SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD movie review!

At the risk of turning this place into a Scott Pilgrim blog, I feel like I owe the world my review of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which I was lucky enough to catch an advanced screening of last Wednesday!

My gut reaction right after I saw the movie was memorialized with the tweet: "...WOW.  My brain asplode," as well as the next day's, "My eyes are still jangling from last night..."  And that holds, because the Director of Photography is Bill Pope, and he did The Matrix and the live-action Speed Racer, which should tell you a thing or two about the visuals (especially if you saw Speed Racer).  Namely, that they were perfect for the material.  Scott Pilgrim is a romantic comedy video game, which means that skimping on the visuals would spell disaster, but the film delivered.  If you've ever played an old-school NES game, you will have a nerdgasm when Scott "gets a life" and when Gideon, Ramona's 7th evil ex, pulls a pixelated sword out of thin air.  And I believe this is the first movie in history where when a bad guy is defeated, they explode into a pile of coins (even if it's not always enough to even pay for the bus).

Combining all six volumes of the comic into one movie meant that there was never a dull moment, whether Scott is practicing with his band or fighting Ramona's evil exes or ordering coffee from his barista sister (the marvelous Anna Kendrick who didn't get enough screentime but had some of the best lines).  I loved that they preserved the comics' intro captions whenever a new character is introduced-- it was not only a nice nod to the comics, but it also helped to keep track of the many characters.  Obviously some changes were made to the plot to keep it under 5 hours, but the bulk of the story was kept and it was a perfectly coherent story in its own right.

All of the actors were perfectly cast for their characters-- even my initial doubts about Brandon Routh as the vegan-mystic Todd Ingram (Evil Ex #3) and Kieran Culkin as Scott's snarky gay roommate Wallace Wells were completely demolished.  Wallace, who is my favorite character in the comics, remained so for the movie-- nothing's funnier than watching him text gossip about Scott all around Toronto in his sleep.  And as an Arrested Development fan, there was a particular glee in watching Michael Cera and Mae Whitman (Evil Ex #4!) battle it out.

Do yourself a big favor and see this movie.  It's funny and quirky and possibly the first film really of our "Millennial" generation.  Scott Pilgrim vs. The World will be released in theaters in the US on August 13th.

SCOTT PILGRIM'S PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE (Vol. 1) by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim's life is so awesome. He's 23 years old, in a rock band, "between jobs," and dating a cute high school girl. Everything's fantastic until a seriously mind-blowing, dangerously fashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruising through his dreams and sailing by him at parties. But the path to Ms Flowers isn't covered in rose petals. Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends stand in the way between Scott and true happiness. Can Scott beat the bad guys and get the girl without turning his precious little life upside-down?

 If that description doesn't sell it to you, I'm not sure what will.  This book (and series) offers a refreshing take on the slacker genre, where instead of spending his spare time playing video games, Scott Pilgrim inhabits a world that is a video game, and his life is filled with all the paradoxes of a real world gamer.  Sure, he can fight Ramona's evil exes, but is he emotionally mature enough to keep the relationship going? And will he ever get up the courage to actually break up with his high school girlfriend?

The supporting characters turn this book into pure gold-- there's Wallace Wells, his suave gay roommate who he shares a bed with (because he can't afford his own!); the female drummer of his band Sex Bob-omb Kim Pine (don't tell her she's not the only one!); his more mature younger sister Stacy Pilgrim; Sex Bob-omb's only fan Young Neil; and Knives Chau, the Chinese Catholic schoolgirl whose relationship with Scott is so ridiculously chaste you worry more about what it says about his emotional maturity than his intentions with her.

This book also surmounts the challenge of writing a (obviously silent) book with a musical backdrop, as the music scenes are drawn with such raw energy that you'll at least feel the urge to bob your head.  And it has something for everyone-- it's a romance for people who hate romance, a video game story for non-gamers, and the art is manga-style for people who hate manga.  It's just funny, funny, funny.  Now that the series is complete and the movie's about to come out, it's the best time to pick up this book (be cool and read it before you see the movie!)  You can read a 34-page preview here.

⊗⊗⊗⊗⊗ (out of five!)

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour release party!

You may have seen the trailer for a new movie called Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a slacker romantic comedy crossed with video games. It's directed by Edgar Wright, who made Shaun of the Dead, which crossed romantic comedy with zombies, so he's good at that sort of thing. Here's the awesome international trailer, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about.
 

Anyway, Scott Pilgrim happens to be a very popular comic book series. So popular in fact, that they made the film before the last book was even finished, let alone released to the public. The sixth and final volume Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour was released today-- and for some comic book stores, that meant at midnight.

Lucky for me, my local comic shop, the wonderful Comicopia in Boston, was one of them. Since I'm good friends with the owner, I got there early, picked the music, took pictures, and ran to the back when he was running out of copies behind the counter. Good times were had by all-- about 30 people came, more people than I've ever seen in there at once. There were even some other bloggers there, but I forgot to get the name. (Ironically, this means the only picture of me at this party will be on someone else's blog!) But for my pics, read on!

Advertising the shindig.