Scott Pilgrim Vs The World-Alternative Ending

Sadly I think the DVD is being released after Xmas so none of us will be get it in our stockings. However if you can’t wait then here is one of the extras found on the DVD-an alternative ending!!-Enjoy x

This Is Spinal Tap!

Spinal Tap has been credited with incredible cult status; it is 48^th in Empire’s 500 films of all time and got 96% from Rotten Tomatoes, a worthy feat by any means. Despite this, ‘This is Spinal Tap’ elicited mixed emotions from me.

‘This is Spinal Tap’ is a mockumentry with advert director Marty DiBergi (real director Rob Reiner) following fictional British rock band Spinal Tap as they tour the United States in order to promote their new album ‘Smell the Glove’. The group was originally started by childhood friends David St Hubbins (Michael Mikean) and Nigel Tufuel (Christopher Guest). They were later joined by bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), keyboard player Viv Savage (David Ruff) and an unprecedented number of drummers who all seem to die between tours. The entire band were in fact actors putting on English accents and adlibbing most of the script.

The film gives great mocking insight into the world of failing stardom, which certainly speaks to our generation if magazines such as ‘Heat’ or ‘OK!’ are anything to go by. It also looks into the style of fly on the wall documentaries, which again we are now more than familiar and fascinated with. It is sad witnessing the gradual decline of this band’s reputation and with it their confidence in themselves; this is made even more obvious when compared with spliced in  ‘archive’ footage of their best bits. This footage shows how the band once had all they wanted, but have since become irrelevant, a fact they fail to realise this. The movie is excellent at showing the band’s world and their subtle dynamics; we see how they argue and reconcile only to argue again. Orbiting the drama are other caricatures of the celebrity world, from the bumbling manager trying to keep it all together, to the interfering girl friend that believes she should take control of everything (remind you of any particular band member’s girlfriend?). The band themselves also mock celebrity culture with their public strops, inane backstage requests and inflated egos; celebrities clearly haven’t changed much in the past 16 years.

All of the characters are larger than life in order to make a point, but it is here where the comedy side of the film falls down for me. The gags very much had the feel of other films like ‘Wayne’s World’ and ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’, where everything that is said and done comes from very left field. Maybe I am just not what this movie is aimed at so I missed a lot of the genius behind it, but the jokes only made me chuckle a few times and for ‘the funniest film ever’ that is not a great score. This is disappointing as the film has a lot going for it, but without the humour it is just a wacky show that couldn’t hold my interest. By the end I found I was just waiting for the final number and it all to be over.

2:2- a cult classic that, for me at least, did not live up to expectation.

An accurate parody of celebrity culture, but not a funny one

and that is where the film missed out.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

How To Make A Classic…Psycho-drama-The Taxi Driver Tangent

Martin Scorsese’s psycho thriller ‘Taxi Driver’ received four academy award nominations, including one for best movie, but why is a film about an unstable veteran turned taxi driver such a success? Why did it inspire John Hinckley, Jr to try and assassinate President Regan in 1981?  The answer lies at the feet of two men: Robert De Niro and his excellent character Travis Bickle, and Scorsese himself with his excellent directing.

Never before or since has there been a protagonist like De Niro’s Travis Bickle. After not being able to sleep at night  Bickle starts taking graveyard taxi shifts to cope with his insomnia. It is during his taxi work that Bickle shows us the darker side of human nature. From the extracts from his diary that he narrates we see Travis’ darker feelings as he points out what he calls ‘the scum of New York’;  prostitutes, murders and drug dealers, all of which disgust and frustrate him. His observations about these people are surprisingly perceptive for someone so unstable and illuminate what many of us choose to ignore around us. What is strange (and yet compelling) about Travis is that even though he despises the petty crime he does not interfere with it since he sees it as part of life. When a customer in the back of his taxi tells Travis he plans to shoot his wife and her lover Travis does nothing to stop him or help his wife, but instead simply drives away.  This disconnection is quite terrifying, but not nearly as terrifying as when Travis tries to help which always seems to end in violence and blood.  Through this creepy behaviour he does command respect and even manages to get interest from Cybill Shepherd’s Betsy who works for a senator and Jodie Foster’s Iris who is a 12-year-old hooker he wishes to save. All these aspects create a fascinating character that is impossible not to watch to see what he does or thinks of next.

Along with De Niro’s great character Scorsese also puts his own mark on this classic psycho-drama. He puts a great sound track in the film that conveys a huge volume of emotion in every scene. The chilling soundtrack was written by ‘Psycho’ composer Bernard Herrmann and was his last project before he died. Every time the terrifying signature song was played my blood went cold, and if you don’t believe me just take a listen the it down below. Scorsese, since he is a great director, tried to make all the characters as real as possible. This is no ‘Pretty Woman’; these prostitutes are young, scared and abused while being a taxi driver is not made to look like a glamorous profession. There is nothing attractive about the fact that Travis must wipe vomit and semen off the back seat of his cab every night. By including this realism the audience are hit a lot harder and given a better understanding of what Travis is seeing when he goes out to work each night.

Overall the film expertly delves into the psychology and mind of its complex lead character. Both Scorsese and De Niro take the audience into Travis’ mind and don’t sugar coat the horrors we find in it. This journey is unforgettable and is what makes ‘Taxi Driver’ one of the best psycho-dramas ever made.

How To Make A Classic…Cult Hit- The Rocky Horror Phenomenon

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, like most cult films, didn’t make a lot of money when first released in 1975 and it isn’t hard to see why. Although the songs are catchy they don’t really make a lot of sense, the characters and the plot are even wackier and the controversy Tim Curry would have caused must have been astronomical. None of these elements spell out box office success, but they are the reason that the film has its cult following today.

The film is parodying many sci-fi and B horror movies and in doing so it goes beyond anything we usually see. Each character in Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle is larger than life and wouldn’t look out of place at a Lady Gaga concert. The plot is even crazier with Dr Frank-N-Furter trying to create a living, breathing sex toy called Rocky. These bizarre aspects might not have gone down very well with a 70s audience, but in the modern day this sort of experimental creativity is not just accepted, but also greatly followed by fans.

Tim Curry’s Dr Frank-N-Furter is easily the most bizarre and controversial aspect of the film. To me he might just seem like another Soho regular, but for others, especially audiences in the 1970s, he is like nothing like anything they have ever experienced. He represents the very styles and sexual appetites that were all tightly ignored in 70s America, but as our society has grown more liberal Dr Frank-N-Furter has become the embodiment of being true to yourself and your sexual identity. He has also become a fantastic Halloween costume.

The final part of the film that makes Rocky Horror a cult hit is, obviously, the music. Very few musicals can make as little sense as this one, but by having memorable songs such as ‘Sweet Transvestite’, ‘Touch-a, Touch-a Touch Me’ and of course ‘Time Warp’ (if you haven’t heard this classic there is a treat for you at the bottom of this article), the film manages to get away with it. The songs work for the audience because their adult content make them different; instead of singing about love and loss the cast sing about sex and lust. These saucy undertones work in favour of the songs and make them stick in the audiences mind.

Like many films with the cult brand Rocky was made at the wrong time. Now it has its deserved following and success with many special screenings going on around the world at any one time. But it is interesting to question whether the film got its cult status from being made in the wrong decade and being underappreciated. Would it have done so well if it was made in 2010? I would like to think yes, but I’m not too sure.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Scott Pilgrim is certainly aimed at a very specific niche, which would explain its US box office flop, only making $30 million back on its $60 million budget. The source material was written for slackers about slackers, not geeks or teenagers, but slackers, which isolates a lot of the movie going public. With all this in mind I still highly recommend everyone to go and see it, even if the genre is not inside your comfort zone, as it is a truly amazing film.

The movie (so the avid fans say) sticks close to the original comics, ok ‘graphic novels’, by Bryan Lee O’Malley.  In these novels Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), the base guitarist for the unsigned band ‘Sex Bob-omb’, falls head over heels for the enigmatic Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). However to be with her Scott must first defeat her seven evil exes who all want to kick the crap out of him. It’s the relationship between Scott and Ramona that is the core of the film and the different dynamics in it are what make this film score high points. Between all the great visuals, dialogue and music (which I will get onto in a second) the film looks at real, relatable issues, if in a surreal setting. With Scott we see all the usual insecurity each of us feels when we start dating a new person: awkward, obsessed, nervous, cocky, doubtful. Scott goes through all these stages and we go through them with him. And with Ramona we witness what it is like running away from your past, but never fully escaping and having it come back to hurt those around you instead. Winstead does a great job making Ramona seem both strong and fragile at the same time, apologetic for her past, but not regretful.

A film with this many layers might be a surprise for a comic (sorry graphic novel) based movie, but it certainly isn’t for an Edgar Wright film. Both his previous movies, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘Shaun Of The Dead’, had many layers of heart beneath the comedy. However Wright has certainly pulled away from his old British team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in order to have an all American and Canadian cast. It also has a far larger budget that is put to good use. The entire film is a fusion of 80s video games and retro comics. The scenes shift and change as if you were reading a comic book, which can disorientate viewers at first, but trust me sticking around is worth it. The fights themselves are taken straight from video games such as ‘Street Fighter’, being both fast paced and intense, but lasting for the exact right amount of time. The timing of the film is absolutely perfect, with neither action nor dialogue going on for too long or becoming tired. The sound track is also as explosive as the fight scenes, even for one who is more comfortable with the top 40 than indie rock. Legendary alt-rock artist Beck wrote all of Sex Bob-omb’s songs while Canadian musicians Metric and Broken Social Scene penned the tracks for the other bands. The playlist is so good that a 2-CD soundtrack has been released and has got acclaimed reviews.

Even with all these great qualities, what truly makes ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs the World’ an exceptional film is the great cast and dialogue. Michael Cera is still playing the same slightly dorky character he has played in ‘Juno’ and ‘Super Bad’, but this time the character is also a douche. This grumpy, self-centred attitude that Scott often displays makes the character all the more real and believable and Michael Cera’s charm wins you over to rooting for him in every fight. As I’ve already mentioned Winstead is perfection, even under all the colourful wigs she had to wear. However, what most stands out is how rounded the supporting characters are. Each evil ex feels complete even though some only get a few seconds of screen time. Easily the two best exes were Chris Evan’s Lucas Lee and Brandon Routh’s Todd Ingman who each deliver hilarious performances. But the characters that rise above everyone else are Wallace (Kieran Culkin) and Knives Chau (Ellen Wong).  Wallace is Scott’s gay flatmate and is rare in the fact that he is not gay first and everything else second. Instead Wallace is witty, likable and insightful before being gay. Knives Chau on the other hand is the most lovable character you meet through the entire 112 minutes. Knives is the 17 year old school girl that Scott is dating when he meets Ramona and her bubbly, naïve, adoring attitude almost makes you want Scott to not bother with Ramona at all. Wong certainly provides the warm fuzzy feeling of the film. As for the script it is top notch with every character getting at least one funny line; except Shota Saito and Keita Saito who are twin actors from Japan and don’t speak any English. From one-liners, such as the ‘Hasbian’ insult, to topical jokes, such as the Vegan police, the script is both playful and insightful, lacking in neither imagination nor charm.

Ultimately Scott Pilgrim is a growing up story that has real heart and flare. Between the fights and the music is a clever, funny, moving story that deserves to gross higher than it has done in the States. However, even if it doesn’t do as well here as it should do, if you go see it and you like it you can feel good in the knowledge that you like a cool trendy film that will reach cult status in only a few years.

Degree: 1^st

A film that is not going to be to everyone’s taste, but is

still awesome. It has all the makings of a cult classic.