Baby Driver Review

I wish I liked Baby Driver. I really do. But sadly, I don't.

I go back and forth as to whether it's just a film that "wasn't for me" or if it's actually a bad movie. It's possible it's a mix of both.

To start, there's a lot to like about the film:

• The coloring/general look
• The costumes and character designs - Seriously, these are ridiculously good.
• The casting, for the most part
• Jon Hamm - so much, he's easily one of the best parts of the movie
• Kevin Spacey - for the most part
• Jamie Foxx - delectably wicked
• Eiza González - delicious, but... (see below)
• CJ Jones - solid, with the bare minimum / basic material he was given
• Edgar Wrights attention to detail
• A generally straight-forward and simple throwback story
• Practical effects
• The drama, for the most part - Particularly the end (see further below)

Then, there's a handful of things I'm mixed on, with the first one being pretty important: 

• Ansel Elgort - If the lead actor is one I'm mixed on, that's a really tough spot for a movie. He has an interesting arc during the movie and shows some good talent, particularly with his choreography, but Baby is one of the least interesting characters in his movie. His retro style (along with Lily James' Deborah) was very shrug inducing.
• Tonal inconsistency - Baby starts out so happy-go-lucky despite spending half a life in this job (and seriously, only now do things start going poorly?), but things get dark fairly quickly. I get the story of innocence lost, but it felt uneven in this story - characters being overly intense or too schmaltzy and "happy." There's such a great human story in Baby Driver that gets hurt by almost everything around it. 

But with a film that's generally style over substance, the things that "didn't do it for me" really bring the film down:

• Almost all the music - I rarely recognized the songs or found them enjoyable
• The choreography of almost everything to the music - I can appreciate the style and choreography, but with the challenge of the point above, it makes it that much more difficult
• The implausible action sequences - I get doing a stylized action movie, but I could never suspend my disbelief enough to buy into the stylized editing and fast pacing, trying to dive into the action and experience of Baby. This happens for pretty much every action sequence with cops, as I could never buy them responding or chasing Baby the way they did. Hell, even the way Baby acts, particularly while on foot. The implausible sequences become that much worse in comparison to the dramatic action.
• The Women - Yeesh. There wasn't a single woman in this movie that wasn't a character in relation to a man (Debora, Darling, Baby's Mom). Homage movie or not, Debora was too cheesy and retro for me. Darling was better, as she was almost a character, but the sexualization of her was a bit on the much side. Baby's Mom was largely so throwaway, more of an idea than a character.
• Kevin Spacey - For the small part, as great as his voice is, his "70s narrator"-style dialogue and delivery was a little too much for me, but slightly more than that his SPOILER character turn at the end seemed a bit uneven, though nicely in service of the general story of the movie
• Jon Bernthal - Seemed a little too out of left field for how dark and challenging he was of Baby. It set an odd vibe and tone to the start of the movie.
• Wright's "cleverness" - There were too many times where Wright would go for a joke, either spoken or visual, that just fell flat or rang hollow because it was too obvious how clever it was trying to be (much like Tarantino's often masturbatory dialogue). The best jokes were ones that were honest reactions by the characters.

To be fully transparent, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, the film lost me with the opening sequence with Baby dancing in the car, followed by the second half of the opening with the title sequence (or vice versa, I forget the order despite writing this the same night as watching). I then greatly struggled from there to get into it - there were tiny nuggets along the way, but I wanted to walk out probably 5 times in the first 30 minutes alone. 

Then again, the final act is pretty solid, particularly when Wright uses his great stylistic skills to highlight the thematic and character elements at play vs shallow style timed to music that detracted me from the movie. 

I honestly would love to do a recut of the movie to try and cut out the (stylized) parts I didn't care about - even if that means making the movie 30-45 minutes; hell, I'd LOVE to do a recut of the movie with whatever footage they shot, including picking new songs, etc. - I do enjoy the core story presented. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much more interesting Jon Hamm is in this movie than Baby, and the movie I'd like to see is more of their stories being at odds with each other.

Regardless of my enjoyment or lack thereof, Edgar Wright is an unprecedented technical, narrative and stylized director. Give him more work and stories to tell. 

Though Baby Driver didn't work for me, I'd still RECOMMEND the movie as it's one you should see and judge for yourself. Hell, you may greatly enjoy it! Heck, maybe I'd enjoy it more on a rewatch. Until then, Scott Pilgrim and Shaun of the Dead are the two Wright movies I enjoy the most.

Glow Season 1 Review

Glow!

In a way, I just want to leave the review as that one, simple exclamatory word - but where's the fun in that? Consider that the short review.

To put it simply with more words, I love this show. As someone who loves the highs of pro wrestling, Glow did the medium justice, not only with an excellent first season, but numerous cameos and inside jokes. Granted, while it did take a few episodes to find its footing, once it did, Glow had a really nice flow. This first season is the perfect refreshing summer show for 2017.

There are so many great themes Glow touches on that were simultaneously relevant when the promotion debuted in the 80s and with the debut of the show on Netflix in 2017 - sexism, racism, politics (Russia vs the US, to name one), feminism / lack of opportunities for women... to name a few. While the show does a deft job of featuring these themes, it has such a light tone that it allows the real focus to shine:

The characters.

Glow is such a delightful ensemble that I was sad when the first season ended. I want more! The season, like it's wrestling subject matter, built so beautifully to its seasons finale main event that I can't wait to see what happens next. Again, that's all because there are so many great, great characters. As nice as the two leads, Ruth and Debbie, are, who's backgrounds allow for an easy entry into the world of the show (an actress looking for a meaty part and a former-actress-turned-housewife looking for a release), I would gladly have seen more focus on literally any of the supporting characters:

Cherry Bang - Also an actress, but black, stereotyped and much more physically capable
Carmen Wade - Has industry legacy, trying to break away from family
Justine Biagi - Great story, won't say more
Sheila - Trying to find acceptance, aka get over

And then the myriad of other characters who didn't have much exploration, such as Arthie Premkumar or Tammé Dawson, played gloriously by actual (former?) wrestler Kia Stevens, let alone Rhonda, Reggie, Melrose, Jenny... the list goes on.

Hell, I would have also been fine with following either Sam or Bash, played brilliantly by Marc Meron and Chris Lowell respectively, though that would take away from the premise of the show. If I could give Emmy's to Marc, Chris and Kia today, I would - to steal a line from wrestling's great JR, they maximized their minutes every time.

Regardless, what I'm trying to get at is there are so, so, so many great, great characters in this show and I simply can't get enough of following their adventures.

Big props to the writing on the show, which shows great admiration for pro wrestling, even taking a number of the storylines and tropes found within the industry and using them in a meta way for the series. If there were a way to have this quality of writing on a weekly basis, I'd tune in every week. I wish more TV shows were written like this, with nice arcs that build toward "main events."

I could keep talking and rambling about the show, but seriously - at this point, just go watch the show! It's 10 well-paced episodes. The dramatic moments worked hand-in-hand to make the comedy, and show, that much better.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Netflix - please fast-track season 2!

Spider-Man: Homecoming Review

Spider-man: Homecoming is the Star Wars: The Force Awakens of the MCU/Spider-man movies. And that's fine. For the quick review: If you're curious about the movie, go see it. It's an enjoyable summer blockbuster for which a big audience will greatly help.

As for a more extended spoiler-free review...

The fast pacing/editing of the film helps it become Marvel's funniest movie yet, easily glossing over a number of conveniences in the story, but sadly ruining any dramatic moments. There were a number of what should have been great dramatic character moments that were undercut by poor setup, the previously mentioned fast pacing or just awkward editing. Indeed, subsequent scenes progress as if nothing happened.

Regarding acting, Tom Holland is an excellent Peter Parker / Spider-man. He exudes a natural intelligence and charisma, creating two distinct personalities for the two personas (the awkward Peter and confident Spider-man).  While it was great seeing Michael Keaton on screen, particularly as a villain, I found his character to lack real motivation - it felt more contrived for the story Marvel / Sony wanted to tell than actually fitting of the character - why did he have such a grudge / the motivation he had? Better writing would have helped him greatly. At least Marvel tried to do a villain justice with this one, though.

The supporting character were lots of fun (Ned, Liz, Michelle, Flash), but ultimately created in service of Peter - I look forward to seeing them fleshed out. Aunt May was a particular victim of this. While Marisa Tomei is fun in the role, Aunt May was mostly around to be sexualized, providing Peter very little of the dramatic character motivation (and reminder of Uncle Ben) that's such an integral part of Spider-man.

As for the core MCU characters, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his assistant/friend Happy (Jon Favreau) did fine, but felt largely unnecessary. However, Chris Evans as Captain America stole every one of his cameos.

As a hybrid installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with Sony's own Spider-man franchise, there are a TON of fun Easter Eggs and cameos that make the film a treat to watch, though also more of a Marvel movie than Spider-man, per se. Unlike with the Amazing Spider-man movies, I look forward to the pending "Spider-man Cinematic Universe" - it's been set-up nicely so far.

For music, following in the footsteps of Danny Elfman, Christopher Young, James Horner and Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino's score was underwhelming and ancillary - it nicely helped accentuate what was happening on-screen, but ultimately unmemorable. It kept teasing the retro theme used in the Marvel logo, but never built to it in the film. On a side note, of the pantheon of Spider-man composers, Christopher Young is my favorite of the bunch for his work on Spider-man 3 and contributions to Spider-man 2.

All of the above said, Spider-man: Homecoming is definitely RECOMMENDED. It's a fun time, but more of an intro chapter/return-to-form than proper Spider-man movie. Regardless, I'm looking forward to more Spider-man.