Scott’s Noisy Adventures

For a movie that is somewhat hard to describe – I shall keep my review of this one brief. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the movie adaptation of a graphic novel, and a popular game as well. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a reasonably average Toronto dude, whose claim to fame is being bass guitarist for the band Sex bom-omb (!) and whose concurrent claim to infamy is dating Chinese high-school student Knives Chau. The romance gets interrupted by the entry of one Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), with whom Scott falls head-over-heels in love. Not so fast – Ramona has seven evil exes (ex-dates) in her life – and through a series of adventures, some verging on the sensible but others downright garish, but all superhuman, Scott takes on Indian dudes, vegan obsessives, popular movie stars, two Japanese brothers – and a woman – in his bid to win over Ramona. The final challenge however proves the most daunting – do all the elements of Scott’s life – the elusive record deal, the prospective girlfriend and the spurned one – come together? Watch this one for the “game” experience – but as far as graphic novel adaptations go, I found this movie a sensory overload rather than thought-provoking or nuanced
11.5/20

Not Eclipsed Yet

Like vampires, this series refuses to die. In The Twilight Saga – Eclipse, Bella Swan (Kristin Stewart) has figured that she does want to be a vampire – after graduation of course – to be together evermore with her one (of two true loves) – Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). This is taken none too kindly by Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who makes no secret of his love, and his intentions of thwarting the above alliance. In the meantime, rogue newborns (new vampires) run amok in Seattle, and it takes the full power and might of a token skirmish to bring law and order back to the world. I have been informed that there is a fourth installment on its way, and have promised myself to avoid it under all circumstances. But this is the issue with sequels – they are so smartly spaced out, that you sometimes forget how pathetic the previous edition was..

7/20

The Times they are a Changing

Somehow Dylan’s timeless lines come to mind. America is changing, the Age of Superheroes is giving way to the Age of Introspection and turbulence. And the movies are following suit. Motivational guru and executor of retrenchment mandates, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) criss-crosses America in a life wherein emotional detachment is part and parcel of what he needs to be, But how detached is he? Up in The Air is about Ryan making the connection with what he believes to be a kindred perpetually airborne soul, and then losing it. It is about a man, bereft of family and emotion, his only definable goal in life being the accumulation of 10 million frequent flyer miles, landing in bland landscapes, spreading the chill wind even as he ostensibly helps people find meaning in their new state of catastrophe. Most of all, it is about the relationship between Ryan and Natalie (Anna Kendrick), a newly recruited hotshot, who breaks in with new paradigms of operational efficiency in the art of firing people, but eventually finds her soul. This is a difficult movie to watch in parts, and I really wonder what kind of people labeled this in the comedy genre. This is a different Clooney, detached, reserved and vulnerable, as he changes with the ebb and flow of those whose lives he is tasked to change for the worse

16/20