Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Post Release - Page 19

A more pragmatic editor would have realized that all the stuff of Wallace working towards kicking Scott out of his apartment doesn't serve the compressed timeline of the film.

Culkin's work deserved to be seen, of course.

When the gang see Knives and Young Neil together, Ramona asks, "How old is she?"

The other selections on Scott's wheel are...

-She's nobody
-She's forty!
-Idiot!
-No speaka English
-When's dinner
-Uh....
-Tell Pac Man story
-No, you are
-Pass out
-It was nothing
-Who her?

If you frame-advance right before the shot zooms into his face, Cera looks really creepy. His face goes silhouette, but his eyes get big and are still normal colored.

EDIT: Just watched the making-of documentary on the blu-ray. It's really well done in the way you can feel the love that went into the production. Because of that, I'm actually disappointed by how short it felt. It's 45 minutes, but I wish it went on forever since it was a particularly long shoot.

EDIT2: There's a bit of rehearsal footage of the first scene of the film where Allison Pill recites some of her dialog with an English dialect. She's Canadian, right? I wonder if she was just messing around...

EDIT3: Oh, Mark Webber's doing it too. They must've just been messing around.

EDIT4: I'm watching the costume/hair/make-up test footage they filmed for nearly every one of the main characters. There's no audio other than a mellow portion of the original score (at least until it gets to Envy). It feels like I'm watching a fashion ad directed by Sofia Coppola or something. It's an odd feeling. It's a really cool special feature. The closest thing I've seen to the costume/lighting test montage on the Moulin Rouge DVD/Blu-ray, except way more expansive.

Nobody in this thread mentioned one of my favorite lines by Gideon: "You know how long it took me to prepare all this? TWO HOURS!!!

Also, from now on everytime i hear the Universal logo music i cant help but crack my neck twice Lucas Lee's style.

Finally saw this. An enjoyable little film. I don't think it's a game-changer and I don't quite see why some are so over the moon about it, but it's a good movie.

He only liked it! Kill the heretic!

GOOD MOVIE!? You unimaginable bastard!

SACRIFICE HIM ON THE PAIN CROSS

I came up with another reason why i hate the shortened relationship time.
The whole "we'll try again" feeling at the end carries next to zero weight. Try again? You've been going out for 2 weeks.
I loved it in the comics because it was a mature thing to do if there were still heavy feelings involved after a year and a half of a relationship and a few months being broken up.

Still love the film.

But in how many real relationships do you go through years of baggage in 2 weeks? Like most movies, everything is heightened and sped up.

And I say this despite the fact that I agree with you.

He's right, but I guess it helps if you bring similar baggage into the movie. I've definitely had one or two relationships that had similar ups and downs within the span of a few weeks with legitimate passion. It's definitely not normal, but it happens. I identified with the movie's pace since I've been through a couple similar situations, but I know it's definitely not the norm, and probably shouldn't justify the movie's plot. It was fun for me because I could identify, but it was probably still bad writing.

I don't know, I feel like some people are demanding a little too much psychological realism from a movie in which relationship baggage is resolved with video game fight scenes.

In my view, reality is not the issue. As I mentioned earlier, evidence of the build up to the original ending (Knives + Scott) is littered throughout the film, and I think Ramona's truncated development is further proof of this. Edgar Wright was on the verge of making a smart decision before he opted to make a dumb one. Hardcore fans might have been pissed, but he'd have had a better film for it.

Have you seen the original ending to the film and the deleted/alternate scenes that were cut out as a result of the ending change? There were a few posts about it in previous pages, but I can see Wright's dilemma.

I was also someone who thought it fitting that Scott and Knives get together at the end. While I still feel that way, I think the original ending felt a little flat, and I think Wright felt the same way. Whether it was down to execution or due to it not being the right ending... I'm not sure. But the kicker was that O'Malley took issue with the idea of Scott choosing Knives. For Wright, that seemed enough and used the reshoots to do a new ending instead of finessing the original.

I'll be honest, I'm a little weirded out by the amount of people that wanted him to be with Knives at the end. Granted, she was more fleshed out than Ramona, but his relationship with her was so damn juvenile that it almost felt like rape. It was funny in the beginning, and was a good statement on his maturity (lack thereof), but if he'd wound up with her at the end, it would just be creepy.

Yeah, I brought it up a page or so ago. As I mentioned then, my opinion is that he should have simply reshot that scene instead of scrapping the resolution wholesale. O'Malley may have had issue with it, but the decided upon ending comes across as a hiccup in the narrative because the momentum of the film isn't behind it.

What I wish we could see is Knives' development that was pretty much kept off-screen due to the focus on Scott and Ramona. We go from a cheery/bubbly Knives, to broken Knives, to stalker Knives, to Ramonoppelgänger Knives, to mourning hoodie Knives... and then straight to Ninja Knives who is suddenly a great combo with Scott.

Filling in the blanks, I felt that both characters had gone through enough growth to warrant them giving the relationship another shot.

Well, in the original ending Scott and Knives do end up together, as you may know already. I think focus tests forced him to change the ending. I also prefer the ending where Scott and Ramona reunite. Scott didn't seem like he was actually interested in Knives, as evidenced by how quickly he dropped her. That's why I think the theatrical ending feels more natural.

What did everybody think would be the conclusion when the final fight ends with Scott and Knives working as a great combo and was soon stated explicitly by Ramona? Just curious. Did you think for a moment that Scott and Knives would walk off into the sunset? Did you see it as a bit of a fake-out? Or did you already know how it was going to end?

But Scott is truly terrible to Knives at the start of the film, that is why them getting together doesn't work for me.

But isn't one of the points stated in the film that he was terrible to everyone?

"I cheated on Knives... with you?"

"Is there a difference?"

But I definitely get what you're saying. He was terrible to her. I guess I can be somewhat forgiving because that terribleness wasn't malicious. It was stupid and cowardly... but... uh...

When I first saw it, I thought that they may stick Knives with Scott and I was disappointed. Though they make a great team, as was already mentioned - Scott was terrible to Knives. It wasn't a good relationship for either of them. Scott's arc throughout the movie is far more amenable to a an eventual strong relationship with Ramona rather than a step backwards to a relationship with Knives.

After my brief moment of "Oh no," I thought, "They are a great team. And work great together. And they will - as friends." And I've felt that in my own life. THere are people with whom I'm a much better friend than a romantic partner, and that's Knives and Scott.

That's one of my nitpicks about the film. That a lot of Knives' development happens off-screen or more accurately, in the span of a few BAD BAD Gideon kicks on Ramona. Is that why a relationship with Knives is seen as a step back? If both of them grew, I feel like it wouldn't be, and though that might be the idea, the film doesn't really show that development.

But your point about better friend than a romantic partner is certainly true. And it makes a lot of sense in this case, since that's basically how Scott treated her.

And see, I think because of both of their respective arcs, a relationship would have been a step back for both. Yes, Knives develops and it happens offscreen. But that development is exactly why I wouldn't want an ending of her with Scott.

I already knew how it would end because of the news that it had been changed to fit the book, and a friend, who is a fan of the books, told me how the story ended. Funny thing, she was displeased with the ending of the book, but sitting in a theater watching her obsession come to life sort of trumped all of that.

Scott being terrible to Knives is kind of secondary. Scott dating Knives in the first place is the problem. He's obviously regressing to someone younger because of what happened with Envy (whom he met in high school, which is important). He's afraid of a woman who realizes that she's grown beyond him (this fears manifest when he gets increasingly scared of Ramona being independent and impulsive, which is also exactly why he's attracted to her). So he finds a girl to date where he won't have to have that fear, where he can have the control. He's so self-conscious that he sees his relationship with Envy as someone small time jealous of a big time talent. So he gets Knives to be his Scott to his Envy. That's why the opening of the movie is so perfect, and important. We need to see why Scott is going out with Knives. It's because she'll worship him in a way that gives him all of the control. In her mind, he's the man.

Him ending up with Knives at the end would be disastrous and would go against everything the character had learned.

I forgot... does the film actually mention that Scott met Envy in high school in any way? Not that it would invalidate anything you said about the first act, which I completely agree with. Just curious.

EDIT: It's shameful that for all the times I've already seen the film that I can't remember the answer to my question.

According to the comic they dated in college, for what that's worth.

Okay, but my point still stands. Even more so, really.

Yeah, what's important is that Knives is almost the opposite of Envy in every way.

Anyway, despite all of the great points that people have made to the contrary, I still think that the original ending could have worked it had been finessed. Even if it did work, I have no doubt it would be debated the way we've already been doing, the same way not everyone feels that the final film completely sticks the landing.

It kinda goes into just how much psychological realism we each want out of this movie and a lot of that depends on the kind of baggage we have when it comes to the issue.

I liked the film overall, and enjoyed it as the novelty it was. The third act dragged a bit though. Part of the problem was that Jason Schwartzman was pretty underwhelming as the "final boss", especially when compared to Ramona's other boyfriends. The fight choreography in a couple of the scenes also felt like something out of the Prequels, elaborate, but boring.

I groaned during that Seinfeld gag though, so out of place.

The Seinfeld thing is apparently an expansion on a brief gag from the books, a gag that indicates an audience reaction. It's not out of place. I would venture to say that almost nothing is out of place in this universe.

Just what I was going to say. I don't know how anyone can say that anything in this movie is out of place. "Anything goes" is kind of the ruling aesthetic.

Finally got around to capping the dvd image.
Here's a nice big one if anyone is interested.

I didn't read all of the responses, but the short version of it is I think Knives learns too much from Scott the hard way for a relationship to be good. They're a good combo when they've evened the playing field, but that feels like a great basis to be friends, not to be a couple. The deleted scenes I cited, in my opinion, lay enough potent romantic groundwork between Scott and Ramona that it's worth it for them to try again. Also, in any case, the Knives ending as shot is fucking horrible. I was curious to see it, but I was surprised in seeing it how much I hated it.

Though I prefer the Knives ending (in concert with the alternate desert scene; together they make the final fight more satisfying while the Ramona ending doesn't flow "naturally" from the final fight) I don't think either ending is perfect, exactly, but I love them both. And it's of course completely appropriate that a video game movie ends up with two quality endings.

That's a good point. One could almost see a justification for a branching version of the film that has the viewer choose the ending.

Almost. Let's not give anybody any ideas.

"Sorry Scott. But Ramona's in another club."

"GAH!"

Since Knives doesn't turn 18 in the movie, I guess going with her would be the evil ending.

In the US, maybe! In Canada (16!), it would be the "This is a gray area" ending.

I really wish the Ramona ending had her play a bigger role in the big finale. That much hasn't changed even with me owning the blu-ray and watching it twice already. Even though I think it's clearly superior to the Knives ending, the Ramona ending still feels like it shares too many of the same character beats with the Knives ending. Oh well, the movie still rules intensely.

Doesn't Ramona just kinda stand there while the others are all duking it out even after she says she feels much better about the Evil Gideon Neck Chip? That struck me as odd.

Of course, if this were real life, I would be hesitant to jump into a fight with all those whirling blades too.

Can I just drop in and say that all my pre-concieved notions about this property were wrong? I had an unmitigated BLAST watching this movie.

My only nitpick: The Seinfeld music cue followed by a laughtrack much more suited to Married With Children. Nobody "WOOOOO"s or "AWWWWWWW"s during Seinfeld.

One of us. One of us. Gooble gobble.

Also, frightening as this is, Married with Children would've been off the air when Scott was old enough for that show to be an actual prescient reference in his mind.

I just saw this yesterday, so I hope y'all put up with my effervescense. The hype here and elswhere had me fairly convinced that this was some youth property, some niche thing that I couldn't get a handle on. Shame on me for not having faith in Wright. The music I thought I'd hate was fantastic. The characters I thought I'd despise I ended up adoring. The effects I thought would be distracting were actually informative. I just can't wait to watch it again. I hope the friends I show it to will get the same stuff I get out of it.

Just WOW. WO

One of us indeed.

Out of curiosity, JS, did the Battle Of The Bands scene blow your mind in your living room? I have yet to watch this at home but that whole sequence is probably my most memorable (visual) moment in the theater this year. Wondering if it's as indelible on a small(er) screen.

I'm not the guy you asked, but I think it's just as great on the small screen. Though, really, seeing it in the theater was sort of like watching it in my living room, as there were just as many people there.

I have a 56" hi-def screen, watched it in Blu-Ray, and I was just blown away the entire time. But not in a distracting sort of way, just being constantly amazed at the techniques on display. It was dizzying. I mean that. Dizzying.

Sadly, this was my experience as well. And since the theater I saw it in wasn't exactly top-notch, my home theater system wasn't much of a step down. The Blu Ray is a really impressive presentation, too.

Kevin Smith did a great 2 and a half hour podcast interview with Edgar Wright, funny interesting shit.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/smoviemake...iemakers-2.mp3