Ultra Culture Cinema #04: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Setting out to buck the trend that fourth instalments of a franchise are always doomed to failure, Ultra Culture Cinema once again put on a fabulous, gin-and-tonic-fuelled night of movies, music, amateur dramatics and special guests at London's ICA on Wednesday with their screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

The Incredible Suit wittered at length about the film itself here, and while I stand by what I said then it's fair to say that a) a second viewing is much more satisfying, and b) the campaign for a spin-off, Kim Pine vs. The World, in which the red-mop-topped czarina of cynicism beats her new boyfriend's seven evil exes by casting withering looks and raising a single eyebrow at them, starts here.

The evening began with a re-enactment of the film's trailer by various audience members, aided with props created by Ultra Culture Overlord Charlie Lyne and his team of depressingly young helpers:



The best actor, as decided by the rest of the audience, won an amazing prize, but let me tell you now that the guy who played Scott Pilgrim, who didn't win, was ROBBED.

After the film finished we were all very excited by the arrival of a special guest: Blurry Edgar Wright!

There was a quick Q&A, the third I've seen with Edgar in the last couple of weeks, but the only one in which I got to ask him: What would you rather, have Scott Pilgrim vs. The World become a universally adored box office smash but never be able to make another film with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, OR make another film with Simon and Nick but have Scott Pilgrim vs. The World become a universally hated flop?

Unsurprisingly Edgar drifted off midway through the question and didn't answer it sufficiently, but you'll be pleased to hear that he graciously accepted a scratty bit of paper full of equally inane questions and agreed to answer them in the fullness of time. See your court, Edgar Wright? That's where the ball is.

After all that we repaired to the bar, attached stickers to our persons and availed ourselves of the discounted gin and tonic.

Why Charlie Lyne refers to himself as "THE BOBB" is a mystery yet to be solved.

What followed then, I can only apologise for to anyone in the vicinity of central London. Ultra Culture had got hold of Rock Band 3 (which is apparently a big deal but means nothing to me - think Atari karaoke) and me and my team of ultimate badasses "performed" a version of 'Need You Tonight' by INXS. I think we were scored on our performance but nobody told us how we'd done, presumably as an act of kindness.

Having ruined everyone's night and contravened several noise pollution laws we quietly headed out into the night to think about what we'd done.

So thanks to the rockin' band, thanks to Axeman Sam for the video, thanks to Limara at Your Turn Heather for the band portrait and thanks to Ultra Culture and the ICA for another groovy evening.

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