Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Post Release

They had a sneak preview for this last night in my town.

I didn't learn about the preview until just a few minutes ago.

DAMMIT

A truly great film.

Saw it last night, and yep, it's fantastic. The casting director on this deserves some special award; every single speaking part was dead-on perfect.

Special kudos to Winstead for pulling off a really tricky part. She really captured Ramona's allure, aloofness and mild self-loathing just like the comic. Plus, she's ridiculously hot.

Yeah, this is mindblowing. Like I know I have to see it again to get it better. I just know it's great.

I was really looking forward to hearing what you thought of this, and I think this might be one of your best reviews ever. Great stuff.

Great review Nick! I'm so excited for this movie I'm actually burning a vacation day from work as an excuse to see it opening day in a nice theater.

I don't believe any of you. This is going to suck. Fucking hipsters.

Great review.

This movie gets better with every viewing. It's basically perfect.

You seem miserable.

I saw this on Tuesday in Atlanta. Despite the theater's sound system failing and only emitting sound from the front speakers anytime the music got too loud it was a fun time. The audience was primed for this movie and applause and laughter (some of it felt a little forced, but I think some people were laughing because they thought they were supposed to be and not from genuine amusement) were sprinkled throughout the run time.

The movie was great; pure eye candy with heart and some soul too. I've never gone anywhere near a Scott Pilgrim comic book (I read the wikipedia pages on it after I saw the first trailer) so I can't say how faithful ti was to them, nor do I care. It was fun and refreshing. This summer has been balls, so having Inception and this to cap it off has been a nice treat. The Bollywood spoof and Akira nod made me very happy.

My only gripe was how long and uninteresting the opening credits were, but that is so amazingly minor it's hardly relevant.

All in all, I'll be happily paying to see it a second time when it releases and being sure to take my family with me.

You seem unable to detect sarcasm.

Glad to hear so much positive buzz. I really hope this grabs me. Trailers have me worried though.


Wow. I'd go with someone far higher up the chain, but tomato/tomato I suppose.

Ha. I've seen a variation of that statement hundreds of times on dumb nerd boards. I'm sorry I thought you were one of them.

That was the "joke". No worries.

I'm skipping all comments here - trying to remain as spoiler-free as possible - but wanted to say thank to Nick for the review, specifically his comment at the end about thinking yourself too old for it. Frankly, that's been one of my worries/thoughts; this looks like a bundle of fun, but it looks like a young(er) person's bundle of fun (I'm in my early 40s). And I didn't mean that as a criticism; some flicks are just most potent for a certain age range. But it's good to know SPVTW sidesteps or transcends it.

Great review. I would love a tag review too. I wish they would release it here sooner.

Don't know about this one. I know I'm probably in the minority, but the trailer did zero for me, and after CHUD's glowing review for Kick-Ass, which I did not care for in the least, I just haven't been able to trust a CHUD review of most films based on super-geek material.

Then again, I could be wrong. I'll always be rooting for Wright and co., but this one remains suspect to me.

I'm about to turn 42, and I loved the hell out of the film. Its themes are pretty universal and many of the video games they reference are at least 15 years old. It's in no way aimed strictly at a zeitgeist "youth crowd."

I too have been burned by the recommendations of the geek community. Namely, I was told that Kick-Ass and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow were good movies. But I just don't get how you can see this project as suspect. It's basically the Canadian hipster version of Spaced with the budget to make the videogame references and mock gun fights ridiculous. The guy simply cannot fuck that up.

As I said in another thread: What INCEPTION does for your brain, SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD does for your heart.

Something is gonna have to be really, really great to top this as my favourite movie of 2010.

Thanks. And with this, I'm out until I see the flick.

Man, 2 weeks is too damn long to wait to see this now!!!
I hope it does well, though the tv spots have been godawful.

I'm worried the studio has already given the majority of the audience for this film a free screening. I mean they did like 4 at comic con. I'm going to one on Monday (my second viewing of it.) I'll likely still go pay to see it when it comes out, but really, it seems like rather than building word of mouth they're just giving everyone who wants to see it an opportunity to see it for free.

If the audience for this is limited to Comic Con attendees and people who are both interested in the property and aware and capable of exploiting advance screening offers, the movie is pretty fucked anyway. Seriously, I think you're seriously overstating the threat these things pose to the bottom line of the film.

They've showed it to a few thousand people. If those were the only people who were going to see this then they'd be fucked. That math doesn't add up. I couldn't believe all the seemingly legitimate journalists who brought that up in their Comic Con coverage.

They need people to know the movie is awesome because the trailers and TV spots don't show that.

ETA: Oops. Somehow I didn't see this:

I understand how you feel. Never read either comic and went in fairly cold for both. Kick-Ass was mostly a disappointment for me too. But the situation is night and day. SPvTW is genuinely entertaining, has real heart, and a lead who is actually likable. It's difficult to articulate, but the two films are entirely different experiences, and the latter earns its geekiness for me. I got to see an advance screening months ago, but I am definitely going to pay to see it again.

You're talking like they're pulling a "Serenity", but this is the smartest thing they could do. A movie like this is a hard sell outside of it's core fanbase (last time I saw the trailer in a theater some assholes actually heckled it) , so word of mouth should help more then tv spots.

I saw it for free last week, but I have every intention in paying to see it again.

Honestly, I am slightly worried about this. They're screening it five times in the Seattle area. The most screenings of one movie I'd seen before is three, and those are rare. It seems excessive, maybe.

As for the film itself, I thought it was great. I've seen it twice. The first time was such a sensory overload it made my head spin, and I wasn't really sure what to make of it. Seeing it a second time really helped me appreciate the film without being so knocked flat I could barely process it.

Spoilers ahead, if you care:

The number one complaint I've heard regarding the film is that it's not romantic, and it's certainly not, say, Moulin Rouge! (i.e. a gonzo, grandly romantic mismash of boldfaced emotion).

I think the comic is about two things: the romance between Scott and Ramona, and the story of Scott growing up. I also think the comic is about two people, those being Scott and Ramona. The film is, as everyone knows, only around two hours, and doesn't have room to cram in everything from the two books. The film basically jettisons the bulk -- not all, mind you, just the bulk -- of Ramona's journey and the romance in favor of Scott becoming a man and owning up to his immaturity. Which makes sense to me; it is called Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, after all. And I think if you go in knowing that, you'll be able to enjoy it more. You'll see the romance that is there as opposed to missing all the romance that isn't (and what there is also seemed more effective when the movie wasn't blowing by me like a hurricane).

The first time through I had two minor quibbles: that Ramona basically stands around during too much of the final fight, and that the ending was slightly awkward. After my second viewing, I still think Ramona stands around too much at the end. There are so many moments where it looks like she's going to jump in full force but doesn't; she gets a good beat in but it's entirely lacking compared to her full-fledged participation in the book. As for the ending, though, I think it works and even brings in some of that romance, because by removing most of Ramona's journey, the movie allows the ending -- straight out of the book -- to suggest that she's going to go on that journey after the finale, and that Scott wants to help her fight her battles, as if a (totally hypothetical) Ramona Flowers vs. The World is about to begin.

As for everything else, I don't have much to elaborate. Wright's direction has taken another leap forward. The movie moves at a breakneck pace and almost never stops -- the scene transitions in this movie are fucking amazing. The supporting cast is all aces (Yeah, Routh, Evans, etc., and Kieran Culkin really fucking walks away with the movie, but I think Mark Webber and Johnny Simmons aren't getting enough praise here).

My experience was that I liked how much you could separate the film from the book. I think it's because the film is just so cohesive, so well-edited, so complete in its current form, that even if you know things are missing you can't quite get your brain to put them back in the film because you're so aware that it's a film and how alive it is. I went with a friend who wasn't able to do that, and I've talked to other people who didn't have that experience, but that was mine. For instance, I thought the amp vs. amp battle was a highlight (something about the lightning bolt effects really took me back to all the special effects-heavy '80s films I used to watch as a little kid).

I really hope it's a hit. 99% of my posts are in the B-Action Movie Thread but I'd like this movie to stomp The Expendables (which sounded awesome in theory, before Stallone cast it, and it's been downhill from there, although I guess I'll know on the 9th).

I interviewed Edgar, Michael and Anna on Friday as well. Assuming it's not considered spam I'll post a link when it's up at DVDTalk.

Five screens, filled = one day of business at one location.

I think this film has a larger audience than a few thousand con-goers. They haven't poisoned the well in the slightest.

Right, right. Okay, maybe not so excessive.

Response was great at both screenings, too.

I saw one couple walk out at screening 2 but they were both in their 60s.

I know a ton of people in my area that want to see this movie and there aren't any screenings around. These parts of the country do exist, and they are plentiful. The notion that screenings will severely hurt the movie's financial success is absurd.

Seen it twice now, love it just as much. I want the soundtrack to this baby ASAP. And the game too! Now that I've read Vol 6, it's great to relate the similarities to the movie, after seeing the movie first before.

That's funny. The screening I went to seemed to be for ONLY 15-34 year olds. At least thats what it said on my pass. Unless they had other passes for old folks. There definitely weren't any there. (There was a plethora of douchey hipsters and super hot chicks though).

Regardless of what the others say I do question the benefit of having so many screenings. In the case of the one I went to today it was actually a press screening (like 2/3rds of the rows were roped off when we walked into the theater for "press." Luckily we got there early and got good seats).

You're the salt of the Earth...

She is very small. And she seemed to be thinking the same thing as we were, which is that there aren't a whole lot of questions to ask her since she's in the movie for like 8 minutes. But it was cool to meet her.

There are so many questions to ask her. She's at such an interest crossroads of her career, for one. You don't have to just ask 'what was it like working with Michael.'

Well nobody wants to know what its like fucking Edgar Wright. (I heard something about them being "romantically involved." That's just nonsense gossip right?) But seriously I think she's pretty interesting. She seems to have some mad geekiness under that hot little exterior.

As it was a roundtable with 3 other people that only lasted about 25 minutes we stayed pretty focused on just Scott Pilgrim. I haven't seen Rocket Science or any of the Twilight films so my knowledge of her career is limited to this and Up in the Air.

But, for the record, I would never ask that question, or anything like it. If I can't come up with questions I feel are at least somewhat unique and aren't going to be covered by an EPK or the kind of interviewers who just ask base questions about the plot, then I just pass on the interview. I spend a fair amount of time looking at other interviews on other sites and try to ask questions that sort of "follow up", or at least I try to make sure I'm not asking the same ones.

It sounds like it will be up tomorrow so I guess we'll see what people think.

WHERE?! WHERE IN THE SEATTLE AREA? WHEN?! aaaaaaaah.

Check your DM. EDIT: Here it is. http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/scott_pilgrim_v.html

Watched it tonight in Toronto. What a special fucking screening. I've never heard people cheer as much as they did during this film, even after the initial "OH MY GOD THEY SAID TORONTO" moment at the beginning. The crowd was completely into it. Even Richard Crouse seemed to be enjoying himself (we'll see how he reviews the film.)

Me? I loved it. Loved it a lot. It was a great adaptation, and Edgar Wright proved that he is goddamn untouchable. Also, Bill Pope did a hell of a job shooting Toronto. I don't think I've ever seen our city (AS our city, not doubling for an American metropolis) look so great on film before.

God I want to see it again right now.

I figure this isn't news since the commercial's been running on adult swim, but HOLY SHIT.

http://www.collider.com/2010/08/03/s...m-august-12th/

Sounds great. Hopefully that will be on the DVD.

The elevator in my office building has a video screen that shows (very brief) commercials, and I just saw one promoting the city of Toronto "as seen in the film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World."

Turns out it's a major campaign.

That's hilarious. They should have rolled something like this out when Dead Ringers was released.

First off, the movie is amazing. The editing especially was like something that I've never seen before. If there was any justice in the world, it'd at least get nominated for editing.

I think Mark Webber as Stephen Stills might be the movie's secret weapon. I thought he was just perfect, and made me like the character more than I did from the books.

My one complaint is that Kim was in it for so little. She's one of my favorite characters and I wish she was featured a little more, but I can understand why she's in it for so little. Movie is packed tight.

I know I mentioned it once before, but man they need better tv commercials for this movie. I've been watching tv for a while now while working and have seen 3 or 4 spots for it and they have all been uniformly terrible. If I didn't know what the movie was already about I simply wouldn't have any idea at all.

Hell yes.