Drive (2011)

[paultab 225]

Drive is an extremely successful movie, but one that I think is going to age horribly. There's nothing here that isn't derivative, there are shit-tons of scenes where just huge amounts of pause happen for no reason.

I think in five years this movie will be regarded for very different reasons than the ones we have now.

[CarolineEAnd 41]

Sounds like someone ISN'T a real human being OR a real hero
(I love Drive so hard)

[Summer Shelton 4]

Ditto what Caroline said

[robstraws 16]

Yeah this movie was awesome. If the only reason you have is "To much pause." you have crazy standards.

[paultab 225]

(i) The scene where they share a glass of water.

(ii) The boyfriend comes home from prison and is like, "Oh, you're the guy who's been helping out around here? That's really nice of you. Thanks, man!" AND MEANS IT. It <i>was</i> really nice of him, he <i>is</i> thanking him, and pretty soon, they're effing FRIENDS.

(iii) You have a bad guy in an elevator.

He's armed, he's waiting to get the drop on you.

Shit's about to get real.

Like any gentleman familiar with elevator etiquette, you guide the woman you're trying to protect behind you.... then you <i>turn your back on the bad guy</i> to <i>make out with her,</i> basically just <i>giving</i> him the drop on you.

(iv) 1 million dollars is not a lot of money to someone who can drop 300 large on a stock car after one conversation. Moreover, 1 million dollars is not a lot of money to someone who puts 1 million dollars in a satchel and leaves that satchel at a pawn shop. It certainly isn't break-up-Albert-Brooks-and-Bryan-Cranston money. It's just a botched job, due to information you failed to give in the first place, why does Bryan Cranston have to die?

(v) Why can't this poor little schmuck go back to his wife and kid? He did his time and didn't roll over on you.

(vi) FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN DITCH THE BLOOD-SOAKED JACKET.

[robstraws 16]

SPOILERS

Did you not pay attention to any of the plot? The reason the million dollars is a big deal isn't that it's a million dollars, it belongs to the east coast mob, they steal it to get them out of their territory. If they don't get it back and kill the driver then it could get out that they were the ones that stole it, hence the need for the dummy robbery, Bryan Cranston has to die for the same reason. This goes right into your fifth point, the job was a setup and they just used this "schmuck" as a pawn that they knew they would kill. He owed them money and it just so happened that this was the one job that year that was a planned setup, Albert Brooks even says this. The rest of your concerns are all stylistic choices which I personally enjoyed, the jacket was supposed to be obvious, but a bit of an icon.

[CarolineEAnd 41]

I don't think you're going to convince any of us to not like Drive. And if you look at websites like Rotten Tomatoes you'll see that we aren't the only ones to convince. I have no problem with you not liking the movie, but it's like suggesting Saving Private Ryan, Godfather, Titanic or Sophie's Choice. I don't necessarily love all those movies, but I know that it's not because the movie is at fault.

Critics loved Drive. Audiences loved Drive. Everyone involved took a lot of pride in what they did. It wasn't a flop, it wasn't an embarrassment, it wasn't Old Dogs or Superman III.

[paultab 225]

What I don't understand, robstraws, is how the million dollar robbery is going to stop the east coast mob from continuing to try to expand into the territory. It's not a sizable setback. I get that they want to get the money but not take the credit, but that also seems to me like it would just start a new fire. These are not people that are like, "The million disappeared? Oh, well, I guess this venture isn't for us."

The driver and Cranston are in league with them on a legitimate business deal -- it seems to me like they could get the money back and not kill anybody, and the heat would die off. It works when everyone is too stupid to make a plan, but everyone's been doing this a while.

I get that it was critically and commercially successful, and I went to see it because everyone and their mother was like, "Dude." I tried to drink the Kool-Aid, but the day after seeing it, I looked back on it and felt like it's one of those movies that's only good while you're watching it, which I realize sounds really dumb while I'm typing it, but.... hrm.

Maybe I'm just dealing with expectation-vs-resonance here. I was made to believe walking in that "Drive" was the next-level thing, and it just being a movie wasn't a disservice so much as delivery on its only actual promise. I may not have liked it the next day, but it's not ninth-circle shitty.

Motion withdrawn.

[sillstaw 414]

Um... why does it say "Bonfire of the Vanities" but it's a thread about "Drive?" (By the way, "Drive" is great and wouldn't fit on the podcast.)

[paultab 225]

...That's my version of a redaction.

[DreamingStarkly 13]

If HDTGM did a Drive episode for being anything other than awesome, I'd probably delete my subscription.

I like Drive just a bit too much.

[For Glenishmore 0]

The worst. Please guys!

[RyanSz 3140]

No way. With a 93% RT score and being a big hit financially, there's no way this get's done.

[seanotron 2307]

Yeah, unless they were doing it as an amazing/crazy pick a la Crank or Punisher it's not going to happen.

[jarrycanada 2483]

Drive was a good movie, I can't see it making a good podcast.

[thestray 361]

I think a good HDTGM is not just any movie you disliked, but something that will provide the podcast with an hour plus of fodder for amusing conversation. Drive, love it or hate it, I don't think there's a lot funny to say about it.

[justinmh05 1968]

I think a good HDTGM is not just any movie you disliked, but something that will provide the podcast with an hour plus of fodder for amusing conversation. Drive, love it or hate it, I don't think there's a lot funny to say about it.

 

There are people who are just never going to understand this. That's why we've seen Drive, Iron Man 3, etc. nominated recently.

[RyanSz 3140]

And to that point, even movies that are well received but are batshit crazy like Brazil or to an extent Inception are crazy for art's sake. Drive may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was well made with a coherent story and great performances. If anything by this director is going to get nominated I could see it being Only God Forgives as critics are being brutal to that movie, mainly for it's extreme violence.

[Blueman29X 72]

Is this forum for the 2011 Drive or the 1998 Drive?

[RyanSz 3140]

I think we all assume the 2011 one and not the Marc Dacoscos one.

[seanotron 2307]

Also, this movie had a great soundtrack.

[RyanSz 3140]

It had a very good 80s thriller feel to it, especially the first half of the movie. The whole movie was like a modern Taxi Driver with a loner trying to keep himself above the darkness of the world but ultimately falling into it in order to save a woman they feel protective of. Even the endings are similarly ambiguous with how we don't know if the characters have survived their ordeals or if it is all a dream.

[Blueman29X 72]

I think we all assume the 2011 one and not the Marc Dacoscos one.

 

I had to ask, because I doubted that anybody could hate on the new one.

[RyanSz 3140]

 

I had to ask, because I doubted that anybody could hate on the new one.

 

You would be surprised, the movie basically falls into three main camps: those who absolutely loved the movie for one reason or another, those who didn't understand what all the fuss was about but thought it had good moments, and those who felt cheated by the trailers that made it seem like a giant action/chase movie and were expecting something like Fast and Furious.

[sillstaw 414]

those who felt cheated by the trailers that made it seem like a giant action/chase movie and were expecting something like Fast and Furious.

 

Which continues to mystify me, seeing as how

were shown with music closer to opera than pulse-pounding headbangers. If you saw that and expected "The Fast and the Furious," you fail at watching movie trailers.

 

Needless to say, there's no way this movie would work on HDTGM.