Joe Cornish is a name many of you probably aren’t familiar with…yet. But this guy is poised on the edge of breakout status, and my hope is that in a few years, he’ll be drawing the same admiration and acclaim as his contemporary and sometimes-writing partner, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World). The duo co-wrote the screenplay for Spielberg’s upcoming holiday release The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, and they have been working on a script for the lower-tier Marvel superhero Ant-Man for years now. Attack the Block marks Cornish’s feature directorial debut (he also wrote the movie), and with its kinetic pacing, solid character work, and genre-mashing sensibilities, the movie already seems destined to become a cult classic.

It opens in South London with a girl named Sam (Jodie Whittaker) getting mugged by a gang of teenage hoodlums, led by Moses (John Boyega). The mugging is interrupted when an alien smashes through a car roof nearby, and after the guys kill the creature and parade it back to their “block,” they soon realize the invasion isn’t limited to one creature – there are many more falling from the sky, and these are a lot bigger and meaner than the first one. Teaming up with Sam and a few potheads (one played by Edgar Wright staple Nick Frost), the gang must band together in order to survive both the invasion and the unstable antics of the perpetually pissed off psychotic local drug dealer Hi-Hatz.

Rarely have the genres of action, comedy, and science fiction combined to such rousing effect as in this movie. The script is blazingly quick-witted, tearing from chase scene to set piece with jokes peppered throughout and near-perfect comic timing. Every gag works, every action scene is both conceived and executed in terrific fashion, and the character moments are spectacular. Similar movies may feel predictable, but things actually matter here: characters you grow to love die thanks to the glow-in-the-dark fangs of the aliens, and since no one is off limits, it heightens the drama throughout. The montage sequences of the gang preparing for battle has Wright’s influence all over it, and the movie has a genuinely fun atmosphere even though these characters are enduring a horrifying situation.

Cornish used a cast comprised almost entirely of unknowns and they all work wonderfully together. They bounce their London slang off each other and practically finish each other’s sentences with a youthful exuberance and blustery bravado found in kids who think they’re gangsters, but are really just victims of a bad social situation. The colleague who got me into this screening (Drew McWeeny at HitFix – thanks Drew!) told me Cornish went through a four month casting search, and after he found everyone, he allowed the kids to essentially rewrite the dialogue into more natural language, mimicking the way they actually speak. That sensibility comes across brilliantly in the movie; the characters feel like real people instead of stock roles, and each one has his or her own defining characteristics. The accents may be a bit harsh at times, but there’s absolutely no reason to subtitle the movie if and when it gets U.S. distribution (as discussions have indicated since Attack the Block‘s SXSW Film Festival premiere).

Unfortunately, you read that correctly – this movie hits the UK on May 13th, 2011, but if you’re in the United States and you want to see it, you’re sadly out of luck. It’s shocking to me that distributors haven’t picked this up yet, because it’s a surefire cult classic that may not do gangbusters at the box office, but will make some serious cash in the home video market. I know I’ll be purchasing the Blu-ray and showing it to all of my friends; this is the type of movie that plays great to a crowd, and fans of science fiction, comedy, or even some of the old Amblin films will be in geek heaven.

Attack the Block is full of references to other films, but these aren’t nearly as obvious as the ones in Paul, another recent alien film with which Edgar Wright and Nick Frost were involved. Instead, this one relies more on the vibe than specific homages; there are touches of Gremlins, Alien, The Thing, and many more, but Attack always feels confident in its own skin, fine with sitting back and allowing the story to speak for itself. The language of the characters actually serves to strengthen this film’s own voice: catch phrases and exclamations like “allow it,” “truth!” and “believe!” give the movie a charm that no American remake (shudder) could hope to recapture.

Props must be given to first-time actor John Boyega who carries the film as Moses, the leader of the gang. He’s equally successful in the quietly intense moments as in the bombastic slow motion battle scenes, and I’m certain we haven’t seen the last of him on the big screen. Alex Esmail (who plays Pest) and Leeon Jones (who plays Jerome) also did some solid work, and Jodie Whittaker (Sam) did a great job as the emotional center of the movie. Nick Frost has a really small role, but he’s content with underplaying his part in order to let the young cast shine, so don’t expect much from him or you’ll surely be disappointed.

I can’t imagine having a more purely fun time in theaters this year, so expect Attack the Block to make it onto my Favorites of the Year list come December. If you ask me, there aren’t enough movies that feature swords and fireworks as ridiculous weapons, and this movie not only has both, but embraces them – they actually provide some of the coolest moments in the movie. Keep your eyes peeled for this one – it’s totally worth your while. Until next time…

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Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) has done the improbable: converted Bryan Lee O’Malley’s insightful, satirical, emotional, and award-winning series of six graphic novels into a film with a runtime of under two hours. That’s not the improbable part – it’s that, even having read all of the books, the film feels totally complete and still manages to capture the modern zeitgeist of the under-30 crowd with an ease I’ve never seen before. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a modern classic, an ode to the video game crowd and all of the self-centered slacker protagonists out there, presenting audiences with a visually astounding piece of cinema that may not make the most at the box office this weekend, but will surely be considered a cinematic milestone for years to come.

22-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is dating Knives Chau (Wong), a high school girl. He plays bass for Sex Bob-omb, his band named after enemies in the Mario video game series. But when Scott meets the literal girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Winstead), everything changes for him. After ditching Knives, Scott must defeat Ramona’s seven evil exes in order to continue dating her. Through a series of video-game influenced fights mixed with dialogue that completely gets the notions of love and relationships among modern 20-somethings, the film charges forward with breakneck speed and dazzling (yes, dazzling) visuals that are some of the most entertaining I’ve ever seen. This is a brutally inadequate plot summary, but I won’t take away from the film by detailing the plot any further.

The casting here is outstanding. I’ve said before that other movies have been “perfectly cast,” but this one tops every one in recent memory. Each actor absolutely disappears into his/her role: granted, not a tough task considering the casting director managed to miraculously find actors and actresses who both physically resemble their graphic novel counterpoints (to scary degrees, sometimes – Aubrey Plaza, I’m looking at you) and effortlessly assume aspects of their character’s personalities. Cera, the actor with whom I had the most concern before I saw the film, certainly used his stereotypical mumbling awkward shtick at times – but he also plowed through this film with such a convincingly physical performance that it should effectively shatter the popular notion that he plays the same character in every movie.

My favorite Cera moment comes in the first fight scene – a character challenges Scott in front of a huge crowd, and Scott instantly starts using martial arts. It’s implied that Scott doesn’t even know that he has these abilities, since everyone [including his sister Stacy (played by Anna Kendrick)] reacts in a shocked and confused manner when the fight breaks out. But then everyone just blindly accepts the fact that Scott can fight (very well, actually), and no one ever mentions it again. That’s the kind of movie this is: one in which the Universal logo appears in 8-bit form, characters occasionally break into song, conjure up dueling dragons, get hurled through walls only to jump back up again, and bad guys burst into thousands of coins while video game scores pop up on screen.

I think this is one of the most perfect film adaptations of all time. Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall were able to incorporate O’Malley’s original source material into the final film (sometimes word for word, as this awesome fan-created trailer shows), but – and here’s the important part – they weren’t afraid to divulge from the graphic novels. We hear cries from the internet on a daily basis demanding that writers and directors respect the source material for cinematic adaptations, and I understand that need to protect what’s special about the property; it’s the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. But no one wants to see a literal direct translation from comic (or novel, etc.) to film with no differences at all, do they? Even if you do, it’s impossible – the nature of the various mediums don’t allow for literal translations.

But sometimes filmmakers aim to try to recreate the source material anyway, even though it’s almost always detrimental to the movie. Ask Zack Snyder: Watchmen was a brilliant graphic novel, but didn’t reach its true potential as a film that could stand on its own because it was too concerned with not letting down ardent fans of the source material. Here, Wright and Bacall keep the absolute essence of the Scott Pilgrim tale and have no qualms adding or subtracting plot points when necessary to enhance the cinematic story. That’s what I mean by “perfect adaptation” – not a literal translation, but instead a complete and utter understanding of what made the original story great, coupled with skillful writing and the boldness to step out from the shadow of O’Malley’s creation and add their own elements.

Wright brings his signature brand of insanity behind the camera, and creates one of the most visually intriguing films I’ve ever seen. No other movie comes close to the look of this film. It plays like a comic book, transitioning crazily through panels and split screens, with anime-inspired highlights during dramatic moments and Wright’s patented whip pans and tilts serving as a perfect match for the style and humor of the film. I can’t imagine this movie directed by anyone else, and Wright has secured a spot on my favorite filmmakers list with this film (he’s three for three now, in my opinion). The editing is incredible (it should be nominated for an Academy Award, but probably won’t), and the pacing is unrelenting, at one point taking us through multiple places during the course of a single sentence.

Music has massive importance in this film, providing another bridge to connect to younger audiences. The fictional Sex Bob-omb’s music was performed by Beck, and Broken Social Scene doubled for an opposing group during Battle of the Bands sequences. But the best song of the film belongs to Metric, a real band subbing in for The Clash at Demonhead (Scott’s ex is the lead singer of this band in the movie). (Check out the entire soundtrack, now streaming on Spinner.com.) Not only is the band music important in order to convince us that we’re listening to a “real” band on screen, but the notion of music itself is a big part of the Scott Pilgrim universe. As the camera floats through clubs and parties, you’ll hear background characters talking about how a certain band’s “first album is so much better than their first album” or, after watching a band perform live, someone say “you should see them play live.” All of these little asides are O’Malley’s, Bacall’s, and Wright’s way of commenting on hipster culture – an interesting thing to point out, since most people seem to associate this film with hipsters and the movie clearly rails against the most annoying subset of them.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is an achievement on technical and stylistic levels, a personal movie that comfortably locks down its place as a modern classic for my generation and ensuring cult classic status as soon as the current hype wears off. I’d go as far as to say that future filmmakers will cite this film as inspiration much like the current generation cites the original Star Wars. This one’s a game changer, friends, and it’s a flawless victory. Until next time…

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Thanks to some sort of Facebook campaign-type-thing, the full trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is now available to watch online.

I wasn’t sure about Scott Pilgrim at first – probably because Michael Cera has been cast as the same type of character he’s always cast as. Luckily though, this trailer has given me some newfound excitement for the film, as it looks crazy in an awesome way. The light-hearted, self-referential approach looks to be reminiscent of Kick-Ass; which is of course a good thing.

The original manga-inspired comic’s insanity seems to have transferred well to the screen, and Edgar Wright seems like the right guy to handle all the ’80s-’90s videogame references and such (the lead character’s band is called Sex Bob-omb). Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were brilliant anyway, so hopefully that level of quality is held up here, despite it being a quite different type of film. Essentially though, if Scott Pilgrim can manage to maintain the trailer’s upbeat, exciting, action-packed craziness, without becoming boring, then this will definitely be another comic book adaptation to look out for.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hits cinemas on August 13th, and you can watch the trailer in even better HD at Facebook here.

P.S. In case you’re wondering – the song in the second half of the trailer is “Invaders Must Die” by The Prodigy. Yes, it is amazing.

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The director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead may have done it again. The first trailer for Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World made it’s way online today and it is, like the tagline suggests, an “epic of epic epicness.” In the film Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart. It’s like one of those Tekken-style video games, but as a movie.

As well as Cera Scott Pilgrim stars future Captain America Chris Evans, former Superman Brandon Routh, and recent Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick. Mark August in your calendars!

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After it was announced that Disney would be consuming Marvel for $4 billion just over a week ago Entertainment Weekly dropped a miniature bombshell by saying that “Pixar is said to already be eyeballing an Ant-Man movie.” Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright has been developing his Ant Man movie for a few years now, however it took the back seat while he worked on Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Could an animated Ant Man move forward now that Pixar and Marvel both suckle on the same teet? Edgar Wright gave his answer to CHUD:

“I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase. It’s been something that I have worked on for over five years on and off. There’s even a treatment I wrote that dates even further back than that.

It’s true that the character is not considered one of the Marvel brand leaders and that is precisely what excites me about it. I want to make a film inside the Marvel Universe that is something a little different; a genre film within the superhero genre so to speak.

The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar’s work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them. I’m not sure though that they would want to do a ‘shrinking’ film as a Pixar animation – since Toy Story and A Bug’s Life already cover this territory to some extent. Am guessing that someone just speculated on the ‘bug’ angle and tried to put two and two together.

My spin on Ant Man is very different than a straight superhero origin – and very much live action. At some point in this century, I intend to stop talking about it and make the damn thing.”

Pixar are great, Edgar Wright is a cool director and Ant Man is…well I don’t really know, I’m not really familiar with the character. But everyone involved seems cool and great so whether they decide to go down the Pixar route or continue down the live-action road I’m sure the movie will be interesting. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids has been hogging the shrinking genre for too long and it’s time it got a modern update.

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