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Scott Pilgrim!

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So, who's seen it yet? As much as I hate Michael Cera, I don't think I've said "Aww, AWESOME!" so many times in a movie theatre.

 

I felt simultaneously old and young, watching it.

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Hells yes! I haven't seen a Cera movie since Superbad so I found he's moved away some from his straight and narrow typecast, and he came close to being what I though Scott would be, just not as hyperactive as I had hoped. I'm mad at myself for going to the earlier screening since when I walked out there was a small line of people who were clearly fans of the film, and I saw a few SP-inspired shirts in the lobby. I think I would have enjoyed it more with fewer kids in the theater.

 

Todd Ingram, Stephen Stills, Young Neil, Julie - all were so much more than I had anticipated. Even Knives was better than I had hoped for. But the lack of development on the side of Ramona (or so I felt) and Envy (!!!) were sticking points.

 

Jason Schwartzman was excellent too. ;)

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Young Neil was SPOT ON. So was Wallace.

 

I was not impressed with Knives or Envy.

 

This also may just be me, but when I read the comics, they weren't as bitter/sarcastic/angry as they were in the movie.

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I don't know, I loved the movie as much as (if not more than) the books. Plus, I think I fell in love with Ramona (which I just couldn't do in the books)

As a whole, this movie exceeded my expectations.

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Most of the ladies in the movie got shafted in terms of story development. Nadda for Lisa, not even close for Kim or Envy, and Ramona was better but still not quite enough for my tastes. But it all came together rather well considering it was 6 books crammed into 2 hours. It should also be taken into account that this is all from Scott's point of view, so he already knows about the past with most of the characters, hence the relatively heavy development of Knives and Ramona. Ramona came across as more of a bitch in the movie than in the books, but still likable. I would love to see the extra 14 mins they cut from it.

 

The music kicked ass too, I've been listening to the soundtrack a few times a day.

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I haven't read the books, so I might get a hold of the first one and go through it to see if I can get into them.

 

From that perspective I found the movie enjoyable, if not a little confusing. There were a bunch of fans in the theater who seem to be picking up a bunch of hooks that I didn't. I felt at a few points like I was missing a few things important things. I can't tell whether the story is that disjoint, or if it's just a byproduct of shortening.

 

In contrast, I didn't feel liks Cera was playing any character different from his norm. It seems like that is just really his type cast. Maybe I just always see him through that type cast.

 

I didn't notice an issue with character development. It seemed about right for the context. I suppose if you had an idea of the character development from the books (which I'm assuming is greater), then you would notice if characters didn't get there. So I didn't really see a problem with it.

 

I have to give some credit to the fight scenes (which sound funny). Despite being ridiculous, they where choreographed technically well.

 

Definitely worth watching to me. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD... I haven't left a movie with sides aching from laughter in a very long time.

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It's true! I was really wondering how much someone who hasn't read the comics, or isn't a gamer, would enjoy this movie, since it feels like a giant fan service in-joke.

 

I was arguing this with friends of mine, that I don't understand why they chose Michael Cera as Pilgrim, since he DOES only play variations of the same kind of character, and I felt that Pilgrim is not that kind of character (in the comics). I expected something more like Andy Sanberg...or Zac Efron lol

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Glad to hear someone who didn't read the series liked it. I was starting to worry...

I'm not going to lie, I can't really picture anyone else other the Cera playing Pilgrim. Samberg? Ehh, that just doesn't jive with me, but I'd imagine that everyone has their own depiction of Scott's persona in their mind. Cera wan't asshole-ish enough if you're comparing him to being the true Scott, but Edgar Wright mentioned that this is the story told through Scott's eyes, so he has a minor cop-out for the lack of asshole-ness and faults on Scott's side.

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Ok, so a combination of boredom and getting jerked around waiting on coworkers caused me to read the entire series yesterday in about a 6 and a half hour period.

 

 

It's interesting to reflect on, because I now see the movie as a variation of the story. A lot of the keys are there, but they get jumbled around and linked together. I'm going to hold that the movie did what in needed to do in order to condense the story. I understand what you are talking about concerning character development. The characters in the book are actually much deeper, and much of that relies on exploring their backstory and their interconnection. The movie very much avoided diving into the back story. As a result of that and time, they left out a lot of secondary arcs and characters. Without that they really couldn't explore those interconnections. I stand by what I said that the movie did enough to drive its plot forward. But I can really see what you mean now.

 

I honestly enjoyed the books, and think I would have enjoyed the movie a little less had I read them before. I'd probably talk more about my feeling on the story in the books, but I don't think this is a good place.

 

Anyway, I have to order something off Amazon.com ;)

(I really do, I borrowed an electronic copy of the books and in the interest of the free market would now like to contribute back to the author for their effort)

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Exactly what I did two weeks ago. I already owned vol. 6 on release day but 1-4 came on the 13th and 5 came on Monday. I'm trying to get in another showing so I can absorb more of what happened and look for the O'Malley & wife cameo among others, but I don't think I'll get to see it until next week.

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I was so choked they didn't include Gideon the cat.

 

Honestly, I just expected everything to be way cuter. Because everything in the comics is just so adorable.

 

I had heard they were shooting at Honest Ed's, but I didn't actually see it in the movie?

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Different strokes. The adorable didn't drive me through the story. What was great was that all the characters are heinously flawed, and they stay that way.

 

Retrospectively, the movie would have struggled to tell the story in the book and have been as humorous. Even though it's not a complex classic of literature, it's still sufficiently complex to have required a lot more busy time developing the characters.

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I was so choked they didn't include Gideon the cat.

 

Honestly, I just expected everything to be way cuter. Because everything in the comics is just so adorable.

 

I had heard they were shooting at Honest Ed's, but I didn't actually see it in the movie?

 

The sign appears in the background through a window when Scott and (Ramona?) are eating in a restaurant. For the life of me I can't recall the scene but I remember the screenshot someone posted of it. Somewhere. I swear I'm sane.

 

Ditto on the complexity argument. I'm kinda glad they didn't try to half ass any of the Joseph-Stills or Kim-Scott stuff, probably better off just leaving it all out. I'd readily welcome an alternate interpretation of the movie from someone else's point of view though.

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I think there are a lot of things that would be good to see. I make a lot of fun of Cera, but I do think that the casting and actors/actresses did catch the essence of the characters.

 

I do think that a movie script has to run a precarious balance though. You either pare down the story so it fits, or you half ass things. When you do the later you rely more and more on the audience having the back story. For example, they couldn't have introduced Lisa, because she would have necessitated that piece of backstory, which would have in turn required more attention to the Kim-Scott arc. They could have skipped the backstory part, but then the dynamic would have been inaccessible to me (because I hadn't read the books). Alternate angles would be cool, but given how they had to re-craft the plot, they really couldn't do it now.

 

I just realized I've become one of those people who compares the book to the movie... "People always say the books are better" (Self referential humor is awesome, breaking the fourth wall and all).

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I liked the film, but it wasn't AMAZING. I actually wouldn't have minded it being a bit longer to flesh out the characters more. Neither Ramona or Scott is really developed at ALL. He likes her cuz she's hot, she likes him for no apparent reason at all. Meh.

 

A solid 7/10. The fights were very entertaining, I laughed quite a bit, and there were a lot of awesome video game references.

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While this topic is old - I just had to say that the film, the graphic novels, and everything and anything to do with Scott Pilgrim is absolutely awesome. Probably the fondest memories of the early portions of my current relationship revolve around those books and eventually the excitement over the movie.

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