Tape Noir: Baby Driver
The 2017 movie Baby Driver was like English director Edgar Wright's version of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Only good.Or at least not as pretentious as one might expect.
Yes, I know that not every critic was fond of this movie and posters on one film review site even hinted that it was undeserving of the few good reviews that it did receive. But it worked for me. And after seeing all too many movies that were literally painful to watch -- as well as movies that I often found less than thrilling after the first ten minutes -- Baby Driver was a nice surprise.
And no, I am not blind to its flaws. Like many modern action movies, it leaned very heavily on various cliches -- the black thug, the hot-tempered Latina, the inevitable crook with a heart of gold, etc. While it was not the first movie to have a character that wanted to get emotionally involved with a girl just like the one that married dear old Dad, this was the first one I've seen in a long while that emphasized that trope to the point where it seemed a wonder that the filmmakers did not name the protagonist's love interest Jocasta.
And yet for some odd reason, it worked. Maybe it was because it reminded of the days when I would play around with tape recorders and recorded various types of music off the radio. Or maybe it was because I liked actress Eiza González as the badass Latina character Monica Costello. (Wait a minute! A Latina named Costello? Surely you jest.) Kevin Spacey as a surprisingly kind-hearted mob boss was a nice surprise though I suspect many critics were surprised by the fact that his role wasn't exactly Keyser Söze II. I also liked Jon Hamm's performance as Buddy.
Personally I found it hard to believe that the title character managed to know so much about music -- yet never heard about singer Carla Thomas but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. And yes, the movie leaned very hard upon its music soundtrack and part of me knows that I probably should be upset about that. Then again the movie soundtrack featured a lot of songs that I don't usually hear in the movies so part of me doesn't really care.
As for the movie's critical reception, well, this was definitely a YMMV type of movie. Either you liked it or you didn't. Personally, I liked it. I didn't think it was perfect but most of the films I like most rarely are. And I can't help suspecting that the late film critic Pauline Kael could come back from the grave and give this film two thumbs up and some people would still hate it. But then you could say that about almost any movie.
The 2017 movie Baby Driver was like English director Edgar Wright's version of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Only good.Or at least not as pretentious as one might expect.
Yes, I know that not every critic was fond of this movie and posters on one film review site even hinted that it was undeserving of the few good reviews that it did receive. But it worked for me. And after seeing all too many movies that were literally painful to watch -- as well as movies that I often found less than thrilling after the first ten minutes -- Baby Driver was a nice surprise.
And no, I am not blind to its flaws. Like many modern action movies, it leaned very heavily on various cliches -- the black thug, the hot-tempered Latina, the inevitable crook with a heart of gold, etc. While it was not the first movie to have a character that wanted to get emotionally involved with a girl just like the one that married dear old Dad, this was the first one I've seen in a long while that emphasized that trope to the point where it seemed a wonder that the filmmakers did not name the protagonist's love interest Jocasta.
And yet for some odd reason, it worked. Maybe it was because it reminded of the days when I would play around with tape recorders and recorded various types of music off the radio. Or maybe it was because I liked actress Eiza González as the badass Latina character Monica Costello. (Wait a minute! A Latina named Costello? Surely you jest.) Kevin Spacey as a surprisingly kind-hearted mob boss was a nice surprise though I suspect many critics were surprised by the fact that his role wasn't exactly Keyser Söze II. I also liked Jon Hamm's performance as Buddy.
Personally I found it hard to believe that the title character managed to know so much about music -- yet never heard about singer Carla Thomas but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. And yes, the movie leaned very hard upon its music soundtrack and part of me knows that I probably should be upset about that. Then again the movie soundtrack featured a lot of songs that I don't usually hear in the movies so part of me doesn't really care.
As for the movie's critical reception, well, this was definitely a YMMV type of movie. Either you liked it or you didn't. Personally, I liked it. I didn't think it was perfect but most of the films I like most rarely are. And I can't help suspecting that the late film critic Pauline Kael could come back from the grave and give this film two thumbs up and some people would still hate it. But then you could say that about almost any movie.
Labels: Baby: El Aprendiz del Crimen, Carla Thomas, Edgar Wright, Eiza González, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Películas Nuevas VI
posted by Tonio Kruger at 11:14 PM
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