Chris Evans Posts

REVIEW: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the WorldSo I was at the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World panel at Comic-Con and Edgar Wright was moderating his own film with twelve members of the cast along with the creator of story, Bryan Lee O’Malley. The panel was hilarious and they gave out these little buttons to the crowd. At the end of the panel, Edgar Wright asked if we would like it if he screened the movie to fans tonight (after he asked us if we liked chocolate). Obviously, the crowd went crazy, but only people who got white buttons could see the screening tonight. I had a white button :) .


The movie was AMAZING. It’s a fresh and different feel of film for a unique and wacky story. If you like any alternative culture like comics, video games, or rock music…you’ll love this movie. It combines all three together to make a movie that you’ve been wanting to make with your childhood friends forever. The movie where you would say, “wouldn’t it be cool if when you punched something it would show the sounds in words like in a comic,” or “when people got into a fight it would like it was a Tekken match,” or even “when i played my bass, you could see the music waves.” Well this movie has all of that fun stuff and more!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim dealing with one of Ramona Flowers's exs


The story follows a 22 year-old guy living in Toronto with his gay roommate. This guy has a dream about a girl and then suddenly sees his dream girl in real life. There’s one problem however…well seven problems. In order to date her, he must fight her seven evil exs. What!? Yup, that’s the storyline…and it’s AWESOME. The movie moves so fast cutting from scene to scene that you kind of feel whiplashed and that you should be confused…but it does this so well and so funny that you’re going along with it and getting all the back-story you need to understand what’s going on in the movie in record speed. When other movies would bore you with the particulars and mundane scenes like calling a girl on the phone, Scott Pilgrim mixes in outrageous humor and non-stop scene shifting to move you through the story. It’s shot as if it were a video game itself, so as Scott progresses through the exs, we’re all progressing through the levels of the movie with him…it’s brilliant!
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

The Seven Evil Exs


I mentioned the comic book pizazz, video game fights, and banging music right? The way this movie is shot makes you feel like you’re in the graphic novel without being a cheesy gimmick like we’re used to seeing. It actually creates its own medium which just hasn’t been done like this before. The fight and action scenes are spot on with great visual effects and jaw-breaking stunts. You won’t believe your eyes when you see Michael Cera do some of the things he does. Each of the 7 exs have their own fighting styles as well so you’re not bored with the same repeated fighting style. It moves from mythical bollywood, to skateboarding, to music battles, weapons (like a big ass hammer and glowing swords), and straight hand to hand combat…a little bit of everything to please your violent side.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Michael Cera kicking ass and taking names with a special sword


The style of writing and lingo used in the script is spot on. Anyone from middle school age to late thirties is going to be cracking up and repeating the lines for months to come. You’ll hear things like “hasbian”, “earholes”, and phrases like “you kicked my heart’s ass”, and “I lesbian you”, and stuff. The writing is just half the credit. All the actors were great in each of their roles. They not only delivered their lines but delivered on their personas. The movie is very quirky and needed quirky actors to do it justice and do it right.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim with some of his friends


My favorite element of the film is the sound effects. They really set each scene with the music and/or sound effects that were used. You’ll hear sound effects from video games like Tekken, Sonic, and Final Fantasy as well as a segment with the Seinfeld theme and backtrack (you know when you hear the audience laughing and clapping). There are a few running gags thrown in to make you laugh even more as well as some great cameos! This movie really does have it all and I hope you go see it because more movies like this should be made and only you purchasing a ticket will get that done!


(We’ll have more advance screenings posted closer to the film’s release date which is August 13th…you can find the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World advance screening list here!)

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REVIEW: The Losers

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

The LosersIt seems like we’re in a comic book craze that never ends. The latest addition to this category is The Losers, a comic by Andy Diggle and Jock. It’s about a group of ex military types who are burned by their handler, Max who has influence over the CIA, US government, and other organizations. The team consists of Clay (Jeffery Dean Morgan) who is the leader of the bunch, Roque (Idris Elba) who’s second in command and looks out for himself, Jensen (Chris Evans) – the hacker techie guy and communications expert who can’t stop communicating aka talking his mouth off, Pooch (Columbus Short) who handles pretty much all of the transportation, and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) who’s the sharp shooter/sniper.


The Losers is your classic revenge story and it’s very predictable so you probably already know how it ends. Trust me, you do. It’s your typical action comedy so you’re going to be entertained and have a few good laughs…but it’s not up to the level that we’re used to seeing these days. It doesn’t add anything you get from other comic book movies or action/comedy films except, of course, for the gorgeous Zoe Saldana. I don’t understand how she got more beautiful from scene to scene, but somehow she did…her outfits, poses, and just about everything were stunning. More on her later…


Even though the whole movie is supposed to chock full of laughs, the only scenes that I noticed myself laughing at were scenes with Chris Evans in them. Chris’ character is the eccentric one out of the group with random comedic remarks and pop culture references. He fit this role perfectly.


The Losers


The other actors played their parts really well too, but Chris stood out. Jeffery Dean Morgan and Idris Elba were both what you would expect from military guys…hard attitudes and not much emotion. Columbus Short was kind of funny at times but under the shadow of Chris Evans. In many of his films, Short seems to be “that other guy” which sucks because he’s pretty talented…can’t wait to see him in a role where he can stand out himself. Oscar’s character is the silent type which is coincidently what Oscar is like in real life, so that worked out for him…but for the film, he was just an extra character on the team. Jason Patric played the movie’s villain, Max, who is your crazy “I can do anything I feel like” bad guy. The way he portrayed Max was annoying at first but then you just accepted the quirkiness for what it was because hey, Max can kill you if he felt like it.


The movie had its fair share of slow scenes which dragged the movie along but then the movie would pick up and you’re back in the action. The Losers has many unbelievable scenes, both good and bad. Some scenes were unbelievably cool, hot, and awesome while other scenes were just unbelievable. There are a few parts with guns, grenades, and other fun stuff in pure daylight and you wonder how nobody sees or hears anything or how they get away with some things…but hey, it’s a movie…based on a comic book so I guess you just have to go with it.


Zoe Saldana in The Losers


Did I mention Zoe Saldana is in this movie? She is a mystery character who comes into the picture after the incident in Bolivia. She bankrolls the guys and helps them back to the States where they can get their revenge (and hers) on Max. We’re seeing the beginnings of an amazing career from a new leading lady of Hollywood. From Drumline and Pirates to The Terminal and After Sex to Star Trek and Avatar to this, we’re going to be seeing a lot of Zoe and I’m not complaining one bit…I’ll watch her in any film especially if it has steamy scenes like this one. But don’t go in expecting too much, you see most of the good stuff in the trailers.


So, after all that, should you watch The Losers? Only if you were planning on it or you’re a fan of the comic book or any of the stars in the movie. It’s a fun movie but nothing out of the ordinary.

WonderCon: The Warner Brothers Panel (The Losers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Splice, and Inception)

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Warner Bros didn’t tell anybody who or what they were talking about at WonderCon until their panel started. They let us know that we’d get to hear about The Losers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and a little known movie called Splice. For the first 2 films, many of the cast showed up to answer questions and for Splice and a surprise at the end, Inception, the directors came out to talk about the projects. Warner Brothers also gave everybody in the audience a swag bag which contained a Losers bag, Nightmare on Elm Street shirt and key chain, Splice t-shirt, and Inception t shirt and top. Let’s get on to what I saw….



The LosersThe Losers
You may not know a lot about The Losers yet, but you will. The footage that they showed looked great and for me, Zoe Saldana sells the movie on her own. I guess for women, they have Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans. They showed us a fight scene between Aisha and Clay, Zoe and Jeffrey’s characters which have a love/hate, intimate/cautious relationship. The director, Sylvain White said that he believed it was a new benchmark in boy girl fight scenes and I agree with him. Not only was it action packed, it was hot and steamy. There are very funny scenes and great visuals to accompany them: think big guns and bad asses carrying them. Jeffrey Dean Morgan commented that it’s like a throwback to the Die Hards and Lethal Weapons…good comedic action.


I hope the back and forth dialogue during the panel gives a glimpse of what to expect from the movie because it was awesome. The group of actors they pooled together seemed to have great chemistry. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the leader, taking charge. Zoe was the badass hot chick and commented He (Jeffrey) wears a suit; I don’t wear much of anything. When asked how she felt about being the only female in the main cast she said that she feels very comfortable around men. Chris Evans is the Hacker/IT Guy with a high IQ and he’s surely solidifying his spot in the comic book era of movies. Columbus is the heart of the group and kept referring to his character as the black MacGyver. Oscar is cougar who is the silent quit guy who is just like him in real life. Columbus said his new nickname was Juanny Depp. Sylvain said they were a crazy group of kids and fun to film and it really looks like it – from the panel and the footage they showed.



The Losers attack on April 23, 2010.




A Nightmare on Elm StreetA Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street may be the first actually scary movie in quite some time. It’s obviously a remake of the classic horror film which sequels have fallen to the wayside. However, the remake is said to be more dark and serious like the first film. The biggest story in this film is that Jackie Earle Haley is replacing Robert England as the iconic Freddy Krueger. Jackie said that he tried not to incorporate the last Freddy but tried to find a way to play the character where there’s still something familiar for the fans but where he was also able to call it his own. He tried to get into the mind of Freddy Krueger by studying serial killers and realized he was beginning to watch slasher films. He had to stop because Freddy isn’t a serial killer he’s a boogie man…so that’s what you’re going to see in the film. Thomas Dekker, who plays Jesse in the movie, said that remakes and reboots are a tricky subject but Jackie replied that with the visual effects and technology of today, they can show us things that we haven’t seen yet.



A Nightmare on Elm Street dreams come true on April 30 2010.




SpliceSplice
You probably haven’t heard of this film but if you’re into sci-fi…especially genetics, you will. Splice is about two scientists who decide to take genetics a step further and mix together human DNA with animal DNA to create a new organism. It’s a creature film with social commentary which will go into touchy subjects we haven’t been exposed to yet. The scientists get too attached to the science and once the creature becomes its own…things begin go terribly terribly wrong. It stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley as the scientists and the story begins with them in the lab. They escape with the create to a home where they take it as their own child acting as parental figures until the creature, dren (nerd backwards), escapes. The film was made completely independent and took about twelve years. Vincenzo Natali, the writer and director, started writing the film back when Dolly was cloned and then began filming with they made the embryo in the UK so science has been catching up and evolving with the films vision which is kind of scary.



Splice busts out the lab on June 4, 2010.




InceptionInception
To everybody’s surprise, Christopher Nolan showed up to present his next film: Inception. Not a lot is known about this film but he presented us with an extended trailer which gave us more hints to the plot. From what we saw and what Nolan said, Inception is a heist film where a group of individuals who can construct dreams access the subconscious and extract documents and sensitive information from people. It looks like an amazing and epic film…it’s sure to be this summer’s biggest blockbuster in my opinion. Even though the film was described to be more personal, it was filmed in seven countries and takes us on a journey both physical and mental. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and it looks like he will be training Ellen Page to join the company which infiltrates your dream. Look out for this film!



Inception comes out on July 16, 2010.

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