Four and a half geek-movies for Scott Pilgrim

Good news everyone!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the world is in Austrian cinemas… RIGHT NOW!
But only in a handful of cinemas…

Yes, again the Ponyo debacle is happening a little bit.

Scott Pilgrim was headed for a January 2011 release, which made me check out Amazon.co.uk if the blu-ray would come out before that and I could import it (it comes out in November).

Thankfully the movie is hitting our cinemas, allegedly October 22^nd – except it’s not, unless the websites for Austrian cinemas are just too slow.

So why a Ponyo debacle again?
I’m grateful this movie is coming out now, but the fact that the marketing just started about a week/two weeks ago, will be very bad for the awareness about Scott Pilgrim. I saw the trailer with Piranha 3D, the marketing department is probably doing the best to promote the movie but I guess it will very soon vanish and underperform, like it did in the US (even though there was a big hype in the US, which lead me to fear that this movie wouldn’t be released in Austria at all).

Anyhow, Scott Pilgrim will be in austrian theatres, it’s a movie about a geeky guy, trying to make out with a girl working at Amazon.com.
When he’s starting to date her, he learns the terrible truth: he needs to defeat her seven evil-ex-boyfriends to win her – let the battle begin!

To get in the mood for Scott Pilgrim I’ve selected four great movies and one episode which celebrate and glorify geekdom in all its nerdy facets – and don’t anyone lecture me on the difference between nerds and geeks.

You know those annoying horror geeks who won’t shut up during a movie?

Remember when you were watching [Rec] and people kept complaining that this is completely implausible and they would act totally different?

Everyone knows and probably hates that guy, he’s complaining about characters not wanting to shoot their daughter after she got bitten by a zombie – why? Because he/she has seen zombie flicks and knows the rules, unlike the characters who experience a zombieinvasion for real and have not watched these films.

But – what if there was a zombieattack? Then these geeks might come in handy!

Zombieland is a laugh-out-lout comedy about a dysfunctional “family” trying to make its way through a zombie infested world. Next to The Boat that Rocked this is my feel-good-film.

And if you know what a proton pack is, you will have twice the fun watching it.

Geek factor: 50% – the main character has created a set of rules how to survive a zombie movie, something most of us have done more than once…

Accessibility for non-geeks: 70% – if you don’t mind some bloody zombie effects, this movie is well written, the humour is understandable even if you haven’t seen any zombie movies

What is inherently associated with geeks nowadays?
Comics.

And what question do comic geeks ask themselves over and over again?

No, not “who would win in a fight between X and Y” because the answer is always Batman, no matter who is fighting.

The question is:
“Why aren’t there superheroes in real life?”

Well Kick-Ass answers this question… at least for a while, then it throws the main character into a conflict between a stereotype mob boss and two superheroes with guns acting like Adam West and Burt Ward.

The whole movie is filled with comic book references, musical and photographical homages (heroes shaking hands in front of the rising sun).

Kick-Ass is a violent funny thrill ride, one of my favourite films of 2010 and doesn’t lose its impact even after a few viewings.

Geek factor: 70% – he’s wearing a cape, yeah like Batman! A movie about Batman walking around with a gun and his 11 year old daughter killing an armed mob in one of the most exciting action sequences of the year, need I say more?

Accessibility for non-geeks: 85% If you have wondered, who Adam West is, you probably won’t laugh at Nicolas Cage’s voice, but there is still a lot of humour and emotion in this movie for the casual moviegoer. The action is top notch, the actors give their best and most importantly: it is an exciting modern-day western.

Now here is where we get into discussions about the difference between geeks and nerds.

Star Trek has been plagued with the nerdy stigmata. The Star Trek stereotype is the one of some lone nerd sitting at his computer, studying the Jefferies tubes, warp-core or the tachyon scanner (admit it, you know at least one of these words!).

But what if…
What if a group of aliens would watch Star Trek and structure their life after the series? A whole race of nerds, looking for a saviour.

And if you don’t have James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols you will get Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Daryl Mitchell, Tony Shalhoub and Sigourney Weaver.

They are the cast of a cancelled Sci-Fi series called “Galaxy Quest”, unfortunately the aliens don’t know this and therefore the worn out actors who are fed up with the series have to fight an interplanetary war… aided by a bunch of geeks who have the plans of the series’s ship because they have religiously studied each episode.

Geek factor: 85% – this is Star Trek come to life during a Star Trek convention!

Accessibility for non-geeks: 75% if you don’t know the Star Trek jokes, the script of the movie makes sure that you will get the humour anyway. Alan Rickman playing a wannabe serious actor who is stuck with a role he hates is hilarious no matter what you know about the Intrepid-class starships.

Futurama is geeky Simpsons (some geeks might argue it’s the better Simpsons) it is mocking science fiction stories and a Star Trek episode was inevitable. In “Where no fan has gone before”  – catch the reference? Add +1 to your geek score.

Fry sets out to rescue the banished Star Trek movies that garnered a major religion in the 3rd millennium… staring all the actors of classic Star Trek (minus the late Deforest Kelly and James Doohan) plus Jonathan Frakes who offered his voice for two words.

Geek factor: 90% – do you know who Welshy is and why he dies?

Accessibility for non-geeks: 30% – while Futurama is a series that can be enjoyed by non-geeks as well (even though it has a very nerdy stigmata that is especially strong in german speaking countries – for whichever reason, probably bad dubbing), this episode is a strict fan-service, filled with Star Trek jokes and references that can only be entertaining if you know the series.

In 1999 a group of Star Wars fans learns that their friend is dying of cancer and will not be able to see the new Star Wars movie… the only logical conclusion: break into George Lucas’s Skywalker ranch and steal a workprint of Star Wars Episode 1.

So a road-trip begins, in the millennium falcon, a story about friendship, paedophile dating, getting punched by Harry Knowles and your personal Death Star – all for a soulless movie not worthy of the original Star Wars trilogy.

But they couldn’t know this in 1999… at least the characters don’t know it since the movie had a long way until the big screen in 2008 – almost getting censored because the cancer subplot was deemed inappropriate.

Geek Factor: 100%
If you’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here…
If you know why a bunch of Star Wars fans is taking a shortcut to Iowa…
If you know that it’s Trekkers, not Trekkies…
If you’ve been looking for love in Alderaan places…
Then watch this movie.

If not…

Accessibility for non-geeks: 00% it’s no movie for you.
…except if you want to see MACHETE as “The Chief”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1qaLmfzW3I]