Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

A Film Review by Alexander Morales

Comic Books. Video Games. Hot Chicks. Good Music. That’s all anyone really wants. That’s all anyone really needs. For geeks like me, that’s heaven. See us on new comic day and you’ll see what true happiness looks like. Listen closely when we get the newest “Final Fantasy” game, and you’ll hear our hearts start pounding in rhythm with the soundtrack. It’s hit points, extra lives, warp zones and the possibility of being the next “Guitar Hero” that makes us tick. The only problem … that stuff doesn’t happen in the real world. If only I could take my wireless controller out for a spin on a daily basis. My button smashing skills would own. Well wait no longer. Scott Pilgrim is here and in his world, anything is possible.

Written and directed by Edgar Wright (The classic British television series “Spaced,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”), “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” is a modern love story told in a language that people like me can understand – 8-bit awesome. Based on the hit comic book series of the same name by Bryan Lee O’Malley, “Scott Pilgrim” is a kinetic gem of snarky characters, amazing fighting and plain old quirky fun.

The story is classic … err, epic. Nerdy dude (Scott) meets new hotty (Ramona). Nerd falls in love. Nerd pursues the hotty. Hotty comes around. Hotty kisses Nerd and offers him Sleepy Bear Tea. Nerd is attacked by the League of Evil Exes and must defeat each of them in a battle to the death to keep girl. What? Yeah that’s right! Let the random video game references commence.

Starring the always-relaxed Michael Cera as the title character, “Scott Pilgrim” is a who’s who of young, potentially talented indy actors. Always likeable, Cera does well with his soft-spoken mannerisms to carry this visually heavy film while Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Death Proof”) as the “woman of his dreams” Ramona vamps it up. Rounding out the cast of notables is Academy Award Nominee Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”) the always bitchy Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”) and an extremely talented Kieran Culkin (“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys”). At the same time, sharing in the triangle is sort of newbie Ellen Wong as the love smitten high-schooler Knives Chau. However, the real treats come with her evil exes. Brandon Routh, Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman play up the cool as they challenge Pilgrim for the right to date Ramona.

Personally, I found this film wonderful. Visually stunning and told in the modern, off beat tempo that films have are started moving towards. Cera’s doe-eyed protagonist just makes you want to smile and he’s so sickening sweet that even when he’s breaking the heart of young Knives, you want him to achieve a “level up” and get back to Ramona. Truly a new age love story developed for the overly stimulated, highly caffeinated and ridiculously sarcastic youth of the world. With references to old school video games popping up everywhere and comic book sound effects helping to tell the story, this is film made for a guy like me and I loved it. It just makes you feel good and gooey inside but still delivers the punch that people need to make it much more interesting then your average “boy meets girl” kind of film.

One thing that I know everyone will agree on – the action in the movie is crazy-sick. (For the modern vernacularly challenged of the world, that’s a good thing.) This film houses some of the coolest fight scenes I have seen in a while. The perfect blending of comic book and video games into live action makes this film truly something special. With flashing lights, fire swords and musical dragons flying through the air, I was like a deer in headlights wanting more, more, more.

Plus, and another reason why I enjoyed this film so much, all the characters are acutely aware of how strange all this stuff is. From the very beginning, every character comments on the quirkiness and odd things happening around them making the style of the film even more fun.

However, it isn’t all fire flowers and invincible star powers. The film is a little too long with way too many scenes of sad sack Cera close-ups as he pines over Ramona. Plus, in comparison to the fighting, the rest of the film kind of gets a little slow and all you really want is to get to the next big fight. At the same time, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, the film is very Canadian. Most people won’t get that, but if you take the American slacker and the dryness of good British humor, mix it together and then delete any sense of urgency, you get Canada. Like I said, I enjoyed it but for most of the mainstream audience, they’ll either be bored out of their gourds or frustrated because they don’t get why it’s funny. Think “Napoleon Dynamite” only even more subdued. Hopefully, there will be a little more like me that like the off-tempo oddness and just laugh at the awkwardness.

Overall, I think it’s pretty clear that I adored “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” From the pixilated opening credits to the final boss battle, I was mesmerized and in geek heaven. It’s obvious that all the players understood the mission and were ready to have fun inside this video game powered environment. While not everyone will get the humor and almost everyone will be stretched by the run time, “Scott Pilgrim” is summer eye candy at its best giving gamers exactly what they want – something with good replay value. So grab your popcorn, sit back and have some fun. Just remember your extra coins and no cheat codes allowed.

4 out of 5 Pixelated Pilgrims

September 10th - October 3rd at Spencer Theatre

Opening night/press night is 7 p.m., Sunday, September 19

Eric Rosen, artistic director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre, has announced that a new production of the musical Saved, directed by Gary Griffin (The Color Purple—Broadway and national tour, Pacific Overtures--London), will open the Rep’s 2010-11 season.

Music and lyrics are by Michael Friedman (The Civilians, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson—opening on Broadway in September). John Dempsey (The Fix, The Witches of Eastwick) and Rinne Groff (Compulsion, Jimmy Carter was a Democrat—The Public Theatre) wrote the book and lyrics. The musical is adapted from the MGM film written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban.

Saved is a story about a group of Christian high school students seeking acceptance and inclusion as they search for meaning in their complicated lives.

The show’s original creative team believed the show needed another opportunity to further its development. According to Griffin, "Saved is like many other successful musicals that do not reach their full potential in their first production. I believe we were only able to get a good first draft in New York, and it would be a shame to stop when we were just discovering the musical’s strengths."

"I’m happy that Gary and the writing team want to continue development of Saved at Kansas City Rep,” said Rosen. “It’s a compelling and honest portrayal of the same issues many families in Kansas City struggle with daily and will resonate powerfully in our community.” Griffin added, "We strongly believe that the Rep’s audience will embrace the artistic aesthetic of Saved and tell us a great deal about how the show is landing. We are looking forward to learning from them."

The cast for Saved: as Roland, Patrick Andrews (world premiere, The Sparrow—Steppenwolf Theatre, The Actor—Goodman Theatre); as Tia, Izzie Baldwin (Lucky Duck, the Musical—the Coterie, The Light in the Piazza—Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre [MET], both in Kansas City); as Hilary Faye, Justis Bolding (Woman in White, No Boundaries, TV: “7th Heaven”); as Mitch and others, Doogin Brown (A Christmas Carol—KC Rep; A View from the Bridge—MET; as Lillian, Felicia Finley (The Wedding Singer, Aida, The Life, the Spike Lee films The 25th Hour, Summer of Sam, He Got Game); as Cassandra, Gillian Goldberg (Calvin Berger—Barrington Stage); as Mary, Laura Huizenga (Saved workshop, directed by Griffin); as Dean, David Hull (Wicked; national tours A Chorus Line, Wicked); as Lana, Emily Peterson (Liliom—KC Rep); as Pastor Mike, Graham Rowat (Guys and Dolls—2009 revival, LoveMusik, Dracula, Beauty and the Beast) ; and as Patrick, Nick Spangler (The Fantasticks; 24 Hour Plays directed by Kevin Spacey—Old Vic: New Voices).

The creative team includes orchestrations by Curtis Moore (Venice, Moisés Kaufman’s Into the Woods—KCRep, The Bridge Project); music director, conductor/pianist Jasper Grant (Altar Boyz, The Color Purple, Fame—national tours); scenic designer Walt Spangler (A Christmas Story, the Musical!, KC Rep; Desire Under the Elms, Broadway revival); costume designer Megan Turek (A Christmas Carol—KC Rep); lighting designer Jason Lyons (Clay, A Christmas Story, The Musical!—KC Rep, Lincoln Center; Gary Griffin’s A Flea in Her Ear—KC Rep, Rock of Ages, The Threepenny Opera); sound designer Joshua Horvath (Clay—KC Rep, Lincoln Center; Venice—KC Rep, Center Theatre Group).

Saved runs September 10 – October 3, 2010 at Spencer Theatre, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Missouri. Tickets cost $20-$65 and youth tickets (18 years or younger) are $20. For information about performance times and ticket options, call the Rep Box Office at 816-235-2700 or visit www.KCRep.org.

ABOUT KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE
Now in its 46th year, Kansas City Repertory Theatre is one of the nation’s leading professional theatres and a member of the League of Resident Theatres. The Rep produces a full season of plays and events in two venues: Spencer Theatre on the UMKC campus, where the Rep is the professional theatre in residence, and downtown at Copaken Stage. Its diverse repertoire includes new works, musicals and classics of literature. The theatre serves approximately 100,000 patrons annually and employs more than 250 professional artists, technicians and administrators.

POWER & LIGHT DISTRICT BOUTIQUES TO HOLD DOWNTOWN SIDEWALK SALE DURING NO-SALES TAX SHOPPING WEEKEND AUG 6^TH – 8^TH

Shop Downtown KC, Pay No-Sales Tax on Clothing Purchases

Kansas City, MO—Shoppers will find great back-to-school shopping deals this weekend at the boutiques in Downtown Kansas City’s Power & Light District. Several boutiques are participating in the first Downtown Sidewalk Sale this Friday, August 6^th thru Sunday, August 8^th, as Missouri offers shoppers no sales-tax on clothing purchases*, as part of the statewide, annual sales-tax holiday weekend.

Envolve Boutique, Zafar, The Garment District Boutique, Polished Edge Jewelers and the newly opened Lovebird, will slash prices on summer and select fall inventory. The Downtown Sidewalk Sale kicks off on Friday afternoon at 4 pm. It runs Friday, 4 – 8 pm; Saturday, 10 am – 8 pm; and Sunday, Noon – 6 pm.  Additionally, some restaurants, like Raglan Road Irish Pub, will offer shoppers Sidewalk Sale specials (with receipt from any of the Power & Light District boutiques this weekend).

*Shoppers will pay no-sales tax on single clothing purchases under $100, as part of the statewide, annual Missouri No-Sales Tax Holiday weekend.

All of the boutiques are located on Main Street, between 13^th and 14^th Streets in the Kansas City Power & Light District. Parking is only $2 when you park at the Main Street garage, located just north of 13^th and Main Street intersection and adjacent to Cosentino’s Market Downtown. Shoppers must present their parking ticket for validation at any of the Power & Light District boutiques.

For more information, visit www.powerandlightdistrict.com or call (816) 842.1045.

The Other Guys

A Film Review by Alexander Morales

Surprised, shocked and satisfyingly funny are just three (or I guess … four) of the adjectives I found myself thinking as the ending credits began rolling at this film. Well, that and I couldn’t stop humming the tune “Pimps Don’t Cry.” Prior to the movie, I was pretty sure that I would laugh, maybe a little, perhaps a chuckle here and there, but that this would be just an amusing waste of time. Nothing special. More than likely nothing that would be anything more than just one of our favorite morons running around saying silly things …  maybe while on fire.

Boy was I wrong. Wrong about the fire too.

“The Other Guys,” written and directed by Adam McKay (“Step Brothers,” “Anchorman” and the Internet hit “The Landlord”) is a laugh out loud festival of fun. Starring McKay’s constant comedic cohort and muse, Will Ferrell, “The Other Guys” is summer comedy at its best.

Narrated by the majestic Ice T, “The Other Guys” follows two of New York’s unfinest as they try to move out of the shadow of the city’s dynamic action hero team of Detectives Highsmith and Danson (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), Along the way, a supporting cast of “hey I recognize that guy” kind of actors show up and keep the fun rolling throughout.

As the lead characters, Ferrell and (a finally likeable and watchable again) Mark Wahlberg (“Max Payne” – gasp, “The Happening” – eek!) are gold. The two play the stereotypical team of straight cop partnered with the slightly crazed, constantly angry cop and it works very well. This is mostly due to the deeper back stories the characters have, making them more than just cardboard cutouts of what we’ve seen before. Ferrell’s Detective Gamble is a nerdy number cruncher with a dark and mysterious past and an uncanny ability to pull the hotties. On the flip side, Wahlberg’s Detective Holitz is the most hated cop in New York due to an accidental shooting of one of the city’s most celebrated sports heroes. Coupled together, they are constantly the butt of everyone’s jokes and the lowest on the totem pole of respect. As two polar opposites, the scenes they share are hilarious and the quips flow as easy as water.

In my opinion, this film works for a variety of reasons. Of course the funny chops of Ferrell, Wahlberg and a discreet (yet seemingly obsessed TLC fan) Michael Keaton are reason number one; a close second is the high level of maturity this film has. I know, I know, that sounds a little ridiculous considering Ferrell is the lead actor, but hear me out. While “Anchorman” is a classic and “Step Brothers” is a riot, there was still a level of awkwardness in a large variety of the jokes and situations. The movies are funny, but we laugh because most of the things said are so outlandish that over time they become cool quotables to throw out to friends. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. At the same time, the arc of the story, by the end seems forced and only a necessity because it is, after all, a movie. However, in this film, it’s very apparent that the working relationship of McKay and Ferrell is getting refined and for the audience, that equals better comedic timing, less awkward dialogue and a solid corralling of the wild acting livestock. It’s completely ridiculous, but in a more meticulous, edited way. Not every joke is a hard, in your face smack and sprinkled throughout there are numerous nuggets of humor that jab at almost everything and anything.

At the same time, it was clear that everyone understood and comprehended the kind of movie they were trying to make. Honestly, you can feel the relaxed casual nature of the direction. Having fun had to be a very big priority and it even pulled some great moments from the extremely beautiful but extremely boring Eva Mendes.

Overall, it’s difficult for me to find anything bad with this movie. I completely represent the demographic that this film is going after and it tickles my funny bone successfully throughout. If you really want to have a good, relaxed time and laugh the stress of the week off of your shoulders, grab your popcorn and beverage of choice, sit back and prepare to laugh. Just don’t spit your chewed up morsels all over the person sitting in front of you.

(Humming to myself … “Pimps Don’t Cry.”)

4 out of 5 Wooden Prop Guns

P.S. There is an odd statement of facts depicted in the ending credits. Lots of interesting tidbits about the financial ruin that large companies have put our country in. It’s a little out of place considering the fun you just watched, but worth sticking around to see.

Kansas City artist Grant Miller is part of a three-artist art show at the Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art. The show remains up through Aug. 14. His fellow artists are Liu Hong and Mary Ann Strandell.

Eight distinct pieces hang as part of the show. They are mixed-media works that depict layered architectural interiors and structures, mixed with Salvador Dali’s surrealist view of time and a little of Wassily Kandinsky during his time right before his Bauhaus period. Needless to say, the works are colorful with a mix of seemingly inflexible walls and corners with the sort of dripping colors one would associate with Dali. It’s a mixed bag for Miller.

In his artist statement, Miller writes, "The process of constructing the paintings mirrors the construction of history, and furthermore the natural process of editing and gathering information." Miller starts with architectural interiors, symbols, and marks. Once these marks are laid, he continues to react to the previous information. For every action there is a reaction. Often some of the earliest information is completely covered, and the viewer is left with a painting that has been continually built upon the previous action or mark thus mirroring the construction of history. Some of the works have between eight to 18 layers of imagery.

Miller received his degree in printmaking and drawing from Washington University in St. Louis. He also has some undergraduate hours from the Kansas City Art Institute. "I am happy to be in Kansas City. There is such an active grassroots art movement here. It’s a very do-it-yourself scene. Groups like the Charlotte Street Foundation aid living artists in making a living through their art. It’s not a trickle down effect. St. Louis always seemed very top down, but here there is a concern for the well being of artists." Miller even works with other emerging artists through his Creative Inc., which helps them explore treating art as business and encourages an entrepreneurial spirit.

In his studio, Miller often listens to podcasts about the history of painting and other topics. One significant set of podcasts examined the life of modern artist Francis Bacon. "As an artist, I am looking to create that contemporary dialogue and in that conversation, I am showing the bombardment and saturation of our modern world. I am trying to capture what those collections of memories might look like. I wanted to try to make sense of the information, the notion of time, construction and the elements that cause order. The paintings have a timeline that includes a series of events and personal experiences. Of course, those can change daily — thus the layers. The earliest images and influences are there, but then so are the events, the encapsulated history that I show through abstractions."

Miller hopes that viewers will walk away with their own understanding, but he hopes they may return to the images again. "You can find more parallels through the layers of accumulated information. These are works that continue to give to the viewer and allow for even more introspection. With eight pieces here, viewers can see the breadth of the work."

Miller plans to complete some more paintings for coming shows in England. He will have pieces at Leeds University and Imperial College. Companies such as JE Dunn and Progressive Auto have purchased his work. There are works in the Black & White Gallery in New York too. In the fall, he will teach drawing and printmaking at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"Any artist who says they are a success is not growing. I want to keep at it and find new venues and new experiences. I want to continue to put myself in situations where I will learn and develop," he says.

Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art
2020 Baltimore
Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
Runs through Aug. 14

Please accept ArtsKC's special invitation to visit Union Station this week and experience Kansas City's corporate "arts" challenge. You’ll be amazed at the creativity and talent of our area CEOs, bank tellers, cable splicers, and IT professionals. Can't make it? Click here to view all of the visual and literary work on-line (http://artworkkansascity.wordpress.com/ )…you can even vote for your favorite! Musical competition is this Friday, August 6th, 7 pm at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre - Copaken Stage.

Kelly Seward
Director of Business Programs
816.994.9226 direct | seward@ArtsKC.org
906 Grand Blvd. Suite 10B | Kansas City, MO 64106
www.ArtsKC.org