Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

IMDb

Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Distributor: Legendary Pictures (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Edgar Wright
Writer(s): Michael Bacal (screenplay), Edgar Wright (screenplay), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press graphic novels)
Staring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for stylized violence, sexual content, language and drug references.
Running Time: 112 min
Synopsis: Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes in order to win her heart.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 80% (Fresh), Top Critics: 79% (Fresh), RT Community: 82% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 68 out of 100, Users: 8.8 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 72: (31.2% A, 41.2% B, 19.7% C, 6.9% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: B+ Users: A-

My Review

Source Material: Based on a series of graphic novels written by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: The action is fun. Scott Pilgrim proves that cartoon-ish action can happen in real life. What I'm getting at is there was a lot of onomatopoeia used. So much so it kind of remind of the Batman from the fifties staring Adam West. But that was the point.
  

• Comedy Elements: For me and my gamer friends it was pretty much not stop laughter. But I don't thank you have to be a gamer to get the references cause most of them come from old school gaming systems like the NES.
  

• Dramatic Elements: Even thought this film is driven on comedy and ridiculousness, it still had some decent dramatic parts.

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: With been a graphic novel based movie there is some Sci-Fi and fantasy elements that add to the spectacularness of the film.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: B+: This film has a fairly young cast, but there was also some talent mixed among them. Look at some of these actors: Chris Evans, who is the new go to guy for any and all, comic book, graphic novel, superhero based movie, Jason Schwartzman who is great in pretty much everything, Michael Cera, the type-cast awkward teenager, Mae Whitman, known for being the voice of Katara from Avatar: The Lastr Airbender.

• Art Direction: A: The style of the film had a since of "coolness" because of the costumes and such.
  

• Cinematography: A: I though it was interesting how they filmed it, so by the end of the film you believed that the reality of a video game could be the reality of the real world. Which, is perfect cause that's how Scott Pilgrim perceives his world .
  

• Direction: A: I have been pleased with Edgar Wright films up to this point. He seem to know what he is doing, so I quote: "stick to what you know" As far as the pacing and what not, I never felt board once. It was the complete opposite.

• Editing: A: Do you remember Ang Less's Hulk and how they tried to cut the film so it read like a comic book, and failed. Well, Scott Pilgrim is the opposite of that, it reads like a comic book but doesn't suck. It also reads like a video game. The video game theme was very common through out every aspect of the film. .
  

• Screenplay: A: The theme was obviously nostalgic video games meets modern pop punk meets superheroes; a perfect movie for nerds and geeks alike, but the story combines all those aspect perfectly that a larger audience will like the film.
  

• Sound and Music: A: I felt the soundtrack was like, "name that video game theme." but I okay with that cause the music fits the over all theme.
  

• VFX: B+: It wasn't Oscar worthy but it contribute to the films awesomeness.
  

Overall: A-: This film was one of the most entertaining film film in my life. It may not win best picture but it a awesomely fun film. I highly recommend this film. It saddens me this film inst going to do as well at the box office as it should. I cant believe a film that rank way less critically has done better at the box office, that film is The Expendables. I say lets rally up and spread the word around that Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a good film so next week it can get those numbers it deserves

UPDATE: The Avengers

This is the Updated list based off the the info from Comic Con 2010. See the video over at /film

Founding Members

Ant-Man (Dr. Henry "Hank" Jonathan Pym): Contenders:Adrien Brody, Nathan Fillion, Wishes: Michael C. Hall
Hulk (Dr. Robert Bruce Banner): Mark Ruffalo
Iron Man (Anthony "Tony" Stark): Robert Downey Jr.
Thor (Dr. Donald Blake) : Chris Hemsworth
Wasp (Janet van "Dyne" Pym ): Contenders: Eva Longoria Parker Wishes: Natalie Portman, Alyssa Milano, Mila Kunis

Recruits

Black Widow (Natalia Alianovna Romanova) : Scarlett Johansson
Captain America (Steven Rogers): Chris Evans
Hawkeye (Clinton Francis Barton) : Jeremy Renner
Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson

Directores

Top 5 All Time Favorite Directors/Filmmakers

1. Tim Burton
2. David Fincher
3. Christopher Nolan
4. Robert Rodríguez
5. M. Night Shyamalan

Top 5 All Time Favorite Indie Directors/Filmmakers

1. Wes Anderson
2. Darren Aronofsky
3. Jason Reitman
4. Steven Soderbergh
5. Gus Van Sant

Top 5 All Time Favorite Blockbuster Directors/Filmmakers

1. James Cameron
2. Peter Jackson
3. George Lucas
4. Steven Spielberg
5. Robert Zemeckis

Top 5 All Time Favorite "Nerdy" Directors/Filmmakers

1. J.J Abrams
2. Kevin Smith
3. Zack Snyder
4. Matthew Vaughn
5. Andy and Larry Wachowski

Review: Inception

IMDb

Title: Inception
Distributor: Legendary Pictures (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer(s): Christopher Nolan (written by))
Staring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.
Running Time: 148 min
Synopsis: In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 86% (Fresh), Top Critics: 78% (Fresh), RT Community: 93% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 75 out of 100, Users: 8.5 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 84: (53.9% A, 31.4% B, 12.6% C, 0.0% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: B+ Users: A-

My Review

This review comes to you after watching the film twice. I heard that one needs to watch it at least three times to get the full vision of the film. I leaning towards the idea that you do need many viewings to pick up on subtle details you didn't see the first time. With that being said here is my review...

Source Material: Original screenplay

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: This film isn't the next summer blockbuster action film with said action heroism. Even thought its not the action film of the summer, it does have a lot of great action sequences
  

• Comedy Elements: Its not a comedy by far, but it has some cleaver one liners to lighten up the mood a bit.
  

• Dramatic Elements: Personally, I think the dramatic moments were great. I liked how the different relationships between each character played out on screen.

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: The world built by Noland is awesome. Personally I think the use of partial fx and vfx is flawless, or at least basically flawless.
  

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: A-: Let state that for most people Leonardo DiCaprio is either the best actor on the plant or they hate him with a passion, it seem the middle ground is few and far between. I say that because I am one of the few that make up the middle ground, for me he is hit or miss, in Inception he is a hit. I also like the other castings. Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page have made a pretty good career already, this film is defiantly going to strengthen them.

• Art Direction: A+: I cant believe how many loction they used on this film, one more beautiful than the next. Even the studio sets where good.
  

• Cinematography: A+: I think Christopher Nolan has a cinematographers mind when he makes his films cause he pull off innovative camera shots, Inception is no exception. This film had a rich color plate and awesome effects, I will talk about that latter.
  

• Direction: A: Christopher Nolan is by far in my top five directors of all time, maybe even tom three. With that being said he delivers once again. This film is pushing three hours, I never once looked at my watch to see how much longer do we have. From what I have read on this film up to this point it seems, most say the biggest fault is its lengthen, and that they should cut some stuff out, but I disagree.

• Editing: A: The cuts between reality and dream states mix perfectly, by the time you get to the end of the film you second guess yourself on what was real and what was a dream, which I think was done on purpose. Can you say brilliant?
  

• Screenplay: A: What can I say the concepts in this film are very interesting and mostly true. I basically would say the same for the screenplay as I do for editing.

• Sound and Music: A+: The score adds emotions to the film like it should. In some parts of the film I felt more excited because of the score.
  

• VFX: A+: The blend of partial fx and vfx is flawless, or at least basically flawless. I said this above but its true. The only time you know a computer was used was when laws of physics where broken.
  

Overall: A:You may need to see a couple of time to fully understand it but it a a great movie. In my opinion a movie that make you think and discuse the film after words is a great film, which this film does. I recommend that you see this one in theaters, even with the ridiculous prices.

Review: The Last Airbender

IMDb

Title: The Last Airbender
Distributor: Nickelodeon Movies (Paramount Pictures)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer(s): M. Night Shyamalan (written by)
Staring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz,Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis, Seychelle Gabriel
MPAA Rating: Rated PG for fantasy action violence.
Running Time: 103 min
Synopsis: The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 09% (Rotten), Top Critics: 07% (Rotten), RT Community: 65% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 20 out of 100, Users: 2.8 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 37: (23.0% A, 15.3% B, 15.3% C, 15.3% D, and 30.7% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: D+ Users: C+

My Review

Source Material: Based on Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: The showcasing of the different martial arts forms was great, there could have been more, but as an action film it not too bad.
  

• Comedy Elements: Sokka character bring a lot of slap stick and physical comedy in the television version while the film had some, it was missing quite a bit.
  

• Dramatic Elements: Can you say epic fail, most of the failure comes from bad acting.

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Elemental Bending, and other Asian culture/ folklore, descend visual effects.

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: C-: The acting well, wasn't that great. I think most of the bad acting comes from the fact the cast was young in there careers. Out of the "child" actors the only ones I recognized was Jackson Rathbone, known for portraying Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga, and Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire. The adult actors also only did okay, the best acting came from Shaun Toub who play Iroh. To top it all off the best acting in the entire movie came from the girl who played Princess Yue, Seychelle Gabriel. So we have established the acting wasn't the greatest well neither was the dialog, exhibit A, “We need to show them that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in their beliefs” There were many lines like this one, were one word would get repeated.

• Art Direction: B-: Awesome location, with beautiful sites for the different nations.

• Cinematography: B-: There were some really cool scenes that capture the different martial arts showcased in this film. Some of the scene brought me back to The Matirx days.
  

• Direction: C: M. Night Shyamalan is one of the director in my top five favorites directors. I know people will raze me for liking him and his films, cause the general public started to jump ship after The Village and even more so with the Happening. Now with The Last Airbender, it seems the only people on the ship are M. Night Shyamalan and minute amount of fans. I think he did a good job directing the movie but the film didn't turn out that good.

• Editing: D+: Very slow pacing, the 103 min movie felt a lot longer. the cut between scenes seemed a bit random, and out of place. I thought there were to many montage type of scenes.
  

• Screenplay: C-: The mythology and story from the television show is great, some where along the line it was ruined. Personally I thought the story had too much childish behavior written into. Aang is spouse to be a bit childish but full grown adults, WTF. Seriously, this is one of the lines from an adult, "Those kids where earthbending and hitting us with small rocks in the head, that hurts. These words were uttered in a winy manner, just like a child. I do understand that the film was mad for kids but it doesn't have to be that extreme

• Sound and Music: C: Midorcer like everything else.
  

• VFX: B-: Probably, the best thing about this movie.

Overall: C-:Fan will be disappointed to some level cause it doesn't live to to the television show.

The Picture Box

The Picture Box

A co-worker and friend of mine is trying very hard to get his small student film to the high school section of the Heartland Film Festival, which takes place in Indianapolis, Indian. If you're a connoisseur of films and the art of filmmaking, like myself, then you may enjoy this emotional silent film that showcases how precious our memories become to us over time. As a friend and a fellow filmmaker I fully support this film, and I hope you do too.

Review: The A-TEAM

IMDb

Title: The A-TEAM
Distributor: Dune Entertainment (20th Century Fox)
Director: Joe Carnahan
Writer(s): Joe Carnahan(written by), Brian Bloom(written by), Skip Woods(written by), Frank Lupo(television series "The A-Team"), Stephen J. Cannell(television series "The A-Team"))
Staring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Patrick Wilson
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence throughout, language and smoking.
Running Time: NA
Synopsis: A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.

What Others Are Saying?

Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 52% (Rotten), Top Critics: 47% (Rotten), RT Community: 87% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 47 out of 100, Users: 8.0 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 57: (7.4% A, 38.5% B, 38.2% C, 13.6% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C+ Users: A-

My Review

Source Material: Based on the television show with the same name.

Entertaining Value:

• Action Elements: This is very well done action movie. In place it seem a little over the top, but really by the end you fell like you had a good ride.

• Comedy Elements: Great one liners, and I'm guessing a lot of lines from the television show

• Dramatic Elements: This film is driven mainly by action and comedy.

• Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: No space or science type stuff, but there was a good use of fire and partial special FX.

Cinematic Value:

• Acting and Dialogue: A-: From what I have heard each character made a great effort at portraying there television counterparts. Liam Neeson was by far the best actor on screen but everyone did a good job even the UFC fighter Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson. Sharlto Copley is making a pretty good name for himself with this film and District 9.

• Art Direction: B-: It could have been a bit better. It had the right stuff for a good summer movie.

• Cinematography: B+: This was a good action movie. Usually with action movies the quality of cinematography goes down cause the whole movie is shaky cam, not in this case, well not as much anyways.

• Direction: B+: The pace was nice, I never felt board or confused. As for the directors style well, it more on the "dick-flick" side of things, which I like. For those of you who don't know, this is the same guy who did Smokin' Aces

• Editing: B+: There was take on a technique I have seen in many other film that I really like where as the character tells the plan it happens.

• Screenplay: B: There was big jumps in story, aging wise, but nobodies seems to age. From the opening scene/ introduction scene to the percent there is a 6 year 80 mission gap. Then there is another gap of 6 mouths (time spent in prison).

• Sound and Music: B: I liked the sound track, it work for that type of movie.

• VFX: B: Like I said before there was a good use of Special FX rather than Visual FX, either way it passed as a good job in my book.

Overall: B+: Its a very good guy summer movie. But I have a filling that 40-50 some will enjoy it too cause, from what I have heard the actors do a good job matching the originals.