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GeekNights 20100819 - Scott Pilgrim: The Movie
Tonight on GeekNights, we bring to you our thoughts on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. We also consider laws against talking to strangers or talking at all.
- Rym's Thing - Poor Patrick Tribett: A True Warrior
- Scott's Thing - Why Sharks Bite Poop
Comments
Also, if you ever do get an answer about the hanging Utena thing, I'd love to know. It seems that that thing couldn't possibly be an accident.
It is Scott Pilgrim vs. all of us, after all.
Geeknights 20100819 - Scott Pilgrim: The Movie
Expanded Show Notes - Show Run Time: 00:56:09
Time | Notes
---------+----------------------------------------------------------
00:00:00 | Intro
00:00:28 | Opening Chit-Chat
| - Rym is fed up with buying things in person
| - On supporting local stores
| - What counts as being a "pain in the ass"
| - Rym breaks stuff on purpose?
| - Audio recording and calibrating
| - On shit-talking and getting things done
| - Settling up old debt
00:06:01 | News
| - Coprolites & shark tooth marks (See the ToTD)
| - Discussion on poop and rocks (Scott doesn't understand fossilization?)
| - California law prohibiting conversation with strangers in a public space struck down
| - Discussion of commerce law banning solicitation
| - Poorly written laws are a problem
| - On handling people who are annoying you in public
| - Rym on the smell in New Brunswick and NJ Public Transit
| - Policies in NJ public transit - designated Quiet Cars
| - Social Mores versus Freedoms
| - Fractured culture and enforcing the rules
| - What constitutes harassment or acceptable behavior?
00:21:46 | Things of the Day
| - On the excellence of Collegehumor videos
| Scott - Pictures for Christians
| - Fark and paint-huffin'?
| Rym - Poor Patrick Tribett: A True Warrior
| - Even Fark didn't make fun of him this time.
00:26:41 | Meta Moment
| - Book Club: The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury
| - Conventions: PAX, NYCC/NYAF, 10-10-10
| - PAX Late Night - Alex Albrecht, Jon St. John, three members of Rooster Teeth, secret musical act and video
00:30:14 | Main Topic
| - No complaints about the movie, but no spoilers
| - The book was better, but condensing the books into one movie was an amazing feat
| - No development of the side-characters
| - Once the fight scenes start it's fights from there on out.
| - For the whole series to be done properly it almost would have had to be a trilogy
| - Saddened by how poorly the movie is doing
| - Discussion of how well the movie is doing and what was the typical draw for the film
| - Poor turnout in the cities despite heavy marketing - weak marketing outside the cities
| - Suggestion that the preview screenings may have harmed the box-office take
| - Not a lot of hate on the movie - hate on the generation that spawned the movie
| - Kim Pine in the book versus Wallace in the movie
| - Discussion of side characters in the movie
| - Wallace was the win in the movie, especially when drunk
| - Scott Pilgrim realizing the mistakes of his past and fixing his screw-ups
| - Character development in the movie
| - Discussion of the DDR game in the movie and games at the shore
| - *** SPOILER LINE ***
| - Moral: Scott overcoming his own BS
| - All the other characters had similar arcs in the book
| - Characters were turned into side people in the movie to shrink the story to fit
| - Scott fighting the evil ex-es was a metaphor for him overcoming the memories of previous people
| - At the same time he was generating his own evil ex-es and he didn't know it
| - Scott's poor memory was left out of the movie
| - Movie didn't focus on stupid details like some superhero movies do
| - Everything in the movie is there for a reason
| - The movie was two hours but didn't feel like a long movie
| - A lot of the scene transitions in the movie were quick jumps
| - Discussion of music in the movie
| - All the songs in the movie where Michael Cera sang, he actually did the vocals
| - Discussion on Beck as a songwriter and his involvement in Scientology
| - Discussion on how Scientology hides its seedy side from the celebrity members
| - A lot of the little touches in the movie helped make the movie
| - The first fight was very well done
| - Discussion of the fights in the movie
| - The fight with the twins was boring due to lack of the super robots
| - Not a lot of outdoor shots during the movie - the movie was very closed-in
| - Was the scenery in the end of the book & movie inspired by Utena?
| - Brian Lee O'Malley wasn't expecting the movie to be good, but it was
| - Discussion of the cat in the book versus the movie
| - The comic isn't all video-game references, but the movie has them coming rapid-fire
| - Who could catch all the references besides hardcore gamers?
| - Is it worth seeing twice? Very possibly
| - Rym: Zero complaints about the movie due to the impossibility of packing everything into a single film
| - Scott: Would have cut down the number of evil ex-es but would have put in more between-fight scenes
| - Animated Scott Pilgrim TV show would be excellent
00:55:06 | Outro
Coming on a close second is "It is Getting Boring by the Sea" by Blood Red Shoes:
I did like that all the main characters actually played their respective song, I mean on the soundtrack it says the "We are Sex Bob-Omb" was performed by Sex Bob-Omb which is conformed by Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim), Allison Pill (Kim Pine), Mark Webber (Steven Stills), and Jonny Simmons (Young Neil).
I seriously can't wait to watch the commentary of the film when it comes on blue ray.
By the way I would recommend to re-read the comics while listening to either the soundtrack.
EDIT: Found it. Page 29, panel 2.
This is why we can't have good movies :-p
Why Scott Pilgrim did not find an audience (actually a great point)
I understand that some people (read: most) don't like Michael Cera playing the same character over and over. But I think it's important to state that this character is actually different from his other roles. Scott is impetuous, selfish, outgoing but quirky, and has a lot more energy than his previous roles. It isn't a huge departure, no, but it's not a side I was sure he could play after experiencing his previous films. Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised.
Next off is this idea that GEEKS don't get it. I'm sorry, but this entire film had more than enough cred for geeks, nerds, dorks, and shut-ins alike to grasp onto. Not enough WoW? Not enough Starcraft? I call bull. If Scott's more awkward moments and the outrageous fighting sequences didn't do it, the many sound choices and spoken/shown game references did.
Lastly... Scott Pilgrim is a musical told through fight-scenes? ... Well, as cool as an interpretation as I find that to be, I don't think it really hurts this film. The idea that aging gamers don't like musicals effecting this film is ridiculous. It's honestly hard to form a decent retort to this because it's so hard to comprehend what he's getting at. That the narrative wasn't apparent enough to people not familiar with the format of musicals?
I find the whole list sounds like over-analyzing, to me.
Edit: I thought I'd add another reason Scott Pilgrim has suffered: It was released alongside The Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love. Big action movie with a bunch of big stars and the big chick-flick of the month/summer; two films designed to strike cords with each respectable gender. So, with the average movie-goer split between these two other films, what was Scott Pilgrim left with?
Intelligent people.
In terms of the movie, it is wonderful, Edgar Wright was the absolute best person for the job. I do think that they could have embellished more with the side-characters, but I feel like speeding through the plot gets rid of many of the hanging annoyances. And the fights and the out-of-this-world atmosphere works better in the movie form, so I can see why they focused on them. I think the only flaw for someone who never read/knew about the comic who saw the movie, wouldn't like those beginning 20 minutes, like Scott talked about. I think they wouldn't like the setting or the people in the movie, but the fights indicate that you shouldn't take anything seriously. That's probably why many critics complained against the audience with the movie.
DISCLAIMER: I've only seen maybe 3-4 whole episodes of Avatar:The Last Airbender, and she was snarky in all of them.