Filmic
ISSUE 02 SEPTEMBER 2010
THE ACTION ISSUE WHERE MEN FIGHT FOR HONOUR AND THE RIGHT TO DATE GIRLS!
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD THE KARATE KID THE EXPENDABLES
PLUS
KNIGHT AND DAY THE OTHER GUYS
SCORING GUIDE
CONTENTS
1/10 – Absolutely and agonisingly terrible. Consider suicide rather than watch this film. Don't worry, you will never see me give out this score unless they do a limited re-release of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in cinemas and Phil forces me to go and see it because he's a sadistic little git at times. 2/10 – Really, really bad with no redeeming features
THE KARATE KID
Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith take on the classic Karate Kid mantel…6
other than the fact that it's not as terrible as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Rest assured, if that film didn't exist a film scoring 2/10 would actually score 1/10. Think yourselves lucky 2/10'ers!!! 3/10 – Seriously not worth your time. There might be a tiny glimmer of hope in there somewhere but it's hidden under so many piles of shit that it's really not worth digging for. Avoid. 4/10 – Might be worth seeing with your mates if only
KNIGHT AND DAY
Cruise and Diaz team up…9
to have laugh at. This is the point were a film is bad but almost enjoyable for various reasons. Terrible reasons, but still. Don't watch it on your own as you probably won't get a lot out of it (if anything) but rag it with your mates and you'll have a good enough time. 5/10 – Meh. It's watch-able but you won't want to see
THE EXPENDABLES
The film with all the action heroes in, but will it live up to the hype?…11
it again. Some good things about it but unfortunately too many flaws to really be anything too decent. Shame. See it if you want but don't expect a lot. 6/10 – Good. If you have an interest in this particular type of film you'll probably get enough out of it to make a viewing fairly worthwhile. It's not going to change your life but it won't exactly be a waste of your life either. Worth considering. 7/10 – Now this is more like it. The official point at
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
Video games, fights, girls and music…12
which a film would be worth seeing again at some point and could maybe even earn itself a place in your DVD collection if it plays its cards right. An enjoyable film spoilt by a few things which let it down a bit but which ultimately is a satisfying viewing. If you have any interest in this type of film you should definitely go to see it. 8/10 – Pretty much a 7/10 but with less flaws, resulting in a better overall package. Thoroughly recommended!
THE OTHER GUYS
Preview of the hopefully-better-thanlast-year Will Ferrell vehicle…18
9/10 - You need to see this film. Very little to complain about and the only things I can really think of are pretty minor niggles. Almost perfection. 10/10 – Heaven. Reserved only for the likes of Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Toy Story 3 and a few others. I will only award this score if I feel something really is a true classic!
TOP TEN FILMS OF THE YEAR Err…our top ten films of the year…21
Additionally I will clarify that you will never see me giving '.5' marks. That would basically be scoring out of 20 which is absolutely ridiculous. The scope is far too wide to really mean anything. I mean, how would you clarify the tiny little difference between a 15/20 and a 16/20? It's seriously not worth it. The only time '.5' should ever be used is when scoring out of 5. But if your giving half marks in that situation your scoring out of 10 anyway so you may as well just use a 1-10 scale you idiots.
FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 3
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR Well, here we are then. Our first issue to contain material specifically written for the format, issue two sees the true launch of Filmic. You have almost as many new reviews here (four!!) as I managed in over a year of the blog (five!!), you have a nice new preview of a film that is going to be released as soon as next Friday, and you have an extra special treat in our new ongoing feature - The Top 10 Films of the Year. To be honest, I’ve surprised myself with the amount of stuff I’ve bothered to write this month. It’s probably all down to the constant pesterings of my faithful design team… Due to the content being all new you’ll hopefully notice a few changes from our trial issue. Hayley’s added info boxes to all of the reviews to provide some extra little facts you might like to know about the films, I’ve slightly changed my writing style to fit more naturally the tone of a magazine (e.g. I won’t start randomly going on about things that have nothing to do with the subject in hand!), and Hayley wasn’t keen on the ‘Next Time’ page at the end of the magazine so we’ve got rid of that. I’m still fighting for its revival though so don’t be surprised to see it return in some form eventually. That’s all for this issue, but time to mark a date on your calendars. If all goes to plan I hope to have Filmic 3 out on Thursday 14th of October. Hayley doesn’t know that yet though, so keep it quiet yeah? See you there!
Muz
CONTRIBUTORS ADAM MUSGRAVE – Film Critic wannabe who is single-handed keeping Orange Wednesdays going. http://thegroovyguidetofilms.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/Muzzy88
HAYLEY MOORE – Graphic designer extraordinaire http://hayleymoore.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/design_dream
REVIEW
THE KARATE KID THE KARATE KID Released: JULY 28TH Director: HARALD ZWART Running time: 140MINS IN SHORT: 80’s remake with plenty of charm and laughs, let down somewhat by long running time and slightly unnecessary romantic sub-plot. WHEN WILL’S MUM DECIDES HE SHOULD
move to Philly due to the actions of some bully’s who are up to no good, he initially struggles to fit in. Soon though, with the help of new father figure Uncle…oh, wait, hang about. That isn’t right is it? Sorry. Let’s start over. When Dre’s (Jadan Smith) mum decides they should move to China because of her recent promotion, he initially struggles to fit in. Soon though, with the help of new father figure Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) he begins to learn a few lessons in good manners and being an adult, and he even manages to fit in a bit Kung-Fu at the same time. Match that, Will! I kid, of course. Yes, this remake of 80s classic The Karate Kid features the son of Will Smith in a role not too dissimilar from one that his father played in popular 90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but having seen the film I should clarify that in all seriousness this does not detract from it one bit. In fact it definitely strengthens it. Child actors are often bloody annoying things that, let’s be honest, pretty much disgrace the definition of the word ‘actor’. Jadan Smith, on the other hand, is indeed a chip off the old block. This little dude has the effortless attractive charm about him that his father had in his youth, and he’s actually pretty good at the more serious stuff the script throws at him too. With the story focused mainly on Dre this is just as well, or we may start to become bored with the huge running time of the film. As it is though, I didn’t realise it ran at a massive 140 minutes until sitting down to write this review. That’s a very good sign. I do, however, feel it may be too long for the younger children and families
that make up its primary audience. It’s a tough call but ultimately it’s an element that does need to be considered if watching this movie with kids. In my mind, Dre’s romantic interest Mei Ying (Wen Wen Han) could be cut entirely with very little loss to the quality of the film and result in a much more family friendly running time. To be fair the biggest loss would actually be a terrific one liner from Mr. Han after a heart-felt speech from Dre to the girls father. It’s not that Wen Wen’s performance in the film is bad, it’s actually pretty good, it’s just that the whole sub-plot doesn’t really go anywhere that interesting and the KungFu elements could play out perfectly well without it. Whilst this is indeed Dre’s story though, arguably the main draw in the film for your average movie-goer is Jackie Chan in the mentor ‘Mr Miyagi’ role. Initially saving Dre from a gang of bully’s at his school who have been taught the art of Kung-Fu by a merciless rule-breaking master, he then goes on to teach Dre the true meaning of Kung-Fu so he can kick their arses in a tournament. I imagine those behind the film either decided that The Kung-Fu Kid sounded crap (it kinda does) or wanted to pay tribute to the original by not changing the name. Either way, there’s bugger all karate in this film. Plenty of kids though. Nevertheless, Jackie Chan impresses as Mr. Han. Infusing a certain amount of dry humour into the role (which works much better than the slapstick kind of thing he’s been doing a lot of recently), he makes the character a very entertaining one, full of straight-faced oneliners but undoubtable hidden strength. His excellent camaraderie with Jadan also makes the film that little bit more special. Then, just when you think you’ve seen all that Jackie has to offer, he turns on the tears and gives you some raw emotion in the saddest scene of the film. When I heard Jackie talking on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross about wanting to move into more serious acting roles now he’s getting on a bit I admired his enthusiasm but wasn’t convinced he could make the transition. However on the strength of that scene I could see him getting a few genuine offers for the straight roles he is seeking. Good stuff.
Elsewhere the fighting scenes in the film are head and shoulders above those in the original Karate Kid. The evil Kung-Fu kids do a very good job of convincing you they are actually kicking the crap out of Jadan Smith, which I hope and presume they are not! Consequently I completely sympathised for Dre living a life of fear in the first half hour of the film, continuously hiding and taking the long route home in order to avoid the bigger kids. Dre’s early lessons with Mr. Han consist entirely of him taking his jacket off, hanging it up, taking it down, putting it on, and hanging it up again, an obvious homage to the waxing of the car in the original film. Natch, Dre gets pretty frustrated that he isn’t learning anything until Han opens his eyes to the movements he has been repeating and what he can do with them in a one-on-one situation. I’m still not exactly convinced you can learn Kung-Fu by doing chores but it made for some entertaining scenes and it sure as hell made Dre’s mum a lot happier to see him hanging his coat up for a change. When we get to the big tournament fights towards the end they impress, with a montage (of course!) consisting of all sorts from a modified hurricanrana to flying kicks and more traditional throws. I’m not sure how much of this is in fact traditional KungFu but it at least makes for some impressive looking fights.
‘HOWEVER THERE’S NO DOUBTING THAT JADAN SMITH WILL BECOME THE NEXT BIG THING AND BOTH HE AND JACKIE CHAN ARE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS HERE TO PROVIDE THE FILMS BIGGEST DRAW.’
All-in-all what we have here then is a surprisingly funny and entertaining film with a lot of charm, wit and action. Admittedly it does take quite a while for Mr. Han to lay all his cards on the table and get to the KungFu though, and in that time we have to sit through a few harsh beatdowns and contend with a budding romance that doesn’t really go anywhere. However there’s no doubting that Jadan Smith will become the ‘Next Big Thing’ and both he and Jackie Chan are firing on all cylinders here to provide the films biggest draw. This is a much better than average family film and I really enjoyed it so I’m going to be generous and reward a very solid
8/10 FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 7
REVIEW
KNIGHT AND DAY KNIGHT AND DAY Released: AUGUST 6TH Director: JAMES MANGOLD Running time: 110 MINUTES In short: Ropey action film that fails to live up to its early promise and the huge reputation of its stars. Going into the cinema I was all ready to give this film a six out of ten. It has received a mauling from critics but after watching the trailer I had a feeling I would see it as a bit of fun that you could probably enjoy a fair amount if you switched off your logic sensors and just went with it. After all, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are pleasantly warm and funny people, as showcased by their recent appearance on popular motoring farce Top Gear. Surely, if nothing else, their performances alone would make this at least a half decent effort?
AH. NO. I WAS HORRIBLY WRONG.
That being said, it does get off to a reasonable start. Cruise and Diaz do indeed provide some good chemistry and they bounce off of each other well. They both have an undoubtedly charismatic presence and Cruise’s slightly joke-worthy and cooky yet dangerous man-of-mystery character is initially appealing. His hi-jinks and comedy stalking of Diaz early in the film offer a few decent laughs or moments to make you grin and the first forty minutes or so were living up to my initial expectations. Reaching the hour mark though the jokes start to wear off and things get more serious, with the patchy and completely uninteresting storyline coming to the forefront of the films concentrations. Basically some nerdy kid has made a massively powerful battery with the added advantage that it will never run out of juice. This of course means that everyone and his giraffe is after the power that it holds, resulting in a distinctly run-of-the-mill plot where a battle over possession of this important little Macguffin is about as deep as
things get. It’s one of those instances where you could replace the item in question with something entirely different and because it is so inconsequential to the film it would have no affect on anything whatsoever. Storywise there is nothing here that you haven’t seen before in a hundred other action films so when the few laughs it has disappear and the plot becomes the main draw everything suddenly becomes very boring. What’s more I don’t think the screenwriter for this film had a clue what he was doing. In his first role as a writer, Patrick O'Neill turns out a script that not only makes little sense but is also extremely lazy. It seems Patrick has an awful habit of writing himself into situations that he can’t think of a proper way out of because not once, not twice (and not even thrice!), but five times he gets his characters out of a tight spot by using the plot device of having one of them drug the other and then miraculously escaping. And of course each time this happens we see things from the drugged perspective. We, the audience, get drugged, the screen goes black and we see only snippets of what is going on. Want to know how Tom Cruise escapes from a jail cell when he’s chained upside down
STORY-WISE THERE IS NOTHING HERE THAT YOU HAVEN’T SEEN BEFORE IN A HUNDRED OTHER ACTION FILMS
FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 9
by his feet? Tough, we’re drugged. Would you like to see Cruise and Diaz spectacularly escape from an island in an helicopter whilst avoiding enemy fire? Sorry, they didn’t have the budget for it so we get drugged again. I could probably have accepted it happening once but five times? It’s piss poor writing and personally it made me feel there was little point investing in the story because every time some kind of danger cropped up the audience got blinded and suddenly everything was fine again. No tension, no drama, no suspense. Now, far be it from me to tell this guy how to write a film. I’ve never tried it and I imagine it’s a pretty tough thing to do. But I have seen a lot of films and I know that, even if the resolution has to be completely ridiculous, it’s better to actually have that
resolution than to cheat the audience and not have one at all. I mean, it even happens as a way of escaping the final confrontation of the film. Simply ridiculous. I’ve just now realised I’ve spent the entirety of this review calling Cruise and Diaz by their real names, not their character names. This isn’t something I usually do but I guess I know the reason. I can’t actually remember Cruise’s characters name, probably because by the halfway point I didn’t really care anymore and forgot it. And I’m so depressed by the film I’m not even going to bother looking it up. They basically play action hero versions of themselves anyway so they may as well just be called Tom and Cameron in the film. Neither has very much character or back story to them beyond being a sharp talking
sex bomb, which is yet another problem I have with the script. And before any smart alec’s tell me the characters are surely named Knight and Day, think again. Knight was once the surname of Cruise’s character before he faked his death or some such nonsense and then changed it. But I haven’t got a clue where the ‘Day’ part of the title comes into it. I suppose someone just thought it was a clever title. To hell with it that it bears no relation to the story, eh? I think that’s about all I can stomach writing about this film. In fact, writing this review and further thinking through all the problems it has I think I’ve come to look down on it even more than I did before. I’m going to knock another point off. It’s actually made me quite angry. Avoid.
4/10
REVIEW
THE EXPENDABLES THE EXPENDABLES Released: AUGUST 18TH Director: SYLVESTER STALLONE Running time: 103MINS In short: Fun throwback to 80’s style action fests featuring most (but not all) of the stars from said 80s action fests. Has all the pros and cons of the era it attempts to replicate.
TO MANY PEOPLE, THE EXPENDABLES is something that for the last twenty years has only been able to occur in hopeful, unbelievable and, yes, shamefully gory pipedreams. Fans have always been left only to imagine what would happen if you put stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham and (admittedly to a lesser extent) Stone Cold Steve Austin all in a film together. So when that film actually got announced a lot of people got quite excited. “It’s what dreams are made of!!” they gleefully claimed. “It’s like the second coming!!” shouted others noisily. But could a film full of stars with massive egos pushing on into their fifties and sixties really be that great? Surely the moment has passed for many of these action legends? Well, maybe it hasn’t quite passed yet. Lets not try to fool anyone here – The Expendables is not going to be to everyone’s taste. It is pure homage to the style of film which resulted in many of these stars becoming household names twenty years ago. Which means a heck of a lot of action and just a few, very vague story elements to get the ball rolling at the start of the film. In fact, this will probably be the first review I have done to contain no spoilers whatsoever. It is just impossible to spoil the story of this film even if you tried. There’s nothing to spoil. The best I can do is to say that a gang of elite mercenaries called The Expendables, mainly made up of Statham, Stallone and Li, fight their way through armies of men and ultimately overthrow an evil Mexican dictator. Basically they kill a fuck load of people and then beat the big boss man. It’s the least shocking or surprising action movie plot I have ever heard. That’s not really the point though. The Expendables was never going to be big on the story and it’s not what people were
excited about. Indeed the story, if you’ll excuse me (and I permit you to groan all you like), is completely expendable. This is all about the action and thank the lord we have old Sly writing and directing it. For all Stallone couldn’t successfully act his way out of a soggy paper bag, he does to his credit have a great understanding of what makes action films work. After so long in the business this guy knows what he’s doing. The action scenes are definitely some of the best in film for some time. It’s just nice to watch a fight in a film and be able to tell what’s going on for a change. Usually directors of these films are so obsessed with quickly cutting pieces of the action together and having close ups of everything that happens in the fight that it all becomes a big confused mess wherein you cannot tell who is doing what. Sure, this style of editing adds pace and a certain amount of excitement to things but at the end of the day it’s sometimes just too hard to keep up and too blurry to make sense of. The Expendables largely keeps away from this style, using a mix of medium and long shots so we can take in everything that is happening without needing to see every punch, kick and dive up close. I personally feel it works much better and I’m glad Sly allows us to properly take in the fights between some of these legends. Of course, being the wizard behind the scenes of the film, you can’t really blame Stallone for writing himself a main role. Whilst he is his usual mumbling self here you cannot deny his acting skills and charisma have come on just a little from those 80s films this owes so much to. Don’t get me wrong, he’s no Downey Jr., but it’s nice to see a bit of personality from Stallone for a change. Jason Statham as Stallone’s main partner in crime puts in one of his usual strong performances and, for all the stars involved, there is about 20 minutes where this turns into a ‘buddy’ film whilst Stallone and Statham do some initial recon and talk through a few of their troubles with each other. That’s what happens when you name Statham’s character something as gay as ‘Lee Christmas’. He ends up wanting to talk about feelings and shit. It doesn’t last long though. Soon enough they’re shooting up Mexicans in their massive helicopter. Jet Li is around mainly to get made fun of for being short but the material he is given he handles well and his martial arts style adds something extra to the film. You really do get a bit of everything here – martial arts, good old fashioned brawling, guns, explosions, car
chases, aerial combat. The only thing missing is a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin. Oh, there we go, I just thought of an almost spoiler! Austin’s character dies! Not that big of a deal though really. He is one of the bad guys so it’s something else you can predict going into the film but oh well. Arguably the best performance is from Mickey Rourke who only has a few scenes but manages to steal all the attention by being emotional and crying a bit because he refuses to go back to the lifestyle that The Expendables lead. And, of course, I have to mention that scene with cameos from Schwarzenegger and Willis talking to Stallone. Mainly in existence just to give the fans an uber orgasm of awesomeness at finally seeing these three together, it serves the story only for Willis to give Stallone and Schwarzenegger the mission, to which Schwarzenegger basically says “Nah, I’m too busy, give it to him”, and leaves. It has a few funny lines in it though and whilst pretty pointless it is entertaining and truthfully good fun to see them all together at last. And you can pretty much take that last sentence and apply it to the whole film to be honest. Due to the huge success the film has had both in the US and the UK a sequel will certainly be forthcoming and it’s hard not to get excited about the prospect all over again. Now it’s obvious that there is great appeal in this concept will other stars such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Vin Diesel and The Rock get on board? Stallone has already alluded to the possibilities of Willis’ character returning in a much meatier villain role and Steve Austin returning as his own characters twin brother. It’s silly things like this suggestion which confirm Stallone knows you shouldn’t take something like The Expendables completely seriously. There are plenty of knowing winks to the audience throughout the film itself and, as long as you are open to having a laugh with it and enjoying it for what it is, you can’t really go wrong here. Roll on The Expendables 2.
7/10
REVIEW
SCOTT
PILGRIM
VS. THE WORLD FOR ANYONE UNAWARE, THE SCOTT PILGRIM SERIES IS A SUCCESSFUL
RUN OF SIX BLACK-AND-WHITE COMIC BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVELS WRITTEN AND DRAWN BY THE CANADIAN BORN BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY.
TELLING THE STORY OF SCOTT’S QUEST TO DEFEAT RAMONA FLOWERS’ SEVEN EVIL EX-BOYFRIENDS SO THAT HE CAN DATE HER IN PEACE, THEY CONTAIN MANY HUMOROUS REFERENCES TO RETRO VIDEO GAMES SUCH AS THE LEGEND OF ZELDA AND FINAL FANTASY AND ARE WITHOUT DOUBT COMPLETELY AWESOME. »
FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 13
This film takes its title from the second book in the series but in actuality it attempts to tell the whole story from across the six books in just one film. No Harry Potter-esque bookby-book adaptation and SCOTT PILGRIM VS. then needlessly splitting THE WORLD the last book into two films here! Whilst not Released: AUGUST 25TH always completely Director: EDGAR WRIGHT faithful to the source material, director Edgar Running time: 112MINS Wright (Shaun of the In short: Near perfect adaptation of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) captures perfectly the tone and comic book source material, this is a nostyle of the comic books. holds-barred attack on the senses that It is not without its faults sizzles with style. You will either love it, but this, my friends, is hate it, or be completely baffled by it. one hell of a film. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a twenty-three year old slacker who, a year on from a difficult break-up, suddenly finds himself with adoring young seventeen year old Chinese girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Whilst he treats it as nothing serious, Knives falls madly in love with him. Unfortunately for her it isn’t long until Scott meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) whom he himself falls head over heels for. Soon Scott
is faced with the prospect of having to break up with Knives and also having to fight Ramona’s League of Evil Exes, led by the jealous Gideon (Jason Schwartzman), in order to gain the right to be with her. Meanwhile Scott’s band Sex Bob-omb (a reference to the bomb-like enemies in the Super Mario series) try to reach the big-time through competing in a Battle of the Bands tournament in their home town of Toronto. Much like the beginning of the first book, the film at first attempts to trick you into thinking this is some innocent yet quirky little rom-com. Scott and Knives go on a couple of dates, he shows her round the places that are meaningful to him, and she comes to his band practice. He meets Ramona, adding a spanner to the works, and things are progressing as normal. Then in the first round of the Band Battle up pops Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), the first evil ex, and all hell breaks loose. Whilst attacking Scott he bursts into a Bollywood style song and summons his “Demon Hipster Chicks” to help him out. Thus the pretence is broken and the tone for the rest of the film is set. Whether it’s a vegan with psychic
powers or mystical DJ twins who create giant constructs with their amps, Scott is in for a world of pain and we are in for an astonishing ride which doesn’t stop to take a breath. The film has a frenetic pace, having to fit seven or eight fights into its run time, and each is packed with glorious special effects making it look and feel ultra slick and stylish. Additionally, onscreen graphics are used to great effect with flashback stories told using slideshows of art that are very reminiscent of the art used in the comics, and the same name cards containing fun facts that you see in the books flash up every time a new character appears for the first time. It is a very clever method of keeping the feel of the comics intact, ripping things
straight from the source material and placing them directly on screen. One of the other great strengths of the film is the cast. Filled with young stars, there isn’t a duff one amongst them and they all bring their respective characters to life very well. Whilst he often gets a lot of slack, I have always found Michael Cera to be a likeable personality. Although I admit I didn’t at first think his nerdy, reserved style would be right for playing Scott, he pulls it off here by adding just the right amount of cockiness and cool to the character, as well as effectively portraying his moments of crushing sadness, selfdoubt and loneliness. Elsewhere, Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate Wallace Wells probably provides the most
‘MUCH LIKE THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST BOOK, THE FILM AT FIRST ATTEMPTS TO TRICK YOU INTO THINKING THIS IS SOME INNOCENT YET QUIRKY LITTLE ROM-COM…’
FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 15
laughs with his one-liners and steals the scenes whenever he appears. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona is the attractive and cool yet emotionally guarded girl that she needs to be and Ellen Wong hits the right notes as the over-excitable and madly obsessed Knives. Ex-Superman Brandon Routh as the third evil ex Todd Ingram is almost unrecognisable, and future Captain America Chris Evans is another standout evil ex as Lucas Lee, movie star and skateboard extraordinaire. That all the evil exes have distinct personalities and fleshed out back stories despite their short appearances is a huge credit to both the actors portraying them and the film itself. The film also effectively translates the video games references of its source material onto the screen and creates a heaven for video game geeks in their late teens and onwards who remember the various sound effects and pieces of music used throughout from their childhood. Whilst the comics can only visually hark back to classic games (with the evil exes leaving coins or special items behind them when defeated or Scott running into save points and 1-ups), the film can add to this with sound bites from the games themselves. The distinctive “KO” of the Street Fighter games, a litany of music and sound effects from the Legend of Zelda series, the bass line from Final Fantasy 2 and more, there are so many references that I know I will have missed some. Music on the whole is an important element of the film though, with distinct sounds needed for each of the bands that appear in the different stages of the tournament to make them believable and add personality to each of them. To help with this musicians such as Beck Hansen, Canadian bands such as Broken Social Scene and Metric, and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich where all drafted in to create music for the film. The results are excellent and I for one am tempted to pick up the soundtrack at some point so I can hear these songs again and again when I am out and about. Not everything is perfect though. Despite ragging on the Harry Potter films a little bit earlier, cramming the whole storyline of the series into just this one film does hold it back slightly and means that a few semi-important side stories can’t be fully acknowledged. Obviously Scott Pilgrim doesn’t have the drawing power of Harry Potter so releasing the books as separate films would have been a silly move and ultimately one film is indeed the best way of adapting the story. Still though, it’s a shame that things such as Scott’s past relationship with his drummer Kim Pine (Allison Pill)
are skimmed over, especially as Kim is such a strong character in the books and the relationship is an important part of Scott’s life, but Kim is destined to be in the background here. Another negative effect of how quickly everything has to happen in the film is the fact that everything seems to happen over just a few days. Would Scott really go through all the dangers of so many attempts on his life for a girl he met just the other day? If you think about things like this too hard it can almost ruin everything and it nearly doesn’t work as a viable storyline. The books give things much more room to breath and events take place over many months but the film would not have this luxury without numerous ‘some time later’ titles or something of the ilk, which would only serve to ruin the pace and energy that the film creates so well. In the end, I think presenting the storyline this way is the better decision, even if it does take away from the believability somewhat. The film is so strong in every other department that it just about gets away with it.
‘SCOTT IS IN FOR A WORLD OF PAIN AND WE ARE IN FOR AN ASTONISHING RIDE WHICH DOESN’T STOP TO TAKE A BREATH. THE FILM HAS A FRENETIC PACE, HAVING TO FIT SEVEN OR EIGHT FIGHTS INTO ITS RUN TIME, AND EACH IS PACKED WITH GLORIOUS SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKING IT LOOK AND FEEL ULTRA SLICK AND STYLISH.’
Being a big Scott Pilgrim fan this film is pretty much everything I could have wanted and I love it to bits. However I can fully appreciate that it is somewhat of a niche film that won’t appeal to everyone. If you don’t recognise the video game references or relate to the characters and humour that the film uses you will probably find yourself bored and may well be overwhelmed by just how over-the-top and outlandish it can get at times. Others may take issue with the story problems that I noted and just not buy into the whole scenario that the film presents to its audience. I am pleased to say though that many people, whether they have read the comics or not, have said to me how much they enjoyed it so here is my final advice - give it a go. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World may well not be for you and that's fair enough, but if you do relate to it you will absolutely cherish it forever. It is definitely worth the gamble.
9/10
PREVIEW
THE OTHER GUYS THE OTHER GUYS Released: SEPTEMBER 17TH Starring: WILL FERRELL,
MARK WAHLBERG, DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, STEVE COOGAN.
AHHHHHH WILL FERRELL. SHOULD I ever forgive you for Land of the Lost? After all you have starred in such great movies as Zoolander, and you were terrific in Anchorman. But then on the other hand…Land of the Lost. You tread an impressively fine line between annoying the hell out of me and making me laugh quite a lot. You’re like the endless repeats of Friends on Channel 4. In human form. Oh well. With a bit of luck this film will go some way to
redeeming you, eh? And then we can be friends again. That would be nice. Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) work in the shadows of badass Detectives Danson (The Rock) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson), who are loved to pieces by the local community. When Danson and Highsmith die, Allen and Terry have to step up their game to replace the heroic team and protect the city. Of course they are totally inept and out of their depth, but no doubt by the end of the film they will have uncovered and foiled a dastardly scheme to fraud/ brainwash/blow up the entire city and they’ll all live happily ever after. It’s like Good Burger but with cops instead of fast food employees. The basic concept isn’t exactly original, but it works.
By the looks of the trailer, Ferrell is playing this role fairly straight. Allen is not some ludicrously over the top or crazy character - he just sucks at his job. Same goes for Wahlberg. I can’t really decide whether this is a good or bad thing. The two roles I mentioned earlier as my favourite Ferrell characters are ludicrously over the top and crazy, whilst the abysmal Land of the Lost saw him as a fairly average yet egotistical scientist. Despite this, I’m kind of glad that he won’t be over-egging the performance throughout the film and constantly trying to hog the screen with his characters massively eccentric, overpowering personality. Firstly because it may very well get boring and irritating by the end of the film. Secondly because he just can’t compete with The Rock and Sammy L.
I’M KIND OF GLAD THAT HE WON’T BE OVER-EGGING THE PERFORMANCE THROUGHOUT THE FILM AND CONSTANTLY TRYING TO HOG THE SCREEN WITH HIS CHARACTERS MASSIVELY ECCENTRIC, OVERPOWERING PERSONALITY. FIRSTLY BECAUSE IT MAY VERY WELL GET BORING AND IRRITATING BY THE END OF THE FILM. SECONDLY BECAUSE HE JUST CAN’T COMPETE WITH THE ROCK AND SAMMY L.
Now I don’t know if it’s just me but I can’t really think of much better casting to play two egotistical, full of themselves, yet utterly heroic and lovable cops than Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson. They scream cool and come across as really nice guys in real life, but you can also tell that they are fully aware of their own awesomeness. So I’m sure it came pretty naturally for them to play Danson and Highsmith. And whilst I’m sure they’ll only be in the film for 1015 minutes, I’m betting they steal the show. Their performances in the promo material look spot on and, really, just the idea of them in those roles makes me laugh. It’s worth me going to see the film for that concept alone. Hopefully I won’t be disappointed. However with another favourite of mine, Steve Coogan, on board too, this could actually turn out to be a very funny film. It’s a nice surprise too considering I only found out about it very recently. Wouldn’t it be great for a film to just come out of nowhere and erase all our memories of Land of the Lost? Such a great hope. Such a great responsibility. But maybe, just maybe, if it does succeed in its monumental task, me and Will could remain friends after all. And that would be very nice indeed.
FILMIC 02 / SEPTEMBER 2010 / 19
TOP 10
FILMS OF THE
YEAR I
felt like we should have some kind of
ongoing feature here in the pages of and after a bit of consideration
I
F ilmic
thought
it ’ d be cool to have a constantly updating top
10
films of the year .
every month
( as
long as
T his will change I’ ve seen new films
good enough to go in it !) so keep an eye out for it in each issue and make sure you ’ ve seen all the films on the list !
At
the end of the
year we ’ ll have a definitive list of the best
2010. A nd then we can start afresh 2011! R emember , this list contains only films that I have seen . T here are a few other films that I reckon would make it onto the list based on what I’ ve heard about them but unfortunately I haven ’ t seen them yet . H opefully I can rectify this at some point . films of for
5. KICK ASS
Our next comic book entry and our second child star in the making as Chloe Moretz says the immortal C-word and everyone goes BONKERS.
6. IRON MAN 2 Unfortunately not as good as the original but the amazingly charismatic Robert Downey Jr. is enough to make this very entertaining anyway.
7. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE
Easily the strongest of the Twilight films, I am going to get absolutely ripped to pieces for including this on the list.
8. THE 1. INCEPTION EXPENDABLES The first must see film of the year, Christopher Nolan gives us one of the most original and intelligent films for some time. Emotionally gripping and simply superb.
2. TOY STORY 3 The second must see film of the year. The best three-quel of all time and maybe the best in the series. Definitely worth the wait!
3. SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
The first of a few comic book films on the list, this is the best. Brimming with style it is complete geek heaven.
4. THE KARATE KID
Surprisingly entertaining 80s remake with great chemistry between Jadan Smith and Jackie Chan. No karate to be found though!
Action, action, action!!
9. SHREK FOREVER AFTER Can’t compete with the first two films but it makes up for Shrek 3 at least. If only Eddie Murphy was this funny in his other new films, eh?
10. WILD TARGET
At a loss as to what else to put on this list I’ll go for this British comedy with Ron from Harry Potter and Bill Nighy. Pretty good fun.