Musical Mondays Week 27 Baby Driver

[Cameron H. 23786]

Vrooooooom!

 

We watched:

 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Crap. I watched the wrong movie.

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Can we get right into it???

 

First things first

 

Not enough Bernthal

 

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I guess Society Max watched the special features. If both Jon Hamm and the DP Bill Pope called this a musical who are we to disagree?

 

[SaraK 1980]

I wasn’t able to rewatch it this weekend, but I did see it in the theatre. I remember being a little disappointed only because I’m a pop culture junkie and read all the articles about it. I think I ruined it for myself - too much info about the technical details that I kept reallly focusing on and trying to notice. But also, I’m a terrible listener so It distracted me.

 

Also I agree, not enough Jon Bernthal. All the Jon Hamm made me happy though

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Can we get right into it???

 

First things first

 

Not enough Bernthal

 

Love that part. Like with Jamie Foxx I didn't get why the characters hated Baby so much right from the get go but each was quite entertaining in their aggravation.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I wasn’t able to rewatch it this weekend, but I did see it in the theatre. I remember being a little disappointed only because I’m a pop culture junkie and read all the articles about it. I think I ruined it for myself - too much info about the technical details that I kept reallly focusing on and trying to notice. But also, I’m a terrible listener so It distracted me.

 

Also I agree, not enough Jon Bernthal. All the Jon Hamm made me happy though

You'll like this review then.

The casting is top of the line. Finally someone figured out how to use Jon Hamm in a cinematic setting. His work in this film is extraordinary in its subtle hints and range. I don’t think he should ever work with anyone else, if he wants to have a movie career.

[EvRobert 1684]

I loved this movie when I saw it this past summer but I wouldn't have thought about it as a musical, but you know what, it totally works as a "musical" in that the music helps tell the story of Baby. Interesting pick for "musical mondays" but I loved viewing it through a different lens.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Love that part. Like with Jamie Foxx I didn't get why the characters hated Baby so much right from the get go but each was quite entertaining in their aggravation.

I think they were purely judging based on appearances. He's a 20 (?) year old kid that looks like he grew up very well and these are all hardened criminals wondering who the fuckin' snitch is.

[EvRobert 1684]

I think they were purely judging based on appearances. He's a 20 (?) year old kid that looks like he grew up very well and these are all hardened criminals wondering who the fuckin' snitch is.

 

I think it could be argued that Hamm, Berenthal, Foxx represent the older Gen Xers who have this anger and sometimes rage toward the "millennials" represented by Baby, even though the music he listened to was more evocative of the music they listened to. You basically have 4 generations here (Spacy as the Boomer, Hamm/Berenthal/Foxx as the Xers, Gonzalez as the Oregon Trailer, and Baby as the millennial) and how each relates to each other.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I think it could be argued that Hamm, Berenthal, Foxx represent the older Gen Xers who have this anger and sometimes rage toward the "millennials" represented by Baby, even though the music he listened to was more evocative of the music they listened to. You basically have 4 generations here (Spacy as the Boomer, Hamm/Berenthal/Foxx as the Xers, Gonzalez as the Oregon Trailer, and Baby as the millennial) and how each relates to each other.

Gonzalez is also a Millennial I would like to point out lol. They definitely are trying to age her up in this movie I guess, but she's literally about 2 months younger than I am and 4 years older than Ansel.

 

But even if they are trying to age her up Millennials are as old as 36 this year. A fact that very much pissed off my 36 yo boss when he started making fun of us "Millennials" and I had to break it to him that he also was one.

[EvRobert 1684]

Gonzalez is also a Millennial I would like to point out lol. They definitely are trying to age her up in this movie I guess, but she's literally about 2 months younger than I am and 4 years older than Ansel.

 

But even if they are trying to age her up Millennials are as old as 36 this year. A fact that very much pissed off my 36 yo boss when he started making fun of us "Millennials" and I had to break it to him that he also was one.

 

Oh I know that to be true, that's why I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt by calling her an Oregon Trail generation member because it did seem like Wright was trying to make her a little older then Ansel

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Oh I know that to be true, that's why I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt by calling her an Oregon Trail generation member because it did seem like Wright was trying to make her a little older then Ansel

I think the generational gap is an interesting point to make but that's why I think it's just really criminal vs. non-criminal.

[kateacola 2440]

Can we get right into it???

 

First things first

 

Not enough Bernthal

 

YES. I wanted more Bernthal.

I wasn't a huge fan of Foxx in this so I wished that they kept Bernthal around longer instead of bringing Jamie's character in.

[grudlian. 4725]

But even if they are trying to age her up Millennials are as old as 36 this year. A fact that very much pissed off my 36 yo boss when he started making fun of us "Millennials" and I had to break it to him that he also was one.

I'm very on the cusp between Generation X and millennial. Depending on the source, my birth year occasionally gets lumped in with you dirty, dirty millennials. I love seeing people who are one year younger than me act like it's such a disgusting label refusing to believe they might be a millennial.

 

It just means the years you were born. Some personality traits or general cultural ideas are ascribed to every generation but they don't all apply to every person in a generation.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I'm very on the cusp between Generation X and millennial. Depending on the source, my birth year occasionally gets lumped in with you dirty, dirty millennials. I love seeing people who are one year younger than me act like it's such a disgusting label refusing to believe they might be a millennial.

 

It just means the years you were born. Some personality traits or general cultural ideas are ascribed to every generation but they don't all apply to every person in a generation.

I've had this conversation with my Gen-X mom and she said that the Boomers and Greatest Generation both shat on the Gen-X'ers in the 80s just as much so I assume in 20 years we'll all be yelling about those dirty dirty Generation I's

[grudlian. 4725]

I've had this conversation with my Gen-X mom and she said that the Boomers and Greatest Generation both shat on the Gen-X'ers in the 80s just as much so I assume in 20 years we'll all be yelling about those dirty dirty Generation I's

I remember people were ripping on the disaffected, lazy generation but I would be 14 or something. I kind of cared but its hard to get invested when I wasn't even working yet.

 

I think it's mildly funny now to think that no one really talks about us anymore. It's all Baby Boomers and Millennials.

 

Edit: it certainly feels like there is more crap thrown at millennials than generation x but that might have been because I was too young to really remember it all. Out might be I'm more aware of this type of writing or just more opinionated news stories. I don't know but it definitely feels like everything is "millennials and what they're ruining today" or "leave us millennials alone"

[taylor anne photo 11311]

Edit: it certainly feels like there is more crap thrown at millennials than generation x but that might have been because I was too young to really remember it all. Out might be I'm more aware of this type of writing or just more opinionated news stories. I don't know but it definitely feels like everything is "millennials and what they're ruining today" or "leave us millennials alone"

I definitely think that it's the way we ingest news that has us all more aware of how we get shit on every day lol. Like I believe my mom told me that there was this huge Time issue about the Gen X'ers being the "ME" generation and being the most self-indulgent people and it was this big deal because that was the way to get stuff out there at the time, but these days with the internet every other article posted online is about how kids need to stop spending money on those dang avocado toasts if they want to buy a house (spoiler alert: 6 dollars is not going to help us buy a house). So it just seems like we're getting the most shit but it's really just because everything is in front of our faces at all times.

 

Whoops we've already digressed okay uhm I didn't like Lily James's character. Let's discuss.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Whoops we've already digressed okay uhm I didn't like Lily James's character. Let's discuss.

 

That's because she doesn't have a character. I go back and forrh on how much this affects the movie for me. Because what Wright was going for was an homage to sort of "strong, silent" male lead and the women who live them without any real reason. He cited Walter Hill as a big influence during the press tour, and it's not hard to see the influence of movies like The Driver and The Getaway on this movie.

 

But as much as I love a good throwback, it feels a little gross to make a movie where every character except the two women get some sort of character development/arc.

[tomspanks 9039]

Whoops we've already digressed okay uhm I didn't like Lily James's character. Let's discuss.

 

I didn't like her character either - or the lack of character development for Debora. It didn't help that Baby and Debora had very little chemistry on screen.

 

I liked the first half of the movie, but I was let down by the latter half, which doesn't even contain many "musical" elements at all. The whole Doc lets Baby go because he was in love once too felt really out of place. Jon Hamm "falling to his death" thing was too convenient - as if the movie's trying to say see, Baby's not a really bad guy, he's not a murderer!

[SaraK 1980]

 

 

I didn't like her character either - or the lack of character development for Debora. It didn't help that Baby and Debora had very little chemistry on screen.

 

I liked the first half of the movie, but I was let down by the latter half, which doesn't even contain many "musical" elements at all. The whole Doc lets Baby go because he was in love once too felt really out of place. Jon Hamm "falling to his death" thing was too convenient - as if the movie's trying to say see, Baby's not a really bad guy, he's not a murderer!

 

They spent a lot of time making sure we know that Baby is Good Guy. Except when he killed Jamie Foxx really brutally, but he was over the top Bad

[tomspanks 9039]

I think they were purely judging based on appearances. He's a 20 (?) year old kid that looks like he grew up very well and these are all hardened criminals wondering who the fuckin' snitch is.

 

His name didn't help either, lol.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I didn't like her character either - or the lack of character development for Debora. It didn't help that Baby and Debora had very little chemistry on screen.

 

I liked the first half of the movie, but I was let down by the latter half, which doesn't even contain many "musical" elements at all. The whole Doc lets Baby go because he was in love once too felt really out of place. Jon Hamm "falling to his death" thing was too convenient - as if the movie's trying to say see, Baby's not a really bad guy, he's not a murderer!

I also thought the latter half was a let down! I also kinda thought the driving sequences weren't as strong as they were in the beginning.

 

Also, I believe that Edgar was influenced by Drive with the strong silent type, but (as much as I loved Ansel in this role) Baby doesn't have the same gravitas as Gosling does as The Driver.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

I enjoy this movie a BUNCH, but I agree with a lot of the criticisms, like the lack of chemistry Baby has with Lily James (caused in no small way by the lack of character development for Debora). This is all the more noticeable considering how much Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez absolutely sizzle on screen together and how unpredictable and engrossing the Darling character is to watch. I also think the second half isn't as vibrant as the first. We don't get the catharsis of that opening car chase in the third act. Don't get me wrong, there are some great sequences, but nothing really moves as spectacularly as that sequence does. And that one moment where Jon Bernthal points forward and Baby drives backwards? Fucking priceless.

[kateacola 2440]

 

Whoops we've already digressed okay uhm I didn't like Lily James's character. Let's discuss.

 

I saw on IMDB and this article : http://collider.com/...r-ansel-elgort/ that Emma Stone was being considered for Debora.

I'm sure she could've brought more to the character than Lily did, BUT she went on to do La-La Land instead per IMDB

Emma Stone was originally sought to play Debora, but dropped out to make La La Land (2016).

 

Though I definitely think she could've been a better Debora.. I think she made the better decision

 

Also--- Michael Douglas was being considered for Doc (Spacey's part) and Ansel beat out Lorgan Lerman and John Boyega for Baby.

 

I like to think about alternate casting and how different a movie could've ended up with a different cast.

I can picture Michael Douglas as Doc and think he definitely could've pulled it off well. And now wish it was him instead...