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I have heard nothing but amazing things from actual people, yet a lot of mediocre reviews on metacritic/rottentomatoes. I'm personally still excited but kinda weirded out by the disparity.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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The trailers make it look really interesting. My only hesitation is that I'm really not fond of Michael Cera. He's plays one character. At this point I'm leaning towards thinking he's just playing himself in everything. A lot of actors do that, and it works for a lot of them. It works for Cera too. But it's getting old for me already.
Regardless of that hangup, this looks excellent, and I was hooked from the first trailer. I plan to see it next week.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I don't think your wife will hate it, but it is a movie with a very focused audience type. Luckily, most people who review movies seem to fall into that type, at least enough to give it a positive review .
Unless your wife is very familiar with geek/hipster/video gamer malaise, she probably won't love it. She's likely to have a reasonably good time, though, and your boys will love it. And not just for the brief scene where there's making out and the girl is in underwear.
The people who get the very most out of it have played video games from youth (or at least watched others play video games from youth), if nothing else because nearly every bit of music in the movie riffs on or steals outright from video game music.
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quote:Michael Cera plays Michael Cera. But he does it better than anyone else could, no?
And I'm better than anyone else at playing me, but that doesn't mean everyone wants to see me plugged into various movie rolls as myself all the time. Besides, if you play the same character all the time, and that character is really YOU, then you aren't acting much are you?
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*grin* Wingracer, I was just thinking, "You know, I think Jesse Eisenburg could do a pretty credible Michael Cera."
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Cera is supposed to show some range in this and he showed some range in youth in revolt, and you dont know Michael Cera, so you dont know that hes playing Michael Cera.
I imagine Cera's characters are more self concious than he is.
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Zombieland rocks. I hope 2 takes place in a circus. Ride an elephant and kill zombies with it.
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Not only could Jesse Eisenburg play a good Michael Cera (or the other way around), I actually thought Michael Cera was in Zombieland.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Rakeesh: Not only could Jesse Eisenburg play a good Michael Cera (or the other way around), I actually thought Michael Cera was in Zombieland.
I was the other way around. I thought they were both Jesse Eisenburg for a while. It wasn't until I realized that one was a lot taller that I figured it out.
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Besides, if you play the same character all the time, and that character is really YOU, then you aren't acting much are you?
Maybe that's why Hugh Grant stopped making movies?
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Besides, if you play the same character all the time, and that character is really YOU, then you aren't acting much are you?
Maybe that's why Hugh Grant stopped making movies?
But I digress...
Hugh Grant falls into that same category. Although, from what I hear, he's a bit of a jerk in real life. But either way he's always the exact same character. I kind of like that character, so it doesn't really bother me, but I certainly recognize it, so I appreciate the comedy, but it gets old after awhile. I thought Matt Perry was like that too until I saw him in a couple more serious roles that really impressed me.
quote:Cera is supposed to show some range in this and he showed some range in youth in revolt, and you dont know Michael Cera, so you dont know that hes playing Michael Cera.
I imagine Cera's characters are more self concious than he is.
I was being a little sarcastic, I don't think he's literally playing himself, but I do think he's largely playing nearly the same character in almost everything he's in. I actually read an interview with him awhile back where he says he's not nearly that self-conscious or awkward with women (which actually made him sound a little douchey, but that was a gut reaction).
Regardless, I don't care if he's only acting out a single role or if he's really just being himself or what. I'd like to see him try something new, character wise. I don't hate what he's doing, per se, I'm just bored with it.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I think he did a decent job of diversifying in this movie. Not crazy new and interesting, but as much as I'd expect any guy who started out as a comic actor playing a particular role to start mixing it up with.
Movie was overall fun, but lord, do NOT watch this thing if you have a headache. At first I thought it would be a fun movie to have done in old school, cheesy 3D, but by the end of it I was thinking, "man, if this was this seizure-inducing AND in 3D to boot, I'd probably die."
SPOILER:
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The ending actually reminded me of Braid quite a bit (in that he is able to learn from mistakes and avoid the consequences and grow as a person because of it). Which was amusing, because the mechanic by which he did that was the one that MOST video games use, which Braid was specifically making fun of.
I was frustrated that most of the good jokes were in the trailer. This wasn't because there were too few jokes in the movie and they were doing the "put the few good ones in the trailer" thing that some bad comedies do. But they literally packed the trailer with awesomeness to the point that the awesomness in the movie itself felt a little old hat by the time I got to it. The one part of the movie that had me howling unexpectedly was "Why do you have mind powers!!!!????" "I'm Vegan." That was actually one of the best "psychic combat" scenes I've seen, period.
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My friend Sam met Michael Cera a couple years ago, and he told me he was a confident jerk. Almost nothing like his steriotypical character.
Posts: 856 | Registered: Jun 2007
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I've already seen it twice and I loved it. I even went out and bought the soundtrack. Its probably the second physical cd I've bought in the last three years.
But understand, I'm at the heart of this film's demographic. I'm a fan of the comic, single, and 25 years old. I'm old enough to remember classic Nintendo video games, I know who the Pixies are, Seinfeld was on the air in my lifetime, and if I had the money my hair would be purple tomorrow. I love that it embraces the characteristics of my generation but also playfully mocks it (vegan superiority, hipster girls, pirate fashions, indie music, etc.)
As for Michael Cera, he certainly wasn't my dream casting for Scott Pilgrim but I think he did a great job at pulling off Scott's adorably naive, slacker attitude while still giving hints that Scott isn't the victim he thinks he is.
Regarding the film as a whole, I loved it. The music was great, the aesthetic worked for me, and the humor was good and often. I'm ready to put Edgar Wright up there with Pixar. I don't even have to know what the movie is about, just tell me Edgar Wright is directing and what day the midnight premiere is and I'll be there with my raisenettes and coke icee.
I've never seen a more impressive adaptation. Which is incredible considering the series wasn't even halfway over before Edgar Wright started putting it all together. Its missing alot of great stuff from volumes 5 and 6, but otherwise, it was perfect. Entire frames and conversations lifted from the books. The characters looked so much like their comic counterparts (especially Knives, Stephen, Kim, Young Neil, and Julie) and they performed their parts well, no matter how small. I'm really hoping Wright will do an annotated dvd, perhaps with little popups pointing out all the geek references and nods to the comic.
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quote:I'm a fan of the comic, single, and 25 years old. I'm old enough to remember classic Nintendo video games...
How is it you remember classic Nintendo games and are 25 years old? Are you sure you don't just remember people remembering them?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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To be fair, the SNES didn't come out until Shanna was 7. I'm 30 and I remember the Atari 2600.
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There was one girl i knew growing up who had inherited a game system from her brother and dad. Don't know how old it was when she got it, but I remember being pretty young myself. It was a few more years before my parents agreed to buy a Sega for my brothers.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:I'm a fan of the comic, single, and 25 years old. I'm old enough to remember classic Nintendo video games...
How is it you remember classic Nintendo games and are 25 years old? Are you sure you don't just remember people remembering them?
I'm 26 and I've played every Nintendo console ever made, aside from some of the hand-helds. Regardless, the console generation most frequently referenced in this movie is the SNES/Genesis period, anyway. It's pretty much precision-targeted to detonate the brains of geeks in their mid-to-late 20s.
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Edgar Wright is impressive, as well as the rest of the gang from Spaced. Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were GOOD, but they really weren't much better than slightly-above-average Spaced episodes. THIS MOVIE, on the other hand, has a lot more thought into the script, the jokes, and the cinematography than even Sean of the Dead had.
BTW, if anyone hasn't seen Spaced, I highly recommend seeing it (if you can't tell, I was mildly hinting at its quality in the paragraph above).
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quote:I'm a fan of the comic, single, and 25 years old. I'm old enough to remember classic Nintendo video games...
How is it you remember classic Nintendo games and are 25 years old? Are you sure you don't just remember people remembering them?
Im only 22 and I too began my gaming with the first Nintendo, I know that personnally the first console I got in time with everyone else was my 360. All the years before that was just catching up with cheaper systems and games, so yeah I remember the classics too and Im even younger than Shanna.
BTW Thomas Jayne...
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I'm 26 and remember playing both regular Nintendo and Super Nintendo as a kid.
Actually, the first video game system I ever used was the Intellivision, which to this day I still love, but our system doesn't work anymore.
My parents kept theirs from before I was born, and my brother, who is several years older than me, had a regular NES that I played when I grew up a little too, so I started off on hand-me-downs.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I loved the movie. I thought it was hilarious. When he was preparing for the final battle and was putting on his "gear" I loved the BOOM! sound effect that played whenever he put on an article. Then it showed him tying his shoe for about 10 seconds...Then when he finishes, BOOM!
I thought the movie was awesome. Twenty minutes in you think it is a normal movie, then all of the sudden a guy flys through the ceiling and fights Michael Cery. I am going to buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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quote:Originally posted by lobo: It did not do very well at the box office...
Finished 5th, way behind the other two new releases.
Of course not. It's targeted at a very specific demographic so lacks appeal to the masses. Doesn't mean it's bad.
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quote:Most likely, it'll gather a cult following after the dvd/bluray is released.
That's my guess. I saw in on Saturday night at a popular theater and another than me and my friends, there were probably 10 people in the theater. I really enjoyed the movie, but I'd be surprised if they break even in the theater.
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I would need a babysitter to go and while I want to, i think if I have a movie babysitter, I'll go to inception first. This seems still fun to rent and it is on my list.
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quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: Better than Hot Fuzz?
It kind of makes you think of No More Heroes.
It's by far the most fun I have had at a movie in years and yes i think it is even better than Hot Fuzz
Posts: 305 | Registered: Jan 2008
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I think the movie will catch on. Napolean Dynamite did not do very well the first week, but then due to word of mouth the movie went on to make quite a bit of money in both the theater and on DVD.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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After watching the movie and geeking over the big-boss fight between Cera and another actor who I never thought would end up doing an action sequence I was reminded of Stallone's griping about "velcro muscles" and seemed a bit as if he were condemning action stars who werent big buff and had a speech impediment.
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quote: Napolean Dynamite did not do very well the first week, but then due to word of mouth the movie went on to make quite a bit of money in both the theater and on DVD.
Napoleon Dynamite had not been marketed aggressively like this movie has been.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Heavy marketing or not makes a big difference for the opening weekend, but films in their second or third week live or die thanks to word of mouth.
Not saying Scott Pilgrim will be so lucky, but there's a chance.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote: Napolean Dynamite did not do very well the first week, but then due to word of mouth the movie went on to make quite a bit of money in both the theater and on DVD.
Napoleon Dynamite had not been marketed aggressively like this movie has been.
Nor was Napoleon Dynamite as good as this movie. . . .
Posts: 688 | Registered: Nov 2008
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Having never read the source material, I have to say that I didn't really enjoy this film. The reason is because I was never given a reason to like Scott or Ramona, nor to care one way or the other if they had a happily ever after. I think the fights and the special effects and the video game nods were a lot of fun, but I spent the entire movie desperately waiting for someone to show me why I should care.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:I'm a fan of the comic, single, and 25 years old. I'm old enough to remember classic Nintendo video games...
How is it you remember classic Nintendo games and are 25 years old? Are you sure you don't just remember people remembering them?
There is a MASSIVE contingent of gamers who couldn't have the cool new systems and/or just played the same games that their older siblings had around the house on their old consoles.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Heck, my children know all about classic Nintendo. My husband and I agreed when they were little to start them on the classic consoles and not give them anything new or expensive until they were much older and had proven responsibility with the old systems. Super Mario Brothers was the first game they ever played, and my nine-year-old just beat Earthbound for the first time. I can't imagine wasting sixty dollars on a new Wii game for them when they derive so much joy out of the classics.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Originally posted by PSI Teleport: Having never read the source material, I have to say that I didn't really enjoy this film. The reason is because I was never given a reason to like Scott or Ramona, nor to care one way or the other if they had a happily ever after. I think the fights and the special effects and the video game nods were a lot of fun, but I spent the entire movie desperately waiting for someone to show me why I should care.
I haven't read the comics either, but I think it was the director. Most of Wright's movies don't spend a lot of time "telling" character, they spend it "showing" character. Ie, there's very little exposition . . . you grow to care about the characters (or not) by their decisions, their witticisms, their mannerisms, and their quirks. A movie like Braveheart gives you the character background, but ultimately it's merely an archetype. The characters in Pilgrim had CHARACTER -- just like in Shaun of the Dead (and Hot Fuzz, to a lesser extent), the characters' actions were unique and gave us a window into who they are.
Spoilers . . . sort of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thinking on the movie, I really believe that the story is an allegory. The evil ex'es represent the baggage that we all carry around with us from past (bad) relationships. By defeating them, Scott was helping Ramona work through her issues and focus on living her life. Her ex'es (especially the last) had a hold on her, and she couldn't continue her life until her demons were vanquished. Once that was done, however, they could enter the door and focus on themselves. Knives represented a placeholder, a convenience, when Scott had been looking for Ramona the whole time. She was his reason d'etre, the part of his psyche that he had always been missing.
The video game world that Scott lived in wasn't real, it was a retelling of the experience through his worldview. The "novelty" WAS character development, because it showed us Scott's heart and how he perceived the world. . . . . . . Fin
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