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Baby Driver (dir. Edgar Wright) |OT| All You Need Is One Killer Track

Just saw this again for the second time. It's still so good and I was able to catch more of the little stuff this time. There's a lot that works so well and I agree there has gotta be an editing nomination for this.

broncobuster said:
His character's last words are something like "If you don't see me again, I'm probably dead." So who knows.
Click to expand...

My running theory on Griff
Buddy kills him for looking at Darling weird in the elevator. I mean his departing line is a signifier of his fate and added with the loving couples conversation about killing people that look at Darling weird, it just clicked for me, but hey I'm just one guy.
 
Probably the most pleasantly surprised I've been by a movie since John Wick first came out. Beautiful cinematography and just a perfect use of very little dialogue.

I'm definitely feeling the need for another viewing as it seems there is a lot for me to still learn and understand from the movie, but for the time being it's probably my highlight of 2017.

EliteArtist said:
Just saw this again for the second time. It's still so good and I was able to catch more of the little stuff this time. There's a lot that works so well and I agree there has gotta be an editing nomination for this.



My running theory on Griff
Buddy kills him for looking at Darling weird in the elevator. I mean his departing line is a signifier of his fate and added with the loving couples conversation about killing people that look at Darling weird, it just clicked for me, but hey I'm just one guy.
Click to expand...

That probably makes perfect sense. I really need another viewing stat.
 
EliteArtist said:
Just saw this again for the second time. It's still so good and I was able to catch more of the little stuff this time. There's a lot that works so well and I agree there has gotta be an editing nomination for this.



My running theory on Griff
Buddy kills him for looking at Darling weird in the elevator. I mean his departing line is a signifier of his fate and added with the loving couples conversation about killing people that look at Darling weird, it just clicked for me, but hey I'm just one guy.
Click to expand...

Lol I saw the movie twice now, and in my second viewing I thought the exact same thing! Didn't even bat an eye to it at all the first time.
 
Just came back from the theater with my bro and we loved it! He hadn't actually seen or heard anything about it ahead of time, so it was a rare experience for him to see a film "blind". As soon as he caught on that
the lyrics for the song during the intro heist can be seen in the graffiti
he was floored. So much fun, definitely see this with someone else to get the most out of it!
 
JCHandsom said:
Just came back from the theater with my bro and we loved it! He hadn't actually seen or heard anything about it ahead of time, so it was a rare experience for him to see a film "blind". As soon as he caught on that
the lyrics for the song during the intro heist can be seen in the graffiti
he was floored. So much fun, definitely see this with someone else to get the most out of it!
Click to expand...

Didn't even notice this. I need to watch a pop up version of the movie that reveals all the little secrets and nods. It's so intertwined. Brilliant film making.
 
this felt like Reservoir Dogs with a more 21st century sheen to the writing and characters. In fact, I could see all these bad guys transplanted into Kill Bill tbh down to their cartoonish code names.

I really wish we got a scene where Jamie Foxx slammed Baby's face on the counter in the diner and Jon Hamm gave a customer the staredown as he did it but that would be too on the nose with the homages even for an Edgar Wright film.

anyways, this was just too much fun.

also it just dawned on me that
the unstoppable Buddy's name was actually Jason, dat meta joke
 
Discotheque said:
also it just dawned on me that
the unstoppable Buddy's name was actually Jason, dat meta joke
Click to expand...

It goes deeper than that
His full name is "Jason Van Horn". Jason Vorhees much?

EDIT:
I just remembered the Jason joke with the Mike Myers masks. Hot damn this movie!
 
JCHandsom said:
It goes deeper than that
His full name is "Jason Van Horn". Jason Vorhees much?

EDIT:
I just remembered the Jason joke with the Mike Myers masks. Hot damn this movie!
Click to expand...

Oh shit, didn't connect the last name too. Haha that's cool.

Also can we talk about how fucking dope Jamie Foxx was? Dude was such an asshole in here. That
Austin Powers impression he does when he says TJ is iced was hilarious

Also man had some great quotables.
 
I still love this movie.. it's a shame about some of the negatives I have with it. The character motivations of Doc and Deborah.. I still can't get over how little they make sense.
 
Well I flat out didn't like it.
Real awful dialogue, very inconsistent story and character motivations.
Driving was cool. But after the second heist the movie went in a downward spiral big time.
There are very few movies I shake my head at and want to just end already, but this was one.

Editing was terrible also. Way too fast, you don't have time to even figure out what you're looking at then it's gone.
 
I liked it well enough; most of the criticisms are completely valid though.

I do think it is the latest reminder (Get Out being the last) that when given obscenely high RT%, one would do well to temper their expectations. On that note, I kind of got a sinking feeling this will be the first of a string of summer movies (Spider-Man, Apes, Dunkirk) that could all be extremely well-reviewed by critics, that I'll end up thinking are just.. fine. Will still go in hoping for the best but, yeah.
 
raziel said:
I liked it well enough; most of the criticisms are completely valid though.

I do think it is the latest reminder (Get Out being the last) that when given obscenely high RT%, one would do well to temper their expectations. On that note, I kind of got a sinking feeling this will be the first of a string of summer movies (Spider-Man, Apes, Dunkirk) that could all be extremely well-reviewed by critics, that I'll end up thinking are just.. fine. Will still go in hoping for the best but, yeah.
Click to expand...

this was fantastic. last summer action movie to get this high a score on RT and Metacritic was Fury Road which is soon to be a classic as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not always so slavish to these review aggregates but they've been on the money with these highly praised action movies imo.
 
How much of the movie has 1-second cuts? I hate both TV-ad-style non-stop cuts and shakey cam, so if either is in much of the movie it would probably ruin it for me.

In contrast, I loved how clear John Wick's action was.
 
Blizzard said:
How much of the movie has 1-second cuts? I hate both TV-ad-style non-stop cuts and shakey cam, so if either is in much of the movie it would probably ruin it for me.

In contrast, I loved how clear John Wick's action was.
Click to expand...

it cuts a fair amount, as his action scenes always tend to do. but its still well shot and easy to follow.

also some of the shots he gets of the car action is fantastic. just read that he consulted with George Miller on some of that and used one of the camera rigs used on Mad Max. shit gets pretty damn close to the action on a few drifts.
 
Blizzard said:
How much of the movie has 1-second cuts? I hate both TV-ad-style non-stop cuts and shakey cam, so if either is in much of the movie it would probably ruin it for me.

In contrast, I loved how clear John Wick's action was.
Click to expand...

The action is cut more to the music than anything visually happening. Since the fight is cut to follow the rhythm of the song being played the action still "flows" in a way I could still follow and enjoy.
 
I saw this last night and I'm honestly still in awe. Genuinely considering going to watch it again this evening. I'd be utterly shocked if it doesn't end up as my favourite film of the year.
 
Discotheque said:
this was fantastic. last summer action movie to get this high a score on RT and Metacritic was Fury Road which is soon to be a classic as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not always so slavish to these review aggregates but they've been on the money with these highly praised action movies imo.
Click to expand...

Fury Road was indeed that rare jewel that completely delivered (and surpassed).

I dunno, this just wasn't quite as stylish and quirky as I was expecting given the director/writer. It needed more heists in Mike Myers Austin Powers masks and candy colored cars and less Jamie Foxx mean mugging and puppy love scenes. I think the music kinda disappointed on all fronts as well, the selection and how it was implemented. I saw it yesterday and can't really remember how any of it goes.
 
raziel said:
Fury Road was indeed that rare jewel that completely delivered (and surpassed).

I dunno, this just wasn't quite as stylish and quirky as I was expecting given the director/writer. It needed more heists in Mike Myers Austin Powers masks and candy colored cars and less Jamie Foxx mean mugging and puppy love scenes. I think the music kinda disappointed on all fronts as well, the selection and how it was implemented. I saw it yesterday and can't really remember how any of it goes.
Click to expand...

to each their own no doubt, I liked that he went a bit more serious with this one. more of his stamp on all those crime and heist movies we've seen in the 70s-90s. and the jokes that were in there landed well for me

plus regarding the soundtrack...thought this song (and the 'heist gone wrong' chase scene at the end set to it) was pretty damn cool. especially when the gun shots started timing to the guitar riff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0F_XiR48Q
 
I love Edgar Wright and the editing in this film is fantastic, as well as all the subtle things like the lyrics being intertwined with the visuals. Was surprised to come out of it disappointed by the overall story and pacing,
just felt like Hollywood at some point took over the second half of the script and made it as generic as humanly possible.
I know the final scenes could be intended as riffs on other action films, but it felt so dull to me. I felt no real connection to Baby's relationships, which was probably the most shoehorned-in part for me. Easily my least favourite Wright film.
 
Robot Pants said:
Well I flat out didn't like it.
Real awful dialogue, very inconsistent story and character motivations.
Driving was cool. But after the second heist the movie went in a downward spiral big time.
There are very few movies I shake my head at and want to just end already, but this was one.

Editing was terrible also. Way too fast, you don't have time to even figure out what you're looking at then it's gone.
Click to expand...
what? much like edgar wright's other films, this has great editing. the rhythm of a scene is synced to the soundtrack throughout the majority of the film and the film makes use of some of wright's more incredibly inventive scene transitions.

i can only assume you mean during the action sequences, where quick cuts were used in increasingly tense situtations in conjunction with the tempo to the music. but i don't see how that is necessarily bad editing as it is consistent with the way the film is tied to a general rhythm. quick cutting isn't inherently a bad thing when used correctly and deliberately.

what did you think of the way fury road was shot and edited?
 
Nearly fell asleep in the middle of this.

6/10

Its really not very good. Bad dialogue. Almost caricature like characters -
kevin spacey - "I was in love once" before he gets shotgunned and run over by a car
<--- is the epitome of how bad the movie is.

don't fall for the hype.
 
Discotheque said:
this was fantastic. last summer action movie to get this high a score on RT and Metacritic was Fury Road which is soon to be a classic as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not always so slavish to these review aggregates but they've been on the money with these highly praised action movies imo.
Click to expand...

To me, Fury Road is in a different universe from this movie. Actively dislike Baby Driver the more I think on it. Fury Road is one of my favorite action movies ever.
 
donutzsick said:
Didn't like the movie. Cool scenes at times but overall was disappointed even though I came in not expecting much. Characters were all really bad except Jamie foxx
Click to expand...

even his character was a joke. Why would any criminal want to work with someone like him with such
a murderous streak with the constant threats of death. You're working to pull together a heist. Killing someone for losing a shotgun and buying the wrong mask even though they did get away in the end? Why would spacey use him again?
The film crosses a line into the absurdist more than I'd like which really took away its power.

I laughed out loud in the cinema
when spacey died and when hamm died
both in cartoon like situations.
 
ronaldthump said:
even his character was a joke. Why would any criminal want to work with someone like him with such
a murderous streak with the constant threats of death. You're working to pull together a heist. Killing someone for losing a shotgun and buying the wrong mask even though they did get away in the end? Why would spacey use him again?
The film crosses a line into the absurdist more than I'd like which really took away its power.

I laughed out loud in the cinema
when spacey died and when hamm died
both in cartoon like situations.
Click to expand...
Yeah Foxx's character was the worst after thinking about it. I was excited to have someone shake up Baby's easy routine but then the way it's done is just stupid.
I can't think of any redeeming qualities Bats had that made him a necessary part of the crew. He could shoot a gun but I'm sure Doc could get a million people like that. He was way too much of a loose cannon for Doc to tolerate, it was obviously gonna go bad because of him, and it's also Doc's ass on the line so I don't know why he'd allow anything less than perfect for the crew. He honestly should have just shot Bats right then when it was clear he started the fight to kill all of his crooked cops and the rest of the crew was just scared to disagree with Bats. At least Buddy and Darling were reliable to not jeopardize the job itself, they just needed one other person like that, not Bats. He even brings Bats back for a second heist even though he says Baby specifically is special in that he doesn't bring people on multiple jobs like he does with him. This is after the first job with Bats where he kills one of the crew just because he felt like it. (Not sure if he was specifically talking about drivers? Since he also brought back Buddy and Darling and it seemed like they had a history of experiences with Baby too)
Anyway Doc's character falls apart for me even I loved it in the first half. Partly due to Bats, and also his other inconsistencies don't make reasonable sense to me for someone running that type of airtight operation.
 
ronaldthump said:
Nearly fell asleep in the middle of this.

6/10

Its really not very good. Bad dialogue. Almost caricature like characters -
kevin spacey - "I was in love once" before he gets shotgunned and run over by a car
<--- is the epitome of how bad the movie is.

don't fall for the hype.
Click to expand...

People giving 6/10 to movies during which they nearly fell asleep shows how badly videogame reviews have skewed that scale.
 
Blizzard said:
How much of the movie has 1-second cuts? I hate both TV-ad-style non-stop cuts and shakey cam, so if either is in much of the movie it would probably ruin it for me.

In contrast, I loved how clear John Wick's action was.
Click to expand...
Have you seen any of Wright's movies?

The whole criticism and dislike for the quick-cut style is really thought out about it doing poorly that a scene with no cuts has an infinite artistic superiority however I feel like Wright is fantastic when it comes to quick, sleek cuts.
 
Not gonna get a chance to see this until next week, but it looks like most of the grievances people have are things that I don't actually mind, especially since they'll allow me to temper my expectations going in.

I appreciate the thoughts people are leaving on their experience with it.
 
Think I'm gonna take some time off work tomorrow afternoon to go and see this. How does it measure up in Wright's filmography? I really like all his films so far, although it probably goes something like this:

Shawn of the Dead = Hot Fuzz = Scott Pilgrim > The World's End
(Sorry, that's cheap but I honestly can't choose between these three. I've seen HF recently but I'd need to watch Shawn & Scott again)

I feel like TWE has more depth in its characterisation but I don't enjoy the subject matter quite so much.

Blizzard said:
How much of the movie has 1-second cuts? I hate both TV-ad-style non-stop cuts and shakey cam, so if either is in much of the movie it would probably ruin it for me.

In contrast, I loved how clear John Wick's action was.
Click to expand...

Wright does the hyperactive quick-cut style better than probably any director ever. He does it with a clear purpose and often for laughs. Watch Shawn of the Dead, Spaced or Hot Fuzz for an idea of his directing style and why it's a million miles away from other Taken-esque shakey cam quick-cut bullshit. Or, if you prefer and have 9 spare minutes, watch this.
 
ronaldthump said:
even his character was a joke. Why would any criminal want to work with someone like him with such
a murderous streak with the constant threats of death. You're working to pull together a heist. Killing someone for losing a shotgun and buying the wrong mask even though they did get away in the end? Why would spacey use him again?
The film crosses a line into the absurdist more than I'd like which really took away its power.

I laughed out loud in the cinema
when spacey died and when hamm died
both in cartoon like situations.
Click to expand...

are we sure bats killed him?
 
Triggerhappytel said:
Think I'm gonna take some time off work tomorrow afternoon to go and see this. How does it measure up in Wright's filmography? I really like all his films so far, although it probably goes something like this:

Shawn of the Dead = Hot Fuzz = Scott Pilgrim > The World's End
(Sorry, that's cheap but I honestly can't choose between these three. I've seen HF recently but I'd need to watch Shawn & Scott again)

I feel like TWE has more depth in its characterisation but I don't enjoy the subject matter quite so much.
Click to expand...


For Me:

Shawn of the Dead > Scott Pilgrim > Hot Fuzz >> Baby driver > (slightly better) The World's End

TWE was pretty shite and this isn't total shit but I certainly didn't walk out thinking too much of BD.
 
Tonally, the film felt surprisingly... light. When people started warning against expecting a comedy, I started expecting something much darker and grimier. There were high stakes and violent deaths and all that but this is the same genre that houses Bullitt and The French Connection. Baby Driver does it with a more humorous, slapstick touch. Maybe that's the difference between a film made in 2017 and a film made in 1977, or what happens when you draw inspiration from Singing In The Rain, or maybe I'm forgetting The Blues Brothers. Basically, no, it's not a comedy, but it's still noticeably an Edgar Wright script.

Triggerhappytel said:
Shawn of the Dead = Hot Fuzz = Scott Pilgrim > The World's End
(Sorry, that's cheap but I honestly can't choose between these three. I've seen HF recently but I'd need to watch Shawn & Scott again)
Click to expand...

My rankings are similar and I'd put Baby Driver somewhere above The World's End but below the others. It feels like Edgar Wright unleashed, even moreso than Scott Pligrim, for good and bad.

Edit:

ronaldthump said:
it dragged in the middle and I was so bored. The rest of the film didn't do much for me.
Click to expand...

That's fine. My point was "It barely entertained me enough to keep me conscious" and "Final score: slightly above average" don't really gel. If you think it's a bad movie, give it a bad score.
 
We're doing lists?

Awesome.

Hot Fuzz > Worlds End > Baby Driver > Shaun of the Dead > Scott Pilgrim

(I do love them all so don't take this as a dislike of Pilgrim, I just think Wright's original work is better than his adapted work thus far, maybe he'll do another and prove me wrong but Pilgrim was the perfect version of what it wanted to be).
 
Chairhome said:
They cover for him cause he's crazy and they don't want to die. Same reason Baby also agreed. Doc wasn't holding a gun to him, so they didn't want to risk it
Click to expand...
Baby was the only one scared of him, though. It made no sense for the others to fall in line like that and want to work with a guy who will clearly do whatever he feels at any moment. I could see them wanting to go ahead with the plan because they're addicts who want money, but there was no reason to keep him around.
 
I've seen Hot Fuzz (funny), Shawn of the Dead (funny), and World's End (didn't care much for it). It's been so long I barely remember the cuts though.

Thanks for the input everyone.
 
Mr. Sam said:
That's fine. My point was "It barely entertained me enough to keep me conscious" and "Final score: slightly above average" don't really gel. If you think it's a bad movie, give it a bad score.
Click to expand...

6/10 because its passable. If no one knew this was EW, would it have garnered as much attention?

The scores were mostly for John Hamm and Jamie Foxx.


Moments in the film I also laughed out loud at

when John Hamm died and fell onto the car

When his girl friend got shot


The biggest laugh we had in our cinema was for the
He puts the asian in invasion
line.


ADD

I could possibly have been happier
if the film ended with them driving away
Not sure why it needed all the bits after it.
 
Anything good in Worlds End is totally undermined by that ending. Ain't nobody asked for that.

I feel like Wright has this need to tie up loose ends so much that he winds up tying laces that weren't even in the fucking film in the first place.

Hot Fuzz > Baby Driver > Shaun of the Dead > Scott Pilgrim > Worlds End

Baby driver was legit close to taking number one for me, maybe by the time I rewatch it as much as I've seen Fuzz it will.
 
ronaldthump said:
Nearly fell asleep in the middle of this.

6/10

Its really not very good. Bad dialogue. Almost caricature like characters -
kevin spacey - "I was in love once" before he gets shotgunned and run over by a car
<--- is the epitome of how bad the movie is.

don't fall for the hype.
Click to expand...

You know you can have an opinion on a movie without just calling it "not very good" and saying "don't fall for the hype"? Like if you don't like it, that's perfectly fine, but clearly a lot of other people do.
 
hydruxo said:
You know you can have an opinion on a movie without just calling it "not very good" and saying "don't fall for the hype"? Like if you don't like it, that's perfectly fine, but clearly a lot of other people do.
Click to expand...

A few other posters also dont like it. Of course, I'm posting my opinion. My friend who I saw it with also didn't like it much
 
Theecliff said:
what? much like edgar wright's other films, this has great editing. the rhythm of a scene is synced to the soundtrack throughout the majority of the film and the film makes use of some of wright's more incredibly inventive scene transitions.

i can only assume you mean during the action sequences, where quick cuts were used in increasingly tense situtations in conjunction with the tempo to the music. but i don't see how that is necessarily bad editing as it is consistent with the way the film is tied to a general rhythm. quick cutting isn't inherently a bad thing when used correctly and deliberately.

what did you think of the way fury road was shot and edited?
Click to expand...

Fury Road is quickly edited, but in such a way that we can always tell what is happening, and who is where and why. It's pretty meticulous in that regard. Watch the bike chase closely and you can see how they keep everything oriented, show how many bikers are where, what happens to them, how the characters in the rig are reacting to their movements. The composition is layered to show primary action up front and show the other bikers' positions (or Immortan Joe coming up behind) so elements don't appear out of nowhere in the subsequent shots - we are constantly kept oriented.

Contrast that with the opening chase, where rapid edits skip over locations, transitions, moments in the chase. It was trying to be a narrative but it was edited like a montage. Cop cars following them come and go out of nowhere. The camera is constantly shifting around so we can't orient to where they are going or what happens to who is following them. At one point they seem to lose the car following them, then Baby looks up and there are five in a perfect V formation right behind them taking up the entire street. Where the hell did they come from? Things like that happen throughout the entire chase.

The chase scenes were the lowlights of the film for this reason. I liked Baby Driver in spite of the driving scenes, not because of them.
 
Great film,

I'm visiting America for the first time and saw it at an Alamo Draft House, so there was some great Edgar Wright interviews and extras before hand. Great stuff.

I thought the film was really tight, great editing, and synchronicity to the sound track.
Characterisation was brilliant too, might be my favourite Edgar Wright film. Oooh.
 
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