Aug 13 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Based on a graphic novel, this is the epic tale of Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a sensitive 23 year old with aspirations of being a rock star. Currently dating a 17 year old high school student named Knives (Ellen Wong), and taking flack from all of his friends and band mates, things could be going better for Scott. Enter Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the uber cool and mysterious hip chick. But as Scott’s attention and heart turns towards Ramona he discovers she has something akin to a bizarre curse, to win her affection he’ll need to defeat her seven evil exes, all jaded past lovers out for revenge– an insurmountable task, or is it? Can Scott defeat the seven exes and win Ramona’s heart, and what about his hopes for rock stardom? Directed by Edgar Wright the film definitely gets points for creativity, quick wit, and its showiness. Visually the film is packed with graphics, and artistic flare which helps to maintain the graphic novel feel. For all the actors involved, the right amount of camp, and comedic timing adds a real wallop yet still feels genuine. The fight scenes feel well choreographed and play well too. However, towards the end of the film each fight does begin to feel a bit drawn out, there are after all seven exes that need to be defeated. So here’s the flaw, for all of it’s zaniness and color, the film begins to drag for the last third because we kind of already know where things are headed but now need to see how the whole thing plays out. Despite this, I can honestly say the film does offer a lot to chew on and smile about and almost certainly demands a second viewing to catch all the nuances. A good date film (if you need an excuse). Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is rated PG-13.


Aug 13 2010

The Expendables

On a remote island run by fascist military leader General Garza (David Zayas), a crooked former U.S. government agent named Munroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchmen are trying to collect on owed money and drugs. But, when the U.S. government learns about the scheme they call in a rogue and elite force of specialists to clean up the mess and put an end to Garza and ultimately Munroe. Lead by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), what starts out as professional becomes personal and before long Ross’s group “The Expendables” is up to their ears in trouble trying to liberate the country and just stay alive, but have they bitten off more than they proverbially chew?
Okay, here’s the deal, this film is kind of like a who’s who of the biggest current and has been action heros of all time including Jet Li, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis and of course Arnold just to name a few. And, after Stallone’s recent display of pure carnage in Rambo a few years back there seemed to be genuine potential for summertime B quality action with swivel arm battle grip! Alas, no, I can’t sugar coat this one, it’s horrid. Granted, generally audiences have come to expect very little when it comes to such testosterone fueled plot lines, but this is about as remedial as it gets. With a screenplay and dialogue that reads like an 8th grader’s fantasy and half efforted delivery it’s pretty clear we’re here to see ass kicking, not a psychological docu-drama. And, in fairness, the fight sequences did appear to be well choreographed, so there’s your silver lining. But, with more shoddy computer graphics and not so special effects from start to finish the film’s production quality drops from mediocre to glaringly bad. For the life of me I can’t figure out why Stallone let this crap fly after doing such an admirable job on previous projects. Maybe a rental later, but even that may be pushing it. The Expendables is rated R.


Aug 13 2010

Eat Pray Love

After a receiving a prophecy about her life in a meeting with a medicine man from Bali named Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto), Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) begins to question her marriage, personal happiness, and overall life direction. The end result is a decision to divorce her husband (Billy Crudup), then take a year to travel to Italy, India, and ultimately back to Bali in search of herself and balance for her soul. Along each leg of her tour, Liz is challenged and forced to make new unlikely connections, but how will she make out in her search for balance?
Based on the wildly popular book by the same title the film serves as an adaptation that manages to keep the core of the book in tact but in the same breath loses some of the book’s original charm and humor, but this is almost to be expected. From a production standpoint most of the film works, although the sound editing could have been a little better, a number of poorly recorded lines should have been addressed, but this is a mild complaint. And, from an acting standpoint, for the most part all of the leads did an admirable job, or at least a believable job. So, while there’s nothing that stands out as a glaring mis-step here, I can’t really say there’s anything that makes me jump up and down with excitement either. Hmmm, if only the film had more of a spice flavor and less of a cream of wheat flavor. Maybe a matinee but more likely a rental. Eat Pray Love is rated PG-13.