Scott Pilgrim v The World

I'm not really sure where to start my review of Scott Pilgrim v The World. Commonly I start my reviews with either a plot synopsis or an anecdote about my evening at the cinema, but any plot synopsis for Scott Pilgrim seems so puerile when I think it out loud that I'm not sure I want to write it down (and I went to the cinema in Bracknell, so I have no anecdotes to tell). Here's an attempt at a plot synopsis: Scott Pilgrim is a bit of a nerdy guy who spots the girl of his dreams (literally) and is forced to battle her 7 evil exes in order to win her hand. Sounds pretty silly doesn't it?

It's not the kind of plot synopsis that would normally get me interested, but for two crucial points. Firstly, the film stars the fantastic Michael Cera as the lead. Secondly (and most crucial), it's directed by Edgar Wright. When Edgar Wright's on board you know that a film is going to go in a certain direction, you expect a script littered with geeky references and unconventionally directed with fast zooms, non-linear cuts and strange angles. It's the kind of directorial style that either grabs you or doesn't. When the film starts and the screen is filled with descriptions of Scott's flat and friends in caption format you either go with it or you don't. When a door bell rings and a massive RIIINNNGGG travels across the screen you either accept it or you don't. When we relentlessly cut between scene after scene of video-game-laden in jokes and midi music with a general disregard for standard linear structure you either go with it or you don't. I went with it, and I loved it.

The film is - in a similar way to Spaced - so unrealistic as to almost be set outside the normal world. Some examples then; Scott Pilgrim must battle against the '7 evil exes' of Romana Flowers if he is to be allowed to date her. Why? Don't know and don't care, don't ask such questions. No one ever asked why Bowser kidnapped the princess or why Mario has to jump on the heads of mushroom-like creatures to save her. When Scott defeats the first of the exes in one-on-one combat in the middle of one of his band's numerous punk renditions, he turns into a pile of coins and 'earns' 1000 points. Now if like me you grew up with Mario games and the like you'll probably find this hilarious, if not then you probably wont get it. Either way, set in the real world this film clearly isn't. Either way it also doesn't matter, Lord of the Rings is set in a fantasy world, so is the world of Scott Pilgrim. Be it a fantasy creation of the film's writers or one inside the deluded head of the main character, a fantasy it remains.

As enjoyable as I found the film with it's many references to video games culture, I have started to wonder if I perhaps only enjoyed it because of this. Is 'Scott Pilgrim' some kind of 'Sex and the City' for nerds, in that I only liked it because it's full of the nerdly equivalent of Gucci handbags and shopping for shoes - i.e. so crammed full of fanboy tropes that there's no time to sit back and spot the flaws. Only a day after seeing it I think it's too early to tell, and that a second viewing will help. I don't think I'm being bamboozled by the 8-bit music, Street Fighter style 'vs' battles and Scott's "leveling up" when he gets something, I'm fairly convinced that I'm enjoying a film about a genuinely endearing and charming character. However there are a few holes in the plot, such as there being no explanation whatsoever for Scott's sudden infatuation with Romana and very little of why she reciprocates (or in fact who she is at all - although she is more than just a prize for men to fight over as she gets to do some Tekken-esque martial arts herself).

Maybe I'm thinking about this too much. After all, the comic book visual style of the film is amazing and Edgar Wright certainly knows how to direct an action scene. Plus it's hugely funny, a moment where Scott stumbles into his flat causing his housemate to scream in vampiric agony "Turn off the light!" had me laughing for ages. Perhaps 'Scott Pilgrim v The World' is simply a brilliant video game geek fanboy genre movie, one that needs no further analysis. I think people will either enjoy the genre and get it or fail to see what the fuss is about and not. Personally I think it's great!

The A Team

I never really cared that much about TV as a kid. Friends of mine can sing the theme tunes to numerous CBBC cartoons and speak of memories of Grange Hill, Byker Grove, Gladiators and countless other standbys of being a child of the 1980s. Obviously I did watch some of these programs, but they were a passing fad for me, something that went in one ear and out of the other as a stop-gap between playing Lego or religiously learning the stations on the London Underground (I'm a geek, I know that already). The first television series I ever felt a real affinity to was the X Files, which wasn't released until I was 14. Looking back I have no real memory of the television shows that undoubtedly permeated my life as a child in the 1980s. As such, I find it difficult to look back upon television in this era with rose-tinted glasses.

The A Team is exactly one of the shows that I don't remember and probably never watched (and even if I had watched I probably wouldn't have cared about it) - and as such the existence of an A Team film holds no particular draw for me over and above the pantheon of other brain-rinsing macguffin-ridden action films. As far as I can tell it was a brainless baddie-of-the-week gunfest in which a band of ne'er-do-wells killed a bunch of faceless goons in the name of 'helping' someone. No one ever was seen getting shot, no one ever bled or got injured and the same old gags and plot devices were wheeled out every single week. Hannibal was the clever one, Face the ladies' man, Murdoch was crazy and BA was tough - and if I had a problem, if I could find them, maybe I could hire: THE A TEAM. 1980s Reaganist US foreign policy summed up in a television show, great.

Notwithstanding this, I shelled out my £5 (Orange Wednesday sadly) and sat through 110 minutes of explosions, muffled dialogue, terrible physics, improbable contraptions, telegraphed plots twists and cheesy one-liners. Yes it made no sense, of course Liam Neeson will have fired his agent as a result and obviously it was completely silly, but I found it all rather enjoyable - mainly because at no point did it ever feel like the people who made the film were expecting anyone to take it slightest bit seriously. As a result every action scene defies the laws of science, every bad guy is a 1 dimensional parody and Face's relationship with every woman on screen ensures a dramatic failure of the Bechdel Test - in short, this is an action film for kids.

Every so often it's nice to leave your brain at the ticket kiosk. If you're happy to do that then A-Team will probably be fairly enjoyable. The bloke sitting behind me who insisting on yelling out approval when a US fighter jet shot down a helicopter at the start certainly seemed to have checked his sanity in at the cinema entrance - the only valid excuse for ever behaving like that is being an American. Thankfully I was in the right kind of mood on Wednesday and so I enjoyed my cinema trip. Rest assured though that The A-Team will figure well outside the realms of film of the year come December.

The Shawshank Redemption - "I don't give a shit"

I thought about this scene last night while I was watching A Prophet. This is Red's final appearence in front of the parole panel at Shawshank prison. After appearing twice in front of the board after being in prison for 20 and then 30 years, and each time making a case for his own release, Red finally realises the futility of the life he led that sent him to prison and tells the board that he no longer cares.

This is an interesting moment in a great film. The mantra of the film is that 'hope can set you free', yet in an odd way it is Red's realisation that there is no hope for himself that brings him to be released from prison.

Anyway, I could listen to Morgan Freeman deliver monologues all day long, so enjoy!

Inception

After the months of hype, years of development and days of waiting to find another time to go to the cinema, I am mightily relieved to be able join the mass of bloggers who are united in the belief that Inception is a very good film. Just in case you've been living in a cave on Mars for the past few months, a plot synopsis: it is the near future and skilled technicians are able to enter the dreams of others, Leonardo DiCaprio is the best at this and is hired to plant an idea into the mind of a powerful businessman. Planting an idea (Inception) is thought to be impossible since the mark is always aware that the idea came from a character in a dream and not their own mind. DiCaprio says he can do it, and claims he has done it in the past, so assembles a crack team for the job.

This is a novel concept as far as I'm aware (I'm happy to be corrected) which opens up a pandora's box of possibilities for the special effects guys. Firstly, the majority of the film takes place in a variety of people's dreams. This means that virtually anything can happen at any time. Secondly, director Chris Nolan tells his story across several people dreams, many of which are buried in the dreams of another - which means that when things do happen, they are subject to entirely different rules to 'normal'. Nolan has come up with a whole set of rules which govern the laws of physics of dreams within dreams. So if a person is asleep and thrown around in one dream, then the world of the dreams they are having in that dream will shake and move around. And if a dream is happening inside another dream, time moves differently. Confused yet? Hopefully not, since the magic of the film is based around accepting these premises and the possibilities they reveal.

The plot involves the creation of 3 'levels' of dreams, in which the protagonists enter the dreams of their mark and generate further dreams within those dreams, each of which moves at a different rate and exists according to different rules. The theory is that by implanting an idea in the deepest of the dreams, the mark will fail to realise that the idea was not his own. Once you put this together it becomes clear why the consensus that ‘Inception’ is a film requiring that you pay attention, lest you lose track of your position in the worlds within worlds.

Cutting through the effects, the film is about the nature of reality and what anyone can be certain is 'real'. DiCaprio’s character wants to implant an idea of reality inside someone else's head, but while doing this he has to struggle with his own perception of reality and what is going on inside his own dreams. DiCaprio has a cryptic relationship with his wife and children, a relationship that has something to do with his work as a dream hacker in the past and means he can never return to the USA. His wife appears in his dreams and the dream of others while he inhabits them, her nature as either a figment of his subconcious, a phantom or an actual presence is a central mystery of the film. It’s a mystery which once revealed generates questions about the of all the film’s ‘realities’.

With the premise that it has, the viewer should expect to question film's presentation of reality at all times and perhaps be unsurprised when characters suddenly realise they are in dreams. The film's final scene is a beautiful moment; one which some may be frustrated by but one which no one can be surprised by given all that happens in the preceding 2 hours. A perfect ending that I will not spoil here.

The whole film has a tremendous soundtrack which is laced with pounding bass notes and booming noises. As we follow 4 concurrent dreams moving at different rates with different rules of physics the music builds up to a thrilling and adrenaline-busting pace. One scene in particular stands out, in which a fist fight takes place in a room where the direction of gravity is constantly shifting. The knowledge that this scene was filmed without the assistance of CGI makes it all the more impressive.

Inception really is arthouse-meets-blockbuster. The fact that a film as densely-layered and intense as this can succeed so strongly at the box office is testament to the fact that the film-going public are deserving of more respect than many (including myself) are often prepared to offer.

Inception is the kind of film that people are going to write essays and doctoral theses about. It's an intense and complex thriller in which the rules of physics have been re-written and the nature of reality is questioned at all times. It includes some amazing special effects, impressive performances (Cillian Murphy, Ellen Paige and Leonardo DiCaprio are all great) and a plot that we'll be discussing the meaning of for years to come. Inception is rightly destined to enter the pantheon of great science fiction films, I feel privileged that I was able to see it in the cinema while I had the chance.