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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Have you noticed how Michael Cera always seems to play the same character in most of his movies? I don’t want to pick on him specifically as almost all comedy actors just play themselves all the time, however there seems to be a certain theme among his movies that just makes me feel as though I’ve seen it before…

Credit goes to TheHighDefinite and Cracked for making this.

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Year One is the newest movie directed by Harold Ramis, who comedy lovers (and, hell, just about anyone) probably know as the director of Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Multiplicity, Bedazzled, Analyze That and under-watched character film, The Ice Harvest. Ramis isn’t too shabby at coming up with compelling comedy scripts either, with writing credits on Animal House, Stripes, and Analyze This, among other things.

Things that involve “busting” and ghosts for one. Yeah, Harold Ramis, AKA Egon Spengler wrote Year One with two of the creators of NBC’s The Office, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eiesenberg. This could be important to you, because these are the guys who are currently holed up in some Los Angeles room-without-windows pounding out the script that will hopefully see The Ghostbusters return to the big screen, pending Columbia and Sony’s approval of the script and signing of the check that will see the original four ‘Busters, channeling their much younger selves.

I went into Year One with hope that I might see some glimmers of genius that would make me feel better than I currently do at the prospect of a Ghostbusters III. After seeing Jack Black eat bear poop, Michael Cera pee on his face and Oliver Platt insist that being hairy and gay is somehow funny in its own right, I started making excuses. Excuses like: “Well, Ghostbusters hinges on plot and character while Year One doesn’t,” and “Maybe they’re just getting all their fart jokes out of their system,” even: “Maybe Harold Ramis was really against this scene, but they put it in anyway.”

I spent the last 20 minutes of Year One trying to figure out where the film lost me, but I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. If you’re getting pissed off at my allusions, I’ll simplify it for you: When you go to the beach or the pool, does your towel have a cartoon character on it? If so, go ahead and see Year One, it’s probably aimed right at you. If you were never alive at the same time as Kurt Cobain, bring your bros to the theater, get someone older to score you some booze and have a freakin’ blast.

On the flip side, if you’re a big fan of The Life Of Brian and History of the World: Part I, you’ve seen this premise before. If you like both of those movies and CAN’T STAND the Jack Black or the Michael Cera schtick, then this movie is going actively piss you off.

Jack Black plays Zed, who eats the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and is cast out of his tribe. Micheal Cera plays Oh, who is relegated to the sidekick role, and leaves the tribe because Jack Black burned his hut down. Whenever I refer to these characters again, I’m going to use the actor’s names, because the characters and plot don’t matter, and I felt like I was watching Jack Black and Michael Cera hang out rather than playing characters. This is going to be what alienates audiences from this movie, because Jack Black does his best Jack Black all the way through and Michael Cera does his best Michael Cera.

Which is fine, if you know that’s what you’re going to see.

I’m a fan of Michael Cera’s comedic timing, his mumbled punch lines and self-conscious sincerity still work for me. I don’t always get Jack Black’s near-Vaudevillian craziness, but on occasion it fits. The important thing is that I don’t actively avoid these actors. The poster for the film perfectly sums it up: Jack Black, Michael Cera as cavemen.

Good. By now you should know if this movie is aimed at you.

I know that there are multiple cameos and characters by Judd Apatow-friendly actors you probably like or trust, such as Paul Rudd, David Cross, and Bill Hader, but believe me it doesn’t matter. It’s like each actor was given a card with a single, broad joke written on it and told to improvise using that card in every scene. David Cross’ Cain is always a selfish asshole, Paul Rudd’s Abel exists only to get bludgeoned to death in a physical comedy piece and Bill Hader is virtually unrecognizable in black makeup. When Hank Azaria’s one-note, foreskin-obsessed Abraham returns for the climatic sequence, my head was in my hands when they didn’t give him a joke.

Year One could have been called The First Road Trip and might have benefited from some people who thought it was a Road Trip prequel and got suckered into buying a ticket. Ramis has said in multiple interviews that if you condense the timeline of the book of Genesis, it becomes a road trip film. Ramis said it, so I know that’s the structure he thinks he’s following, but when I walked out of the theater, I honestly felt like I had spent an hour-and-a-half watching HULU and Funny Or Die clips.

The unifying plot point is Jack Black’s feeling that he was chosen by God and must save his sister and the slave girl he’s in love with, both have been moved to Sodom, which was chosen over Gomorrah, because you can’t make as many ass-sex jokes over yonder. Otherwise, the movie seems to actively avoid having a linear plot, becoming a series of sketches.

For example, very early on in the film we TWICE cut away from a scene where Michael Cera should logically be dead. Under the tree of knowledge the obligatory snake appears, begins to constrict Michael Cera, then…we cut to the next scene.

Double-you, tee, eff, Ramis.

A few scenes later, a mountain lion is in a tree, spots Cera and LEAPS…

…we cut to the next scene.

All of this would be fine if there was something funny about it, and I have to blame the script because I know these comedic actors and if they got to improv something funny, they would. Take Gabriel Sunday, an actor I highly praised in his debut indie, My Suicide. Here, he’s given a retarded character to play, because it’s that kind of movie. He has one scene with Michael Cera, a scene where I was ready for some damn comedy, and it’s 95% fart noises. Then he asks Michael Cera: “You wanna hear a story?,” and I think: “Ah yes, dry and subtle humor, here we come.”

…we cut to the next scene.

There are a few jokes that actually made me laugh. Michael Cera has a very charming habit of muttering a punchline right as the scene ends. I’d say this might be a good example that there was – at one point – good things in the script, but then I noticed that the three Cera interjections I laughed at (example: “Yes We Can!”) were ADR work done when Cera’s mouth isn’t on screen.

Year One plays like a loosely-assembled group of outtakes from a really funny film that uses dry humor to discuss the origins of religion, why we should question the power that rules us and the role of sex in modern day society, but what we get are fart, poop and sodomy jokes. I want to see the missing film. When Jack Black delivers his climactic speech, I heard his words and they resonated, it’s just too bad they weren’t funny and didn’t really apply to anything that had happened in the previous 80 minutes.

Let’s hope that I’m not too far off and Year One ends up being all the rejected jokes for a new Ghostbusters script, because if it’s a sign that Harold Ramis has gone off the deep end, we might see Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman dealing with the terrors of elderly fecal incontinence, which he can’t control when excited.

And that would be shitty in so many ways beyond the obvious.

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A lot of movie studios are using the Super Bowl to debut new footage from movies we haven’t even got trailers for yet, and that is the case with Year One. The rather funny TV spot features Jack Black, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd and David Cross having a confrontation over hunting bulls.

When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Jack Black and Michael Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world in Columbia Pictures’ comedy “Year One.” Harold Ramis directs. The screenplay is by Harold Ramis & Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg (“The Office”) from a story by Harold Ramis. The film is produced by Judd Apatow, Harold Ramis, and Clayton Townsend. In theaters June 19, 2009,

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