New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Chris Evans needs to become the biggest star on the planet. Like, RIGHT NOW

This was a lesson that I learned whilst watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but I feel that it needs to be reiterated at every possible opportunity; Chris Evans is hilarious and needs to be a superstar. In this film, he plays the team's hacker Jake Jensen, and his constant attempts to flirt with Saldana's character Aisha are delightful, as is the brio that he brings to a scene in which, to get out a situation where three armed guards have their guns trained on them, he tries to convince them that he is a super soldier with psychic mind bullets. It's one of the funniest scenes in the film and kind of made me sad that he has yet to become as popular as he deserves...

...which makes me kind of annoyed that the film that will probably turn him into a star is Captain America, a film which probably won't play to his strengths as a funny, likable presence. That is, unless he performs the whole part as Lucas Lee from Scott Pilgrim, in which case it will be one of the best films ever.

No, we need to Stop Believin'

Partway through The Loser - in fact, right before the scene that I just mentioned, Jake starts singing "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey as a means of completing his disguise as a slightly douchey delivery guy. It's a funny bit which Evans sells through his exuberant singing, but all it did was remind me how sick I am of that song. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun song, but EVERYONE uses it now, and after a while it loses some of its power.

This is particularly noticeable when the song in question has been used to create not one, but two iconic scenes in the last few years. Whether or not you like the finale of The Sopranos, that final scene is pretty indelible, and has become as synonymous with the song as Steve Perry's full-throated delivery and full-bodied bouffant. And, whether or not you like Glee, its use in the pilot episode is about as stirring and inspirational as anything the show has done. (For the record, I'm kind of indifferent to the Glee phenomenon. I liked the first half of the first season, but I haven't watched any episodes since the Joss Whedon-directed episode "Dream On", and that was largely because of my love of Joss' work and Neil Patrick Harris. Actually, my obsession with NPH might be getting a bit much. The other day, I, as a straight, single man, seriously considered going to see Beastly purely because I found out that he had a supporting role in it. BEASTLY! Fortunately, I came to my senses and went for the far manlier option of watching my Blu-Ray copy of Beauty and The Beast. Oh Belle, one day you will be mine!) Each subsequent use of the song in film and TV drains the previous examples of their power. It'd be like if every film and TV show, regardless of content or genre, decided to start using "Stuck In The Middle With You" after it was used in Reservoir Dogs.

So, can we please have a moratorium on using "Don't Stop Believin'" in films and TV? (And can someone please make a film starring both Chris Evans and Neil Patrick Harris?)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan's definition of "dying badly" is a bit off

*Spoiler Warning!*

Late in the film, Roque (Stringer Bell, sorry, Idris Elba) betrays the group by leading them into a trap, which in turn leads Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to say that Roque's story will end with him "dying badly." In reality, Roque dies when a flaming motorcycle crashes into the cockpit of the plane that he is trying to escape, killing him in a fiery explosion.

I'm sorry, but that's not dying badly, that's dying AWESOMELY! That's certainly how I plan to go. Though I'd like to be fighting a grizzly bear, whilst drunk, and saving a basket of puppies right before the motorcycle hits, just to make it *that* little bit more awesome.

Continued:       1       2