Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Ahhh.. Ramona Flowers.. (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World)

     
This movie in particular was recommended to me by my brother most likely because of my personal interests are very evident in this awesome live-action graphic novel adaptation. Music, specifically playing the bass guitar (there are band battles and Scott Pilgrim is in a band and plays bass), Games (the movie runs like a video game with video game SFX, and enemies turning into coins when stamped out) and a lot of Game-based awesome action scenes. To be exact, the Universal Studios intro playing on 8-bit music and the short Zelda track at the beginning of the movie instantly got my "gamer blood" raging. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What really kept my eyeballs glued to the screen was the movie's lead female, Ramona Flowers... ahhh.. <3

Hey, what's that look for? mufufufufu.. :) The hot and cool (pun not intended) babe Ramona Flowers as played by the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She plays the role of Scott Pilgrim's dream girl (literal) and love interest in the story. Her dyed hair reminds me of Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Well, I think she's too sexy for the role. (or maybe I just think I should be playing Scott Pilgrim. LOL)

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World's theatrical poster. "An epic of epic epicness." Oh, and yeah, this movie, I must say, is definitely EPIC. 'nuff said. :) Also, I love his Rickenbacker 4003 bass. Reminds me of Haruko from FLCL. Now I'm starting to think the 4003 is really made to pwn villains.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is 22 years old, plays bass in a rock band called Sex Bob-omb with his friends and is dating a 17-year old high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Pretty cool if you ask me, but later on he meets a mysterious girl, Ramona Flowers, who has appeared a couple of times in his dreams and instantly fell in love with her and reluctantly dumps Knives (uh-oh..). As he continues to win the heart of Ramona, something unexpected happened as he was challenged by a weird guy named Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) in a duel to the death while in the middle of a band contest for the G-Man record label. Strangely too, he was able to give the guy a good beating and defeat him in the end turning him into a bunch of coins (insert Mario coin sound effect here). Turns out, Matthew is one of Ramona's "evil exes", and in order for him to date Ramona he still has to defeat the remaining six of her so-called "seven evil exes". Wow. So Ramona is THIS popular. :)

The totally awesome Scott Pilgrim as portrayed by Michael Cera. Although I believe could've made it more awesome if I was the one paired up with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, but I digress (still sour graping). He's perfect for the role. :)

Scott Pilgrim's rockin' band, Sex Bob-omb. Stephen "The Talent" Stills (Mark Webber) on the guitar and vocals, Kim Pine (Allison Pill) on the drums, and Scott on bass. They play pretty awesome rockin' tracks throughout the movie.

Despite his friends' protests, Scott dated  a 17-year old high schooler, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) who's head-over-heels in love with Scott. Too bad she got dumped later after Scott dated Ramona and her at the same time. Lucky bastard.

Scott didn't know what he was getting into and was creeped out by the fact that Ramona's seven evil exes are out to beat his ass to a pulp.

Scott's in for some real hell as he tries to defeat (or at least save his ass) from Ramona's evil exes out to get him. Ramona gave him a list of her seven crazy exes revealing at the same time how weird her love life (or preferences) has been. There's Matthew Patel who dresses up like a pirate and summons voluptous demon girls. Lucas Lee (Chris Evans) who was a famous skater, now a famous actor and brags, he's nothing without his stunt team (acting doubles). Eh? Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), the bassist for "The Clash at Demonhead", where Scott's ex, Envy Adams (Brie Larson) is the lead singer whom Todd is currently dating. Todd is vegan and has cool "vegan powers" that gives him an extreme advantage against Scott in battles. There's also Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman) who Ramona claims to only have dated her at a time when she was a bit "bi-curious". Roxy is capable of teleportation and uses a bladed chain-sword (similar to the one Ivy from the game Soul Calibur uses). If dating someone from the same sex isn't crazy enough, how about twins? Sex Bob-omb went against the japanese Katayanagi Twins in an amp versus amp battle of EPIC proportions. Scott summoned a gigantic sasquatch from his bass guitar to go up against the Katayanagis' twin dragons summoned from their synths. Last but not the least the final member and perhaps the leader of the league of evil exes, a mystery guy whom they only knew by the name Gideon. Turns out later, he's someone bigger than they'd expected.

Lucas Lee, one of Ramona's evil exes kicks the crap out of Scott Pilgrim. One great thing about the movie is the way the action scenes are portrayed. Greatly executed, incorporates fighting game stuff like combo numbers and stuff and gives you that comic book-like feel of explosive action.

One of the parts I've enjoyed watching in the movie is this bass battle between Todd Ingram and Scott. Scott got pwned since his bass playing, compared to Todd's was meh. LOL

Ramona pulls out her weapon of choice: a huge hammer, as she lashes it out with her evil same-sex ex, Roxy Richter. Cool enough, it came from her small bag: a hammerspace.

A battle of literally epic proportions, Sex Bob-omb battles it out, amp versus amp against the Katayanagi Twins. Their sasquatch against the twins' dragons plus rockin' music gives you one awesome fight scene.

Scott levels up as he earns the "Power of Self-Respect". The best thing, for me, about this movie is its game-related effects and features. Scott levels up, gets 1-ups, enemies get owned by multiple hit combos and turns into coins and shows score points. Plus the cool SFX from old video games makes this movie very unique and awesome.

Hardcore gamers, especially those who still love the classic ones and graphic novel enthusiasts will definitely enjoy this movie for it's computer game-esque feel and the explosive, comic book like action of the fight scenes. Combined with witty comedy, rockin' band tracks, action-packed scenes with awesome and flashy special effects definitely makes this one an EPIC movie experience.
Saturday, July 17, 2010

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

     
Totally unique and one-of-a-kind is how I would describe Interstella 5555. Though I might say I haven't seen other movies like this - animated musical movie or anime set to an entire album record - the idea of the movie itself is really creative and innovative.

 The Animated House Musical. Interstella 5555's theatrical poster.

The movie is a successful collaboration between the electronic music duo Daft Punk (the entire film plays and is set to their 2001 album "Discovery") and Toei Animation with renowned illustrator Leiji Matsumoto (famous for his work "Space Pirate Captain Harlock", "Galaxy 999", "Space Battleship Yamato" and other 70's and 80's classic anime). Having no dialogues and few cuts on the music, this could even pass as the longest music video ever at 68 minutes running time.

The story revolves around a famous (unnamed yet), blue skinned band quartet from another galaxy where similar blue skinned people also live. The four were abducted and taken to Earth to become famous musicians and for a certain villain's evil ambitions.

The guitarist tries to escape from their captors giving one of them a taste of his knuckle sandwich. Even without dialogues and sound effects, the movie is still action-packed and retains a great consistent storyline.

Shep, the hero of the movie. After the band has been taken captive, Shep follows in pursuit to rescue his idols and his damsel-in-distress.

Shep's rockin' awesome ride. A starship shaped like a Flying-V electric guitar. Cool.

The movie has bits of mushy romance as well. Shep, aside from being a fan of is also in love with the band's bassist Stella. Though this one is just a bit of his fantasies, he never really got this close to Stella, not until the time he is about to bite the dust. Poor guy.

Transformation complete. Presenting: The Crescendolls (clockwise) Octave on keys, Baryl on drums and percussion, Arpegius on the guitar and the lovely Stella on bass. Upon their debut on planet Earth's music scene, they were given names and presented as the Crescendolls. Their goal: be awarded a Gold Record (why not multiplatinum or anything better?) as a key to world domination. Wow.

Earl de Darkwood, the main villain of the movie. Old geezer! Nobody touches Stella like that and gets away with it. Shep's spirit destroys his corrupted soul near the end. Ack! spoiler.

Daft Punk duo's cameo appearance on the movie. Still wearing their robotronic getup though.

Listening to my electronic idols' music while watching Interstella 5555 is truly sublime. If you are an electronic music enthusiast or anime lover or both, or you just want to see something unique, this movie is definitely worth the watch.

From The Idiot Box

From the screen to your lenses to your brain to your nerves to your heart, lungs and muscles and out. Its a compilation of my take, thoughts and impressions on straight up, good stuff (mostly japanese, anime, music and geek-related) from the idiot box that I like and you might like.

... and idiocy. :)

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