that immediately after deciding to get artificially inseminated, she meets the man of her dreams which in this case is Stan (Alex O'Laughlin). So now Zoe has to keep this great guy she's met (of course she hates him at first) even though she's now going to have a baby. Now for this premise to work, one of two things has to happen. Either (A) This guy has to be the all-time commit-a-phobe who tells her that even the thought of having kids would send him running to the hills or (B) She has to believe that to be the case on her own. Either way, she has to keep the pregnancy from him for as long as possible because as soon as he finds out, he is gone. There could be a lot of funny bits in seeing how long a pregnant woman can hide this fact from her new boyfriend. What can't happen is for him to find out about it early and be such a great guy that he's going to stick around anyway. As you can probably guess, they went with the latter scenario and at this point I start looking around the theatre.

Why?

In 2003 I decided to go see Gili (another J.Lo. bomb) in the theatre because then, like now, I wanted to see how bad it could be. When I was in the theatre I counter 21 people there. By the 40 minute mark seven had walked out. A full third of the audience had walked out and I was certain people would walk out of The Backup Plan. Why wouldn't they? It's not funny and now that Stan knows Zoe is pregnant, it has no choice but to play out like a poor man's She's Having a Baby (1988). The only option at this point is to have them fight and get back together a few times before the big fight after which we believe they are done for good. Then of course she will go into labour, word will get to him that she is in labour and he will rush to her side and they will live happily ever after.

And I possibly could have lived with this if the execution was within a ten dollar cab ride of being believable. But what causes the big fight? He mentions to someone that the babies aren't his. She of course believes this means he will not stick around and this is what passes for an ACT II turning point. What convinces her that he really will stick around? She found out he had ordered a special stroller for the impending twins. That tells her that his love is real. These characters are morons and deserve lifetime of each other's company.

So this movie is not funny, betrayed its premise, and has Jennifer Lopez who now must surpass Carrot Top atop the" box office poison" pyramid. Clearly it can't get any worse. If only that were the case.

On top of everything else, the movie trots out every last rom com cliché and expects us to react like we've never seen it before. So I hereby declare a moratorium on the following hack-writer devices:

1. The talking in the mirror fake-out – We see a close-up of Zoe as she appears to be telling Stan that she is pregnant. As soon as we see it, the piece screams out "She's talking in a mirror". It goes on for what seems like an eternity before they pull back to reveal…wait for it…she was just practicing in a mirror. The next screenwriter who tries to pass this off as fresh is getting the Armageddon wing enema.
   

   
    

2. The food/water fight substituting for first date chemistry – Zoe and Stan are having what we are to believe as a romantic date because they are having dinner outdoors. When Stan accidently spills red wine on her, he tries to help her clean up and this leads to an eventual water fight with a hose which we are supposed to think is cute and endearing. Here's the new rule – If you can't demonstrate chemistry between the lovers during the dinner portion, you don't get to pass off a food fight or water fight as evidence they should be together.
   

   
    

3. The pregnant woman watches the wacky Lamaze colleague give birth first and gets freaked out – this one pretty much speaks for itself and needs to be retired.
   

   
    

I wondered why they would make this movie so soon after Knocked Up covered the material so much better. Then I thought maybe they thought they were doing the opposite premise of Knocked up. Knocked up was mismatched couple finds out she is pregnant and how will they deal with the fact that it is his baby. The backup Plan is she meets the perfect guy after intentionally getting pregnant on her own. How will they cope with the fact it is not his baby.

The difference is that Knocked Up was smart, fresh, funny, and poignant. What is the opposite of that?

The Backup Plan.

Note to my Russian readers

Добро пожаловать в русский любителей кино. Надеюсь, вам понравится мои рецензии фильма

Kick-Ass

Two years ago Andre sent me an email asking if I wanted to go see Iron Man. I always enjoy the movie-going experience with Andre (My hetero life-mate as his wife Stacey describes it) but on this day I was hesitant. You see, I had given up on super-hero movies. I was tired of seeing the same old recycled dreck again and again. Daredevil was a poor man's watered down Batman. The Superman reboot failed to leap tall buildings in a single bound and the two Hulk movies redefined the term “unwatchable.” So on this day I explained to Andre that I would go see Iron Man as long as it met the following criteria: (1) As a child, the hero doesn't watch his parents die at the hands of his future arch nemesis (2) He doesn't have to hide his secret identity from his unrequited love who is really in love with the hero and (3) There won't be nipples on the superhero costume (That's right, I'm talking to you Batman & Robin). Andre assured me none of those applied and to his credit Iron Man was everything he said it would be and more. I thought it was the best movie in the genre since the first two Spider-Man movies and not even The Dark Knight surpassed it in my estimation.

But then came Kick-Ass.

I know all you Dark Knight fans are already writing your angry responses (probably led by Moore, Andrew) but this was the best superhero movie I have seen in the past six years, easily. How can I describe it? I'm trying to think of a two word phrase that conveys how this movie dominated in every conceivable way. Hmmmmmm. Oh well, it will come to me.

Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave Lizewski (Aarron Johnson), an anonymous high school student and comic book fan who wonders why nobody ever tried to be a super-hero in real life. His curiosity soon turns to obsession and before long he is out trying to thwart bad guys. The ensuing beating and aftermath he suffers leaves him with damaged nerve endings meaning he is mostly immune to pain. This is the first sign of brilliance in this movie. They are able to give the hero some kind of “super-power” that is both believable and successful in moving the story forward. Now buoyed by his condition, Dave goes out to avenge Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), the girl he is crushing on.

Without revealing too much, it is safe to say that Kick-Ass comes in contact with two actual superheroes who are doing it for real – Big Daddy and Hit-Girl. This is where the movie really starts to take off. Nicholas Cage is brilliant as Big Daddy. He is able to portray both the doting father in his real-life and a believable Batman clone as his super hero alter ego. In fact, he pulls off a very nice homage to the Adam West portrayal of Batman with the way he delivers his lines.

As good as Cage is in this movie, the real star is newcomer Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl, an 11 year-old trained assassin masked hero. The first time we see her, she is in a training session with her dad. This scene is memorable for the way it is able to convince us of their competence as highly trained killers while still making us believe she is a very real 11 year-old girl who loves spending time with her dad. And her first line as the masked Hit-Girl is cinematic gold, if not entirely age appropriate. Perhaps that is what is so great about that character. She is both a potty-mouthed deadly killer and a sweet little girl. This juxtaposition gives her an amazing screen presence that is so strong, when she is not on the screen, I eagerly awaited her return. My buddy Kelly predicted she will receive a nomination come next Oscar season and I wholeheartedly agree.

I thought Director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layer Cake) did a very nice job in respecting the comic book origins while still making this feel like a feature film. He uses the convention of having the Cage character create a Big Daddy/Hit-Girl comic book. When one of the characters flips through this comic book, we are given the back-story of how these superheores came to be. Here Vaughn embraces the look and style of the comic book to serve his feature film storytelling. He displays a very deft touch which comes across nicely on the big screen.

This movie is categorized in the sub genre of super-hero/comedy. Most of the comparisons I have seen liken it to Ben Stiller's Mystery-Men. I don't believe these movies belong in the same category. I enjoyed Mystery-Men as a comedy but never took it seriously as a super-hero movie. The world of superheroes and villains were simply the backdrop for a fairly traditional comedy. This movie works because it takes the world of heroes and villains very seriously. The heavies would not feel out of place in any other super-hero movie. When Kick-Ass ventures into waters well over his head, the consequences are real and believable. That the movie plays for comedic effect and not big laughs from gags is what sets it apart from other failed action-comedies.

This is not to suggest that it is a perfect movie. There are times towards the end where the developments feel a little familiar. The character of Red Mist (Christopher-Mintz Plasse aka McLovin) is a nice twist as a guy torn between the family business and the super-hero world. Still they character arc for Red Mist wanders into territory that we've seen before. James Franco will certainly feel a sense of deja-vu upon seeing this film. But the truth is that for a genre which has been done to death in the past decade or so, there is much to this movie which feels fresh and fun.

As for my two-word summation, it will have to wait for another day. Wait, I got it! This movie....

TOTALLY ROCKS.

I can't believe I didn't see that before.

How To Train Your Dragon

Just about a year ago I walked out of a darkened theatre after seeing the animated movie “Up” and I couldn't shake this one thought that was echoing throughout my brain – that was the best written movie I had seen in a years. Could that really be true? A “kids movie”? An animated movie? Several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Writing Directly For The Screen, told me I was not alone in my observation.

Now, almost a year later I walked out of another darkened theatre this time filled with certainty rather than doubt. Anyone who wants to know how to tell a story for the screen should look at the best of the Pixar and Dreamworks catalogs because the latest Dreamworks offering,“How To Train Your Dragon” is a rich and beautifully told story that will entertain movie-goers of all ages.

How To Train Your Dragon, tells the story of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), a young Viking boy who grows up in a village terrorized by Dragons who attack at night. He observes that the village is very old but all the buildings are new. They keep getting torched by the fire breathing dragons. So hiccup harbours the dreams of every other viking boy in the village – to grow up to be the greatest dragon killer ever known. Of course, the scrawny and clumsy Hiccup just isn't cut out to be a fierce dragon-killing warrior. This is an embarrassment to not only Hiccup himself but more so to Hiccup's father Stoick who really is the greatest Viking warrior in the Village.

Stoick leads a Viking expedition to search for the dragon's nest and Hiccup is enrolled in dragon-slaying training with some other kids his age. It is at this point when Hiccup stumbles upon the fiercest and rarest dragon of all, a black night fury. Turns out Hiccup wounded it one night with a cannon shot but nobody would believe him. Hiccup tries to kill the wounded dragon but discovers he cannot. When he sets it free instead, the dragon-killer wannabe and dragon (whom he names Toothless) begin a tenuous relationship that is very delicate.

Right here I'd like to point out what a brilliant job the writers have done in setting up the story to this point. Yes, this movie is based on a 2003 British Children's novel by Cressida Cowell but it is the changes the writers made to the original source material that really made this work. In the novel, the villagers train dragons and young Hiccup and his friends enroll in dragon-training classes rather than dragon-slaying classes. By portraying the dragons and villagers as historical enemies engaged in years of battles to the death, it “raises the stakes” for the detente that Hiccup and Toothless are about to enter into. Can dragons really be trusted? What happens if Stoick and the other villagers find out?

So as this story turns nicely from Act I to Act II we now have parallel training sessions going on. On the one hand, Hiccup is learning the “traditional teachings” of what dragon's are all about from village elder Gobber (voiced by Craig Ferguson). While at the same time he is learning what really makes dragon's tick from his secret experiences with Toothless. At one point he voices the inescapable yet logical conclusion “Everything we know about them is wrong.” Eventually the villagers view on dragons and Hiccups view of dragons are going to come into direct conflict. There is a nice turn where we discover why dragons sack the villagers and make off with farm animals.

What makes this story work is that is functions on more than one level. I could count on one hand the live action movies I've seen in the last 18 months for which I could say the same. Here the surface level “plot” involves Hiccup's dragon training and his secret excursions with Toothless. But beyond that is the character's inner journey which involves repairing a strained relationship between father and son. We get the sense training Toothless to fly on command is nothing compared to getting Stoick to actually listen to and connect with Hiccup. These scenes between father and son are as important and powerful as any aerial dragon fighting scene in the film.

Another aspect that makes this movie a success is the flying scenes involving Hiccup and Toothless. Somehow the animators are able to give you the sense that you are actually there flying with them. I almost want to see this movie again in IMAX 3D just for that experience. There is a beautiful scene between Hiccup Toothless and Astrid, the girl Hiccup crushes on (voiced by Ugly Betty's America Ferrara). Toothless seems to know how to impress a girl so gives them a combination of roller coaster thrill ride and romantic cruise in the sky. It gave a fresh take to the magic carpet scene from Aladdin. These scenes along with the action sequences are beautifully composed and executed.

This is by no means a perfect movie. It takes some shortcuts at the end with the father-son relationship. I think the underlying story elements in Up were stronger than they are with this movie. But on the whole, you would be hard pressed to find a better story and more fun at the local cineplex.

I really do wish live the powers-that-be behind live-action movies would pay as much attention to establishing and developing character as the animation studios do. I will still go to the theatre in the hopes of finding it. Of course when I am let down time after time, I won't fret too much. I'll just keep thinking of June 18, 2010. For that is the day that Toy Story 3 opens and I know that story will once again triumph on the big screen.

(It's also my father's 69th birthday but I'm fairly certain he wouldn't want that out there for public consumption so I will not bring it up.)