Scott Pilgrim vs the World

As a resolute non-gamer, I had been wary about seeing this (much as I adore Edgar Wright). However, despite probably missing numerous references and in-jokes, I loved every single minute of it. Sometimes you just know you're going to adore a film from the very first seconds and Scott Pilgrim had me at the pixellated Universal logo (subtle and clever) It almost goes without saying that there's too much to take in on a single viewing. Really the film needs to be perused on frame-by-frame ultra slo-mo to process all the information flashing across the screen. To say it's a technical tour-de-force doesn't quite describe the sheer virtuosity and imagination on display. But all that would count for nothing if the audience didn't care about the characters, and while Scott and Ramona didn't exactly rock my world (at times both need a damn good slap), the rest of the characters more than win you over. Hands-down winner on the male front is Wallace Wells, Scott's gay room-mate and expert purveyor of cutting wit, while Knives Chau steals the female title as the adorable high-schooler dated (and cheated on) by Scott. Most of the evil-exes are a riot (a running joke is Ramona's correction of Scott's mentioning of "evil ex-boyfriends" - there is a reason) There's Chris Evans' skateboarder/movie star Lucas Lee, who tells Scott he's going for an Oscar this year (hilariously unlikely) and lets his stunt team fight on his behalf; Brandon Routh's peroxide musician Todd Ingram whose veganism confers special powers (cue an amusing appearance by the vegan police); and Jason Schwartzmann's Gideon Graves, music impresario and gleefully hissable chief villain. Throw in a hip and varied soundtrack and you've got something for everyone who loves either films or music.