1953 - The World's End

I missed this one in the cinema and got it for xmas and decided to make it my birthday movie!  I’m a fan of the filmmaking team of Wright/Pegg/Frost.  I still think I’d rank Shaun of the Dead as the height of this “trilogy” and that this and “Hot Fuzz” are more-or-less tied for second.  For those who don’t know the film is about a pub crawl that happens to coincide with a sort-of alien invasion.  

As an action-comedy director I can’t think of anyone who holds a candle to Edgar Wright.  His films skip right along, and they are filled with fantastic and fun action.  There’s an amazing sequence in here wherein the group is surrounded and fighting the “blanks” as they’re called all the while Simon Pegg continues to try and finish his pint.  It’s comedy gold.  The film is full of that.  Frost and Pegg again show why they’re such a solid team here and really play to the emotions when needed.  Simon is in fantastically fine form here.  

If I have a complaint it’s that the epilogue just feels… strange, not sure that’s the route I would have taken it - though I suppose it works and makes sense.  At any rate I’m not going to spoil it.  If you’ve seen the other films from this team then you’ll likely enjoy this one too!

1871 - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I've seen this film a few times, and I always think that distance will make me like it more - but I can't separate it from the books as much as I would like.  Here's the thing - I dig this film - I appreciate what a visual feast it is, I like the tone.  The cast is a who's who of a lot of my favourite actors.  My beef is the heart of it.  It's…. missing.  The big difference between this and the comic is that the comic takes place over the course of, I believe, two years.  This takes place in, maybe a week or so.  So the story is richer in the book and more about how hard it is to be in a relationship.  And I like Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an actor, but she plays Ramona Flowers as far too indifferent to make me invest in any way in the relationship.  

I'm absolutely sure that I'm too hard on this film, 'cause it's a shitload of fun - but there was a heart to the books that really spoke to me and my own experience with relationships - and mores than the awesome fights and quirk, that's what I wanted this film to nail.  Alas.  It's still a ball of fun, and a beautiful shout-out to Toronto.  If you haven't seen it you should just because there's almost nothing else like it.

1460 - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (commentary)

If you've read my blog at all you know that I absolutely love the comic series this is based on, and you know that I had a luke-warm response to the film. I still haven't revisited it to make sure it wasn't just because I was too close to the series at the time. Regardless of that I still picked up the film today when it came out - and on BluRay no less! Look at me!

The reason? I love everyone involved in this project? I think Edgar Wright got his ass handed to him a bit when this film performed poorly at the box office, and because I think he's a gifted filmmaker I want to show my support for him by voting with my wallet. Hopefully others do the same. It wasn't hard to convince myself to pick this up given how loaded to the tits it was with special features. At this point with my netflix and zip it's really the only thing that's going to keep me buying new films and adding them to my collection.

So I listened to the filmmaker commentary with Wright, O'Malley, and Becall. I have to say that it was a little 'meh'. Not horrible by any means, but I didn't really learn to much about them or their process other than what I'd already read or heard in interviews. It was a bit lackluster. I have no idea what I was expecting, but it just felt a little basic.

So I will re-watch this film as a film at some point in the near future and see if my opinions have changed any. Who knows - I'm an inconsistant bastard.