scriptamanet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scriptamanet) wrote2010-08-13 05:50 pm
scriptamanet) wrote2010-08-13 05:50 pm
He seems nice.
Ladies and gentlemen, I totally just saw Scott Pilgrim.
I'm going to start by saying that no, this was not the movie I was expecting. I think my problem there is that I was expecting something a lot more Edgar Wright. Instead, I got a very good, adorably geeky yet very thoughtful rom-com that happens to be directed by Edgar Wright. And it was awesome.
I went to see it with my little sister, who enjoyed it less than she thought she would, which I found interesting. When I managed to get my mother to stop talking about Eat, Pray, Love for a moment, she explained that she was easily confused by the rapid camera shifts and the scene transitions. Note to self: scrap plan to give sister Spaced for her birthday in a couple of years. Sigh.
It was interesting to compare it to the books, because in the beginning it follows them pretty much to the letter. (Although there's no Joseph, and no Mobile. *tear*) Once you get to the mid-point, though, it does a lot of really interesting mixing and matching. The books juggle a surprisingly large number of plot lines, considering how overwhelming the main one is, and they've had to condense most of those to make the movie work. All the important stuff is still there, but it's been jumbled around, and paired up with different areas of the story. All of that works, in the end, but it does mean the whole thing appears to happen over a very short period of time. I appreciated that the books give us a lot of time to let us watch Ramona and Scott get to know each other, and come to terms with each other's faults. Here, they've only been dating a week before they're clashing, and this comes on the brink of Scott's fourth battle. By the end of the movie, I can believe Scott really loves Ramona, but I'm just not sure she cares as much about him. Maybe that's as it should be, though.
Speaking of Scott being convincing, I am willing to admit that Michael Cera does a pretty decent job. His Scott is likable, but still pretty much a douche until he owns up to himself. The progression is awesome to watch, too. My mother actually gave me the Washington Post review right before I saw it, which is emphatically negative, but the author made a big deal about Scott being a selfish jerk who manipulates those around him. YES, EXACTLY. THAT IS THE POINT. Among other things, the author also described it as being disturbingly like Kick-Ass, and complained that Knives' character encourages Scott to go after Ramona. This is, of course, after she's spent an entire movie being psychotic over him, only to get her own closure and grow up in a similar way to Scott. Which is, for the record, massively awesome. So there, Washington Post.
Kieran Culkin is a god. If everything else in this movie had been painfully awful, I still would have gone to see it again for him. His various drunken commentaries are hilarious, and I actually howled with laughter at the point where he steals Stacey's boyfriend. People, I need so much Wallace Wells fic, it isn't even funny.
Obviously, the fight scenes were awesome. They were so fucking awesome, I'm not going to describe any of them, just so you can see them for yourself in glorious detail. What I will say is that the fight coordinator (Peng Zhang, who also apparently did Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is the first thing that has made me want to see that movie) is very clearly someone who loves fight scenes, but also appreciates the emotional resonance and importance to the story a fight scene can have. For all the gravity-defying stunts, the fights feel very real, and I loved them. (Trivia: I found out when looking for his name that the stunt doubles for Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman are brothers. I have no idea how that makes any sense, but it's hilarious.)
I'm pretty sure this is already longer than my "thoughts on The Dark Knight" post, so I'm going to attempt to cut myself off here. Final conclusion: it isn't the books, not by a long shot (so![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nova33, I still think you should brave the art to read the books), but that does not in any way make it bad. In fact, it's very good. You should all go see it, if no other reason than because I can confidently say it is also the best romantic comedy to come out in a long time, which is worth something. Those of you who have seen it, discuss! And write fic.
I'm going to start by saying that no, this was not the movie I was expecting. I think my problem there is that I was expecting something a lot more Edgar Wright. Instead, I got a very good, adorably geeky yet very thoughtful rom-com that happens to be directed by Edgar Wright. And it was awesome.
I went to see it with my little sister, who enjoyed it less than she thought she would, which I found interesting. When I managed to get my mother to stop talking about Eat, Pray, Love for a moment, she explained that she was easily confused by the rapid camera shifts and the scene transitions. Note to self: scrap plan to give sister Spaced for her birthday in a couple of years. Sigh.
It was interesting to compare it to the books, because in the beginning it follows them pretty much to the letter. (Although there's no Joseph, and no Mobile. *tear*) Once you get to the mid-point, though, it does a lot of really interesting mixing and matching. The books juggle a surprisingly large number of plot lines, considering how overwhelming the main one is, and they've had to condense most of those to make the movie work. All the important stuff is still there, but it's been jumbled around, and paired up with different areas of the story. All of that works, in the end, but it does mean the whole thing appears to happen over a very short period of time. I appreciated that the books give us a lot of time to let us watch Ramona and Scott get to know each other, and come to terms with each other's faults. Here, they've only been dating a week before they're clashing, and this comes on the brink of Scott's fourth battle. By the end of the movie, I can believe Scott really loves Ramona, but I'm just not sure she cares as much about him. Maybe that's as it should be, though.
Speaking of Scott being convincing, I am willing to admit that Michael Cera does a pretty decent job. His Scott is likable, but still pretty much a douche until he owns up to himself. The progression is awesome to watch, too. My mother actually gave me the Washington Post review right before I saw it, which is emphatically negative, but the author made a big deal about Scott being a selfish jerk who manipulates those around him. YES, EXACTLY. THAT IS THE POINT. Among other things, the author also described it as being disturbingly like Kick-Ass, and complained that Knives' character encourages Scott to go after Ramona. This is, of course, after she's spent an entire movie being psychotic over him, only to get her own closure and grow up in a similar way to Scott. Which is, for the record, massively awesome. So there, Washington Post.
Kieran Culkin is a god. If everything else in this movie had been painfully awful, I still would have gone to see it again for him. His various drunken commentaries are hilarious, and I actually howled with laughter at the point where he steals Stacey's boyfriend. People, I need so much Wallace Wells fic, it isn't even funny.
Obviously, the fight scenes were awesome. They were so fucking awesome, I'm not going to describe any of them, just so you can see them for yourself in glorious detail. What I will say is that the fight coordinator (Peng Zhang, who also apparently did Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is the first thing that has made me want to see that movie) is very clearly someone who loves fight scenes, but also appreciates the emotional resonance and importance to the story a fight scene can have. For all the gravity-defying stunts, the fights feel very real, and I loved them. (Trivia: I found out when looking for his name that the stunt doubles for Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman are brothers. I have no idea how that makes any sense, but it's hilarious.)
I'm pretty sure this is already longer than my "thoughts on The Dark Knight" post, so I'm going to attempt to cut myself off here. Final conclusion: it isn't the books, not by a long shot (so
nova33, I still think you should brave the art to read the books), but that does not in any way make it bad. In fact, it's very good. You should all go see it, if no other reason than because I can confidently say it is also the best romantic comedy to come out in a long time, which is worth something. Those of you who have seen it, discuss!
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