Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Ok so it has been a ridiculously long time since I posted a review. I may have been a little bit lazy *ahem* but I’ll try to post more regularly from now on
Anyway so the second film to be reviewed on this here blog is Scott Pilgrim vs The World (cert 12A)

 

Image taken from telepisodes.com

 

I was super excited to go see this film as I am a massive Michael Cera fan. I loved him as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development and yes he plays the same character in everything he does, but to me this just makes him very likeable. For those who cannot stand Cera, I don’t think you would enjoy the film as much as you would like to. In saying that, Kieran Culkin is hilarious as his gay room mate and definitely worth watching for his comic timing. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is ok as Pilgrim’s love interest but I didn’t like her as much as I felt I should. She seemed like she was trying too hard to be ‘cool’ but that may be the character herself. I’m really not sure…

Anyway, I digress from the task at hand. The movie is based on a series of graphic novels (note, they aren’t comics) by Bryan Lee O’Malley and tells the story of 23 year old Canadian Scott Pilgrim who falls in love with American delivery girl Ramona Flowers. However, he must defeat her seven evil exes before he can date her properly.

As I’m sure you’ll have noticed from the film trailers, if not my description and the fact the story is from graphic novels, this isn’t a realistic film in the slightest. This is definitely not a bad thing as it gives the director Edgar Wright license to do pretty much whatever he wants stylistically. I haven’t read the graphic novels so I can’t say how accurate the story or visuals are, but I can say that it is fantastically nerdy. The name of Pilgrim’s band made me chuckle – it’s ‘Sex Bob-omb’ just in case you didn’t know – and I’m not ashamed to admit that I recognised some moves from the Soul Caliber games in the final battle scene. The characters are likeable on the whole, and the film is great fun. The only downside for me was the first battle between Scott and Ramona’s ex Matthew Patel. It was just so random that I found it incredibly jarring. Indeed, I kept thinking “wtf?” long after it had ended and that ruined the film for me a little.

This film is not as enjoyable as Kick Ass but it is a fun watch with many in-jokes for the game/comic/internet nerds out there.

 

Good points: great fun, quite a few LOL moments, visually pleasing, mostly likeable actors, is unapologetic about its nerdiness which makes it even better.

Bad points: the battles can be a little too random, some might not like Cera, others less geeky may not get some of the in-jokes.

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Ok so the first film up for review is Revolutionary Road (cert 15).

Picture taken from Just Jared

Now I had very high hopes for this movie due to its pedigree: directed by Sam Mendes (he of American Beauty fame) and starring the magical pairing of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is set in 1950s Connecticut suburbia (credit for that goes to IMDB) and follows the young couple April and Frank’s life in their neighbourhood. Probably not the best description there but I hate people who give the whole plot away. Basically Kate and Leo are actually married (unlike Titanic) and you see how their little suburban life goes.

If you thought my description was erring on the boring side of things, then that’s pretty much the film all over. This is just my opinion of course – I’m sure the Leo and Kate stans/shippers will disagree with me. I’m going to be honest, I rather like films where nothing much happens – see Kim Ki-Duk’s Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… and Spring. However, there is actually quite a lot happening in this film, but it’s just not that interesting. I found Winslet’s character to be rather irritating and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen DiCaprio play Frank in something else. For all the brilliant acting we see, I never felt like I was invested in the film. It was just another stereotypical American 50s suburbia flick with a much hyped actor pairing and weirdly filtered cinematography. I don’t think the Thomas Newman score helped either; it was in the same vein as the American Beauty score and just made me wish I was watching that instead.

Good points: great acting, Kate+Leo, Kathy Bates being awesome again.

Bad points: pretty boring, hated the lighting/camera filters, tries to be something it’s not.

Overall rating: 3 stars

New beginnings

Ok so I have already attempted to start this blog up once. However my first attempt was based on my own life which, to be quite honest, is absolutely nothing to write about. Thus, I have decided to go back to doing what I do best: criticise. To be more specific I will be reviewing any and every film I watch from now on.

As I am not your stereotypical female film goer, it will be rare for me to review a romcom or even worse a film containing Zac Efron, Channing Tatum or Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen. I expect I will be mainly reviewing drama, thriller, comedy or horror/gore films with a few random ones thrown in along the way. I also have no doubt that Sister Act, The Wedding Singer or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (no, that is not the Tim Burton one…) will pop up as these are included in my favourite films of all time.

Anyway, that was my brief waffle on what I will be writing about on this here blog. First post should be up sometime soon