I haven't seen this yet, and I'm not sure I have forgiven Wright for the vile Scott Pilgrim yet, but this did solid B.O. over the weekend, which is downright amazing for a non-franchise summer release. Reviews have been glowing. Thoughts?
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 3 July 2017 17:36 (six years ago) link
it's fine.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 17:38 (six years ago) link
in more words: great supporting cast (esp Foxx and Hamm), the pathos and romance didn't really land for me (really doesn't help that Lily Collins is more of a MPDG than anyone in Scott Pilgrim was) but it's fun and clever. an extra 15-20 minutes (aka Hot Fuzz length) or jettisoning the romance could have done it a world of good.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 17:43 (six years ago) link
Intrigued by this new tinnitus cure, "listen to everything incredibly loudly forever", don't know why I haven't tried that
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 3 July 2017 17:50 (six years ago) link
hahaha
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 17:52 (six years ago) link
I'm glad you started this -- I was about to...
Tremendous fun. I'm in love with Ansel Elgort and his sunglasses and skinny jeans. First-rate editing and casting (Spacey's best work in many years, close to Hamm and Fox's best0.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:10 (six years ago) link
My idea of a smart summer blockbuster, I guess.
Elgort dancing to "Harlem Shuffle" while getting coffee >>>>>>> all of Drive
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:11 (six years ago) link
It was great fun but I think the handful of five-star reviews I skimmed beforehand led me to expect more. Not sure there's a huge amount of depth to it, but I'd have to watch again to be sure.
― chap, Monday, 3 July 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link
i liked the romance, it felt very sweet and genuine. I'd be much more inclined to cut the scene in the diner digging into Foxx and Hamm's backstories, neither of those characters was interesting even though Hamm was fun to watch.
the opening scene and really the first half-hour or so are so dazzling, I wish that kind of goofy spirit could have been maintained throughout, the film turns more and more generic the longer it plays.
― evol j, Monday, 3 July 2017 18:14 (six years ago) link
let me be the first to say that
SPOIIIIILLLLLLEEEERRRR
Spacey's third-act turn didn't work for me, and was the sort of thing I'd like to have seen a little groundwork laid down for (I don't think the scene with the nephew suffices)
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:16 (six years ago) link
i enjoyed this. opening car chase was one of the best I've seen
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:18 (six years ago) link
some of the most inept movie cops I've ever seen tho
It's suggested that Spacey has a crush on Baby; he gives him a couple once-overs.
The nephew's one of the few recent plausible smart aleck movie kids. I did roll my eyes at the insistence on Baby's innocence (the nursing home scene at the end almost belted me out of the theater).
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:19 (six years ago) link
more like Edgar Wrong
― more polls about food and reactionary art (Noodle Vague), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:25 (six years ago) link
I liked the way Foxx (or was it Hamm?) undercuts Baby's supposed innocence by pointing out that he didn't say word one about them endangering civilians until Debora showed up
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:28 (six years ago) link
I'm a little surprised folks seem to be mostly OK with Debora being such a thin character who mostly just waits around for Baby to show up
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:29 (six years ago) link
She bored me. I liked how she apparently doesn't own a cell phone.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
I'm in love with Ansel Elgort and his sunglasses and skinny jeans.
My husband is too, which is why I am anticipating a rare (for us) trip to the cinema for this one.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:31 (six years ago) link
yeah she was a cipher pretty much
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:32 (six years ago) link
this is an endemic problem with scriptwriting. it's much easier to be creative in your setup than in your resolution. life would be more rewarding for writers if audiences didn't demand resolutions in the third act, but were satisfied with a full exposition of unresolved complications.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:32 (six years ago) link
I have long accepted that I am always going to love the set-up of a pop entertainment movie more than the resolution. It is why I was able to enjoy the goofy final-act revelation in Get Out, to pick the most recent example.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:35 (six years ago) link
tbh romance has never been Wright's strong suit. he's much better at dealing with friendships.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:36 (six years ago) link
The scene with Hamm in the diner in the last third was excellent.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:36 (six years ago) link
I like Edgar Wright a lot, but there is nothing about this that looks remotely appealing to me. It seems like a parody of some post Tarantino 90's movie, except by most accounts it's not a comedy?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 July 2017 18:37 (six years ago) link
It's hilarious in spots. I don't often laugh watching movies.
Also, Wright is way more fun than Refn and Tarantino.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:38 (six years ago) link
"Romance has never been Wright's strong suit" is the most charitable way to possibly account for the toxicity of Scott Pilgrim (though I'm assuming the source material is largely to blame as well), but that's another movie and another discussion.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:38 (six years ago) link
Like, is it really another one last job ensemble heist movie?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 July 2017 18:39 (six years ago) link
The movie's at the service of the soundtrack, I might argue, but Wright's such a shrewd editor that Elgort moves with way more grace than Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone ever did in LLL.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:39 (six years ago) link
"Romance has never been Wright's strong suit" is the most charitable way to possibly account for the toxicity of Scott Pilgrim
yes Scott Pilgrim has its own thread, but I would add that SP (which I recently rewatched) contains about 10,000 references to its main character being an asshole which really helps
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:41 (six years ago) link
I kept thinking this must have been an exacting nightmare to edit but I'm sure Wright was slick enough to make it as easy as possible
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:42 (six years ago) link
I think the main reason the movie disappointed me (even though I really enjoyed it for the most part) is the trailer made me think more of the film would be Baby and his love interest escaping his former life rather than it being tacked on at the very end.
some other details too bothered me, like why the corrupt cop gunrunners wouldn't first disarm the people they were planning to sell to.
this movie is v much not grounded in reality but v much a universe that exists only in crime movies (and it's a good thing in this case cos grounding woulda sunk this one fast).
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:44 (six years ago) link
it's a good thing in this case cos grounding woulda sunk this one fast).
and yet Baby likes the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link
funny to see Sky Ferriera play Baby's mom, I can't recall if she had any dialogue but I guess for whatever reason it was important to Wright that the woman singing on the MOM tape was the same one actually playing the character.
― evol j, Monday, 3 July 2017 18:47 (six years ago) link
One of the things I really like about Wright's movies and screenplays is how they tend to be strongly anchored by an actual moral, without ever feeling overdetermined or po-faced about it (being really funny helps). This keeps him in sharp contrast to his snarky/nihilistic, heavily postmodern peers. You could argue that "passivity is tantamount to complicity" is the moral to BD but the love story gets in the way of that and undercuts that strength a bit. (I should stress again that I liked this, it's just my least fave of his features.)
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:50 (six years ago) link
an awful lot of fatal car accidents happen in movies while people are driving and arguing simultaneously
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:51 (six years ago) link
also did I miss it, but why did Spacey talk about how he never uses the same crew twice other than Baby and then he re-uses Hamm and Gonzalez again 30 minutes later?
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:56 (six years ago) link
or did he just mean "exact configuration" i.e. Batts was subbed in for Griff so that = "new crew" even tho it was only 25% diff
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal)
would you ever work with Flea again?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:57 (six years ago) link
can I just
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5e/f1/bb/5ef1bb3bfa7be1814b910ba59bd6e647--ansel-elgort-fun-facts.jpg
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
this is how I took it.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:01 (six years ago) link
First half great
Second half shit
Scott Pilgrim is a perfect, incredible movie.
― quet inn tarnation (darraghmac), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:02 (six years ago) link
I really wish the MIchael Myers mask thing hadn't been in the trailer cos it woulda been a lot funnier just showing up cold mid-movie
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:03 (six years ago) link
I feel like blind foster dad shoulda been like "dude I am already not ok with u robbin shit but at least if yr gonna do i can I like benefit from it and live somewhere decent"
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:05 (six years ago) link
Every character in this is a cipher fyi
― quet inn tarnation (darraghmac), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:06 (six years ago) link
I kind of expected that going in tho
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:08 (six years ago) link
this wasn't too horribly different from Driver other than I feel like this was a better movie and Gosling's character liked to use stealth rather than do doughnuts on the highway
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:09 (six years ago) link
It was transporter more than driver but it isn't as subtle or as adult in its themes or relationships as transporter
― quet inn tarnation (darraghmac), Monday, 3 July 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
Wished the movie kept up the energy of the first half hour but whatcanyado. It was still a fun watch
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 03:42 (six years ago) link
Is it named after the Simon & Garfunkel song?
― Guidonian Handsworth Revolution (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 03:47 (six years ago) link
yes it plays over the credits
― micah, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 08:01 (six years ago) link
Lily Collins is more of a MPDG than anyone in Scott Pilgrim was
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 3 July 2017 18:43
Lily James.
I enjoyed this, it moved along well but I do wish it had something a little bit more to it.
Only complaint is Hamm doing the "you can't hide from me" thing later on.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 13:53 (six years ago) link
I do wish it had something a little bit more to it.
yeah, i don't want a ticket purchase for this to result in more films like it being made.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 13:58 (six years ago) link
you chuckleheads should be discussing Walter Hill's The Driver rather than that ludicrous POS Drive, get yr titles right.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 13:59 (six years ago) link
that kid's legs are too thin, Alfred.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 14:01 (six years ago) link
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius),
What, decent Hollywood froth for once?
So were McCrea's.
Wright's a big Hill fan, but I see Streets of Fire in this more than The Driver.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 14:03 (six years ago) link
i need to watch Streets of Fire, thx
sacrilege to compare a boy to Joel McCrea
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:12 (six years ago) link
You're in luck: SOF recently got a Blu-ray reissue, I believe.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link
And you can dream about it.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:53 (six years ago) link
If I can hold it just right!
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 4 July 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
i didn't like this at all really. clever-clever w/o being clever. careless about violence. terrible dancing. cutesy and shallow instead of 'archetypical' or w/e. 90s in a bad way. jamie foxx was great though.
― goole, Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:19 (six years ago) link
i did like how it was really in atlanta instead of an anono-city, but that only highlights some unappealing racial attitudes in the thing.
― goole, Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:23 (six years ago) link
no you're a terrible dancer
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:32 (six years ago) link
Anyone see Triple 9, the John Hillcoat Atlanta set Heist Thriller with Casey Affleck and Gal Gadot?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:47 (six years ago) link
Jamie foxx was as bad as everyone else
― quet inn tarnation (darraghmac), Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
in the Michael Jackson sense
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 9 July 2017 19:54 (six years ago) link
I was hoping for more from this, but the first hour was fun. It didn't stay as funny as I'd have liked.
― jmm, Sunday, 9 July 2017 20:36 (six years ago) link
spoiler alert - obv all the non white ppl die in this. which is very 80s just like most of the movie. good to know edgar wright absorbed the decade well. i thought foxx was actually very good, though obv his character is an arsehole. jon hamm proved he can only really act as don draper, even when playing a bank robber. i liked the film overall, the car park battle was a bit too cartoon tarantino, and excessive in a way the rest of the film wasnt, and something i thought edgar wright was above, but hey, its hollywood. i like that he got to make this in the structure he wanted, it was a lot of fun to watch, and kind of sweet, but the film was also a little culturally/emotionally empty in a way his british films havent been. the other odd thing i found was that apart from the bank job in the red car, many of the car sequences werent actually that amazing to watch. this might be as i find very few race/car action sequences as amazing as many seem to think (unless its the delorean in back to the future), but i thought wright would pull something more kinetic and inventive out the bag. tarantino did it better in death proof IIRC. the sequence of baby just walking around listening to music on the street when he goes to order coffee was more memorable than any of the car scenes.
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 14:30 (six years ago) link
(spoiler) Hamm and Spacey die and the black foster dad doesn't, so I don't think that first point really holds up.
― evol j, Monday, 10 July 2017 14:37 (six years ago) link
jon hamm proved he can only really act as don draper, even when playing a bank robber.
This is a plus! Also, he's way more handsome when elegantly wasted than in the suits.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 July 2017 14:39 (six years ago) link
yes, also very much reminiscent of 80s racial tropes. the non white character gets to live... but only if hes sufficiently harmless and non threatening to warrant being saved/spared. got to have One Good Minority character. good in this case meaning perfect by way of being adorably deaf.
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 14:56 (six years ago) link
SPOILERS
the point is not that 'oh hey! white ppl die too! all lives matter! okay?!' but that no non white characters live except the one no one could ever dislike. because there is no way he could every harm anyone. thats how perfect the non white good guy has to be.
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 14:58 (six years ago) link
*ever
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 14:59 (six years ago) link
Spoilers
Most ppl die in this movie
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 10 July 2017 15:01 (six years ago) link
just realised, my comment should have read 'obv all the non white ppl die FIRST'
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 15:04 (six years ago) link
Yes it's now an excellent review of this bad movie
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 10 July 2017 15:15 (six years ago) link
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 15:30
That's unfair, I thought they were very different. Similarities were just Jon Hamm playing a bastard.
And Lily James wasn't manic or unattainable or teaching Baby much at all, she was just really cute.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 10 July 2017 15:31 (six years ago) link
Last point to Simon H
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 10 July 2017 15:32 (six years ago) link
main thought i had watching this was edgar wright is directing like this like someone who just saw MTV for the first time in the early 80s and thought 'what if someone did this in a movie?!'
other recurring thought: i need to get my old ipod repaired. i liked that dial much better than the replacement.
― StillAdvance, Monday, 10 July 2017 16:14 (six years ago) link
i loved that the 56 second intro to Geogaddi - Boards of Canada was in this. AND maybe a mid/late period Stereolab track?? there was s song playing when he went record shopping that sounded just like something from Dots and Loops or Cobra and Phases.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 05:21 (six years ago) link
Ok, so now I guess I'll have to watch this movie
― Moodles, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 05:24 (six years ago) link
this movie was great, probably gonna be my favorite of the summer. as good as any of Wright's other films, imo. a better musical than La La Land. don't miss it.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 08:21 (six years ago) link
Car chase to "bellbottoms" at the start was exhilarating. I enjoyed it although I do think by the end it swallowed a lot of action movie cliches.
― Well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 11:59 (six years ago) link
Regurgitated them in some interesting new flavours though.
― chap, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 12:47 (six years ago) link
I did; it was OK. Not great. The robbery sequences were well done. Kate Winslet's really good in it.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 12:59 (six years ago) link
Was quite pleased they gave Focus - "Hocus Pocus" a good spot.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 14:50 (six years ago) link
― Moodles, Wednesday, July 19, 2017 1:24 AM (eleven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
haha to be fair it could've easily been a piece of exotica/lounge music that Stereolab referenced or absorbed.... BUT it really sounded like the first part of Refractions in the Plastic Pulse, or Velvet Water.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 17:17 (six years ago) link
http://68.media.tumblr.com/982d0a4f3a0142aa1270df0f16181865/tumblr_n6k7a8Qwru1sskn9qo2_250.gif
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 17:19 (six years ago) link
I liked some of this, I didn't like some of this, I loved part of it, I hated part of it. So I guess that makes it ... a wash?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 July 2017 19:17 (six years ago) link
it makes it a regular movie
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2017 19:19 (six years ago) link
Well, it feels more inessential than average, let's put it that way. A diversion, little more than that. I think I would have preferred a PG-13 rating and full musical, minus bloody violence, which felt out of place, given the tone.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 July 2017 19:30 (six years ago) link
That Hollywood can still produce diversions in the years before the sea rise deluge is enough.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 July 2017 19:31 (six years ago) link
You know what I remembered as I was watching it? That better than it should have been Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Michael Shannon bike messenger vs. cop comic thriller "Premium Rush."
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 July 2017 03:52 (six years ago) link
the trailer for this made it look so good, but it was so lame. the script sucked, the kevin spacey twist at the end was totally unbelievable and out of place, the romance was lame (hmm yes let's drag this poor woman who you've hung out with exactly twice into your drama without asking her first), the choreography was dumb. the whole thing was just so... try-hard. it was like the director watched john wick and thought he'd try making a super slick, stylish, effortless crime caper too but ended up failing miserably.
― just1n3, Monday, 24 July 2017 02:29 (six years ago) link
?? what 'twist'?
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 04:43 (six years ago) link
The thing where we've been set-up all movie to believe one thing and another thing happens - the technical name for that is a twist.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 24 July 2017 07:04 (six years ago) link
Drops coffee mug referentially
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 07:59 (six years ago) link
this is one of those uncanny valley films that seemed so totally geared towards my own tastes and sensibilities (especially some of the music choices - 'Egyptian Reggae' and Blur's 'Intermission' were staples on any mixtape I made back in the days when I used to make mixtapes), that I'm not sure how much I did enjoy it. I definitely thought it was fun and a well-made film, but except for the fact driving is the most anxiety-inducing thing I have to regularly do, it's like the film of me, and I don't know how much I like that.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 08:56 (six years ago) link
Was quite pleased they gave Focus - "Hocus Pocus" a good spot.― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, July 19, 2017 3:50 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, July 19, 2017 3:50 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
This one too. I liked how the gunshots went in time with the music
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 08:58 (six years ago) link
I think if I have any real criticism of this film is that it could have been just a little bit funnier. The funny bits were really really funny though.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 09:59 (six years ago) link
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, July 24, 2017 3:04 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yes, smartass, but I don't recall anything like that happening in this movie
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:44 (six years ago) link
Guys..
The music in a film is not a measure of the film
I'm sorry that's just how I feel.
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:48 (six years ago) link
at the same time let's not kid ourselves about this film being much more than an excuse to have a bunch of cool tunes set to car chases with a fairly standard plot draped on top.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:52 (six years ago) link
I've noticed a lot of fatal car accidents happen in movies when people don't know how to drive and argue with their S.O.s at the same time
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 12:55 (six years ago) link
It's actually a shit plot.
Wright hasn't written a good plot since at best Hot Fuzz and tbh that was also over obsessed with symmetric wank payoff in lieu of plot
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:56 (six years ago) link
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, July 24, 2017
i.e. most chase movies starring Steve McQueen?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 July 2017 12:59 (six years ago) link
Plot gets in the way of this one
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 13:07 (six years ago) link
not seen many of his films. TGE obvs. Not even sure I've seen Bullitt.
The whole 'this guy listens to headphones while driving fast cars' thing is such a naff gimmick that the film quasi-lampshades it several times. If it wasn't pulled off with: A. actually decent music picks; B. quality casting; C. great editing, it would fall right through. You could say pretty much the same thing about Drive, except I loathed Drive and I enjoyed this a fair bit.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 13:13 (six years ago) link
xp
re: Hot Fuzz and "symmetric wank payoff", I believe the term you're looking for is "jokes"
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 24 July 2017 13:15 (six years ago) link
That's why I said I wish this was PG-13 and less violent, that it tried harder to be funnier than it tried to be a convincing action movie. Which it wasn't.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 13:20 (six years ago) link
Neanderthal - sorry for being a smartass, I was trying to dance around it, but it appears under a
in the tenth post here, so: Doc tells Baby that he'll let him go after he pays off his debt, which we're primed to believe will never happen, and indeed when Baby's debt is paid off, Doc doesn't let him go. And then in a surprising twist, he does - and more!
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 24 July 2017 13:31 (six years ago) link
https://filmability.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/ansel_elgort_en_baby_driver_1-imgo.gif
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 July 2017 13:37 (six years ago) link
in the tenth post here, so: Doc tells Baby that he'll let him go after he pays off his debt, which we're primed to believe will never happen, and indeed when Baby's debt is paid off, Doc doesn't let him go. And then in a surprising twist, he does - and more!― Andrew Farrell, Monday, July 24, 2017 2:31 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, July 24, 2017 2:31 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah, that didn't feel like a twist so much as a strange bit of nonsense. Unless of course he really was in love with Baby and on seeing Debora, he just thought 'screw it' and let him go?
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 14:22 (six years ago) link
when he says "I was in love once" or whatever he throws Baby a rueful look. Also, Spacey really digs calling him Baby.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 July 2017 14:22 (six years ago) link
yeah that's not really a twist because Doc never actually said he wouldn't have to do more jobs after he was paid up, that's how Baby interpreted it. but when Baby was confirming that he'd be out after the next job, Doc was careful with his words, he corrected Baby with something like "we'll be straight" which implied to me 'you won't owe me more money but I didn't say no more jobs'.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 14:38 (six years ago) link
The twists were
Spacey not having double-crossed everybody. This was the clear setup, and while Wright might have been delighted to sell the audience this dummy he focused so much on what he wasn't going to do that what he ended up doing was sloppy, careless, messy.
Spacey taking pity on baby, lame move completely inconsistent with character so far and rendered an already lazily drawn and performed character even less interesting
Madman being the nutter out to kill baby
This movie had serious coherency issues and delighted in them.
Hope everyone involved dies, actually
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 14:54 (six years ago) link
I'm sure that some of the cops who got killed in Bats' shoot out turned up again in a later scene towards the end. Didn't understand that.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 15:02 (six years ago) link
Xpost again, not twists, inconsistent plot points maybe but w/e.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:15 (six years ago) link
I'm surprised people were saying this was like a nostalgia film or a 90s-retro film. Didn't feel particularly 90s to me?
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 15:17 (six years ago) link
Beyond iPods, Beck references, people making phone calls on landlines? Let alone all the post Tarantino winky riffs on violent action movies?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:24 (six years ago) link
This owes nothing to Tarantino.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 July 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
I would grab that emergency brake, spin out, then quickly back away from the word "nothing."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:29 (six years ago) link
Didn't Wright write this movie way back when? Like 20 years ago? I assume that accounted for all the off-kilter references, like to Jon Spencer and Midnite Vultures-era Beck.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:30 (six years ago) link
Anyway, if it was first devised 22 years ago, as Wright has claimed, that brings us back to 1995, which is peak post Pulp Fiction. Any action movie devised then was infused with Tarantino juice.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
iPods didn't first come out til 2001 and a few seconds of someone making a call on a landline doesn't really scream NINETIES, or even particularly retro to me. Guess the only bit that had me was the two stoner kids listening to Young MC. The music seemed to be from all eras on there (lots of 70s stuff, so if 90s = 70s retro then fair enough). Didn't think it was particularly Tarantino-esque either, or at least no more so than any other action film that has absorbed Tarantino from the vernacular of action movies.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 15:35 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I mean, that's fair. It's pretty movieland PoMo in its own right. But it definitely has the stylized too-cool-for-school crime violence, colorful criminals and romance thing going on, a la something like True Romance. All the diner stuff I kept thinking of Pulp Fiction, yeah, for surface reasons, but still.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:41 (six years ago) link
BTW, lol at me that I can't even remember when iPods were introduced, and I was there!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:42 (six years ago) link
Where were you picking up on Spacey double-crossing everyone, Darragh? That he always has new crews, or that he always has new crews apart from this one time? It passed me by but I can see the argument.
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 24 July 2017 15:47 (six years ago) link
I think the crews was a ref to specifically the makeup of each one.
But
And I may not bother to remember detail or order correctly u understand
Foxx shoots up cops at weapons deal. Which may or may not have been a setup. We might not be meant to know either way but it had the air of stink before he acted. No explanation of why spacey wouldn't have dropped a hint as to the fact they'd be dirty cops which would seem cogent.
Dude weaponed up and ready to ambush the cru at the van holdup. Again, the direction, detail and the long looks we're given of this guy in advance of him turning into a have a go hero are all redolent of a plot thread that......goes nowhere? Never see him again.
Spacey's character has no thread we can follow that fits anything but a meta stooge wildly swinging the plot from one direction to the next, which I'm sure I've seen work when done well.
Foolishness to claim that my feeling that this was not done well validates or invalidates the unfollowed links of plot above, but what can I say? Didn't work for me at all once the bad guys became good guys and the good guys became bad guys and they all did the most stupid things possible in order to give us a messy conclusion after respective lifetimes spent as successful career criminals and fifty odd minutes of a pretty but pretty dumb driver dude ordering food in a diner.
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 16:19 (six years ago) link
I watched the trailer for this. Is the whole thing full of bad "Southern" accents like Lily James'?
― tong poo (da ba dee) (crüt), Monday, 24 July 2017 16:32 (six years ago) link
that's all it is. just people doing bad southern accents at each other for an hour and a half
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Monday, 24 July 2017 16:47 (six years ago) link
Great, I'm sold!
― tong poo (da ba dee) (crüt), Monday, 24 July 2017 16:51 (six years ago) link
Any particular reason for thanks to Tarantino in the credits to Baby Driver?— Paul (@reev0) June 27, 2017
― Number None, Monday, 24 July 2017 17:00 (six years ago) link
He gave me car chase advice, general support and one cool script idea.— edgarwright (@edgarwright) June 27, 2017
― Number None, Monday, 24 July 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link
lol I guess it owes something to Tarantino
― blog haus aka the scene raver (wins), Monday, 24 July 2017 17:03 (six years ago) link
good god, I loved this movie but didn't give it much thought after I saw it. why so much hand-wringing? it was fun. i loved that he made tape collages. some cool music choices. short, fun, original script. GREAT! end of discussion...
― flappy bird, Monday, 24 July 2017 18:53 (six years ago) link
We don't take kindly to fun round 'ere
― Neanderthal, Monday, 24 July 2017 19:16 (six years ago) link
You can't spell fun without FU.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 July 2017 19:19 (six years ago) link
Didn't earn the fun
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Monday, 24 July 2017 19:52 (six years ago) link
"The movie's at the service of the soundtrack, I might argue"
Yeah I just came here to say it's a soundtrack in search of a movie. Violently meh. So meh that I'm somehow really mad at it. I passed up Valerian and Laureline for this drivel.
― Conic section rebellion 44 (in orbit), Wednesday, 26 July 2017 00:23 (six years ago) link
Andrew - yes, that's what I was referring toNeanderthal - I was just using "twist" as shorthand. There was absolutely nothing apparent to me that docs character was suddenly gonna go all soft, esp when he's had baby in his debt since he was a kid and threatens his life. He didn't just let him off the hook - he let him off the hook after he fucked up a heist AND he got himself killed to save baby
This movie looked like it was totally gonna be my jam - but it just felt lame from beginning to end. Also I disliked all the music.
― just1n3, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 01:11 (six years ago) link
lol I only thought this was OK but it's several orders above Valerian xp
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Wednesday, 26 July 2017 01:12 (six years ago) link
Atomic Blonde better not let me down like this
― just1n3, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 01:12 (six years ago) link
Also I disliked all the music.
― just1n3, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 02:11
!!!
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 01:19 (six years ago) link
*shrugs* it's just not the kind of music i particularly like
― just1n3, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 02:37 (six years ago) link
I wasn't into a lot of it but none of it seemed bad
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 02:47 (six years ago) link
Spacey's character doesn't go wildly in for explaining his actual business to the hired help
This guy has nothing to do with Spacey, the cru, or the holdup. He's a random passer-by who keeps guns in his car bcz he's an ex-soldier nutbag and Georgia is an open carry state. We never see him again because we follow Baby, the titular character of the film, after the encounter, rather than branching off to follow this rando and examine his unhappy home life.
Agree that this film was a messy disappointment.
― Doubtless they are toss. (sic), Wednesday, 26 July 2017 02:51 (six years ago) link
I'd lazily claim that that's all fine except for Wright clearly directing the movie to draw attn to these things then leave them dangling. That kind of chaotic confusion works in the tone of a Ronin or similar, for me it was smartypants messing in this one.
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Wednesday, 26 July 2017 07:03 (six years ago) link
the first two times we see deborah she's rocking out to her own music, on her own headphones. baby's instantly drawn to her. a woman listening to her own music, that you can't hear, gives her a kind of power and independence, which is awesome, and it seems like baby responds to that, which is awesome. and then the movie just.. totally gives up on that dynamic. she knows more about music than he does (lol "trex") but somehow we end up with a "let me school you about music lil' girl" scene anyway. and then as noted upthread she just waits around in her ridiculously short costume dress in this impeccable, empty diner. where baby's blonde mom used to work! was anybody else just a liiitle bit skeeved out by that? just me? oh and she also pops up in baby's jimmy dean picture-postcard fantasies, draped over a mean set of wheels. it's so schematic that it's almost brechtian or something. it's absurd. but all played totally straight, no comment on the paper-thin pulp unrealness of it at all. which is maybe for the best, i dunno. it's a good point about the sickening violence of the climax feeling really out of place with the rest of it. i'd almost show it to my kids if it wasn't for kevin spacey getting graphically reversed over several times.
i really liked baby needing to rewind the song if something slowed down the heist, but it didn't add up to anything really?
lily james kept reminding me of a young jennifer jason leigh - the comparison didn't flatter her
but yes, i too am now in love with ansel elgort, i won't lie
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 28 July 2017 21:45 (six years ago) link
oh and the movie i saw just prior to this, on the airplane, was guardians of the galaxy, whose hero also has a mother who died too young and left him an old cassette tape that he's willing to risk his life for. ??!
agree that spacey's turn at the end felt v lightly earned - and i was disappointed that baby never got to face him down. on the contrary, they became, like, buds!? after spacey set all this in motion and ruined his life? fuck outta here! hamm's just a random menacing heavy. i'm no expert in script mechanics but to this unfrozen caveman it was a fatal deflation of the stakes
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 28 July 2017 22:01 (six years ago) link
I don't recall it being that violent.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 28 July 2017 22:28 (six years ago) link
the rebar thru jamie foxx was like nothing in the movie to that point. and for me spacey vs car was super gruesome
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 28 July 2017 22:35 (six years ago) link
Glad to have u on board TH otm on each point
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Friday, 28 July 2017 23:01 (six years ago) link
Many xps - I'm def not saying the music was bad, it just didn't do it for me
― just1n3, Friday, 28 July 2017 23:25 (six years ago) link
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand),
yeah...
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 29 July 2017 01:04 (six years ago) link
I passed up Valerian and Laureline for this drivel.
― Conic section rebellion 44 (in orbit), Tuesday, July 25, 2017 8:23 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is infinitely better than Valerian lol
― flopson, Sunday, 30 July 2017 23:13 (six years ago) link
'messy dissapointment' is way ott wrt the plot (even if some of criticisms by Tracer are smart and legit, i just didn't care that much while actually watching it), but even so, forget plotting/character development for a moment--the car scenes are so meticulously and geniously EDITED!!! and comprise like 75% of the movie; more than compensates imo
― flopson, Sunday, 30 July 2017 23:20 (six years ago) link
Jesus I wish 75%
― jk rowling obituary thread (darraghmac), Sunday, 30 July 2017 23:42 (six years ago) link
Valerian was marginally better imo but still disappointing.
― just1n3, Monday, 31 July 2017 00:15 (six years ago) link
oh come on Valerian was dreadful!!
― flopson, Monday, 31 July 2017 00:42 (six years ago) link
does Ansel bottom in Valerian
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 July 2017 00:47 (six years ago) link
Dane DeHaan is nearly as cute as Ansel and the voice he affects is unbearable; he sounds like an 11 year old impersonating his father on the phone
― flopson, Monday, 31 July 2017 00:54 (six years ago) link
*is NOT nearly as cute
― flopson, Monday, 31 July 2017 01:05 (six years ago) link
OTM and he looks all of 15
― just1n3, Monday, 31 July 2017 02:52 (six years ago) link
I think I had lower expectations for valerian than baby driver, which is why BD was worse imo
― just1n3, Monday, 31 July 2017 02:53 (six years ago) link
this was fairly fun, but every single thing in it pointed to Baby hugely outwitting everyone with a giant confusing amazing car chase sequence to cap off the film. They set him up as being super smart, but instead he suddenly turns stupid, fucks up the getaway royally and we get a pretty boring fight instead?
― jamiesummerz, Monday, 31 July 2017 12:06 (six years ago) link
A good planner is not a good extemporiser!
― Andrew Farrell, Monday, 31 July 2017 12:26 (six years ago) link
He wasn't supposed to be super smart! He's super naive, and weirdly talented in one very specific area. Almost an idiot savant. And he was never the planner, Doc was. So, once the plan goes bad and he's no longer behind the wheel, he has no particular resources to draw on. He's just a kid.
― Cherish, Monday, 31 July 2017 14:57 (six years ago) link
atl folk (and others) might find this interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ry9X2FPfHM
― constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Monday, 31 July 2017 15:06 (six years ago) link
I don't see action films of any kind, although there's probably a tiny bit of overlap with what I do see--I mean, No Country for Old Men had some action. I definitely don't see Fast and Furious-type films, but the music in the trailer for this one reeled me in.
The soundtrack did not save it; just one long reminder of why I don't see action films. Found the last half-hour (everything after "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1") particularly stupefying.
― clemenza, Monday, 4 September 2017 21:28 (six years ago) link
I really must insist you not use this as any exemplar of action films tbh, there are many brilliant movies released in the last several years
What you want to avoid, imo, is going to see shit movies because of a soundtrack
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
As soon as cars start hurtling all over the place, I just shut down. And that constitutes, what, a third of the film? It seemed like an action film to me.
I've seen one or two other films where Spacey "heads a crew"--one of them involved gambling, and Justin Timberlake was in it. Every other line's supposed to be charged with witty cool. He's terrible in these roles. And I think it might have been the first time I've seen John Hamm outside of Mad Men. Somewhat better than Spacey--he had a few lines that seemed like they came from an actual person--but equally terrible in that last half-hour. The other four principals--Foxx, the two women, and the baby driver--were comparatively okay, I guess. Did someone think Paul Williams carries a great deal of cultural resonance? "Wow--it's Paul Williams!"
― clemenza, Monday, 4 September 2017 21:45 (six years ago) link
Woah I didn't say this wasn't an action film
I just protest your seeming acceptance that it's in any way a good example of the genre.
On a separate note, Kevin Spacey is, and always has been, a very poor actor. In many ways as bad as John Malkovich.
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:20 (six years ago) link
That's not true, especially before 1995. Possibly opportunities exposed the limits of his range, but range is overrated anyway.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:36 (six years ago) link
do u think the car chase scenes are bad, d?
― flopson, Monday, 4 September 2017 22:45 (six years ago) link
Once you get past what, at the time, I assume was the newness of the car chases in Bullitt and The French Connection, how do you tell if a car chase is good? They just cut the same impossibilities together ever faster and faster, louder and louder.
― clemenza, Monday, 4 September 2017 22:50 (six years ago) link
staging has a lot to do with it. I felt like the first chase in Baby Driver was one of the best I'd seen recently.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 4 September 2017 22:55 (six years ago) link
shoulda just made the movie a 90 minute chase. kinda like that shit movie Kidnap but like instead, good.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 4 September 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link
zoe bell's stunt work in death proof comes to mind as for as good recent chases
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:57 (six years ago) link
should also include the infamous stock Troma car crash footage
― Neanderthal, Monday, 4 September 2017 22:58 (six years ago) link
Car chases in this were told, and first one yes particularly so
You can tell if a car chase is good if you enjoy it. How dyou judge ice cream ffs.
Zoe bells stunt work in deathproof is not remembered in my house but every other excruciating moment she spent on camera will never be forgiven
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 23:00 (six years ago) link
Car chase in the seven ups btw.
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 23:01 (six years ago) link
clem's right that the last half hour is a travesty, and I can't stand the way female love interests are used in these films, but the first 70 minutes are a knockout. So is Ansel Elgort, who's a screen presence of odd passivity.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 September 2017 23:02 (six years ago) link
Everything through iirc the restaurant is tickety boo, if it's not all exceptional then the imagination on show and elgort certainly carry it so
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 23:03 (six years ago) link
This film was ok, some good parts, a lot of dumb parts. I enjoyed Hamm and Foxx, thought Baby was a bit of a d-bag. Lily James reminded me of young Madchen Amick, and she worked in a diner!
Also, there wasn't a Stereolab song in this.
― Moodles, Monday, 4 September 2017 23:35 (six years ago) link
Meant to mention how much she reminded me of Madchen Amick. Enough so that when I looked up her credits, I discovered I haven't seen her in anything else despite feeling sure I had.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 5 September 2017 00:15 (six years ago) link
This movie was mediocre 10 years after the fact when mediocre would have sufficed.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 September 2017 01:15 (six years ago) link
wow, this movie really did suck
― Dan I., Friday, 15 September 2017 02:54 (six years ago) link
They must really teach those "Fame" dance moves to all the kids at LaGuardia High School!
― Dan I., Friday, 15 September 2017 02:56 (six years ago) link
On a separate note, Kevin Spacey is, and always has been, a very poor actor. In many ways as bad as John Malkovich.― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:20 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Monday, 4 September 2017 22:20 (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Wow, are you... me?
― Kat Slater Slag meme. (jed_), Friday, 15 September 2017 03:32 (six years ago) link
Are you both William Shatner?
― Mark G, Friday, 15 September 2017 05:49 (six years ago) link
XP can't help it if we're both so right
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Friday, 15 September 2017 13:23 (six years ago) link
I do kind of feel about this movie the way I did about Brick (not that the movies themselves are at all similar)--like maybe there are actually genuinely good things about it that speak only to discerning young folks, and I'm too old to really get it.
There's a kind of unselfconscious openness among younger millenials that makes me want to roll my eyes, but at the same time I support it and think it's positive and great!
― Dan I., Friday, 15 September 2017 15:00 (six years ago) link
Brick was good
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Friday, 15 September 2017 15:14 (six years ago) link
But not necessarily for young-person reasons - it's an old genre movie in (very thin) disguise.
― Andrew Farrell, Friday, 15 September 2017 15:31 (six years ago) link
I dunno, there may be something in that young person theory. I really liked Brick and saw it multiple times in college, but I watched it again a couple of months ago and thought this time it was actually kind of terrible?
Only JGL and the kid who played Brain were good in it - the rest of it came off really awkward and hokey in a way it didn't when I was younger.
I enjoyed Baby Driver but only because I went in with low expectations. The story is super thin, but mostly here for impeccably soundtracked car chases and Ansel Elgort's cheekbones.
― Roz, Friday, 15 September 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link
Xps yes! I hated brick and didn't understand why everyone loved it so much
― just1n3, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
you are not alone just1n3!
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:06 (six years ago) link
come anticipate 'Brick' with me!
― Οὖτις, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:07 (six years ago) link
― Dan I., Friday, September 15, 2017 8:00 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
these movies were both written and directed by gen x dudes. i don't know that they are necessarily for the young.
i quite liked brick because i like jgl but the acting isn't great and the concept wears a little thin
― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 15 September 2017 16:08 (six years ago) link
I disliked Brick and enjoyed Baby Driver.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 September 2017 16:11 (six years ago) link
They're completely different movies, I didn't mean to directly compare them. I just meant that they both give me the same feeling that I get when I reflect on the popularity of, I don't know, Twitch streams, for example: "I don't understand the appeal of this at all, but I think I would if I were younger"
― Dan I., Friday, 15 September 2017 16:17 (six years ago) link
The presence of Paul Williams, not to mention the musical selections, was evidence enough that there was definitely An Old at the helm, though.
― Dan I., Friday, 15 September 2017 16:18 (six years ago) link
Is Wright that old?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:28 (six years ago) link
This is my favorite movie of the year. Lot of fun, great mix of genres and homages, amazing soundtrack. Surprised the common wisdom here is so negative. Ah well, your loss!
― Nhex, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:35 (six years ago) link
Given that he opens the movie with the jon spencer blues explosion, I'd be shocked if he were either younger than 38 or older than 45
― intheblanks, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link
'Baby driver is way better than Brick lol wtf' -a youngish millenial
i know it's not good to read an ilx thread for a popular movie you liked but impeccably soundtracked car chases and Ansel Elgort's cheekbones <- seriously, what more do you want out of a movie?
Alfred always otm itt
― flopson, Friday, 15 September 2017 16:53 (six years ago) link
Brick is very fun and was made for like literally 1/100 the budget of BD, leave it alone
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 15 September 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
yeah but no Ansel cheekbones
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 September 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link
This was awful. What are people smoking?
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 15 September 2017 20:53 (six years ago) link
'bones
― passé aggresif (darraghmac), Friday, 15 September 2017 21:54 (six years ago) link
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, September 15, 2017 12:57 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
did you pay for it?
― flopson, Friday, 15 September 2017 22:45 (six years ago) link
Ansel's cheekbones are worth, what, $4000 each?
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 September 2017 22:58 (six years ago) link
Diner/Barry White sequence was an A+ set piece. Only sorry it didn't go on twice as long
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Saturday, 16 September 2017 13:35 (six years ago) link
evidence enough that there was definitely An Old at the helm
who remembers when actual music was popular, eh
I look fwd to a library DVD of this (and Get Out) with zero expectations.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 16 September 2017 13:39 (six years ago) link
a good way to approach life
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 September 2017 14:06 (six years ago) link
lol you can see me being all over Brick in that other thread.
Anyway, has this been posted yet? Where Wright got the inspiration for the film, with Noel Fielding as not-quite-a-Baby Driver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfrcZsKcVxU
― Roz, Saturday, 16 September 2017 15:44 (six years ago) link
He's 43, a hair older than me. Happens to the best of us.
(Simon Pegg is hovering just under 50)
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 16 September 2017 15:52 (six years ago) link
the shot of the clothes all dancing/spinning in unsion in the launderette/laundromat was gorge. i'm amazed i'd never seen that done before.
― piscesx, Saturday, 7 October 2017 00:56 (six years ago) link
shame on you if you defended this crap
― Number None, Saturday, 7 October 2017 01:15 (six years ago) link
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2017-06/2/16/asset/buzzfeed-prod-fastlane-01/anigif_sub-buzz-3537-1496434845-1.gif
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 October 2017 12:40 (six years ago) link
Would literally rather watch 90 mins of Noel Fielding rocking out in a car.
― Conic section rebellion 44 (in orbit), Monday, 9 October 2017 15:10 (six years ago) link
this was simply ok. opening sequence is great, a few other great things, a bunch of dumb things, it's a wash in the end. a fine way to waste an hour and a half at home though.
― akm, Monday, 16 October 2017 12:36 (six years ago) link
Held my interest for its two hours, but it's becoming crushingly apparent that I just don't like Edgar Wright as a filmmaker. This is infinitely more watchable than the appalling Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (which ties with The Guest as the angriest that I have been with a film all decade), but his shallow version of cool continues to grate on my nerves. I did laugh at the Mike/Michael Myers bit and, because I'm a horrible person, Foxx's "Tequila" gag.
Contrary to many of the comments upthread, I guess, I thought Lily James, who is new to me, was enchanting, while all of the other performances ranged from mediocre to terrible (keeping in mind, of course, that they are performing an Edgar Wright script). And with apologies to both Alfred (and my husband), Ansel Elgort is nowhere near as swoony, for me, as Ryan Gosling in Drive.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 19:58 (six years ago) link
It's Jon Hamm's best screen perf to date.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link
it was certainly Hammy
― Number None, Tuesday, 17 October 2017 20:30 (six years ago) link
https://the-hollywood-gossip-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--_UWVIWPi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1476960241/jon-hamm-don-draper-gif
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 20:35 (six years ago) link
I'm basically repeating myself, but I thought the writing and direction pushed him towards absurdity, notably in the final act.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 17 October 2017 20:44 (six years ago) link
Lily James is probably why I ended up seeing this.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 17 October 2017 20:48 (six years ago) link
Boy Baby Driver has some pretty creepy subtext now.— Drac Budryk 🦇 (@PraxisKenzie) October 30, 2017
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 30 October 2017 16:54 (six years ago) link
Hardly subtext tbh. Spacey's character clearly had a thing for Baby.
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Monday, 30 October 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link
it would've been weird if he hadn't
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 October 2017 17:05 (six years ago) link
i was horny for baby the entire movie
great film btw
― J0rdan S., Monday, 30 October 2017 18:26 (six years ago) link
Eric h otm, although it was wasted like every other setup
― Gary Synaesthesia (darraghmac), Monday, 30 October 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
nah it didn't need to get stressed or require more than the parking garage scene
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 October 2017 18:28 (six years ago) link
(which already stretched plausibility)
It is thematically consistent with the hints of an abusive childhood that we get throughout the film, though I don't think that the film, as written, can really bear the weight of any of this.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Monday, 30 October 2017 18:53 (six years ago) link
I was prepared to dislike this immensely based on some of the comments here but it was a blast. Ansel Elgort didn't grow on me until the second act, and it ended too many times, but it reminded me why I really like Edgar Wright even when he's working with what I would normally consider very shallow material. I can't believe I didn't recognize Rose from Downton Abbey.
My greatest complaint, besides the rather milquetoast goodness of our murder-abetting car thief hero, is that most of the songs they picked aren't deep enough cuts to be associated specifically with anything in the movie - if you played the soundtrack and gave me a multiple-choice test on what was happening during song X, I have very low confidence I'd do better than a die roll, as opposed to Tarantino or James Gunn where I now have intense associations between certain scenes and tracks, for better and worse.
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 04:47 (six years ago) link
Genre filmmakers need to stop believing they're DJs. (You Know Who has a lot to answer for.)
I much prefer the "appalling" Scott Pilgrim and Hot Fuzz to this, but it was mildly amusing trash. Spacey's virtuous exit was a little nauseating, but I enjoyed Jamie Foxx's performance.
Walter Hill hommage? He made gritty crime films about adults.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 05:17 (six years ago) link
In fairness to, uh, me, I titled the thread (based on reviews, which were heavy on the Hill comparisons) months before I actually saw the film. But yes, this film is neither gritty nor for adults.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 05:33 (six years ago) link
You Know Who has a lot to answer for.
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 06:48 (six years ago) link
Puccini, the cunt
Anyway morbs otm besides
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 08:47 (six years ago) link
They had some completely inane twat on the R4 movie show talking about the outright importance of the soundtrack to this movie and how *deeply* it was considered to go with the pictures. If he was someone working in advertising or Childrens tv he would have still sounded like a completely myopic former hireling on the Tarantino plantation. Fucking foetuses making movies for children, and doing it ver badly.
― calzino, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 09:18 (six years ago) link
I just saw this on the plane. It was so much fun (even though Ansel, Spacey (ugh) and I thought Hamm was actually bad in this). I wanted to rewatch it right away.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 09:47 (six years ago) link
Scott Pilgrim is a Great Film btw
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 10:25 (six years ago) link
Hamm is just miscast. Plus, as always in these crime fantasies, couldn't his character get work as a model?
Elgort looks like an unfinished pod person from a Body Snatchers.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 12:20 (six years ago) link
Yes! Hence his hotness.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 12:22 (six years ago) link
ewwww
Adam Driver >>>>>> Baby Driver
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 12:27 (six years ago) link
Ann Hornaday nails Wright's Achilles heel: "self satisfaction." A master craftsman like Spielberg is never in showoff mode like this.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/in-baby-driver-gunplay-and-car-chases-are-choreographed-with-skintight-precision/2017/06/27/510b09e4-5a68-11e7-a9f6-7c3296387341_story.html
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 12:56 (six years ago) link
Would u stop
Smugberg
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 12:58 (six years ago) link
don't make me accelerate and impale you!
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:00 (six years ago) link
‘baby driver: it’s no hook, raves ilx’s spielgeirbot’
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:01 (six years ago) link
or Road House, bengazzara
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:02 (six years ago) link
He jabs, he dances away, jabs again
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:06 (six years ago) link
itt: morbs reveals his belief that ilxor poster bizarro gazzara is, in fact, deceased cassavetes favourite ben gazzara irl
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:06 (six years ago) link
he’s got me bang to rights guys
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:07 (six years ago) link
who's Peter Falk on ILX
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:11 (six years ago) link
sorry guys, i fell asleep in the middle of bizzie's last post
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:28 (six years ago) link
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnd5f_qjWY6VifLxrnloRVQXJgkFxr4Dldj0Y7e_KM5zoNQ5xR
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 13:30 (six years ago) link
guys this is tearing us apart, can't we get back to talking about how this film that the populace loved is secretly undeserving of its praise
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 15:31 (six years ago) link
https://images.hellogiggles.com/uploads/2017/07/18100454/babydriverjam.gif
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 15:34 (six years ago) link
reminds me of Cynthia Nixon's seizures in A Quiet Passion
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 15:38 (six years ago) link
After I saw this and liked it so much, I asked my spouse if I would enjoy Fast and Furious movies. He said no.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 15:40 (six years ago) link
fast five is a masterpiece tbh
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 16:43 (six years ago) link
has B G has been on't mushrooms again?
― calzino, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 16:45 (six years ago) link
https://media.giphy.com/media/Nb4mQ6rdXDDAk/giphy.gif
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 16:56 (six years ago) link
The Furious movies are fun
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 17:06 (six years ago) link
yeah try Fast Five yerac. It's not the same sort of thing at all (for one, it knows how silly it is, but plays deadpan rather than Baby Driver's po-faced), but if one of them's going to work for you, it'll be that one
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:02 (six years ago) link
He said Baby Driver was cheekier and I probably liked it because there was sparse dialogue and music that was more my jam. Supposedly Tokyo Drift is the best? (assuming I don't need to start at the beginning for back story).
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:08 (six years ago) link
how about other films about tinnitus?
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:09 (six years ago) link
scott pilgrim rules, so does this movie (kevin spacey's last)
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:12 (six years ago) link
Tokyo Drift is standalone
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:13 (six years ago) link
tokyo drift features one of the worst lead performances i’ve ever seen in a motion picture, and the best character from it shows up in a major role in fast five, so go for fast five imo
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:19 (six years ago) link
One thing about Kevin Spacey is that at least I discovered Difficult People because of the reel of all the Spacey insults.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:20 (six years ago) link
I watched Wonder Woman, Atomic Blonde, Baby Driver and the beginning of Snatched on the plane on Friday? Disclaimer: I took a xanax and had drunk a lot of wine (activation) because I hate flying so much. I got weepy during WW, fell asleep during the middle of Atomic Blonde and loved Baby Driver. Maybe I do need to rewatch to make sure it was as surprisingly awesome as I remember.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:23 (six years ago) link
Watch snatch imo
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:31 (six years ago) link
Atomic Blonde sucked, totally drab & boooooring
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:45 (six years ago) link
IT ALSO HAD A GOOD SOUNDTRACK.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:50 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I was confused when I woke up but people looked attractively put together.
― Yerac, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:51 (six years ago) link
I would avoid the boring cut of Atomic Blonde, the one I saw was pretty great.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:54 (six years ago) link
― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 20:57 (six years ago) link
i can see baby driver being an absolutely a+ airplane movie
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 21:07 (six years ago) link
hence a C movie in appropriate settings
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 21:10 (six years ago) link
Hmm. Movies I've seen on airplanes: Class Action, King Ralph, Entrapment...yeah, it'll do.
― iCloudius (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 21:18 (six years ago) link
― flappy bird, Tuesday, January 23, 2018 3:45 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
for once I agree with flappy
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 23 January 2018 22:16 (six years ago) link
It definitely felt like a valedictory performance; I was very moved.
― clemenza, Thursday, 25 January 2018 01:32 (six years ago) link
he died as he lived, being ambiguously creepy & controlling over pretty young men
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Thursday, 25 January 2018 02:19 (six years ago) link
not as good as The Blues Brothers
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:24 (six years ago) link
how about other films about tinnitus?― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, January 23, 2018 8:09 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, January 23, 2018 8:09 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Noise is better than this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=4u8KxEf4A3M
― mor frog bs (S-), Thursday, 25 January 2018 03:37 (six years ago) link
Doesn't Sly have tinnitus in Cop Land?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 25 January 2018 04:05 (six years ago) link
one punctured or ruptured ear drum iirc
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Thursday, 25 January 2018 07:24 (six years ago) link
loss of hearing due to years of listening to Harvey Keitel yelling
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:22 (six years ago) link
that reminds me, i've been meaning to ask for a while if non-uk ilxors are aware of harvey keitel's embarrassing reprisal of the character of winston wolf in a series of godawful ads for insurance which have been running for a few years in the ol' blighty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRTSd-ppQFQ
― your skeleton is ready to hatch (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 January 2018 14:28 (six years ago) link
wow
― flappy bird, Thursday, 25 January 2018 17:39 (six years ago) link
Oh shit they didn't...
They didn't know
― i,CloudiOS (darraghmac), Thursday, 25 January 2018 18:55 (six years ago) link
lol my thoughts exactly
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 25 January 2018 21:26 (six years ago) link