We don’t publish enough book reviews here on Trashwire–possibly because we don’t read enough books–but E L James’ Fifty Shades of Grey is such a ginormous success that it warrants a bit of commentary. Let me start off by saying that I’m no English Lit major and I’m not a big time reader, but I have read my fair share of book-to-screen adaptations and, since this book will soon become a movie, I feel qualified to make a judgement call. This review will contain some spoilers, so consider yourself warned!

As most of you probably already know, Fifty Shades of Grey tells the story of Anastasia Steele, an innocent, bookish virgin, who happens to fall in love with a masochistic, manipulative, handsome billionaire by the name of Christian Grey. Christian’s tastes are on the kinky side and Anastasia is simultaneously frightened and turned on by all the ways he intends to “punish” her as his sex slave in their dominant/submissive BDSM relationship.

At first, things are interesting and even a bit tantalizing. Christian’s mysterious and charming, but we know he’s got a dark side, we just don’t know how very, very dark that side is. He’s rather inexplicably taken with Anastasia, much as Edward Cullen is captivated by the blasé, underdeveloped Bella Swan in Twilight, which inspired the Fifty Shades trilogy. We’re drawn along with her in her journey to find out more about this extremely wealthy, extremely handsome and, it turns out, extremely twisted individual. There’s a little bit of a power play between the two, but it’s the kind of flirtatious intimidation one expects in a relationship. He’s so staggeringly perfect, at least to her, and she struggles to match him in wit and confidence.

The graphic sex scenes are also much-discussed, though they get a bit boring since Anastasia and Christian are banging every few pages. Anastasia’s “inner goddess”, the devil on her shoulder, keeps rearing her ugly head and her little insights get a bit tiresome. Really, none of this stuff is anything you couldn’t read on the internet or in one of those $.99 eBooks on the Barnes & Noble Nook store, so it’s only riling people up because these books are actually popular. Still, Anastasia seems to be having fun exploring the world of crazy, wild, impulsive sex with her super hot beau.

Things get a bit weird when Christian reveals that he’s into spanking, whipping, caning, and tying up women to get his kicks. For some reason, Anastasia is down with this, mostly in an effort to make him happy as opposed to a genuine interest or desire to be someone’s submissive. Even then, it’s kind of amusing to hear the couple negotiate rules and “safe words” and all sorts of parameters for their relationship. Anastasia’s email exchanges with Christian are particularly sharp and quite funny.

And then it gets darker.

Christian wants Anastasia to sign a contract (specifically noted as being legally unenforceable, likely in an effort to make him seem less of a monster) that gives him control over most aspects of her life including her wardrobe, diet and the amount of sleep she must get each night. To her credit, she proves to not be a completely idiotic character and offers up some negotiations, though all her limits seem rather hollow as it’s clear in the first few pages that this girl will do absolutely anything her wealthy sadist wants.

Let the “punishments” begin! Christian is a fan of spanking, but not in that tee-hee playful kind of way. He likes hurting her, leaving her sore and crying. And, incomprehensibly, this girl keeps going back for more because she decides she can put up with the floggings since the sex is so good. I’m calling bullshit right here. Now, I’m sure there are girls who would dig this kind of thing, but the way Anastasia’s character is set up leaves no real explanations as to why she’s so willing to accept this kind of abusive relationship. Sure the innocent girl and the dangerous guy are common literary and cinematic traditions, but it seems like most of these romances are about the bad boy’s transition into a good boy, a loving boy, a boy who no longer wants to do any type of damage to his leading lady. Fifty Shades seems to be about a girl’s transition from interesting, intelligent, compelling character into obedient, brainless, easily manipulated servant. What’s up with that?

What disturbs me the most about this series is its popularity among women, particularly bored housewives and soccer moms. Maybe it’s a need to indulge in a fantasy world that’s very different from their own, maybe it’s a curiosity for kink without actually having to go out an buy whips and chains, but I sincerely hope it’s not because of a desire to be physically and emotionally harmed in a relationship. Love isn’t about tearing the other person down and making them feel cheap, worthless, confused and sore and our literary and cinematic objects of desire shouldn’t be about it either. In the time of birth control debates and GOP-fueled threats to women’s rights, what does it say about our gender if we want to be in a relationship where a man controls us and abuses us?

I know people in the BDSM community have had issues with the book as well, claiming that it doesn’t accurately depict the nature of that lifestyle. I don’t think those people would call what they’re doing dangerous abuse, not even the submissives in the relationship, but that’s what it all boils down to in Fifty Shades. Christian is abusive. Christian is manipulative Christian physically injures Anastasia. Christian emotionally destroys her. But somehow that’s ok?

Maybe I’m just the kind of mouthy, headstrong, boss-lady type of woman who Christian Grey would love to break in his “Red Room of Pain”, but I just don’t think a relationship should be based on suffering. Simply put I don’t find anything particularly appealing about the relationship between the two characters. In fact, I find it troubling that a nation of women are digging this and are identifying with Anastasia. I’m on the fence about reading the remaining two books in the trilogy. Part of me is appalled, but part of me is intrigued at how bad this thing could actually get. While I may have a slight masochistic desire to finish the other books in this series, I’m not exactly going to let someone bend me over their knee and spank me with them.

There are a million different ways to watch TV these days. You can record a show on your DVR, watch it on-demand on your cable box, view it on your computer or iPad using Hulu, Amazon Instant Video or Netflix and even go old school and buy it on DVD and Blu-Ray. And these are just a few of the available options! Unfortunately, each of these methods carries its own inherent limitations. Netflix, which was my preferred on-demand video source for years, restructured their prices and it was recently announced that Starz, one of their largest content providers, would be pulling the plug on their selection of streaming videos in 2012. Limited selection is the primary downfall of all these services, but what if you could get access to all a network’s programming in one place? That’s exactly where HBO Go comes in.

Unlike Xfinity’s on-demand or Netflix’s streaming, HBO Go offers all episodes from all seasons of popular shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and True Blood. So, instead of only being able to see Larry David try to court a bisexual girl or get spooked by an ice cream truck, you can also relive the time he became a car salesman, or when he befriended a rap star, or the episode where he was going to star in The Producers on Broadway. HBO Go is perfect for catching up with your favorite HBO series or re-watching past episodes before a new season begins. Forgot how Margaret and Nucky’s relationship began? Get caught up with all 12 episodes of Boardwalk Empire before the new season starts later this month. Can’t remember how Eric met Godric? Go back and watch season two of True Blood before season four concludes next week.

The best part of HBO Go is that it’s HBO, a network with some of the best original programming around. You don’t get as many Emmy nominations as they have without having quality content and they’ve raised the bar for TV.  Their documentaries are moving, their series fascinating and their specials entertaining. They’ve got the goods and now you can too, whenever and wherever you want. They own the content and they can distribute as much of it as they want on their app.

The only downside to this wonderful dream is that you have to subscribe to HBO through your cable or satellite provider to use it, which means you’re still tied to those dinosaurs and their bundled packages and tiered price structures. Pay-per-view services from Amazon or Apple TV offer good competition, but so far, if you want the full TV experience in one place, you’re stuck with a box in your living room.

HBO Go is a step in the right direction and will hopefully lead the industry to wake up and see that consumers are ready for a new kind of TV. With more people watching shows and movies on mobile devices and laptops, TV isn’t even TV anymore. And that’s why HBO is thriving. It’s not TV, after all, it’s HBO.

Through out film history, there have been films that have changed the game using technological innovations. Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings and more recently Avatar became milestones for filmmaking because they used new technology to show us things beyond our wildest dreams. The original TRON was very innovative when it was released almost 30 years ago because realistic computer graphics were still a ways off in the future and more traditional methods had to be retooled to bring the film to life. Disney’s 2010 sequel, TRON: Legacy, uses the familiar CG we see in every movie to try to bring us the next chapter in the story, but the sleek filmmaking techniques of today don’t always bring the same awe factor.

In the original film, Jeff Bridges plays Kevin Flynn, a skilled hacker who is transported into the world of computer programs and tries to defeat the evil Master Control Program. TRON: Legacy begins when Flynn has mysteriously disappeared, leaving his son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) to grow up an orphan with the keys to his father’s multimillion-dollar software empire. Sam, the typical risk-taking brat, soon gets sucked into The Grid, the harsh world inside the computer, and must try to survive. Along the way, he meets Quorra (Olivia Wilde) a beautiful program who wants to help him defeat the evil renegade program, Clu (played by a computer enhanced youthful version of Bridges) who was originally created by Flynn to create a utopian society. During his time in The Matrix—excuse me, The Grid—Sam finally finds his father, The Creator, who has been trapped in the world for years. Together, they must try to defeat Clu and restore freedom for all the programs in The Grid.

In the 1980s, when the original film came out, the general population knew nothing about computers. Films of the decade, like Terminator, treated technology with a sense of suspicion and fear. Computers could take over the world and enslave human kind. Some might say that’s true today with everyone being tied to their iPhones or Gmail or Facebook at all times, but the point is that we no longer have an innate fear of technology, we embrace it, so films that want to show us the dark side of innovation need to up the ante. Even a film like The Matrix, which takes place in a future where technology has gone too far, is about the enslavement and eradication of all humankind, a far cry from getting sucked into your iPod and forced to play a game of laser Frisbee to the death.

That’s the real problem with TRON: Legacy; it’s more about Sam surviving in the computer world than it is about him preventing the destruction of the real world. The peril is not that perilous. Couple that with the fact that CG is now so commonplace that it’s in commercials and low-budget made-for-tv movies and you take away all the innovation of the original movie. Instead of the technology-gone-bad story of The Matrix or the visual spectacle of Avatar, the film feels like a really sleek videogame and nothing more. Not to discredit all the artists who worked on the computer imagery, but using the same CG we’re all used to in a sequel to a film with imagery that had never been seen before just doesn’t work.

Some of the best effects come from filmmakers who combine top-of-the-line computer imagery with practical effects. The Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to mind for using old movie tricks like forced perspective or miniatures in combination with outstanding digital creations to make a film that felt real, even in the most grandiose moments. Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park blazed this path by using Stan Winston’s outstanding mechanical dinosaurs in combination with ILM computer imagery to make us feel like dinosaurs could be strolling through the parking lot at the movie theater.

Now it seems like the only new technique being brought to big budget films is 3D, and while TRON: Legacy is available in IMAX 3D, there are several sequences that are in regular 2D, making the 3D in motorcycle races or aerial chases seem a bit superfluous. 3D can’t become a crutch for Hollywood. A film should be good, regardless of how many dimensions it can be viewed in.

The question is: what will be the next innovation in filmmaking beyond CG that will bring us the same sense of amazement? Back in the days of Star Wars or even farther back to The Wizard of Oz, there was so much room to grow that the right creative visionaries could bring audiences something truly new. Nowadays there are occasional leaps in CG, like with Avatar, but there’s only so far you can push computer animation before you start to feel like you’ve seen it all before. Actors stand in a green room and a slew of artists take over and make things beautiful, but hardly any of it is real or new. Audiences have become so accustomed to high-quality CGI that it will take something truly innovative to impress us. We can only hope that a new generation of effects geniuses can bring the awe factor back to film.

The music video for “Na Na Na”, the first single from the upcoming My Chemical Romance album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, marks a welcome departure from the gloom and doom of The Black Parade with bright colors, a fun low-budget attitude and a new narrative style.

Frank Iero, Mikey Way, Gerard Way and Ray Toro of My Chemical Romance

The general narrative for The Black Parade involved a character named The Patient, who was dying of cancer, being ushered into the afterlife by a goth Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The music video for the first single had Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero and former drummer Bob Bryar as the band leading the parade of the dead through a dark, ash-colored world of rubble and wreckage. Additional videos, for singles “I Don’t Love You”, “Famous Last Words”, and “Teenagers”, kept with the narrow color palate and more somber subject matter. While “Famous Last Words” had an uplifting message, it was delivered through a video that saw the band performing in the midst of the flaming wreckage of the parade float from the “Welcome to the Black Parade” video.

The Killjoys fill up their Trans Am

Members of the band have stated in several interviews that, while The Black Parade was their most successful album to date, it was also the force that nearly destroyed the band. Instead of being guys from New Jersey who were lucky enough to play music for a living, they felt trapped by their own creation and they were no longer enjoying what they were doing.

It was at this point when they started to record a new album with the goal of doing the opposite of The Black Parade. But, when all was said and done, they weren’t happy with that either. They started from scratch all over again and the result was Danger Days.

The first single, “Na Na Na”, shows a change of tone from the get-go with a catchy chorus and amusing lyrics. It’s more of a return to the punk vibe of early MCR. There’s no more morose theatrics and the song certainly won’t be classified under the dreaded “emo” category. Instead, it’s up beat and, most of all, it’s fun.

Gerard Way as Party Poison

The video, co-directed by Roboshobo and Gerard Way, is superb! It’s like a Spaghetti Western meets a post-apocalyptic low-budget sci-fi. It’s what a movie about the future would look like if it was made in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Like Heavy Metal meets Mad Max meets Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, the gritty video takes place in a desert landscape with the MCR gang joined by a cute multi-culti little girl as they cruise around in their Trans Am and blast bad guys with laser guns. Each member of the band takes on a different Killjoy persona with Gerard as Party Poison, Toro as Jet Star, Iero as Fun Ghoul and Mikey as Kobra Kid. Comic book writer Grant Morrison stars as the bad guy, leader of the masked enemies who are out to kill the Killjoys. Gerard has cited Morrison’s work, particularly Doom Patrol, as an inspiration both for the band and for his own comic, The Umbrella Academy.

Very unlike the videos from The Black Parade, “Na Na Na” is filled with color, right down to Gerard’s bright red hair. Shots of Mikey doing karate kicks or Iero teaching the little girl to shoot a bazooka add a light-hearted spirit not seen in recent MCR videos and the overall feel is fun and vibrant. This also marks the band’s first video that doesn’t feature any performance of the song. Instead, the song serves as a soundtrack for the narrative, adding depth and making the video seem more like a short film.

If “Na Na Na” is any indication, Danger Days will be the perfect turn for the “new” My Chemical Romance.

View the video below or on the Trashwire Blog.

From Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles to McLovin, Hollywood loves nerds. Typically, nerds in movies are portrayed as people who have been wrongly rejected by their school society, but are really great human beings underneath their acne, glasses and knowledge of all things Star Trek. The Social Network is different in that billionaire nerd and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (played to perfection by Jesse Eisenberg) seems to be a social outcast for a very good reason: he’s a jerk.

The opening scene perfectly sets up the film. Zuckerberg’s girlfriend (Rooney Mara) delivers a breakup speech saying that he may believe people don’t like him because he’s a computer nerd, but in fact, people don’t like him because he’s an asshole. This sentence rings true as we watch him dupe wealthy, handsome twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) into believing he’s creating their social networking site, Harvard Connection, while he’s actually taking their idea and expanding it into the site we all know and love, Facebook. While screwing a couple of entitled future Olympians might not be so bad, we see how deceitful Zuckerberg can be as he teams up with sleazy Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) and ousts his former best friend and true Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) out of the growing company.

While the true story of the social networking giant is incredibly intriguing, what struck me most is the way this film completely flips the typical geek rags-to-riches story. The movie could be about a brilliant nerd who outsmarts the exclusive elite and becomes the world’s youngest billionaire, living proof of the American Dream. Instead, we are given a hero that is truly unlikeable and our sympathies lie unexpectedly with the privileged Harvard kids that Zuckerberg swindles along his path to fame and fortune. Usually it’s the opposite: everybody is The Geek, but no one is Jake Ryan.

Getting completely wrapped up in a story is a testament to good actors and there are definitely some outstanding performances in The Social Network. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as an intellectual who alienates his friends and colleagues by talking down to them and believing he is always the smartest person in the room. There are times when you despise him, when you feel sorry for him, and even a few where you appreciate his quick humor. Hammer’s Winklevoss twins are the snooty rich kids you’d normally loathe, but he brings a certain vulnerability that makes them more than just upper-crust caricatures. It’s hard to get an audience to hate Timberlake, but he manages to play Parker with the perfect level of Hollywood douchebaggery normally reserved for the cast of Entourage.

The standout is Garfield, who is the true hero of the film. He is the one who takes audiences on an emotional journey. We’re with him from his initial excitement at creating a site that takes off like a runaway train to his pain when his former best friend betrays him. Though Zuckerberg is the subject, we see the world through Saverin’s eyes and Garfield goes an amazing job of bringing us there.

Inevitably, the film carries with it a bias against Zuckerberg and paints him less as a shrewd businessman and more as a deceitful know-it-all. Saverin consulted on the original source material, author Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, so it can only be assumed that the film would side with him. Still, Facebook has been riddled with controversy since it’s infancy and the story certainly makes you think twice about Zuckerberg’s motives and methods in building the site.

I joined Facebook in it’s early days in 2004 and seeing The Social Network made me wonder if I was part of the problem, part of the masses who gave Zuckerberg his possibly undeserved power. Still, I just can’t not use the social networking site.  In that sense, Zuckerberg is like a drug dealer who makes a profit off the addiction of his customers, but we don’t care because we just can’t live without that sweet sweet Facebook.

By the time I had joined Facebook it was already passed the stage were it was only available to college students. Now it’s even more readily available to folks than it was when I got on board. It feels as though literally everyone has a Facebook profile. It’s much more than a social networking website. It’s a cultural phenomenon. Facebook is a bonafide business and one worth billions.

The Social Network, from director David Fincher, is the story about how Facebook got its start. Created in a Harvard dorm room by founders, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), the site quickly exploded with over 500 million users and a few lawsuits.

Who actually came up with the idea of Facebook seems to be what’s under investigation here. Fellow Harvard students Cameron and Howard Winkelvoss and Divya Narendra claim Zuckerberg tricked them into thinking he was creating their site while he was actually stealing their idea. Zuckerberg says one guy that makes a chair can’t sue everyone else that makes a chair.

Whether the facts and events are one hundred percent accurate, I don’t know, nor do I care. What I do care about is how The Social Network stands on its own as a film, and it stands very well. Fincher was able to create a film, along with writer Aaron Sorkin, that is nothing short of marvelous and easily one of the year’s best.

Zuckerberg is played perfectly by Eisenberg in what could be a career defining role. Despite what many are saying, I found that The Social Network actually shows Zuckerberg as a good guy. While he may come off as a jerk from time to time and seem condescending, he’s not doing it on purpose. He just tends to overanalyze things and situations. When asked a question that others might see as simple and harmless, Zuckerber may look into it too much.

Sometimes I think people fail to realize how hard it is for some people to interact with others. Zuckerberg seems to have that problem, in large part because of how smart he truly is. Eisenberg is superb at portraying this and I wouldn’t be shocked in the least if he earned an Oscar nod for doing so.

Justin Timberlake also stands out as Sean Parker, co-creator of Napster, and the one character I felt was noticeably a bad person. Parker seems to be all about the money and extravagant lifestyle and he doesn’t care who he has to step on to live that way. It’s Its because of Parker’s actions and influence that Zucerkberg ends up removing Saverin from the company and turning their friendship into a  mess that ends in a lawsuit.

Fincher’s direction here is his best to date. There’s a rowing scene in particular that, while it has little to do with the overall plot, is shot beautifully. Fincher’s visuals along with the excellent score from Trent Reznor make this scene jump out like none other.

With strong supporting performances from Rashida Jones and Brenda Song adding to overall perfection of the film, The Social Network is definitely a treat. I could go on and on about how great this film is, listing all the individual performances and nuances that made it so, but the only way to truly understand it, is by getting out there and experiencing it for yourself.

I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of my favorite movies this year. The quick editing, unique visual style, impressive cast and seeing Michael Cera take a welcome departure from the usual charmingly befuddled geeky character make this film a total knock out.

Based on the graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film tells the story of Scott Pilgrim (Cera) as he tries to defeat the seven evil exes of his love interest, the wonderfully hip Ramona, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Scott’s life is simple before he meets Ramona. He’s the 22-year-old bass player in a Toronto band called Sex-Bob-Omb with his friends Stephen Stills (Mark Webber), Kim Pine (Allison Pill) and Young Neil (Johnny Simmons). He lives with his gay best friend Wallace Wells (played to infinite perfection by Kieran Culkin) and is dating a 17-year-old Chinese high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Scott isn’t particularly ambitious and is very content with his life.

That all changes when he meets Ramona Flowers, a trendy girl from New York who now works for Amazon in Toronto.

Scott begins pseudo-dating Ramona while still going out with Knives. As the relationship intensifies, he learns that, if he wants to be with her, he must defeat her “seven evil exes” in a video game-style battle to the death.

Cera has a tendency to play the same adorably awkward geek in every film, so it’s nice to see him as Scott. While Scott’s not exactly a cool guy, he has an inner confidence, bordering on arrogance, that makes him different from Cera’s previous roles. Sure, he’s awkward around Ramona, but he’s almost cocky around Knives and that break from tradition makes Scott one of Cera’s most memorable characters.

The entire group surrounding Scott is even more impressive. Wong is like a Fatal Attraction teddy bear as Knives, completely obsessed with Scott and his entire world. Anna Kendrick, as Scott’s sensible sister, Stacey, brings humor through sharp logic when advising Scott on his relationships. Still, the stand out in Team Scott is Culkin, who brings the perfect recipe of compassion and sarcasm to Wallace.

It’s hard to choose a favorite out of the evil exes, even Winstead had trouble picking one, because each has something unique and funny. There’s Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), the first evil ex who challenges Scott through a sort of emo Bollywood dance. Next is Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, an action movie star with a pro skateboard line and the pointiest eyebrows this side of Sylvester Stallone. After that, Scott goes up against Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh rocking blonde hair and glowing eyes) a vegan bass player in a band fronted by Scott’s very own evil ex, Envy Adams (Brie Larson). To Scott’s surprise, one of Ramona’s exes happens to be a girl, Roxie Richter, played by Mae Whitman. Coincidentally, Whitman also played Cera’s girlfriend on Arrested Development. After defeating her, with a lot of help from Ramona, Scott moves on to confront exes 5 and 6 in the Katyanagi Twins (Shota and Keita Saito) before making it all the way to the final ex, Jason Schwartzman as Gideon Graves. In typical video game fashion, this “boss battle” is the toughest of them all an involves using power ups and extra lives.

The visual style of the film is one of the most impressive aspects. The film spectacularly weaves in and out from simple scenes of Scott at home with Wallace to elaborate fight sequences with graphics and slow motion effects a la Sin City or 300. I would argue that it’s one of the best film representations of a comic ever with perfectly placed title cards, written sound effects and a visual style that makes you feel like you’re living inside the pages of the comic. When the fights break out, it’s like a journey through a wonderland of old school Sega and Nintendo nostalgia. Bill Hader’s video game narrations are reminiscent of the “finish him!” commands in Mortal Kombat, but with an extra hint of humor. The fact that the exes turn into coins when they are defeated is a fun live-action representation of a fond video game memory.

No doubt this is a movie for the younger generation, people who only remember playing Pong will probably find the quick cuts and vibrant graphics to be overwhelming. Anyone who spend hours playing Mike Tyson’s Punch Out–which happens to be one of Culkin’s favorite games–will thoroughly enjoy the Scott-vs-ex combat. I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs the World immensely and am already planning to see it at least four more times.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World was getting a lot of buzz long before it screened at Comic Con in July. Adapted from Brian Lee O’Malley’s hugely popular comic, the film is about Scott (Michael Cera), a Toronto native who’s dating a high school girl (Ellen Wong as Knives Chau) when he falls for a cool new girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona) and must defeat her “seven evil exes” in order to date her.

The cast of this geek masterpiece stopped by Denver on their press tour and I got a chance to sit down with Winstead, Brandon Routh, who is Ramona’s vegan rocker ex boyfriend, Todd Ingram, and Kieran Culkin, who plays Scott’s hilarious gay roommate Wallace Wells.

Though none of the three had read the comic prior to hearing about the film, they knew they were stepping into pretty big shoes as far as fans were concerned. “It has such a following. It’s grown with every book that has come out. The last one was number five on Amazon.” Winstead said.

Because the comic was such a hit, everyone involved with the film didn’t want to disappoint the devoted fans. Thankfully, says Winstead, director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) was just the man to tackle the challenge.

“We really trusted Edgar Wright,” she explained. “Everyone involved in the cast were big fans of his and all of his movies–Spaced, everything we had seen of his. For me, when I read the books, I knew he was the only person that could bring it to life in a way that is cool, unique and fun. So we all, from the second we stepped foot on the set, were just like, ‘ok, you tell us what to do. You guide us and we’ll do exactly like you want and we know that’s gonna end up the best it’s gonna be.’”

While it’s impossible to exactly recreate the comic, Culkin assured us that nothing major was left out. “Fans of the book didn’t seem to miss anything. They really like the adaptation, but, some will say they missed Kim Pines making out with Knives Chau,” he joked.

Outside of the world of comics, Scott Pilgrim vs the World also has tons of video game references spread throughout the movie. At times it’s almost as if you are watching a cut scene pulled directly from a video game. Because of that, I had to know if these guys were actually into video games.

Culkin was eager to talk about games and named Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 as his favorite. “This game Virtual Pro 2, which is a Japanese wrestling game for the 64, I translated it into English so I can play it, but I didn’t need to. It was just for anybody else who wanted to play,” he added. He rounded off his top five with Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Castlevania and Contra.

Routh chimed in to list his faves. “Dragon Warrior was one of the first RPGs. Shining Force, the Sega game, Shining Force 2, the sequel. Joe Montana Football, Sim City, and Warcraft.”

With video games as inspiration, the movie has a lot of really fun fight scenes. The cast talked about the training they went through to prepare.

“It was tough. We trained together for a long time, and we were really well prepared by the stunt guys who worked with us. They were fantastic teachers. Ellen had some prior experience with Taikwando, and I had prior experience with dance, so the two of us kind of combined our abilities. Ellen was so dedicated to Knives, that character, and so it was almost scary fighting with her sometimes, because she got so into character. It felt really real when I fought with her.” Culkin then asked her who would win a real fight between her and Ellen Wong. “We got that question a few times when we were interviewing together, and we always just said that would team up because, I’m like a giant, and she’s little and scrappy and fast.”

And, of course, with all that fighting comes a few injuries. “I pulled my shoulder out a bunch. Lots of tendonitis and stuff. Went to physical therapy for that. In that scene with Ellen, I got stabbed in the eye with one of her knives and was bleeding, and had to have a paramedic help. So yeah, there were lots of little things like that that happened, but it was kinda like battle scars, like we all felt really proud of our injuries,” Winstead said.

Though Wallace doesn’t do any fighting in the movie, Culkin said he trained along with everyone else. “It was more for fun, when everyone was getting together for weeks. We got together early in the morning for training, so I went along for that. Plus, I think also, when I got the part I hadn’t seen Edgar for months, so I showed up to set the first day with long green hair and thirty pounds of extra weight that he wasn’t expecting and I was like, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure you want me? Just try to picture my hair shorter, and I’ll lose thirty pounds, I swear.’ I got to go home for a while and lose that weight for him.”

Scott Pilgrim isn’t only filled with video game references, it’s also got the perfect feeling of an underground indie rock movie. Music is one of the main themes in the movie, with the main characters all competing in a giant battle of the bands, and a huge soundtrack filled with underground music.

Winstead may not be an expert on video games, but she did list her music favorites. “I listen to a lot of oldies and stuff. But, I like a lot of indie rock. Gosh, where do I start?” Suddenly, Culkin jumped in and told her to start by plugging the soundtrack and she replied, “That’s actually genuine, I love the soundtrack. Right now I really love The XX, a lot of Mike Patton stuff, Mr. Bungle, just kind of all over the map, but I love anything from the 60s and 50s, David Bowie, and I also like Buddy Holly, and girl groups. The Shangri Las are kinda my ultimate favorite.”

In the last question of the day, I asked Winstead who her favorite evil ex was in the film. She said she loved them all, but Routh quickly told us that wasn’t true at all, so she had to change her answer. “No, the fight with Roxy, Mae Whitman, will always be special to me because I actually got to fight with her, and we got train together for months and months. So, that was just an awesome experience, and she’s so badass, and wonderful. So, I have to say that one.” Routh also added that Roxy rocks.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World opens everywhere on August 13^th, so make sure you go see it! The soundtrack is available now on cd and red vinyl, and it is awesome, so check it out. You can also check out the Scott Pilgrim 8-bit style video game that’s available for download on the PS3 now, and August 25^th for the Xbox Arcade version

At the San Diego Comic-Con this year, DC Entertainment premiered the trailer for their upcoming film Red, based off the 3-part limited comic release from Homage Comics.

Admittedly, I know nothing about the mini-comic series so my thoughts on this movie are based purely on what I’ve seen from the trailer and upon first viewing I’m definitely intrigued.

The premise of the movie looks to be similar to that of The Watchmen. A former crime fighting crew, this time CIA members, are off enjoying retirement (REDS – Retired Extremely Dangerous) when they realize someone is trying to kill them. Upon this realization the gang gets back together to stop their attempted killer.

Again, this is all based on what I took in from the trailer and little tidbits I gathered online so my idea of what the film is about could be way off. Regardless of the plot however, the movie looks to have a lot of promise.

The cast should be stellar headed by Bruce Willis and John Malkovich. Anytime a movie stars Malkovich, my interested immediately peaks. Add in Morgan Freeman and Ernest Borgnine and I’ll be first in line. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker are all along for the ride as well.

Anyway, enough of my rambling about what I think Reds could be about. Check out the trailer below and see what you think for yourself.

Today at Comic-Con, I got to kick back and enjoy a few panels–which was lovely considering I’ve had about four hours of sleep since I got here. I had fun hearing about writing Invincible Iron Man and Avengers, saw some of the most ridiculous comics ever, learned about creating effects for Avatar and found out Gerard Way’s favorite fictional bounty hunter.

Early in the morning, I attended the Marvel Comics Writers Unite! panel, which featured Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Chris Claremont and Mark Waid. They talked about writing within the “rules” of a predefined universe and some of their least favorite artist-writer parings. They were really engaging and had the audience cracking up.

After that, I got to check out the Spotlight on Gerard Way panel. That was very cool to see because Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba and Scott Allie talked all about the Umbrella Academy. Of course, things tend to drift pleasantly off topic during the Q&A and Ba told the audience about watching 90201 all the time growing up in Brazil. He mused that the show was one of his favorites as a kid and as he got older he realized, “that show is about nothing.” Way talked about everything from adopted-sibling love to his daughters favorite book to his favorite fictional bounty hunter–he chose Dog–and had amusing little anecdotes to fan questions. He also briefly discussed the next My Chemical Romance album and quickly mentioned the upcoming Umbrella Academy film.

Later on, I stumbled upon the Oddball Comics pane. Scott Shaw presented a slideshow of “the craziest comic books ever published” with absolutely hilarious commentary. The show presented the covers for gems from the past like Rainbow Batman and Doll Man. Shaw’s collection of useless superheroes and promotional comics was outstanding.

Next up was The Winston Effect. The panel was all about the special effects of Stan Winston and included Winston’s son Matt. The accomplished effects artists talked about creating characters, not relying solely on green screen and the new Stan Winston School of Character Arts. Winston’s work was astounding, so it was really fascinating to hear about it from people who were right there with him making it happen.

Today also featured two celebrity surprises. I spotted Joel McHale as he was exiting the G4 stage and saw Adrienne Curry in an absolutely perfect Leeloo costume.

After roaming the exhibit hall for another hour, I was ready to pass out and had thoroughly enjoyed my first Comic Con. I’m definitely planning to come back next year to see if it could possibly top the fun of this experience.