Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

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Plot: Scott (Michael Cera) becomes Ramona's (Mary Elizabeth Windstead) new boyfriend, but her old boyfriends have formed a club to keep her single --out of revenge. Scott needs to defeat each one of them as in a video game. The battles are like a Street Fighter game or a role playing game. Scott's old girl friends are in the story too:  Knives (Ellen Wong), Kim (Allison Pill), and Envy (Brie Larson) each contribute subplots. Scott and Kim are in a band, and two of the boyfriend battles are musical showdowns.

Review:  Scott Pilgrim is a winner because it's good time and it's clever. The plot is a simple romance between Scott and Ramona, and its gimmick is video game battles and rock-n-roll.

Like a musical or a Power Rangers episode, the live action scenes stop for surrealistic, video-game action sequences. There are also dream sequences and magic doors.

The action scenes are at least as interesting as in regular action movies, probably because the idea is so novel.

Director Edgar Wright keeps the action moving with quick video editing. The visual story telling works especially well, and is a major part of why this film works. There are split screens  and captions styled like comic books.

Micheal Cera plays Scott Pilgrim in a low-key fashion, like "look at the weird stuff that keeps happening to me." It might have been better if Scott were more dynamic, but it would have been a different film. Similarly Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Ramona as troubled, but she could have been more quirky and mysterious.

On a serious note, every new person we meet has to deal with baggage of all our previous experiences and relationships. The film can be interpreted that way. Each ex represents some facet of Ramona's life and how she moved past it; perhaps the graphic novel expands on this. The movie is more about fun than life-lessons though.

This movie is an instant classic. I want to see it again, even though I am not a gamer.

Cast: Micheal Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Directed by: Edgar Wright; based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Rating: 3.5 flasks; perhaps it deserves only a 3.0, but I did like it a lot.


More: The video game action will catch all the attention, but the fast moving video style, and the interaction with gamer culture will be the lasting impact of Scott Pilgrim.
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Julie and Julia

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Plot:

Julie and Julia is the story of struggling writer Julie Powell who starts a blog about her life. Julie (Amy Adams) is trying to get her life in order by blogging about cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In parallel, the movie tells the story of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) learning French cooking, teaching French cooking, writing the cookbook, and getting it published. The film contrasts Julie and Julia's husbands and romances.

Review: Julie and Julia is a fluffy sweet confection which is so positive & likeable that I have to recommend the movie. Amy Adams' character seems so sisterly and so girl-next-door so that I feel like I know her from somewhere. Meryl Streep's Julia Child is so lively and dynamic that even watching her chop onions is fun. The dialog by director Nora Ephron gives us a look into the character's lives that keeps the uneventful plot interesting.

I always like Stanley Tucci. Amy Adams should get an Oscar nomination. Meryl is fun, but there is some overacting.

Cast: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Chis Messina

Crew: directed & screenplay by Nora Ephron; based on the book Julia and Julie My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell; Julie's real life blog is here. Her Salon blog about the Julia/Julie project is here.

Rating: 3.0 flasks

More: Best feel-good movie of the Summer

Even more: An old demographic at the theater-- almost as old as Whatever Works

Valkyrie

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Plot Valkyrie is a war story about a coup against Hitler in 1944. It follows the conspirators making preparations, and shows the scheme unfolding and then collapsing. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) leads the coup and there are many other generals involved in the political plot twists. Stauffenberg's wife (Carice van Houten) and kids are in the story, but not enough. The movie focuses on setting up the conspiracy, and not on war-movie action.

Review: Valkyrie is a serious and suspenseful movie, and it is about a serious subject -- that it takes on with grim determination. The film would have been better with a deeper understanding of von Stauffenberg's motivation. It is not enough for Singer to invoke 20-20 hindsight; why were these people ready to sacrifice all they held dear? It is the style of war movies to feature tough guys with wooden delivery, but this great story was ruined by the weak script and stylized acting.

Cast and crew:
Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh; directed by Bryan Singer

Rating
2.0

More
Very suspenseful -- for a movie where you know the ending in advance.