Baby Driver

[pete]

I just watched that opening scene again 'cause youtube has it and I hate that main dude's face even more. I don't think I was ever convinced that this kid actually enjoys music or has experienced any amount of pain (I also just realized that it's painfully obvious Ryan Gosling doesn't love jazz music either). I think this dude would've been much more interesting as a black character by the way - just based on what the script calls for - name is Baby, lives in a bad Atlanta neighborhood, dad/ grandpa's black, mom sings soul music...etc.

actors who successfully portray their love of something in a movie:

Tom Cruise (jazz, Collateral)
Virginia Madsen and Giamatti (vino, Sideways)
Peter Dinklage (trains, The Station Agent)
Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat)
Patton Oswalt (cooking, Ratatouille)

actors who did not pull it off:
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
EVERYONE FROM WHIPLASH
Robert Redford (comic books, three days of condor)
I dunno I feel like there might be others

[polkablues]

Can you imagine this movie with Michael B. Jordan or Lakeith Stanfield as Baby? 95% of my issues with the film would be solved.

[Drenk]

What a dumb movie. If the action was at least entertaining, but no...

I read that he wrote the screenplay a long time ago. It was probably in a collection of scripts and called Wet Dream Number 15.

A different actor wouldn't have saved it. Look at how he wasted Jon Hamm...

[polkablues]

I don't know, Jon Hamm was my favorite part of the movie until he turned into the T-1000 towards the end.

[Drenk]

When he kissed his girlfriend all the time? We had snapshots of some kind of interaction with Baby but all the false drama and mistrust was very weird to me. The whole sequence at 2am with his recording was flat.

I was so ashamed for the movie everytime Debora was on screen. I cringe easilly, but it was too much. It's only eye candy. Or he's writing her like some sort of bland fantasy on purpose? It seemed like the movie tried to be genuine while smiling a little.

I watched Dunkirq yesterday, and I realize that you also have handsome silent men in it, but you could really project life in them. Everything in Baby Driver has the "you could be in an add for toothpaste" look.

A cameo made me smile.

[BB]

I know there are many getaway driver movies and they're all kinda similar, but I was shocked how much this is the exact same movie as Drive. Different tone, but the same hook, same story, kinda the same characters. Remember at the time hearing Gosling/Refn say it was about a guy who drives around listening to pop music cause that's the only way he can feel. I guess here the pop music stops him from feeling, but still. Unreal.

[Drenk]

But I like Drive. (Watching it, I did think that the opening scene was like a bad version of the opening scene from Drive.)

[jenkins]

[wilberfan]

Didn't care for this one at ALL.   Is there an "Overhyped Films of 2017" thread yet?  This would be on my list.  Along with "Get Out".

[Drenk]

Get Out is a decent comedy with some really interesting and strong moments. Meanwhile, Baby Driver is a complete failure and an embarrassment. But if its purpose of rebound movie worked for Wright, I'm glad for him. I can't wait for a movie he didn't write when he was fourteen because he's worth so much more than that.

[Gold Trumpet]

To curve the thread a little bit, I thought Baby Driver was excellent entertainment. Edgar Wright turned an action story into a musical of staging and camera work. The soundtrack is almost perfect for what the film is. The film is punctual with dialogue and Ansel Elgort was pretty good. I think casting anyone with stronger characteristics would have thrown off the pitch of his characterization - someone still seemingly traumatized by a car crash and taking baby steps to do simple things - like ask a girl out.

Not anywhere near the best of the year, but one of my favorites of the year, for sure.

[BB]

This is a movie for regular people who don't really care about movies or music. That probably sounds snobby but I don't mean it in a pejorative sense. Most people don't care, but still enjoy being entertained. It is the very rare film that will satisfy cinephiles and the general public.

Feel the same way about La La Land. Found I liked them both in theatres but the esteem faded kinda quickly and I doubt I'll see them again. Both are deeply uncool movies. Again, not necessarily an insult.

I get why we might expect slightly artier fare from Edgar Wright even though he's always been pretty populist too. Don't know what to expect from Chazelle. He's made three unconvincing movies about jazz and now he's making one about the moon landing.

[Gold Trumpet]

Expecting anything outside of escapist fun from Edgar Wright (for me) is a mistake. It's like when many people got their hopes up about Doug Liman just because of Go back in 1999. He made Swingers before and it was fine but 1999 was a break out year for a lot of filmmakers so the temptation was to see Go as possibly hinting at something more for Liman. Wasn't the case and he was just filmmaking to the rave scene/90s element in the film. Everything he did after was him bending to whatever story he was filming. I think Edgar Wright will have more personality than Liman and film what he wants but c'mon, he wants to keep his films pretty light. Film is still pretty democratic for all of us in that we can find a lot of different reasons for liking all kinds of films.

No comment on Damien Chazellle. For me, still too early on the career comment.

[Tortuga]

I tend to agree with this tweet by Anna Biller:



The story, genre clichés and even characters are subordinate to the choreography of actors, camera movement, art direction and (sound-)edit. There's some delightfully old fashioned cinematic virtuosity at work here. This must have made it very easy for me to ignore any subpar plot and casting decisions. (Because, of course, I won't deny that, for example, Baby isn't in any way as memorable a character as Mr Hulot – there are surely many things that could have elevated the film to a much higher level still).

[Drenk]

Oh. No. The action was really uninspired. Ant-Man—the movie Wright didn't make—had more inventive action sequences than Baby Driver. What? The car stops when a song stops? By the way, I am not expecting anything but entertainment from Wright: I loved Scott Pilgrim and found At World's End underwhelming but still engaging. The movie isn't interested in what the characters are doing when Baby is driving. They drive to a place while a song plays. They go out. They come back in. They're chased while a song plays. Or maybe I have a hard time finding any virtuosity in a car chase after Fury Road, a movie that had virtuosity and that was able to develop characters during the action.