"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"
Ramona Flowers: "We all come with baggage."
Scott Pilgrim: "Yeah, well my baggage doesn't try to kill me every five minutes"
Stacey Pilgrim: "Next time, we don't date the girl with 11 evil ex-boyfriends."
Scott Pilgrim: (weakly) "Seven."
Stacey: "Oh, well that's not that bad."
Trailer Rating: 5 bites [out of 5]
What IS this movie? Based on the very popular comic series, I had a vague idea of what Scott Pilgrim vs. the World would look like, but none of that comes close to this bizarrely awesome first teaser. Scott Pilgrim, a slacker and musician wannabe (Michael Cera, the king of lovable geeks) meets the girl of his dreams, Romona Flowers (Live Free or Die Hard and Sky High cutie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead--nice to see her get a leading role). But, as it turns out, to win her heart, Scott must battle and defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends, battle-royale, video-game-crazy style. Yep, you read that right. It's a hilarious idea, and I love the bait-and-switch in this teaser (which, at first, looks like another hipster teen comedy), as well as the "wham! zonk! kapow!" old-school comic-book visual style. From genre-bending director, Edgar Wright (who made two of my favorite films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), this just looks like a lot of creative fun. The supporting cast is also peppered with actors I love (Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick, Jason Schwartzman, and the soon-to-be Captain America, Chris Evans, who looks to rock his role as the obnoxious ex/skateboarding star, Lucas Lee). On top of all that, this looks to give Michael Cera a great chance to riff on the dweeby persona that made him famous...before turning that completely on its head as he develops into a legitimate geek fighting badass. Can't wait to see more! (as soon as the full-length trailer comes out, I'll have it up here as well) Scott Pilgrim takes on the evil exes on August 13, 2010. ["Dinner for Schmucks" trailer and thoughts after the jump]
"Dinner for Schmucks"
Trailer Rating: 2 1/2 bites [out of 5]
Shouldn't this look a bit funnier? I've been looking forward to seeing footage from this for a while now, and, well, the end result didn't floor me the way I thought it would. The premise - a bunch of corporate stooges have a weekly contest to see who could bring the most ridiculous guest to dinner - should definitely get some laughs. And, boy, does thing thing also have an amazing comic cast. I'll see anything with Paul Rudd in it (I'm actually watching his turn as Koonu in Forgetting Sarah Marshall right now!), and when you add Steve Carell, Office Space's Ron Livingston, Star Trek's Bruce Greenwood, The Hangover breakout, Zach Galifianakis (and one day I swear I'll learn how to properly spell/pronounce his name), and Flight of the Concords' Kristen Schaal and Jemaine Clement to the mix, there's bound to be some good entertainment here. I liked pieces of this trailer (especially the Post-It joke in the beginning, and anything with Zach Galifianakis and his "mind" powers), but other parts look a little stale. The subplot with Paul Rudd's disapproving girlfriend, in particular, already looks kind of grating, and something we've seen before too many times in comedies like this. On the flip side, the idea that this might turn into an offbeat friendship story (between Rudd's straight-laced hero and Carell's weirdo dead-mouse diorama-maker), before leading to an epic awkward dinner, is promising. We'll just have to wait and see. I know I'll watch this anyway, and, judging by their last collaborations (Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Paul Rudd and Steve Carell are brilliant together. And, after all, Paul Rudd's last starring vehicle, I Love You, Man, had a so-so trailer too, and that movie's now resting comfortably on my favorites shelf. We'll find out July 23rd if this is all worthwhile.
What do you guys think of these trailers? Has anyone read the Scott Pilgrim comic-book series? (I think I'll check them out before the movie comes out). And which of these summer films are you more excited about?
I'll be back later with my review of Clash of the Titans!
Trailer courtesy of Trailer Addict.
A friend of mine saw A Dinner for Schmucks at a free test screening and was pretty underwhelmed. I don't know how much it'll change from that screening to its release, but for now I'm planning on waiting til it's on netflix.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's disappointing... I doubt it will change much from the test screening too, especially since it comes out in two months. Looks like the mediocre trailer is actually a good representation of the movie then. It's really too bad--I hope it doesn't completely waste so many funny and talented people. Yeah, a rental sounds like the right way to go. I'll probably still see in theaters...but I'm setting my expectations pretty low.
ReplyDelete