In This Economy?

NOTE: The following article comes from ITE? guestblogger T-Bag.

The economy sucks, but movies don’t. These installments are designed to let you, the intelligent and discerning moviegoer, know which flicks (current and otherwise) may be worthy of your hard-earned time and money.

Today I’m going to talk about:

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Dear General American Movie Going Public,

What the fuck?

Seriously, I thought we were cool. Collectively, we’ve made Inception a monster hit, we didn’t take our kids to see Cats and Dogs 2 and we haven’t held The Sorcerer’s Apprentice against Nicholas Cage.

But I needed you this weekend, and you said you’d be there. You even accepted my Facebook event invitation. Yet, after looking at the dismal box office returns for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, I am forced to come to a terrible conclusion:

Ya’ll are a bunch of goddamned flakes.

Listen, I’m not going to blame you entirely. There was a lot going on this weekend. Sylvester Stallone was blazing his completely earned comeback trail, Julia Roberts was eating frozen yogurt and looking all cute and Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg were successfully apologizing for Land of the Lost and The Happening, respectively. When mainstream cinema is doing its job, and it certainly was this weekend, I can forgive when the mass populace ignores a near perfect gem. Fight Club, Children of Men, The Big Lebowski… all celebrated examples of their genre, all total box office flops.

What I can’t forgive is what you’ve done to Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

I wouldn’t be so upset if it weren’t for all the Scott Pilgrim Avatar pics that have inundated my newsfeed. You obviously knew about the movie, had fun with its style and, due to Universal’s astounding marketing campaign, were given enough information to know exactly what Scott Pilgrim was all about. Apparently, nothing quite sunk in.

So what the hell is Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World all about?

In the simplest of terms, it’s about a dude named Scott Pilgrim who’s in love with a chick named Ramona Flowers. To earn her love, he has to defeat all seven of her evil exes, and he’s got to do it video game style.

I’ll be the first to admit, though it’s high concept as all hell, the plot isn’t the most accessible storyline for a major studio release (Though neither is a heist film set within the landscape of the human mind, but we’ve already covered that HERE).

So what the hell is the movie really all about?

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is the future of movies as we know them, and you are missing it. It captures the current generation better than (500) Days of Summer, it builds its world with more vibrancy than seen in Avatar and creates action sequences and set pieces that rival anything in Michael Bay’s filmography (and if you’re going to argue that Bay is a terrible action director, you’re confusing style with substance. I recommend that you fire Armageddon onto your Netflix streaming and choke back the tears when Bruce Willis blows himself up). Scott Pilgrim ingests and spews pop culture of the past 20 years with such a wonderful rhythm, it’s impossible not to groove on it, not to see some part of yourself up there on screen playing along with it.

Which all sounds really awesome. So why didn’t you go?

Is it Cera?

Did Michael Cera make you stay away in droves? That dude’s getting some really strange criticism these days. It seems we, as an audience, have arbitrarily slated him as a one-note actor “who always plays the same part.” Fine. But can’t we level the same complaints at the entire cast of Grown-Ups? Because after a gross of 191 million, we all seem pretty okay with the niche those actors have carved for themselves. I think it’s a little unfair to slap down a 22-year-old actor with great comic timing because he hasn’t had the chance to craft a full and nuanced on-screen persona. Do you need him to take his dick out in a production of Equus? Or do you want to lend him the benefit of the doubt, give him the room to play with his character type, and let the man grow into a comedic powerhouse?

Because if you’re willing to get over that imposed stigma, you’re going to find Cera gives a performance subtly deadpan yet massively broad enough to allow you to forget anything he’s played before. The film’s suspension of disbelief depends on whether or not you believe Scott Pilgrim actually exists. Cera pulls that off like gangbusters.

Though it’s not just him. Scott Pilgrim is an ensemble film of the highest order. There’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers, Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, and (my personal favorite) Mark Webber as Sex Bob-Omb frontman Stephen Stills. They’re believable characters in an unbelievable world. Each actor brings honesty, wit and stability to the kinetic madness of the film.

That’s not even taking into account those portraying the evil exes. Each one is unique, sells their character and adds over-the-top depth to the proceedings. Especially my man Brandon Routh, who has risen from the ashes of the underrated Superman Returns like an awesome phoenix of screwball crazy.

Though all the talent is overshadowed by the movie’s true star: Director Edgar Wright.

This is a guy who deserves your attention. Who, after the one-two punch of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, should have already had your attention. This is a filmmaker infused with the irreverence of Sam Raimi, the wit of the Coen Bros., and the batshit quirks of Quentin Tarantino.

Edgar Wright isn’t making movies for teenyboppers, he’s not crafting studio franchises that will net him massive box office payouts, and he isn’t pandering to the wants and desires of general audiences. Edgar Wright is making movies for you. You. Specifically. No one else.

And you didn’t show up to his party.

Here’s the thing. I’m actually not trying to guilt you or piss you off for not checking out Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. If you don’t want to see it, I don’t really care. Do I think you should see it? Fuck yeah, I do. It’s maybe my favorite movie I’ve seen all year, and it’s destined to become one of those flops that accrues great appreciation, like aforementioned failure The Big Lebowski. Whether you love it or hate it, you’re probably going to see it eventually. So, in the end, do what you will.

With any luck, this will be the first of many monthly movie columns for ITE. I plan to touch on new releases that I think you should see and older flicks you may have overlooked. Beware. I get impassioned. So much so, I’ve tasted the vitriol of friends who have hated movies I’ve enthusiastically recommended. Several times in my life, I’ve heard the following sentence: “I’m never trusting your movie reviews again.” Despite the fact that this is incredibly disrespectful, they have a point. I sometimes tend to see strengths in films that other people might reject. I promise that if I ever begin a sentence with, “No, no. The first Hostel is actually a great coming-of-age story,” I won’t be offended when you immediately roll your eyes.

Besides, as my article on The Boondock Saints has proven, the comment section is always ready and waiting for your colorful assessment of my written opinion.

[T-Bag still resides in Los Angeles, California. Everyday is an uphill struggle as he continually defends his claim that Ocean’s 12 was the best movie of 2004.]

Tags: guestblog, guestblogger, MOVIE TIME AWESOME TALK, movies, Scott Pilgrim, T-Bag

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 9:44 AM and is filed under Humor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.