Saturday, August 14, 2010

Saturday Music from THE FUTURIST!'s Most Anticipated Film Viewing of 2010 ... Even Though it Stars Michael Cera

After Quentin Tarantino, THE FUTURIST! considers Edgar Wright to be one of his most favorite of today's current directors. Perhaps, THE FUTURIST! should qualify that declaration a bit ... in respect of the directors today that truly love film, love talking about movies and making movies and love love to watch them ... those two men are at the top of the list. Each of them have a great knowledge of film ... not just classics, but the films of their youth or beyond their time that some would call (with a slight raising of a lip to show an incisor) .... genre pictures.

Yes, Edgar Wright can wax poetic on Mike Hodges' FLASH GORDON, a Mario Bava Giallo, De Palma's THE FURY or Disney's THE BLACK HOLE. He loves the thrill that movies incite in the soul. His ecstasy is evident in his own work. THE FUTURIST! was not quick to watch his first film SHAUN OF THE DEAD. He thought it would be some goofy spoof of zombie pictures. It wasn't. It was more than a spoof. It was full of great camera work, incidental widescreen delights at the corners of the screen, great human emotion and terrific sight gags. Wright made a film that had a plot and feeling and showed his love for the genre. THE FUTURIST! thought the ending a bit weak, but he really loved it. However, THE FUTURIST! just loved to bits Wright's next comedy HOT FUZZ. It was a grand blending of film genres and terrific comedy laced with Peckinpah violence. You can see how earlier films influenced him ... in this case, 80s action pictures, THE WICKER MAN, the Agatha Christie cozy and westerns ... but Wright makes them his own and goes further. The final villain/hero climax left a smile on THE FUTURIST!'s face. What a great viewing experience. THE FUTURIST! had never seen anything like it. The joy of film was in every frame

Last year, Tarantino's INGLORIOUS BASTERDS made THE FUTURIST! love film all over again after months of dreck. This year, he hopes Wright's SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD will do the same. THE FUTURIST! has not yet seen this film as of this writing, but it just opened wide near Utter Despair NJ. He plans to see it this coming week. It's at The Hive Mega-MegaPlex. The one drawback? It stars THE FUTURIST!'s most current least liked actor ... Michael Cera. Okay ... THE FUTURIST! said if he saw one more movie starring this one note actor he would commit Cera-cide. If ... IF ... Edgar Wright can make a film starring Cera and still make THE FUTURIST! smile and have a skip in his step after he leaves The Hive Mega-MegaPlex, well ... Edgar Wright will be even more special to THE FUTURIST!

Below is a song written for the film by Beck. Strains of this tune were heard in the film trailer. THE FUTURIST! likes it a lot. It's a good harbinger of things to come.

(fingers crossed)

Listen:


RAMONA
performed and written by Beck
from the film
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD (2010)

3 comments:

Andrew Grant said...

My concerns about the film are the same as yours.

I'm not quite as enamored with Wright as you are -- I think SPACED is still his finest work -- but his films have been fine entertainments.

Though I loved Cera in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, it soon became clear that he's a one-trick pony. I just don't know if I can take yet another film where he plays the awkward guy trying to get the girl.

But how right you are about BASTERDS! Nothing this year has come close to restoring the faith that that film provided.

Tschüss!

Dara said...

Yes, I'm excited by this, too. On the fourth Scott Pilgrim volume now, so hope to have them all read in time for the release (it's another two weeks here, I think). Also, the video doesn't work for me, just a white square in its place. Still, I think I will save it for the film!

THE FUTURIST! said...

Andrew:

Thank you for commenting.

THE FUTURIST! has not seen SPACED as of this writing. He hopes to one day.

It seems films keep getting more awful and cynical. A little soul lifting is needing.

Dara:

TF! would not want to read the graphic comic books before the viewing. It might taint his experience.