Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

I don't get to movie theaters as often as I used to, so when I do go it's usually for a film that I'm really psyched for. Two years ago a bunch of my friends and I went to see The Dark Knight at a midnight showing, and we all left the theater with our expectations fulfilled and then some. This year, I've seen two summer movies in actual theaters and I was blown away by both. The first was Inception, which I enjoyed so much I've seen it twice, and the second is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Everyone has been talking about Inception since it was released, so apart from saying that I love it and that Hans Zimmer's score is brilliant I'll save the rest of my thoughts on that piece of celluloid. Scott Pilgrim though, that's another story. I just came back from the theater about an hour ago and was knocked for a loop by how incredible it was. Not only was it visually enticing as hell, with the whole film and comic being an homage to classic video games, the characters were wonderful and the story engrossing. I was amazed how many times I thought about my ex-girlfriends and my current relationship. It made me think about what I've done wrong, what I've done right, what I've wished I could have changed and what I learned from those relationships that made me stronger. It wasn't preachy or heavy handed either, rather it conjured those feelings in a way that made me happy to think about my rights and wrongs. I left the theater feeling recharged, and that usually doesn't happen.

The music in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is just as important as the story. The soundtrack is like an incredible mixtape filled with songs you recognize and songs you don't but sound like you should. There are classics from T-Rex and the Rolling Stones as well as indie classics from Plumtree, Frank Black, Black Lips and my personal favorite on the soundtrack, Beachwood Sparks' cover of Sade's By Your Side. But the score is incredible too! Primarily created by Nigel Godrich with help from Beck, Dan The Automator and many others, the score captures the video game theme while also focusing in on that woozy feeling you get when you're falling hard for someone. Beck contributed five songs, mostly given to Scott Pilgrim's band in the film, Sex Bob-Omb, while Broken Social Scene gave two songs for Crash and The Boys, one of Sex Bob-Omb's competitors for a record contract as well as letting their classic, Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl, be used in the soundtrack.

I hope to go see Scott Pilgrim again in theaters, but this, along with Inception, is a film I will be purchasing on DVD the day of it's release (as I'm sure many know, I'm anti Blu Ray, but we won't go there). You should definitely get there and check it out, and if you love the music like I do, grab the soundtrack for that mixtape feel with the songs written by Beck and Broken Social Scene, and you can get the score for Nigel Godrich's awesome contributions to the film. Both soundtracks are available digitally, but you can get the standard edition CD in stores with the "songs". And if you haven't read the comics yet, you'll want to dig in after seeing the film, so visit your favorite comic shop or bookstore and they'll hook you up. Hope you enjoy it all just as much I did!


PS - Yes, I wanna see The Expendables too, but I might just wait for the R5. Yeah, that's kind of evil, but you know a lot of you do it too. If I love it though, I'll totally buy it on DVD (cuz Blu Ray SUCKS!).