The project itself was a perfect storm for a movie. The much loved source material, the graphic novel from Bryan Lee O’Malley, the talent behind the camera, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), and a great cast. From my understanding, the film was so close to the source material, they even shot at locations that O’Malley drew from life for the graphic novel.

The film begins in Toronto, 22 year old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is dating a high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), and playing in his band Sex Bob-omb (a reference to Super Mario). The band is practicing to compete in a battle of the bands. It isn’t until Scott meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), when things begin to get a bit interesting, as during their first performance for the battle of the bands, Scott suddenly has to fight the first of Ramona’s seven evil exes.

The film is a plethora of video game and popculture references, from Seinfeld to The Legend of Zelda. You literally have a smile on your face the entire time, this IS the ultimate nerd movie. Michael Cera, our hero. My worry for Cera is that he is going to continue to play the awkward teenager, but there is a variation here. Scott Pilgrim is kind of a jerk, he’s leading Knives on, while starting a new relationship with Ramona. It’s a good twist on Cera’s usual “character.”

The supporting cast is great, Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) plays Scott’s sister, and Jason Schwartzman (as the final evil ex) is a delight.

The visual effects work here is stunning, and the fight scenes call out to the anime the sequences are inspired from. The fight scenes are actually quite excellent, not that Michael Cera has a future as the next Van Damme, but he carries himself well.

So in short, Scott Pilgrim has my vote for one of the best movies of the summer, do yourself a favor, see this movie this labor day weekend, before or after you see Machete.

It isn’t a movie I’m probably going to ever see, but, I like this. Keep thinking outside the box studios.

Have a great weekend!

Allen is a forensic accountant who refuses to get out into the field, and Terry, has been stuck with Allen because of an accidentally shooting a celebrity (I’ll leave out who since it’s a fun cameo). The entire office (save for Terry) is enamored by the precincts top cops, Highsmith (Samuel L Jackson) and Danson (Dwayne Johnson). When an accident takes their lives, Terry has his eyes set on picking up the slack.

The film is pretty ridiculous, and like all McKay outings, filled with great quotes. However, my biggest issue with the film is the lack of chemistry between Ferrell and Wahlberg. It’s sad when I can look at the poster for a movie, and just sense the lack of chemistry in that. They just didn’t play well off of each other. It wasn’t awful, but anyone else (My first pick would be Matt Damon if not John C. Reilly) would have been better. It’s not even that I don’t like Mark Wahlberg, I definitely do, he’s a great actor, but he just didn’t go well with Ferrell.

The film suffered from some badly edited action sequences, but McKay isn’t an action director, and it didn’t take me out of it that much, but it definitely could have been better.

Things I did love: Michael Keaton, I was so happy to see him in this. He stole every scene he was in, and I’m glad to see he’s still got it.

I do feel like I’ll enjoy the film in future viewings. For some reason, films like this do grow on me from repeat cable viewings. But on first glance, my recommendation would be to wait for video for ‘The Other Guys.’

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherworldly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the Earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

The brothers company is responsible for the effects work in films like 300, Avatar, Benjamin Button, and Iron Man 2. Having not seen anything other then this one frame, I’m definitely curious.

‘Knight and Day,’ calls back to this era of the fun action film. Though, quite simple, and mostly forgettable, for what it is, ‘Knight and Day,’ was a lot of fun.

Starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, ‘Knight and Day’ is a ridiculous premise, played out in plethora of exotic locales, from the streets of Boston, to Belgium, and a deserted island.

The movie starts introducing Roy Miller (Cruise) literally running into June (Diaz), both on their way back to Boston. But something is up with Roy, because as soon as June goes to the bathroom in the plane, all the passengers/flight attendance start fighting Roy. He proceeds to kill everyone on the plane, and as soon as June get’s back from the bathroom, Roy has to land the plane in the middle of nowhere so they can get away.

The rest of the movie is filled with “lighthearted” action. For example, in one big set piece, there is a huge highway chase scene in Boston. Roy jumps from car to car trying to save June from a bunch of kidnappers, yet he doesn’t miss a beat in flashing is smile and saying something cute the damsel in distress.

Of course, Knight & Day isn’t without its flaws, with many stunts relying on CG. But, that is unfortunately the reality of the day that we live in. Paul Dano apperas as Simon Feck, the individual Roy is trying to protect, he’s an actor I’m still not sold on, but he does well here, as well as Peter Sarsgaard.

I’m a huge fan of director James Mangold’s previous effort ’3:10 to Yuma,’ which in my opinion is one of the best modern westerns we’ve had in a long time. He does a great job here, and I think the film could have shined if it relied much less on CGI-packed action. With one-liners, and Cruise’s signature grins, at the end of the Day, ‘Knight and Day’ is a ridiculous but fun escapist action film.

The sound was cut by Gregg Swiatlowski, and the voice over artist in the end is Jim Jakala, who does many amazing great television and radio commercial spots. It also stars other LR bloggers, Brandin, Ben, and Phil!

Thank you everyone for your help, and enjoy the trailer!

There was a persistent rumor that Aaron Johnson, the lead from ‘Kick-Ass’ would be playing Cyclops, but apparently, that is not the case.

Directed by Lee Unkrich, a long time member of the Pixar creative team, co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo, and written by Little Miss Sunshine scribe Michael Arndt. The film features the returning voice talent of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Wallace Shawn, and more, save for the late Jim Varney whose role was taken over by Blake Clarke.

The film takes place as their owner, Andy has grown up, and getting ready to leave for college. Much of their counterparts have been donated and sold off, and every day the toys fear that they soon will end up on the curb, abandoned. At the urging of his Mother, Andy is told to take care of all his things before he moves to college. He decides to take Woody with him to school, and the rest of the gang is bagged up for storage in the attic.

In a complete mistake, the toys are sent off in a donation box to a daycare, and Woody sneaks off to try to save his friends. When they arrive at Sunnyside, they are greeted to what first seems like paradise, where the children never age, and the toys are always played with. When in reality, the daycare is a horrible place for toys, where the children tear, throw, draw, and eat their toys.

The film then turns into the great escape, where the toys fight to escape this daycare prison, and return to their owner Andy.

As the other films, the themes at work here are abandonment, usefulness, replacement, and being there for their owner. As the toys struggle with feeling useless, we witness the beginning of a new owner for the toys, which tears right at the heart!

The film features some very intense action, something that freaked me out let alone a young kid, so be weary, but it is a great film with a great message. This like other Pixar films does not disappoint, and the studio proves yet again that they continue to have the golden touch.

We covered this a while back, but in case you’ve forgotten the details. The film is written by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Scott Rudin. The film details the controversy of Zuckerberg, and co-founder Eduardo Saverin. The film is based on Ben Mezerich’s 2009 book, ‘The Accidentai Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal.’ The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg.

The trailer definitely increases my interest, and the amount of talent involved definitely has me intrigued. The film comes out this October.