"That's it! You cocky cock! You'll pay for your crimes against humanity!" -OR- "She geeks, she geeks. She has the capacity to geek."

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 2010. Three Stars.

BACKSTORY!!! I like a lot of the stuff that Oni Press publishes, so even though it looked like it could be obnoxious, I decided to give a book called "Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life" a shot (yes the backwards-facing quotation mark on the cover irks me, but I'm like that!). AND I LOVED IT. The art style is amazing. It's really fun. And really funny. All the characters are dorks and like music (who does that sound like??). And the main character has to fight his girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends, and all the battles are like video games. OH MAN! I'd alternate in between spazzing out about it and forcing it on anyone I could to read it! That was back in 2004; for the past six years I'd been impatiently waiting for all six volumes to come out (they ended up being released pretty much one volume a year; the final volume came out in July).

FAN BOY ALERT!!! If you know me, you know I never shut up about this. But I think this is still so unbelievably cool: So, before Volume 3 came out, I happened to be on the internet the same time Bryan Lee O'Malley was on it, asking fans for photos to use on billboards in the book. I exuberantly sent at least 15. Check out Chapter 15, 14th page: IT'S ME!!!

THE MOVIE!!! Firstly, I knew Bryan Lee O'Malley was involved in writing the screen play, and I'm a big fan of Edgar Wright, but I had serious doubts as to whether this comic that became so near and dear to my heart could successfully be adapted to movie form. I didn't wanna see any trailers, I didn't wanna see any clips, I didn't even wanna talk about it, so that I'd have zero expectations for this movie. Because if I let myself, I would totally nerd out and get really excited for it, inevitably getting my expectations too high, then be inherently disappointed when I finally did see it.

But, my super friend Alex got a few of us sneak preview passes to see it last night! So I finally let myself watch the official trailer on the website yesterday. And, it didn't look half bad!

The movie had me at the 16-bit Universal Studio logo. Mamma Jamma.

I can't believe Michael Cera pulled off being Scott Pilgrim. He was good! And Ann from "Arrested Development" was one of the evil exes! Reunited!

All the actors in this were superb. This review would be even longer if I wrote about every single one of them, so I won't. But I have to say that the girl that played Knives Chau was exceptional. I was very impressed with her performance!

I just absolutely love Aubrey Plaza, and I'm so happy she's in this movie. She's a perfect Julie. Uncanny in appearance, and she nailed the character.

Also, Jason Schwartzman is the perfect Gideon. I had my doubts about Kieran Culkin as Wallace (I thought he looked too slobby when I saw the trailer), but he ended up being perfect too. I can't remember if I saw Superman Returns or not (must not have made a good impression on me if I did...), so I was always like "Oh Brandon Routh's playing Superman, so he must just be another boring Hollywood actor." But then I saw this, and I was intrigued... His being Todd in this movie has sealed the deal on my small infatuation with him!!

Why didn't they have the real Comeau play Comeau? Nelson Franklin did just fine, but, there's a real Comeau so how cool would that have been?

Thomas Jane is the Vegan Police!!!

I liked the comic book-y graphics they added; I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but it ended up looking decent and fun. Really appreciated how they incorporated some of the text from the book, especially the names/descriptions/ratings boxes. And there was a good ratio of real-life scenes to fastly-cut-fantastical scenes.

Hey, is that Gideon the cat on Scott's mug in the first scene?

I have lots of little details I'd really like to talk about, but I think I have to stop here. But maybe someday, if you see the movie, we will talk about it!

Because I'm such a fan of the comic and already knew the story, I knew what was going to happen in the movie and I knew what kinds of things to expect. So I can't say if it was good or not, or even if the story was cohesive or if the pacing was effective. But I can definitely say I really really enjoyed it. They did a really good job of taking a six-year labor of love and adapting it to a 1 hour and 45 minutes movie.

If you've never read the book and know nothing about this, and you see this movie, please tell me what you think?

I want to watch it again right now.

BTW, at the end of the screening, Edgar Wright, Anna Kendrick, Michael Cera, and Jason Schwartzman came out and took questions about the movie. They talked about behind-the-scenes stuff, and Edgar talked about how they did the music stuff for the movie, and such. Cool!!


Hee hee hee.

Also, read the book some time! scottpilgrim.com




Can I please be a "Music Supervisor" for movies?????

"They're pissing on us and not even giving us the courtesy of calling it rain."

Avatar, 2009. Three Stars.

The general public seem to go ape for this movie. Since I Don't Believe The Hype, I knew I probably wouldn't like it.

Also I have a few friends that haaaaaaated this movie. Even though I avoided hearing their reasonings in order to preserve a fresh outlook on it when I finally did see it, it's another reason I knew I probably wouldn't like it.

If I did end up seeing it, it would be in IMAX in 3-D to see all the fancy visuals... And thanks to a friend's suggestion on a cold Friday morning, that's what I did.

And I liked it.

I normally can't stand CGI when CGI takes over where costumes/puppets/analog would have been better (Iron Man, I love you, but you already had an Iron Man suit made, why not just use that??). But the CGI in this was appropriate and couldn't have been done as good in another way, and it looked GOOD. The story was not original, but it was strong, and was not as trite as I was originally lead to believe. Also I like when good guys win, and I like Ewokian battles.

The 3-D felt a bit wonky at times, maybe it's because there was a lot of extreme foreground-background stuff going on. Maybe it's because I'm not used to 3-D and expect it to be perfect. It's probably because I was wearing my 3-D glasses over my regular glasses. Six Eyes.

Here's something weird. I don't mind violence in movies most times because it's not real life, just a movie. And I actually think over-the-top violence/gore (Shoot 'Em Up, Dawn of the Dead, District 9) is fun! But because such a good job was done making this world realistic, both visually and its compatibility with reality, that the death and destruction ended up shaking me up.

Pretty much fell in love with Neytiri, Zoe Saldana did a great job as her.

It was awesome to see Giovanni Ribisi as a corporate dickhead (I first saw him in an X-Files episode, that was like a lifetime ago!). But I'm a little sick of seeing Joel "I'm typecast as a plucky nerd" Moore, he seems to be cropping up everywhere lately for me. I get so happy when Sigourney Weaver is in a movie. Michelle Rodriguez wasn't obnoxious in this.

I didn't know that the guy that played Jake Sully was also Marcus in T4. Did he lose half a person for this role?? I remember him being pretty huge as a half-Terminator...

I only gave this movie three stars because even though it's good, it's just another big Hollywood box office smash. And it's hard for me to get emotionally attached to those kinds of movies. I don't think it has what it takes to make that huge impact on me that it has with other people. I'll leave it up to other people to give it four or five stars, which they will.

"Well, there was a lot of crying, so, I believe everybody had a good time." -OR- "She thought I was wonderful. She was the first woman I ever fooled."

Heaven Can Wait, 1943. Three and a Half Stars.

I found myself looking through the TV guide for movies, as I so often do, and came across this one: A playboy recollects his life to the gatekeeper of Hades. And it was from the 40's. Sounded interesting, so I set up a recording for it.

I don't really have much to say, except, it was pretty good! Well at least I enjoyed it! It wasn't as "naughty" as I expected, but that's fine: The story told is from the Victorian era, so there was a big importance in "preserving decency" and "the family honor" and all that. So I thought it was fitting that Van Cleve's "affairs" were only alluded to.

I don't think he deserved Martha though, but at least he wasn't a completely selfish person that he was before he met her...

I really liked "His Excellency" and the "waiting room" to Hell. I can't help being fascinated by the extravagant sets mostly found in this period of films.

Also, someone cross-stitched the credits at the beginning... Or someone painted them to look cross-stitched. Either way, a lot of talent and time went in to that!

This movie is based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete. I'd like to check it out some time. It's too bad this movie didn't keep the Birthday title; the story was strongly focused on the passage of Van Cleve's birthdays in order to mark the events of his life, so it makes much more sense than "Heaven Can Wait" (which was an entirely different play that inspired a movie in the 40's and it's remakes/re-imaginings in the 70's and 00's).

"Why the fuck would I blow up Chick-Fil-A? It’s fuckin’ delicious!"

Observe and Report, 2009. Three Stars.

I enjoyed the trailers for this flick, and I'd see them on TV a lot. Because they trailers are kind of silly, I completely forgot that this was not a silly movie, but rather a dark comedy.

Yes, this is a daaaaaaaaaaaark comedy. I was sitting in the theatre thinking, "WOW this isn't silly, some of it's SAD!" But I figured it out soon enough. I really liked it. I liked the choppy-ish editing and segment-y scenes. It was quirky-ish and funny. And everyone was great in it. Pretty darn dark, especially when set against a backdrop of a typical suburban mall, but that's how I like my comedies sometimes!

I would like to see this movie again!!

"Ah!" "What happened?" "I saw the inner me."

Bicentennial Man, 1999. Three Stars.

I finally decided to watch this movie because I like robots. Tim warned me that it was epic; I, however, was all, "Whatever, it's Robin Williams as a robot, there's no way this story can get complex." I WAS SO WRONG. THIS IS SUCH AN EPIC MOVIE. It's long, and a lot of stuff happens.

Sam Neill gets a robot for his family as a surprise. Er, isn't getting a robot AN IMPORTANT FAMILY DECISION? You can't just don't show up with it one day! And, as this movie demonstrates, it can only increase tension among family members.

Robot Robin Williams was immediately embraced by Sam Neill. HELLO am I the only one that has any concern about Skynet??

RRW playing the piano is an effective and interesting way to show passage of time.

I think it's cool that, though a robot, he actually restored humanity to the family... well, at least some members.

Hey Future Government: Can you really justify Robin Williams Robot being human when he doesn't have an organic origin? It's just creepy. And I love robots and romance and stuff. But it's still creepy.

Jay from The Sarah Silverman Program is totally in this! And I've since discovered that he has been in many other things, including "Mr. Show" (which I'd been recently reintroduced to).

And, JIMMY JAMES! I'm always happy to see him in movies!

Now I plan on reading the novella. I've never read any of Isaac Asimov's actual books. (And I call myself a sci-fi buff...)

"The trouble with a poet is how do you know it's deceased? Try the priest."

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

Surprisingly great!! Dark, twisted musical! Talented actors! Perfect visuals! And lovely, lovely gore!

Imagine seeing this on Broadway, must've been awesome!

"That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet."

Juno, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

I was hesitant to check out this movie because of all the hype. But I finally rented it when it came out on DVD. And, it's highly enjoyable! And really funny!!

It's not just another "quirky oddball comedy" for "Gen Y", which is what I was afraid it was gonna be. This is a really great story, and has a great cast playing wonderful and interesting characters. Ellen Page owns the character Juno MacGuff. She's really amazing. It's so good to see a unique teenage female character on the silver screen.

Being a teenage girl at one point myself, I find myself stressed out by, yet also weary of, the typical topics and attitudes surrounding teen pregnancy. This movie, however, deals with this issue in a fresh light, and it's refreshing that it's not only what the movie is about.

I'm always a big fan of Michael Cera! Jennifer Garner really surprised me, in a good way, with how good she is in this. And it's always awesome to see Jason Bateman getting work!!

"Well, if it wasn't the Sasquatch, we sure got some big dude walkin' around here dumpin' the biggest feces I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot."

The Sasquatch Gang, 2006. Two and a Half Stars.

So The Mac Guy's in this. And he has a mullet. Pretty obnoxious, eh? He's actually not as bad as I expected, though.

The Main Character is modeled too closely after Napoleon Dynamite, which ruined my movie experience.

Hey, Carl Weathers!! He eats poop! Well, it's not really poop, but the spirit's there!

The only really great character in this is Sophie. Though I also enjoyed the dude with no shirt on, despite seeming like the character's speech and awkward mannerisms were heavily influenced by Kip (who is so cute in real life!).

I liked that the "bullies" in this movie were not very cool either. Everyone's pretty dorky. It's nice to see something like that instead the usual teenage social hierarchy used in movies.

There are some pretty fun moments, I must admit. I don't not recommend seeing this movie, but I wouldn't suggest going out of your way either.

"I've been drinking green tea all goddam day!"

Hot Rod, 2007. Two and a Half Stars.

I LOVE THE LONELY ISLAND.

But, this is not a Lonely Island movie. There are FUNNY parts and lots of little gems. The Dudes did a great job taking over this movie that was meant to star someone else. But still, sometimes the story and dialogue felt forced and flat. I would love to see what The Dudes could come up with if given the chance to do their thang.

Akiva's cameo was pretty funny! I think he's a good director, I like his music videos and seeing his movie work was pretty cool!

Also, what a surprising and good cast!

And, CHEZ!!! I'd imagine that his appearance in the film might seem random, but if you're familiar with Chester Tam, YOU LOVE IT LIKE I DO.

(If you're curious, this is still one of my favorite Chez videos, featuring Kal Penn and Superman.)

I enjoyed this interview with them. I wish I could hang out and drink beers and make fart jokes with them.

"Balls & weiner, all the way."

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, 2007. Three Stars.

WOW, I liked this way more than I expected! The story and characters are a little basic: these guys are all a little uneasy about homosexuality, but towards the end of the movie, everyone learns to love and accept everyone for who they are. I guess it's a more compelling story if you're a viewer that actually needs help coping with homophobia or something...

But still, it's a cute movie. And the reason why Chuck & Larry get together in the first place is pretty adorably sweet. Also, there are some pretty darn funny moments in this flick!

"Helena? Je vous aime."

Subway, 1985. Two and a Half Stars.

I borrowed from my sis Sara, because, heeheehee, it has Christopher Lambert in it. As a punk! I AM FOREVER!!

So this is totally a French 80's movie. The cops chase around a secret society of subway dwellers (the cop music is super funk-ay). Christopher Lambert, one of the new subway dwellers, keeps blackmailing this rich woman because he's in love with her. And then he creates a rock-n-roll band and gets them a gig in the subway (great scene!). Then he dies.

Catch this gem if you can!!

"Someone is either a smoker or a nonsmoker. There's no in-between. The trick is to find out which one you are, and be that."

Dead Again, 1991. Three Stars.

Pretty cool movie! Caught it by accident: was once again going through the TV guide, was interested in the title of this movie, read the description, and decided to record it on the ol' DVR.

So it's like a love story that spans past and present, between two couples, but, they're the same couple... Pretty darn stylish and, as other reviewers have said, "noir-y." The ending was pretty surprising! At least, it was for me.

I HATED Kenneth Branagh's 90's hair, but I LOVE his 40's hair! For awhile I actually couldn't tell that these two character were played by the same guy, I kept thinking to myself, "So, where's Kenneth Branagh in the 40's?? He's starring opposite Emma Thompson, so he has to be here somewhere." That's my only real gripe about this movie: that I got confused by Kenneth Branagh's hair. But really, if the point of this story is that the couples are the same in the past and in the present, wouldn't you want to make it obvious that the couples were the same, hence making the similarities between the two couples undeniable? It was easy to spot Emma's characters, why not do the same for Kenneth?

Oh, and by the way, totally dug Robin Williams in this movie! I'm sick of his crazy/wacky/loud RobonWilliams-esque characters. I like when he strays from that comfort zone. Like he was so good in One Hour Photo. Same with Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy, which is a terribly underrated movie!

Your name is dumb bitch TOO? No wonder I keep getting all of your mail! You know, we could be related. There are a lot of us dumb bitches here in LA.

The Truth About Cats & Dogs, 1996. Three Stars.

I was hanging out at my friend Captain's one night, and I saw she had a copy of The Truth About Cats & Dogs next to her TV. I think I joked about it, because I'd heard it was such a chick-flick and was kind of lame. And I thought she started joking back about how it was her favorite movie and she could watch it all the time. Except, she wasn't joking! She really liked it, so we decided to watch it.

She's right: this is a great movie! It's fun, it has animals in it, the cast is cute-as-buttons, and the story is very sweet. Janeane Garofalo is absolutely adorable, more adorable than usual. I always think Uma's a hottie, but it was cool to see her play a fragile person. I don't really know who Ben Chaplin is, but, he's kind of charming in this.

And, though there's an obvious message, it's also a true one that's good to remember: a smokin' hottie on the outside might not necessarily be so great on the inside, and someone who you'd normally not cast a second look at could be the coolest person you'd ever meet.

"That's wonderfully sensitive... especially from a man who wears such tight pants." "It forces all the blood to my heart."

Music and Lyrics, 2007. Three and a Half Stars.

I remember having no desire to see this movie when it came out in theatres. But I'd randomly found it on the TV guide one day, and decided to set up a recording for it on my DVR. Then finally one day I watched it.

This movie is surprisingly fun! Lots of great satire about the pop music biz. And the original music in this is pretty good! The movie opens with Hugh Grant's former band's video, which is hilarious, but also catchy!! All his "has-been" music is great, and the new pop diva that he's writing music for is so ridiculous, but also in a hilarious way.

Hugh Grant, who I'm usually not as charmed by as everyone else seems to me, was INCREDIBLY charming and handsome! Drew Barrymore is also sweet and adorable. They have a quirky kind of chemistry in this movie, which was shockingly likeable.

This is a very cute movie, totally turn it on one night if you're in the mood for something light and cheery!

"Frank, this is Albert Einstein, the smartest man in the world." "How they hanging?"

I.Q., 1994. Three Stars.

I happened to catch a description of this movie on the TV guide, and it sounded so crazy and cute that I immediately set up a recording for it on my DVR!

Walter Matthau plays Albert Einstein, and he helps Tim Robbins, who plays a mechanic, win the affection of his niece, who is played by Meg Ryan, and who also is the object of Tim Robbins's love. How adorably random is that? VERY!

This indeed ended up being a charming story with a great cast. I see that it was released on Christmas Day, which seems about right for a movie like this. If you're not in the mood for a sugary-sweet historically-fakey-in-the-name-of-feelgood-romanticcomedyry, or if your bag is only depresso intellectual abstract flicks, then this movie will bore you. But check it out if you feel like watching something you don't have to be too emotionally invested in and want to see A Grumpy Old Man act like A Crazy Einstein. Plus Stephen Fry plays the snotty guy, which is always fun, and Tony Shalhoub is in it too, which is pretty rad!

FYI, I can't remember where I wrote down the quote from this movie that I wanted to use for the title of this review, so I just looked at the quotes on imdb.com and picked the most random-sounding one.

"I'm Gonna Git That Bastard, Johnny Bob. Right Now."

Starman, 1984. Three Stars.

I had no idea that this movie existed! It's so cute! Jeff Bridges is stellar (har har) as the alien dude. Also, he is YOUNG and ADORABLE! I had only really known him as The Dude! I would make out with alien Jeff Bridges! That's as far as I would go; I don't want no alien baby business!!!

So, this was enjoyable to watch. I don't really have anything special to say about it.

Though I was a little disappointed in that the TV guide said that the alien "borrows" a guy's body, so I thought there would be some gory slaying happening here. Turns out it's the good old-fashioned "Your husband's dead, and I'm going to take on his familiar shape so you will hopefully not fear me." Which, ultimately, I'm okay with.