Movie Reviews

Synopsis: Edgar Wright's exuberant adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's celebrated comic book series centers on unambitious indie rock dude Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) and his elaborate video game-informed battles against the seven evil exes of his new love, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

My Take: Let's stop talking about why Scott Pilgrim vs. the World "failed" at the box office and start talking about its unrivaled awesomeness (this summer at least) and creative success. First, this is the movie Edgar Wright was born to direct. O'Malley's clever story is only improved upon by Wright's unique visual style, hyper-paced storytelling, and gift for sly comedy and pop culture references. Second, this is the role Michael Cera was born to play. Scott is a slight and lazy milquetoast, but Cera brings a rush of energy, commitment and sensitivity to the role that makes you root for him all the way to the end, especially during the brain-melting fight scenes.

I've read complaints that the love story between Scott and Ramona isn't fleshed out enough and that it feels like nothing is really at stake during the fight scenes. That might be true on paper, but the romantic relationship on the screen feels real – it's casual, messy, floundering and ultimately refreshing. A lot of that has to do with the great performance (Winstead is believable and unforgettable as Ramona) and the movie's deft balance of video game and comic book fantasy with more traditional indie rom com tropes. And the fight scenes? At first, Scott's single motivation to fight is survival as he keeps getting jumped by a never-ending parade of douchebags. But he later finds a greater meaning in the battle, and it's not just to win Ramona's heart.

In his review of the film, Roger Ebert wondered whether Repo Men was intended to play as a dark comedy or as a straight action picture. I've never met the filmmakers, so I can only guess as to their intent. My prognosis? Sure, some of it is meant to come off as darkly comic, and it sometimes succeeds. Most of the first 20 minutes or so are devoted to slick and splashy scenes with Jude Law having a blast as he rips vital organs out of people's bodies. It's what he does for a living; he's an organ Repo Man for The Union, one of those giant, evil corporations that sci-fi flicks like this have taught us to hate and fear.

Those early repo scenes, with Law and Forrest Whitaker rock n' rolling their way from one bloody gruesome job to another, are a lot of fun. Whitaker, as usual, elevates the material with his smooth performance as a deputized serial killer. And Law doesn't fall too far behind with his own manic gesturing and gleefully malevolent grins. It's pretty hilarious. The picture gets that sense of fun back in spots later when it becomes an action-packed chase movie, but there's a bit in the middle that stops the movie in its tracks like a ... well ... like a heart attack. [Spoilers below ...]

Yikes! It's the weekend already? No one bothered to tell me. (At least that's the story I'm going with when my editor reminds me that I almost missed my deadline on this post!) So without further delay, let's talk about this week's SciFi Squad Movie Club pick, director Miguel Sapochnik's Repo Men.

I remember really anticipating the theatrical release of Repo Men back in March. Judging by the quirky and clever teaser posters and a brief description of the plot, I pegged the flick as a strange, dark and twisted sci-fi actioneer that would stand apart from all the mass-market fluff at the googolplex. Then the first trailer hit.

It wasn't a bad trailer. It made the film look like a fast and fun romp set in a slick future world where society's general morality had, as per usual, been flushed down the toilet. Jude Law and Forest Whitaker looked cool, and I liked the prospect of seeing them face off against each other.

Make no bones about it, Roger Corman's Deathsport is a terrible film (sporting the best DVD art ever!) -- but if you have a penchant for the B-King and post-apocalyptic hilarity, then look no further. Add to that David Carradine looking a little worse for wear, Richard Lynch spewing his signature one-liners, and Playboy Playmate Claudia Jennings -- and you have yourself an oddball, nomadic bonanza. The film rips off Corman's own Death Race 2000 as much as it does Star Wars -- only Deathsport trades Tie-fighters and X-Wing fighters for motorcycles.

The story (if you can call it that) takes place after the great Neutron Wars (not to be confused with the Neutron Dance ... ), where the world becomes a barbaric wasteland made up of mutant cannibals (complete with goofy eye goggles) and Range Guides. After that I couldn't tell you much, but there are guys in silver jumpsuits, solid gold gladiator helmets, and the ultimate face-off between Darth Lynch and Carradine Skywalker (did they spend three bucks on that head, or what?). We are never really told what the Deathsport is, but you can gather from the action that it involves revenge and dirt bikes. There's also the usual Corman explosions (several!), a terrible landscape/backdrop painting, swords that make sounds like light sabers, and naked dancing girls (in case you got bored and needed breasts to wake you up ... ) who shake their moneymaker while being electrocuted by Lord Zirpola (David McLean).

Deathsport is a fun, late-night movie experience, but definitely not Corman's finest hour. Despite its misfires, you still want to root for anything under the beloved director/producer's banner. Check this one out for nonsensical fun at its finest.

Hit the jump for a look at Battletruck ...

There's no denying that Allan Holzman's 1982 cheesy sci-fi flick Forbidden World isn't an entirely original idea, but fans of Roger Corman and low budget classics will still find a lot to love. The film is one of several Alien rip offs that populated the early 80's, and while Forbidden World's effects aren't top notch, Corman's efforts are pretty creative and Holzman's simple, less is more approach definitely works. A healthy dose of sleaze helps to propel the 77 minute movie forward, and the cast (consisting of several familiar faces) does a decent job at portraying a ragtag team of "experts" battling a mutant genetic nightmare.

Intergalactic pimp Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) is awakened from deep space sleep by his sidekick bot Sam, just as the duo is being rerouted to the planet Xarbia. There, on a remote space station, Colby uncovers an illegal genetic research experiment gone wrong. A group of scientists have created an unpredictable monstrosity known as Subject 20. The mutant develops a taste for human flesh and it's up to Colby stop the creature before it destroys the planet and its inhabitants.

Exam, Directed by Stuart Hazeldine, 2009
Exam is only tangentially a sci-fi movie, and the reasons that is the case are subtle yet best left-unexplained given that much of Stuart Hazeldine's film succeeds based entirely on the enigma of the script. Eight sharply dressed job candidates are walked into a windowless room. They are told by the invigilator that they are being given eighty minutes to derive the correct answer to a question. What's the question? No one knows. That is for the candidates to figure out, but if in doing so they break a number of rules (they can't "spoil" their single sheet of paper, they cannot attempt to communicate with the guard or the unseen observers, they cannot leave the room), then they will be immediately ejected from the exam.

I have such an affection for movies that are set entirely within a single room that it's practically in my genes to like a movie as spatially confined as Exam, but Hazeldine's script is strong enough to attract even those who don't already love this niche. In fact, Hazeldine was nominated for the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer BAFTA earlier this year. He didn't win, but it's certainly a nice hat tip to how promising of a filmmaker he is. It's not easy to keep a 90-minute run time brisk when your players spend the entire time talking in a single room, but Hazeldine keeps things interesting with a mixture of strong characters and properly measured discoveries. I'm a little disappointed that things don't go out with a bigger bang, but the mystery is fascinating even if the payoff isn't as mindblowing as one may expect.

A giant fire-breathing turtle and an oversized lizard with freeze-spray powers battle it out in Japan. Gamera vs. Barugon is the second entry in Daiei Studios' creature flicks, and features bigger and badder visuals, along with another thing missing from a lot of the early monster movies -- color.



Admittedly, neither had I until Shout Factory! remastered a special edition of the film, which hit stores on July 6. I grew up watching my mom be obsessed with these films, but the low quality images just didn't appeal to my young peepers.



Yeah, seriously. But Shout's! all-new HD anamorphic widescreen transfer makes Gamera vs. Barugon a lot more fun to watch.

More monster mayhem after the jump!

[Written by Todd Gilchrist]

As this summer season has repeatedly proven, some movies produce odd, unexpected, and often deeply polarizing reviews. But while it's certainly the onus of any critic to protect his or her integrity and defend that reaction, there are some of these movies whose reviews I'd argue are really just kind of wrong, while others, no matter how extreme or opposite, are probably all equally right. And Scott Pilgrim vs. The World decidedly falls into the latter category.

Although the film is a glorious celebration of video games, a sweet little twentysomething romance, and at its most intimate, a subtle and smart coming of age story, Edgar Wright's adaptation of the beloved graphic novel series of the same name is going to generate as many pans as it does praise, primarily because some viewers may feel it cuts out a deeper emotional connection in the service of rendering some of the most razor-sharp pop-cultural specificity in recent memory. But even though I can't help but pre-emptively understand if some of my colleagues argue that it's too generationally narrow or even attention-deficient to leave a lasting impression, I really, really liked Scott Pilgrim, and think that it's one of the most technically astounding and yet personally resonant movies of the year.

Read the rest of this review at Cinematical.

The Book of Eli, directed by the Hughes Brothers, 2010

I'm torn on the Book of Eli. I really admire it as a piece of post-apocalyptic cinema for its scope and production design, but as a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction it kind of makes me want to tear my hair out. It's not the ultimate end point of the story, either, it's the crux of the story; the titular book. What it is, the rarity of it, is more inexplicable to me than anything else in the story. I'm not a stickler for realism in my post-apoc stories - it's the freaking apocalypse, after all - but it just bugs me that the lore of his journey and how special he is is so...lazy.

It's intentionally obtuse to give the appearance of a twist, and there are plenty of audience members who are wow'ed by that, but it's just disappointing to see that there's so little energy put toward defining Eli, why he's special and why what he's carrying is special, until the end. It hardly ruins the movie for me, but it's what roadblocks it from becoming a great piece of sci-fi. I'll still settle for merely good, but it's just frustrating how a few alterations could have really changed things.

The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky, 2006.

Of All the Aronofsky films, The Fountain stands out as my clear favorite. A brilliant film weaving together three stories spanning three different eras, The Fountain focuses on the themes of life, death, rebirth and....Mayan mythology. Not surprisingly, this reminds me of when my friend tried to sell the book Snow Crash on me by saying it has "pizza delivery and Sumerian mythology." But I digress. When I first saw the film, I knew almost nothing of it, other than it was by "the guy who did Requiem for a Dream." I walked out of the theater in utter awe. I revisit The Fountain every so often, and with each subsequent viewing it becomes even more beautiful.

One of the most fascinating things about the film are the visuals. Watching the film you get the feeling that it includes millions of dollars of CGI, when in fact all of the visual effects were completed for around $140,000. Beyond this the visuals were enhanced by the sweeping and epic score of Clint Mansell, whose primary theme for Requiem for a Dream has become the de facto song used in most trailers. Sadly, the film didn't even recoup half of its $35 million budget, once again proving that incredibly awesome and intelligent films totally get the shaft in theaters.