![]() Those who know me well know that this is definitely one of my all-time favourite movies. I haven't actually watched it in a couple of years though, so when I set it up for this time around, I wondered if it would hold up for me. Thankfully, for yours truly, the answer is an enthusiastic "yes". But I will suggest that while I can highly recommend this one to the right people, it will not be for everyone. For those who are unfamiliar, Scott (Michael Cera) is a young man living in Toronto, Canada, with his cool, gay roommate, Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin). Scott dates a 17-year-old named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), and plays in a band called Sex Bob-Omb with friends Steven Stills (Mark Webber), Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) and Kim Pine (Alison Pill). Scott dates Knives largely for the simplicity of it all, but his friends and sister, Stacey (Anna Kendrick) can see that he's clearly stringing her along for his own convenience. One day, however, Scott meets the literal girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), which complicates things. Not only does he need to break it off with Knives in order to pursue something more real, but all of Scott's woman issues interfere with his band's success. But of course, that's not even the worst of it. In order for Scott to date Ramona, he must fight and defeat Ramona's seven "evil exes"; mystical hipster, Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), movie star Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), successful band member, Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), experimental-phase partner, Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman), the incredible Katayanagi Twins (Keita Saitou and Shôta Saitô) and club owner, and Scott's biggest threat, Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman). His journey is generally about needing to be better than everyone before him in order to win Ramona's heart. However, things are also personal, as a lot of it is about Scott overcoming his own insecurities as well. The story here is simple enough, but there is a lot about the way it's done that may be confusing to some. For example, Ramona talking about the subspace highway that runs through Scott's head... I mean, are you lost yet? But the key thing to note about this movie is its overall style. This (as well as the graphic novels it's based on) is stylized as though someone took comic book superheroes, 80s video games and anime, and threw it all into a blender. And the style of this movie is one of the biggest selling points in my opinion. This is something that has been referred to as one of the best video game movies of all time, but it's not based on a video game at all (although, there is a great 'Double Dragon'-style beat 'em up game out there). But the film is loaded with all sorts of old school video game sound effects one may recognize (especially in my age range), has a lot of comic-like aspects to it, like text that runs across the screen, and a lot of the fight scenes are quite anime-like. It goes to unrealistic extremes on purpose, and things get super fun. On top of everything, at this point I see this one as a bit of a time capsule. Released in 2010, I was 27, going on 28, so felt like I was still somewhat in the appropriate age group (everyone in the movie is in their 20s, except Knives) for its target audience. I also live very close to Toronto, so there's a certain sense of Canadian pride I have about that part. Wright pulled no punches, either - the whole thing is filmed in town, AND includes landmarks that are in the comics. I will admit that I wonder how well this will hold up for other fans who haven't seen it in quite some time. It was awesome for the time, but sadly outdone that weekend by 'Eat, Pray, Love', and 'The Expendables', which both cover a lot of ground for their respective target audiences. However, being a fan of the graphic novels (recommended to me by an estranged friend who I will nevertheless thank here), I saw it three times in theaters, and still consider it one of the best done adaptations of anything out there. People are bound to disagree, but this is one I hold close to my heart, and highly recommend to anyone with an open mind.
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![]() Wrapping up the Cornetto Trilogy, and representing mint chip is Edgar Wright's sci-fi flick, 'The World's End' (by the way, I forgot to mention 'Hot Fuzz' representing vanilla). When I first checked this out, I considered it Wright's weakest work, even though I still really enjoyed it. However, it has grown on me significantly over the years as perhaps the most relatable of all three movies. The film starts out describing a pub crawl that took place in lead character Gary King's (Simon Pegg) youth. He and his four companions, Andy Knightley (Nick Frost), Steven Prince (Paddy Considine) Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman), and Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) attempt the "Golden Mile" after the last day of high school - 12 pubs, 12 pints, and the sun rising on one of the greatest nights ever... that was incomplete, as they missed several pubs. Years later, Gary wants to recreate that night, so gathers all of his old friends who have since moved on with their lives - Andy even having had fallen out with Gary quite significantly. Long story short, they do all agree to head back into their old town to try that Golden Mile again. But upon reaching town, it seems that things have changed quite a bit. Before they know it, the group finds itself in the midst of what seems to be a robot (but maybe don't use that word) invasion, and things go bizarrely off the wall. But, if you do pay close attention and follow along, there's something deeper to this movie than meets the eye. On a personal level, it's easy for me to relate to Gary in that he really wants to recreate an awesome night he once lived in his past. I have tried that a few times with trips, parties, etc. But the important takeaway from this is that the lightning in a bottle that you caught on those particular awesome nights will never really be recaptured the way you remember. The simple reason is that the first time you do something cool is often the best experience you have with it because it's something new. The really important thing is that the friends you make along the way are still around, hopefully to one day be there to dethrone that awesome night you're trying to recreate with something even better. This is also one of Wright's best films for his various formulas. For one, he puts a lot of imagination behind his work, and this is probably his most imaginative film on his resume. It's an interesting combination of "what the hell did I just see?" and "actually that makes a lot of sense". But I would beg any viewer to throw any sense of reality out the window, because some things about this make no damn sense. The biggest one being Gary NEEDING to finish a pint for each pub, which leads to things like him drinking while fighting - although it's actually pretty funny. This film reminds me a lot of my friends an I and our nights out together in our youth. We weren't exactly pub crawlers, but we really enjoyed the pool hall, and would tend to grab a couple of brews while there - this is just out of high school and barely drinking age (19 up here in Canada, baby!) But it also does a good job at making me take a look at myself, and that's one of the reasons I love Wright's work - it'll do that. No matter what movie he's made, I'm willing to bet if one went through them all, they'd find something/someone to relate to. Anyway, this completes Wright's famous Cornetto trilogy, which remains my all-time fave trilogy (yes, even above the original 'Star Wars'). There is something about Wright that speaks to me, and probably always will. He's loaded with imaginative ideas, plays to his audience while getting positive critical reviews, never sells out (he dropped out of directing 'Ant-Man', a freakin' Marvel movie, due to creative differences - though he still gets writing credit), and he stays far away from anything typical. if you wanna see Wright at his most bizarre, definitely check this one out! ![]() The truth of the matter is, when it comes to the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, I'm not entirely sure which would be the one I'd deem to be my favourite of the bunch. However, I would probably argue that 'Hot Fuzz' is the overall best-done. 'Shaun of the Dead' does still play on fairly typical zombie horror elements, 'The World's End' takes a particular appreciation for Wright's imagination, but this - this is just all sorts of brilliance in its execution. What I love about it is that it seems to cover all grounds of action movies, while on the surface basically being a farce on police action movies. But really, you get the buddy cop movie, you get the creepy murder mystery, you get the Brit-com ensemble of colourful characters at the precinct, and you get the over-the top Michael Bay-like action flick. The film centers on Police Constable Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg); a highly skilled, high-ranking officer in the London PD. He is promoted to Sergeant, but due to him making everyone else look bad, he is reassigned to the small village of Sandford, Gloucestershire. Here, he meets his team of laugh-inducing fellow "policeman officers"; his new supervisor, Inspector Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), his new partner and Frank's son, PC Danny (Nick Frost), the "Andy's" (Paddy Considine and Rafe Spall), Sergeant Tony Fisher (Kevin Eldon), PC Doris Thatcher (Olivia Colman) PC Bob Walker (Karl Johnson), Sergeant Turner (Bill Bailey) and their K9 Dog, Saxon (Sampson). Sanford is largely considered "perfect", winning "Village of the Year" several years in a row. On the surface, things seem entirely peaceful, but there's definitely something off about some of the other villagers. While Angel can't seem to "switch off", and slowly starts noticing sinister things unfold, the rest of the police force is relatively ignorant, suggesting accidents happen. While the rest of the precinct are a little less apt to do their job, Angel tries his best to convince Frank that crimes are happening right under their noses. The film's three acts are relatively separate from each other in more ways than one. The first act probably has the most laughs, and acts very much as a buddy cop comedy with Angel playing the "fish out of water". The second act darkens the humour, and things take a more mysterious turn once Angel starts to really click in on something going wrong in town. The third, and probably best act, is the result of Danny showing Angel a couple of balls-to-the-wall action flicks; specifically 'Point Break' and 'Bad Boys II', so the film takes the humour to more of a farce on those hardcore action movies we love so much. It could be argued that this is a film that basically has everything. It even features a scattering of well-known British faces, such as Timothy Dalton as Simon Skinner, owner of the local supermarket, and Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy as Angel's superiors in London. I would have to say that as far as all of Edgar Wright's movies go, this is probably the one I'd recommend to anyone who wants to see what Edgar Wright's style is all about. He does a tremendous job as set-ups and call-backs through his movies, and this may be the best example of it. On top of that though, just take everything I mentioned about this movie before into consideration. It's arguably one of the most fun movies out there (at least in my humble opinion). ![]() With the release of Edgar Wright's latest film, 'Last Night in Soho', I thought this would be a good opportunity to focus on my all-time favourite director with a few re-writes. We kick things off with what put his name on the map in the first place, 'Shaun of the Dead'. Even at the time of its release, it developed a bit more of a cult following, and shockingly enough, I was actually iffy about checking it out. A part of me thought it looked kind of dumb, and I ended up passing on it. Eventually, I managed to rent it after its video release, and immediately fell in love with it. This is a film that I HAVE to show anyone who hasn't seen it yet, because it's just that awesome. It's one of Wright's films that does a good job of speaking to the masses as it's both a zombie survival movie (released in 2004, just a month after 'Dawn of the Dead'), and a "regular Joe" story. What some people still don't entirely realize is that Wright wasn't exactly going for a farce on zombie films with this. Generally speaking, if you see a zombie film, it's a lot of military, a lot of action, there's always some ex soldier etc. He just wanted to take a bunch of regular, everyday, people and depict how they might react in a zombie scenario. And of course, as British humour goes, it gets quite creative - especially in how it ends, but that's all I'm going to say about that. That dry British humour in an extreme situation always gets me, and I feel like this is where that appreciation all started for me. The film follows Shaun (Simon Pegg), who is in the middle of a breakup with his girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield). It's fairly typical - to keep it short, she wants more than he's offering. While Shaun is comforted through this by his best friend, Ed (Nick Frost), Liz confides in her flatmates, David and Dianne (Dylan Moran and Lucy Davis, respectively). The tough times are about to get even tougher though, as there is a zombie apocalypse unfolding in front of them, slowly but surely. I love the way it's handled here, as it's so eventual, and Shaun seems so oblivious to everything around him. Once Shaun and Ed realize what's going on, however, they spring into action in an attempt to rescue Liz, her flatmates, Shaun's Mom, Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and her husband, Philip (Bill Nighy). The rest of the film is pretty much all of them trying to survive the night, often resulting in some hilarity, but it does a good job of offering up some true horror and drama as well. For as much as this is a straight up comedy, it's true that it doesn't feel entirely farcical, as there are certain elements to it taken from other, more serious zombie movies. The fact that this is able to gauge different emotions is honestly impressive, since going into this, one would easily assume it's just plain goofy. 'Shaun of the Dead' is the first film in the "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy"; each film depicting comedy blended with a certain genre as well as a certain Cornetto flavour. For those unfamiliar, a Cornetto is essentially what a Drumstick (the ice cream kind) is in North America. This one is representative of red strawberry - the red depicting horror, or more specifically, zombie horror. At the time of its release it was a sort of stand-alone cult movie, but it has since picked up through word of mouth, and gained some popularity. To this day, it is my all-time favourite zombie movie, and it will be very difficult to dethrone. |
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