Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

A while back, I saw the trailer for the movie, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. I thought, "Wow, that looks pretty cool." Then I stumbled upon the internet, where everyone was, how do you say, FLIPPING OUT. I hadn't been made aware of Scott Pilgrim's basis in the realm of comic books, which, needless to say, only made me like it more. It was drawn and written by Bryan Lee O'Malley, who though I hadn't heard of him, had a really cool style that appealed to my cartoon loving self. This happened to be all around my birthday, and with not much else on my birthday list, I decided to ask for the first 3 books. I was hooked. The protagonist, Scott Pilgrim, is a 20 something, with no job, a few friends, and is lost in life with the exception of his band. He's also comically slow witted. I took a liking to him immediately. I bought the next 2 books, and eagerly awaited the 6th and final book to come out last month.

With such a great love for the books, having now read and enjoyed them all tremendously, the trailers (one in particular) were increasingly amazing as scenes from the movie were almost panel for panel with the comic books. With such a faithful representation, and being directed by the awesome Edgar Wright, who some of you might remember from directing Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz, the entire nerd community, yours truly included, was throughly stoked.

After letting the movie marinate in my brain juices all weekend I have decided that they had every right to be. Due to time constraints, the story of the movie closely parallels the first three books, then takes its own course, but it remains very faithful regardless. The story is about the previously mentioned Scott, played by Michael Cera, who meets Ramona, and in order to date her has to defeat her Seven Evil Ex's. Video game and pop culture references commence.

The little nods and the amount of references was incredible and vast, from Zelda's Great Fairy Fountain to the Seinfeld scene switch music. The cinematography was also incredible, mimicking the stylized drawing of the books, but at the same time making it aesthetically pleasing and often times hilarious. The mash up of movie stereotypes and the line blurring of comedy, drama and action film with a handful of references interspersed was incredible.

The action scenes were equally as well done. The fighting was as good as I've seen in kung-fu movies nowadays, but was done over a layer of video game stylization, which was what really made me like it. I caught myself during a few of these action scenes thinking, "Wow. I love this movie." I mean, when you have Micheal Cera fighting a legion of bosses, while getting 64 hit combos and coins for defeating them, you know you've just made fanboys' days worldwide.

As I said earlier the subtle sound clues are really good, but at the same time, Scott's band, Sex Bob-Omb plays an integral part in the plot, so there's a lot of music played in the movie, almost all of it written and performed by Beck. I'm no Beck fan, but boy! I really dug the music in this movie. To the point where I am deeply considering downloading the OST off of iTunes. It's that good you audiophiles.

However there are a few detractors. I loved this movie, because I got all the jokes, the subtle little nods, and could kinda empathize with the characters' situation being a 20 year old myself. But if you haven't played a video game in your life, you'll be missing out on a lot of these jokes. The movie is still good on the surface, but it was the little things, and emphasis on detail that really made this movie, "An epic of epic epicness."

If you're in the teens, twenties, or thirties possibly, I'd say this film is right in your wheel house if you like romantic action comedies. Yes, that is the label I am giving this film. Actually, I'm going to call it a romantic nerd action comedy. I am also going to give this film a 9.5 out of 10. I could really watch this movie again. And again. And possibly again. But I might need to pee at some point. But then I'd definitely watch it again. Go see it.

GAME OVER

The Very Late VGA Trailer Breakdown

From time to time, I very much enjoy nerding out. Unlike the Hulk I don't have to get angry, but instead my interest must be piqued. So from time to time when this happens, I'm going to bring the nerd. Enjoy.

Couple weeks back, The Video Game Awards on Spike occurred, for lack of a better word, and though the show has been ripped on in the past, the trailers that emerged this year have brought much joy to gamers throughout the world. Or America. Anyway here are a couple of thoughts on some of the trailers.

Halo: Reach. Being a HUGE Halo fan - I've got the games, and the books. Yeah I'm hardcore. - The Reach trailer was much anticipated. It did not disappoint. The score, highlighted on Bungie.net, was excellent, and that little taste the in-game cinema gave left me wanting, neigh, needing more. Since I purchased Halo 3: ODST, I have my key to the Reach beta all ready and waiting when it drops this spring, but even the small glimpses of these new characters has whetted my appetite enough to know that whenever this game comes out, I will be getting it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Now, anyone that knows me, knows I love comic books, and those who know me well know I prefer DC over Marvel. So when Arkham Asylum 1 came out this fall, and it didn't suck like every game prior, I purchased it and I was not disappointed. The first game was stunning with the free flow combat, and excellent storyline and use of Batman's Rogues' Gallery. This new look at a post-first game Joker, and the Asylum in the heart of the City of Gotham, filled with mayhem and the possibility of sandbox-esque game play has left me with another 60 dollars owed to the proprietor of a video game dispensing outlet.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I borrowed and played the first game almost a year ago, and being a huge Star Wars geek, was certainly satisfied with the game. The DLC that has come out since has almost convinced me into buying the Ultimate Sith edition, with all of it being included. It had new characters that captured my imagination, and reeled me into a new realm of the Star Wars Universe. That being said, with the end of the last game I thought my ride was over. With this trailer emerging, I am right back on board. How they'll link it to the last game? I don't know. But I'm sure the people working for George Lucas will figure it out. With no gameplay to faun over, I can only say that the idea of another Force Unleashed game has certainly sparked my imagination on where they will go, when it will happen and all sorts of other possibilities. Buy this, I will.

Tron: Evolution. Oh, Tron. Your 80's awesomeness still affects me to this day. With your new movie coming out I am certainly interested in this new story you're pursuing, but nonetheless I know how your games have done in the past (e.g. epic failure). So, yes, while your trailer is shiny and clean, I'll wait till I hear some more about the story and gameplay till I say yay or ney on this purchase.

Mass Effect 2. Another game I borrowed and played the original, but this trailer clearly has a little more of its story fleshed out. The cinematic trailer in full (as opposed to the first 3/4 shown at the VGA's) is a beautiful creation, and if I could buy tickets, and watch a movie filled with that kind of cinematic brilliance, I would have already pre-ordered them on Fandango. This game is clearly going to be epic storywise, and with the addition of new characters and worlds, and bringing in the decisions made from the first game (if you played it) this is definitely a must buy.

The few other trailers there were, were not enough to merit any paragraph writing, either because I haven't played the games prior, and thus feel unqualified to write upon them, or because they sucked. I'll bet you can figure it out if you take a look. This link here has most of the trailers mentioned above, with the others not mentioned above, but a simple Google search should be enough to find them on your own.

So thanks for indulging me nerding out for a bit, I'll be back to nonsensical amusement next time, I assure you! Bye!

One Paragraph of Game Review, and a few more of Hilarious Late-Night Adventuring

So, a week or two ago, I borrowed Mass Effect from my friend Beckett, and let me tell you, it opens a world of possibilities. While the trailers make it look like you can choose to destroy worlds, and ignore plight on a galactic scale, it is not quite as free as that. However in this game, for every action there is an equal and awesome reaction. So when I go up to somebody in the game's central hub, and they offer me a task to do, I can graciously accept, do the job, and be on my way. However I can also extort them and get bank and end up doing next to nothing. I often prefer the former, but when the situation calls for the latter, I prefer to let my assault rifle do the talking. I have saved whole races from extinction, and left a soldier to die. And it was BOSS. I would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys really fleshing out their own world in their own way, and making the galaxy as they see fit. And just do yourself a favor and play a few worlds in, because I was not sold until I had really delved deep into the story and saved a race of aliens from a cruel death. Oh, and the fact that all my decisions will carry weight and change the world in the upcoming sequel Mass Effect 2, is effing AWESOME. So definitely rent it, borrow it, or even just buy it for 20 or 30 bucks used at the local game store.

MOVING ON.... So yesterday, after a long day of playing the game mentioned prior, I was alerted to head over to my friend Andy's house, already occupied by John and himself. Upon arrival, it was time to enter the arena. The only arena that three 19 year old boys, who are bored to death in the middle of the summer know.... Monopoly. Yes, picking up my trusty game piece (the thimble, as the hat had failed me the night before) we began this game of strategy and wits. It was a vicious battle back and forth, with John and my efforts keenly focused on denying Andy the orange spaces, and Andy focused on accumulating the weapons of our destruction. Eventually in a daring trade I swapped the third and final orange to Andy for my third and final Red. The corner around Free Parking was soon to be a death trap. All the meanwhile John had been silently accumulating the Greens. The game soon escalated in to multiple hundreds of dollars being thrown from player to player, with Andy eventually going out first, after circling the drain for a couple rounds. Then after landing on my Hotel on Illinois Avenue twice, John was down for the count and my Thimble now stood victorious. I am sure a third round will be soon to come.

It was at this point however that we discovered we were starving. Looking up from the game board for the first time, and away from the television, we soon discovered that it was also about 11 o'clock on a Wednesday night. That left us 1 option. Wendy's. A late night favorite among our group, it was quickly determined that this was our only and best course of action. So, hopping in my gasoline powered chariot, Andy, John and I were off to feast. Rendezvousing with our boy, Brian, we met up and all piled in to my car, because we had to hop in the drive through. We ordered $21.69 of food. Mostly off the dollar menu. Fast food is the best. Well... Best for late night eats. So then I did part two of this eloquent little fast food dance, and I pulled up to the window. Actually I pulled up 2 feet away from the window. Completely bush league. Completely Rook status. It was 11 on a Wednesday and I couldn't successfully pull up to a drive through window. People inside, and behind me, looked at me and in their eyes I could see their cold looks of judgment. Due to our outlandish amount of food that we had ordered we were asked to just pull up and our food would be brought to us eventually. 10 minutes, some fat jokes, some hilarious contemplation on the inability to get to the drive through window, and some Jim Gaffigan quotes later, we were all on edge. And that's when these two blonde girls drove by in the back of a truck. Being four guys at a fast food joint late at night, we threw inhibition to the wind, and started crawling out our windows to wave and yell "HI!" at the top of our lungs. They drove off, us never to know who they were, and as we were all sitting and enjoying the moment, John just threw in a little. "They were waving at me." He might as well have slapped everyone else in the face. "No way. They were waving at me!" then "That's BULL! They were staring at me before they started waving!" An argument broke out then, and my car was nearly the next octagon. Fists were about to fly when Brian shouted " WOAH WOAH WOAH!! Guys! Woah! I think at least we can all agree on one thing." We paused, waiting for his logic. "They weren't waving at me." We all burst out laughing, and then surrounded by a glow of late night delight, a random guy walked out with our two bags of food, and they were about to EXPLODE with greasy goodness.

All in all, we got back to Andy's, ate our food, and drank some soda before the night came to a close. T'was a good night, and I thought I'd share about my mundane adventures. Wendy's forgot my small fry, but was delicious none the less.