Del Toro plus Lovecraft equals?

Shoggoth-senses tingling. And not in a good way...

Yeah, that pretty much sums up my feelings on Pilgrim. Vol 5 actually resonated much more for me than this one, in as far as connecting with my life in a recognizable way. But I don't demand my art be representative of my life to appreciate or enjoy it.
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I think I was just thrown more by how uninvolved I ultimately was, particularly in the final boss fight (I can't even talk about the series without couching it in video game terminology) - the fight had too many off-beats, too many breaks in momentum. If he was going for the ever-evolving-threat aspect of, say, a Final Fantasy Boss fight, he didn't quite pull it off - if anything Gideon seemed to constantly diminish in terms of the threat he posed as the fight progressed. Beating him seemed increasingly less vital and less relevant. I liked that the stakes were higher for Ramona in that whole thing, but I wish I could have felt that same urgency as a reader.

It really did feel more like a final battle that was trying far too hard to work on far too many levels simultaneously. I don't think the spine of the series was ever sturdy enough to support the kind of thing it felt like he was going for in that conclusion.

It does make me very curious to see how that will play in the film. If translated faithfully, I suspect it will come across more hokey than impactful, especially with only two hours worth of narrative to get the audience to that point.

My favorite part of SPv6 was definitely the Memory Cam. Because, on an emotionally resonant level, I've got that same Memory Cam, myself.

Matt: Yeah. I've tried to temper my reflexive distrust of Del Toro because one time I caught myself calling his approach "bullshit" like I'm one of the blogosphere's short-bus bullies and he's a Grant Morrison comic I've decided I don't like. But...yeah.

Sean: I'm pretty sure the movie's finale and the final volume diverge since the latter wasn't written when the former was.

Don't know where I saw it, but there was a story going around that they reshot the ending to making it "more in line" with the ending of the comics (same source said that if they had kept the ending they had screened a few mos back, fans of the book would have been pissed - so hopefully we'll see it on the DVD).
Could be bullsh*t, but we'll know in a couple of weeks.

I've seen the movie, so no spoilers, but... the final confrontations are superficially similar, but quite different in tone. I suspect someone on some end caught wind of the other's plan, since one character tword the end of the movie pretty evidently takes on the characteristics of another character in vol. 6, in addition to their own...

Sean and Joe: Now that you mention it I remember Edgar Wright saying he changed some stuff once he read vol. 6. Also, how the heck is everyone seeing this movie already??? I understand if you were in San Diego, but Joe, aren't you in Pennsylvania someplace?

Universal's been running sneak peek screenings (in addition to press screenings, which have been going on this week too)... trying to drum up extensive grassroots hype, I suppose!

Sean, TAMARA DREWE is a really good read. But even if it wasn't, I, like you, would shell out the 10 bucks to watch Gemma Arterton cavort about in cutoff shorts for 90 minutes.

The amount of text in Simmonds comics always puts me off. That trailer certainly incentivizes getting past that.

The amount of text in Simmonds comics always puts me off. That trailer certainly incentivizes getting past that.