BABY DRIVER (2017) aka, the Edgar Wright/Ansel Elgort/Kevin Spacey/Jamie Foxx pop-song-and-car-chase Walter Hill homage(?)

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?

it's fine.

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.

Intrigued by this new tinnitus cure, "listen to everything incredibly loudly forever", don't know why I haven't tried that

hahaha

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.

My idea of a smart summer blockbuster, I guess.

Elgort dancing to "Harlem Shuffle" while getting coffee >>>>>>> all of Drive

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.

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.

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)

i enjoyed this. opening car chase was one of the best I've seen

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).

more like Edgar Wrong

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

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

She bored me. I liked how she apparently doesn't own a cell phone.

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.

yeah she was a cipher pretty much

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.

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.

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.

yeah she was a cipher pretty much

tbh romance has never been Wright's strong suit. he's much better at dealing with friendships.

The scene with Hamm in the diner in the last third was excellent.

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?

It's hilarious in spots. I don't often laugh watching movies.

Also, Wright is way more fun than Refn and Tarantino.

"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.

Like, is it really another one last job ensemble heist movie?

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.

"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

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

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).

it's a good thing in this case cos grounding woulda sunk this one fast).

and yet Baby likes the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

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.

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.)

an awful lot of fatal car accidents happen in movies while people are driving and arguing simultaneously

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?

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

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)

would you ever work with Flea again?

can I just

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5e/f1/bb/5ef1bb3bfa7be1814b910ba59bd6e647--ansel-elgort-fun-facts.jpg

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

this is how I took it.

First half great

Second half shit

Scott Pilgrim is a perfect, incredible movie.

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

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"

Every character in this is a cipher fyi

I kind of expected that going in tho

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

It was transporter more than driver but it isn't as subtle or as adult in its themes or relationships as transporter

Wished the movie kept up the energy of the first half hour but whatcanyado. It was still a fun watch

Is it named after the Simon & Garfunkel song?

Yes! Hence his hotness.

ewwww

Adam Driver >>>>>> Baby Driver

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

Would u stop

Smugberg

don't make me accelerate and impale you!

‘baby driver: it’s no hook, raves ilx’s spielgeirbot’

or Road House, bengazzara

He jabs, he dances away, jabs again

itt: morbs reveals his belief that ilxor poster bizarro gazzara is, in fact, deceased cassavetes favourite ben gazzara irl

he’s got me bang to rights guys

who's Peter Falk on ILX

sorry guys, i fell asleep in the middle of bizzie's last post

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRnd5f_qjWY6VifLxrnloRVQXJgkFxr4Dldj0Y7e_KM5zoNQ5xR

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

https://images.hellogiggles.com/uploads/2017/07/18100454/babydriverjam.gif

reminds me of Cynthia Nixon's seizures in A Quiet Passion

After I saw this and liked it so much, I asked my spouse if I would enjoy Fast and Furious movies. He said no.

fast five is a masterpiece tbh

has B G has been on't mushrooms again?

https://media.giphy.com/media/Nb4mQ6rdXDDAk/giphy.gif

The Furious movies are fun

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

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).

how about other films about tinnitus?

scott pilgrim rules, so does this movie (kevin spacey's last)

Tokyo Drift is standalone

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

One thing about Kevin Spacey is that at least I discovered Difficult People because of the reel of all the Spacey insults.

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.

Watch snatch imo

Atomic Blonde sucked, totally drab & boooooring

IT ALSO HAD A GOOD SOUNDTRACK.

Yeah, I was confused when I woke up but people looked attractively put together.

I would avoid the boring cut of Atomic Blonde, the one I saw was pretty great.

Watch snatch imo

i can see baby driver being an absolutely a+ airplane movie

hence a C movie in appropriate settings

Hmm. Movies I've seen on airplanes: Class Action, King Ralph, Entrapment...yeah, it'll do.

Atomic Blonde sucked, totally drab & boooooring

― flappy bird, Tuesday, January 23, 2018 3:45 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

for once I agree with flappy

scott pilgrim rules, so does this movie (kevin spacey's last)

It definitely felt like a valedictory performance; I was very moved.

he died as he lived, being ambiguously creepy & controlling over pretty young men

not as good as The Blues Brothers

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

Noise is better than this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=4u8KxEf4A3M

Doesn't Sly have tinnitus in Cop Land?

one punctured or ruptured ear drum iirc

loss of hearing due to years of listening to Harvey Keitel yelling

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

wow

Oh shit they didn't...

They didn't know

lol my thoughts exactly