Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Ellen Wong, Keiran Culkin
Production Studio: Big Talk Films, Relativity Media
Distributed By: Universal Pictures

Adapted from the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs The World follows the story of Canadian Scott Pilgrim, as he progresses through the early years of his post-teen life.

The narrative line follows Scott (Cera) who is dating a high school girl, Knives Chau (Wong) at the offset of the story. One night, whilst dreaming, Scott envisions another woman, who automatically captivates him. Whilst in the library with Knives, Scott spies this girl from his dreams, and seeks to ultimately engineer a relationship with her. As Scott, a bassist in his band Sex Bob-omb, seeks to win the approval of this 'Ramona Flowers' (Winstead), he becomes aware that before he can be with her, he must defeat her "7 deadly ex's". The story develops as he fights his way through ex after ex, combining action, humour and creative screen-art to give the film an authentic feeling graphic novel adaptation.

The story itself is nothing fantastic, as when broken down, it is merely a 'coming of age/lessons learned' narrative, but with a very creative twist. The inclusion of the comic-type artwork and quick-remark humour ensures Scott Pilgrim is captivating from the off, with a style like which I personally, had not seen before.

The cast execute the plot well, and particular nods are given to Cera (who plays a similar non-macho role as his previous characters in Juno and Superbad), Winstead and Culkin (who plays Scott's gay room-mate, Wallace); each of whom are engaging characters, with substantial contributions to the onscreen quality. Winstead plays a thoughtful character, looking to escape her past of bad decisions with boyfriends and as well as the intellectual centre of the film, also plays the role of onscreen dream-girl, with Scott (and her 7 ex's) still craving her affection.

Added to the good plot, sustained humour, decent action sequences and an array of good acting is the impressive soundtrack, forming the basis of Sex Bob-omb's material, as they battle their way through a competition to seek a recording contract with super-producer, "GMan". The music (written for the film by Beck) incorporates well with the comical graphics and pace of the film. The soundtrack combines independent songs, some rock classics and a series of lesser well known bands, who all conform to the "underground garage band" sound, which is atypical of Sex Bob-omb.

The film follows on from other genre spoofs (Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead immediately spring to mind), but executes the concept with a lot more engaging material than these other films.

Overall, it's a film most people will either love it or hate it, but the overall experience is remarkably positive, and you'll leave the cinema thinking you've never seen any film quite like it.

Rating: 7/10

The (very much) Expendables

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Bruce Willis
Production Studio: Nu Image & Millenium Films
Distributed By: Lionsgate

Date: 28/08/10

With a powerhouse cast and a director who is of presidential standing in the action genre, "The Expendables" promised so much and unfortunately, fails to deliver.

The storyline centres on a group of mercenaries who are hired by CIA Agent "Church" (Willis) to liberate a small Island in the Mexican Gulf. Upon arrival to the Island, Ross (Stallone) and Christmas (Statham) quickly realise that the native militia are being governed by a Rogue CIA Agent James Monroe (Roberts). Whilst on the Island, they are shown around by the daughter of militia general, Sandra (Itie), who refuses to leave with Ross and Christmas. Not able to get this girl off of his mind, Stallone decides to go back to the Island and rescue her. Although initially against a return the other Expendables decide to follow and help recover the rapidly deteriorating situation.

The narrative takes a little while to actually develop and the initial pace of the film is very slow. The ocassional comedic dialogue kept most of the audience interested, but the general shifting in the seats and glances at watches in the theatre were telling. The scene which features Ross, Agent Church and Trench (Schwarzenegger) was one of the most comically valuable, and also a nice touch to see the three actors on screen together, even if only briefly.

Let me not lambast the movie entirely though - the action sequences contained within were brilliant, but considering the cast, this should pretty much go without saying. If there was any criticism of the action sequences, it was perhaps the quickness with which they concluded. I was surprised to note that the film only received a 15 rating in the UK, as some of the action sequences produced some pretty graphic violence, with limb mutilation, graphic killings and at one point, someone being blown into 2 pieces with a high calibre shotgun.

The film certainly wasn't the worst I've ever seen, and it's worth going along to see the action sequences alone, but don't expect an overly engaging storyline or an action packed rollercoaster from start to finish.

My rating: 4/10

Improving a Collection

I decided to update my DVD collection the other day, as it was feeling a little devoid of attention of late. I popped onto Amazon and managed to secure 30 new DVD's for just under £45!

Anyway, I'm going to use this first blog as a way to inventory what I all have available in my collection, including updates whenever I buy something new or sell one of them:

A Few Good Men
A History of Violence
Along Came Polly
American Gangster
American Pie 1
American Pie 2
American Pie: The Wedding
Any Given Sunday

Band of Brothers: Box Set
Black River
Blood Diamond
Blue Planet
Bowling for Columbine
Brokeback Mountain
Burn Notice - Season 1
Burn Notice - Season 2

Casino
Catch Me If You Can
Chasing Amy
Coach Carter
Constantine
Crash

Dara O'Briain: Live in London
The Dark Knight
The Day After Tomorrow
The Departed
Dogma
Donnie Darko
Doubt
The Dreamcatcher

Evolution

Fahrenheit 9/11
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
For A Few Dollars More
Fistfull of Dollars
Fight Club
From Dusk til Dawn

The Godfather 1-3
Goodfellas
The Good Shepherd
Good Will Hunting
Groundhog Day

Hancock
Happy Gilmore
Heroes - Season 1
Heroes - Season 2
Heroes - Season 3
Hitch
The Hurt Locker

I,Robot
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Independence Day
Iron Man
The Italian Job

James Bond Ultimate Collection (Dr No. - Casino Royale (2010))
Jarhead
Jerry Maguire
Joshua
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park: The Lost World
Jurassic Park III

Kung Fu Panda

L.A. Confidential
Layer Cake
The Last Samurai
Liar Liar

Mallrats
The Matrix
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Max Payne
Men In Black
Men In Black II
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible II
Mission Impossible III

Oceans 11
Oceans 12
Oceans 13
Once Upon A Time In America

Pearl Harbor
Pirates of the Carribean
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds End
Planet Earth

Rage Against the Machine: Live in Mexico City
Remember the Titans
Road to Perdition
Role Models

Scarface
Shrek 1
Shrek 2
Shrek the Third
Smokin' Aces
Snow Patrol - Live in Belfast
Spider-man
Spider-man II
Spider-man III
The Spirit
Star Trek (2009)
The Sum of All Fears
Superbad

Terminator 2
Terminator Salvation
Transformers
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Twilight

The Untouchables

V for Vendetta

War of the Worlds (2004)
Watchmen
We Are Marshall
Wild Wild West
Without a Trace - Season 1
Without a Trace - Season 2
Without a Trace - Season 3

X Men
X Men II
X Men III: The Last Stand
The X Files - Season 1
The X Files - Season 2
The X Files - Season 3
The X Files - Season 4
The X Files - Season 5
The X Files - Season 6
The X Files - Season 7
The X Files - Season 8
The X Files - Season 9
The X Files - Fight the Future
The X Files - I Want to Believe