Is there not yet a thread for DRIVE, the forthcoming Ryan Gosling vehicle (geddit)?

This was a completely senseless good time. And aside from one or two decent pieces the actors were completely wasted throughout (why even both getting good people if you aren't good to even use them well). I did like that it moves at such a languorous pace for the first hour before the violence explodes (audible gasp in my movie theater during the first such sequence--there seem to be a high percentage of folks who thought this was a "date movie", I guess.) Anyway I wasn't bored and the movie (and LA) looked great.

The Driver might be a better movie than Drive (have to rescreen it) and Thief might be better too (which I also kept thinking of) but I'd rather watch Gosling than either O'Neal or Caan.

The Driver is pretty good, but when did it become one of the unassailable '70s classics?

yea i dont hold the driver or thief for that matter in v high regard & ive seen both fairly recently

When Drive came out apparently. Walter Hill really is underrated though.

I don't view it as such -- only saw it for the first time this spring -- just that it seems to be the most efficient ancestor of this film. I'm guessing Alex doesn't consider Drive the equal of Le Samourai, which some of the more wild-eyed supporters of this movie seem to be writing.

xxp

Yeah, but c'mon. The Warriors > The Driver and everyone knows it.

the wapo review of this described it as "very european" which i read as code for le samourai tbh

Xxp no I don't. I don't even think it's as good as any of the Pusher films.

The Long Riders is better than the Driver too.

The Warriors is amusing but way too 'cute' for me. *surprise*

also, neither of those films have Bruce Dern

Neither does Le Samouri.

charley varrick is a decent parallel imo. esp the heist-that-yields-more-$-than-expected & ensuing complications angle

I'm always happy to see a move in the mould of Le Samourai, even if it is The American

ugh, that was a waste, down to the concluding butterfly

Charley Varrick is a better, albeit less stylish, movie.

Thx for reminding me of The American, makes any hesitations I have about endorsing Drive fall completely away.

I didn't like The American, or at least I didn't like a lot of it, but those kinds of film are like catnip to me.

it would've been a lot closer to a great movie if they hacked out the carey mulligan character. nothing against her, but the character's a big nothing and has no place in a lean-n-mean walter hill ripoff

Yeah, this. Her second September movie in a row in which she plays a wan nothing.

The racial politics in this thing are...interesting.

My 12:10 showing was out of a David Lynch movie: a half dozen men with severe mental retardation making nose in the right rear of the theater.

I was the only one who laughed hysterically at Albert Brooks' excellent delivery of his resume ("I used to make movies in the eighties...critics called them European").

naw, i think she's pretty important (xpost)

the thing is that carey is an object of affection, you know? she's not a very sexual person. i think that's why she works in this role, she's someone to love (ditto the kid), not someone to lust over.

that said, i was pretty shocked to learn that Refn isn't gay. i imagine most straight directors would have picked a more sexual actress for that role

LOVED this film btw

and want Ryan Gosling

that a movie is made for nerds who fetishize 'hypermasculine' slick violence is usu reason enough, Guk

don't think this is accurate? there's nothing Tarantino (ughh) about this violence. it's not "fun" and there's no cheering it on (the film is tracking terribly with audiences, a C-minus cinemascore--there's a reason they hate it)

C-minus cinemascore

Uggggh, audiences!

Like I said, beside the Dream Team in the corner, my audience didn't utter a peep, and I distinctly saw rustling and phone-consulting.

man, I really envy Gosling's toothpick.

lol cinemascores. if there was ever any evidence that audiences are easy as hell to entertain, there they are.

the thing is that carey is an object of affection, you know? she's not a very sexual person. i think that's why she works in this role, she's someone to love (ditto the kid), not someone to lust over.

Unlike Isabelle Adjani in The Driver, which I assume in addition to the lacking of a police subplot is where Drive diverges (still haven't seen yet, maybe early this week.

That limbless surfer movie got an A+ from Cinemascore, so, um, yeah.

As long as you don't confront the audience with anything weird, you're generally guaranteed a B (lol Solaris). I'd be shocked if excessive violence turned them off, unless the violence in this is really excessive.

It's pretty graphic.

morbs otm re: most efficient ancestor - dont really understand what everyone else is babbling about

the wapo review of this described it as "very european" which i read as code for le samourai tbh

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, September 17, 2011 12:18 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

it's very euro but in a more contemporary way. i didnt think of le samourai much. lots of knife violence in it - you know if an american director got their hands on this it would've been nonstop guns.

naw, i think she's pretty important (xpost)

the thing is that carey is an object of affection, you know? she's not a very sexual person. i think that's why she works in this role, she's someone to love (ditto the kid), not someone to lust over.

yeah, she's the object of affection, big deal - the character has a purpose but still sucks. they could've cut her out and just used the kid, but then you'd be reminding people how much they'd rather be watching Leon. get real, tape store!!

don't think this is accurate? there's nothing Tarantino (ughh) about this violence. it's not "fun" and there's no cheering it on (the film is tracking terribly with audiences, a C-minus cinemascore--there's a reason they hate it)

― licking your challops (Tape Store), Saturday, September 17, 2011 2:46 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

there isn't, huh? then why was i lustily cheering along the rest of the theater, huh pal

i think friedkin's Bug is the lowest scoring movie in cinemascore history

you and your theater are sadists!

my theater was pretty much dead silent, with the exception of some muttering from the old ladies behind me </midwest>

oh there were groans at a certain restaurant scene, too

the violence got a lot of lols when i saw it. terrible script though.

"what do you do?"
*grin*
"i drive... for movies"
*grin*
*looks away bashfully*
*silence*
*shit-eating grin*

sounds existential

cue music ♫ a reeeal human being and a reeeal herooo ♫

^^^totally convinced i must see this soon^^^^

man to be the toothpick Gosling savors...

...it's probably flavored!

i think friedkin's Bug is the lowest scoring movie in cinemascore history

Kind of a badge of honor.

loved this. puts the nail in bullshit slapstick post-post-post-Tarantino post-Ritchie SMOKIN ACES bullshit madcap gangster bullshit. crime is sad all up and down the chain.

loved the self-conscious retro vibe, the title typeface, the long holds, the complete absence of score, the vangelis-y soundtrack elements. There are really very few acts of violence. It's just that they're... violent, which seems a far more moral cinematic position to take than the typical spray of poorly aimed bullets and one-punch knockouts.

pace am0n the script was dope. our lead more or less speaks in monosyllables until... well, when his first consecutive sentences come out, everything changes. that's a very neat trick. very little dialogue at all, really.

reminded me, oddly (or not so oddly given that it's a noir with a lot of breathing room that captures LA's particular brand of loneliness) of BLADE RUNNER.

dunno what movie morbs saw but i don't get the nerd-fantasy aspect at all. great reminder of just how little you need to create suspense/horror/pity/catharsis. glad I saw it in a theater. made me like being at the movies for the first time in a long time.

man, I really envy Gosling's toothpick.

I'd rather be Jake Gyllenhaal's bicycle seat.

dunno what movie morbs saw

I haven't seen it, I am gleaning the dissents.

YOU PPL WIN AGAIN, I'LL SEE IT, SOMEDAY, FUCK FUCK FUCK

I think the only reason you come into these threads to say "I'm not going to see this" is so we can all badger you into a situation where you feel you absolutely MUST see it.

Almost everyone you normally trust is on the CON side with this, Morbs. Don't know why you feel the need to catch it.

Saw this today. I've hated every previous Refn movie except Valhalla Rising, and/but I own both The Driver and Thief on DVD. This movie pretty much had me the second I saw the neon pink opening credits and heard the synth score. Beautifully shot, zero unnecessary elements...loved it.

Eric, like Popeye Doyle, I don't trust anybody.

morbs do you own any records from the italians do it better label? did you watch ALOT of hbo in 1983? look at the poster - that font, blow yr mind? if the answer to any of these questions is yes you might like drive, otherwise don't bother.

didn't have cable in '83