Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Cert 12, 107 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd). Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Mark Webber, Alison Pill, Johnny Simmons, Kieran Culkin, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito, Jason Schwartzman *** Video game-styled comedy based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The film is a blitzkrieg on the senses from the opening frames, blessed with a snappy script littered with choice one-liners (“If your life had a face, I’d punch it!”). The stylised digital effects are very cute at first, like the little meter that appears on screen when Scott visits the toilet, and gradually empties as he relieves himself. However, the visual bombardment lasts for almost two hours, and by the end of the film, we feel almost as exhausted as the characters. Cera plays the same geeky everyman role, albeit with a bass guitar in his hand. A three-disc DVD or Blu-ray set, comprising Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, is also available.

The Last Exorcism (Cert 15, 83 mins, Optimum Home Entertainment). Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley *** Filmed in the faux documentary style popularised by The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism attempts to create the illusion of reality by allowing the cast to improvise around a loose narrative framework. However, the underlying script increasingly strains credibility, and the camera has a knack of pointing in the right direction to capture vital parts of the narrative, when there should be some events which bypass the lens entirely. Night-time scenes are particularly effective, captured in the light fixed on top of the camera. Fabian is an engaging central protagonist as the Reverend Cotton Marcus, who is slowly losing his faith and has decided to expose the smoke and mirrors he uses to conduct fake exorcisms, and Bell has staring lifeless into the lens down to an art form. If Daniel Stamm’s film is anchored to reality, it cuts itself free for the overblown resolution.