Baby Driver

Yeah, but that's how a lot of movies are.

There's a million sad people out there looking at couples and saying "they don't work, they have no chemistry, they can't possibly be actually happy."

But those couples don't care, they live their lives anyway.

The hope of the movie is that Debora and Baby will be happy forever. Maybe they'll die in a car accident after three months because Baby's distracted by how gosh darn pretty she is. Maybe he'll get really fat and she'll lose interest in him. Maybe one of them will develop a debilitating disease and die in three years.

The hope is that they won't.

I mean, I and the person I saw the movie with both didn't have a problem with the romance. But by sheer necessity of our lives, we have a slightly different view of love and what a successful romance is than everybody else-even each other.

I'd argue that the movie's romantic plot is substantially worse than the average. Baby shows up at the diner, acts really weird and creepy, but Debora is instantly smitten anyway. And not just smitten, but instantly devoted enough that she's willing to blatantly endanger her life and dive into the prospect of abandoning her whole life to be with Baby despite that she a) barely knows him and b) has clear signs that he's involved in organized crime. Then she waits five years so she can be with him, after she's known him for a total of two days tops. It's utterly ridiculous. I honestly think the quality of writing for Debora's character reaches the level of insulting and demeaning to her as a character. She's a prop, a pretty face that Baby gets karmically rewarded with for being Pure of Heart, nothing more.

edited 11th Jul '17 3:23:33 AM by DrDougsh

Accurate. Santiago Pandemoniums romance with Don Draper was a heck of a lot more substantial. I mean, evil and crazy, but they fit.

I would argue that Deadpool did an excellent job of laying out a template for when you want to have a romantic drive behind the film. They actually showed why the characters connected.

This movie is fantastic. That's all I have to say, really.

Bats = Waingro but he doesn't get far

I mean, I wouldn't call Baby "weird and creepy." Of course, he's handsome, so that puts a positive spin on most everything he does.

And even if he was, that doesn't invalidate the romance. Charles Manson got wedding proposals after all.

I actually think Baby as a character highlights a problem that people have more than ever in American society, and that's silence. People dislike Baby (except for Darling, Doc and Buddy, which makes the end more tragic in my eyes) simply because he's quiet which they equate to weird and bad.

He doesn't talk, so he has to be retarded, or scared, or arrogant.

As someone who has the opposite problem (meaning I couldn't stop talking if you tore my lips off), I have seen firsthand how powerful being quiet is. I talk a lot because I like it, but whenever I stop for a few minutes I suddenly have more attention and focus than ever before.

I'm not gonna make a joke about women liking Baby because he's quiet since it means they can talk more and just have him listen, but if someone else made that joke I wouldn't get mad.

I saw someone call the romance "very John Hughes" which I get. Given the relative youthfulness of the characters in question, I totally but it.

I also loved how Bats was basically a Red Herring and wore red for much of the movie.

I want to be just like Baby.

I just felt Bats was inconsistent. He complained about EVERYTHING Baby did as though it would harm the mission even though, well, Baby has a lot of experience under his belt to tell us that he does his job fine with it. So his whole thing was 'Baby's wierdness will cost us the mission'.

Then he goes out and shoots down some gun runners despite their boss saying not to do that which compromises the mission. Then its implied he shot a 7/11 clerk to get a big box of gum. THEN he treatens killing Deborah, a random Denny's waitress for all he cares, just to prove some kind of point and I have no doubt he'd go through with it because of the implied 7/11 clerk killing.

THAT doesn't compromise the mission at all? That behavior isn't going to ruin things and it DOES due to Doc not hearing 'bannanas' and cancelling everything but Baby listening to music even after he's been shown Baby's success record and given the reason for his music listening?

It just felt frustrating and uncomfortable in a way that did genuinely take me out of the movie until he died.

When I referred to Baby as acting creepy I refer largely to him being introduced to Debora by recording her singing without permission, which I would regard as eccentric at best and creepily intrusive at worst. It's stalker-like behaviour, and not very "charming" in my opinion. When Debora realises what Baby's doing she's so utterly okay with what most would consider rather questionable behaviour that I genuinely wondered if she was going to turn out to be a police plant.

Yeah, I found that a bit awkward to. Especially considering how often I know waitresses get flirted with while on shift.

I would toss that more up to the writer apparently not being that great with female characters.

Edgar Wright is infamously awful when it comes to his female characters, but even then I still really loved the movie. It's like...okay, I can concede the flaws, but I still really loved the movie regardless.

Come to think of it, I did find it strange in Scott Pilgrim that much of Ramona's badassery from the comic was transferred to Knives, which IMO was to both characters' detriment.

I disagree with that so completely I don't even know how to formulate a response, so I'll just move on.

As far as Baby recording her singing-Baby records most everything (I can't wait for the home release so I can pause and read the title of all those cassettes he makes), and while its slightly "creepy", I guess, it does probably boil down to what I said before-he's handsome. Maybe Debora would have been more bothered if he was an uggo.

(This was probably unintentional, but it might also have something to do with her being southern. Southern people are generally more easy going and tolerant than Yankee bastards like me)

That sounds shallow because it is. Attractive people can get away with a lot of crap that Joe Averages and Janey Plainface simply can't. I accept that from a movie because its reality.

As far as Bats being "inconsistent", well he does out and out say he has mental problems.

The Butcher scene is actually on Doc, because all he needed to say was "the people selling you guns are dirty cops that work for me." Gunfight averted.

So yeah, it kicked ass. Like I'm not gonna write a big in depth thing just yet, but straight up I loved it.

Yet another reason this movie is awesome.

It was edited with a Mac Book Pro (a computer any joe schmoe film student might have) virtually on the day of shooting. Basically Paul Machliss would be on set, a shot would be filmed, and then he would start editing when "cut" was called.

This is, essentially, the equivalent of turning a rough written manuscript into a ready to be published work at the same time. While also making sure it synchs up to pre-recorded music.

If Machliss doesn't at least get an Oscar nom...well, I won't do anything. But I'll be rather cross.

I only have one question.

...was he slow?

Man that will be a meme if it isn't yet. Great movie. It did kind of cram the finale slightly, but still damn good fun and spectacularly edited. Kevin Spacey is a blast.

edited 22nd Jul '17 6:23:46 AM by edvedd

I'm going to bet this is the best movie of the summer, and almost certainly the most original. I've seen it twice, it's fantastic.

I think the writing is better than a lot of the people give it credit for. It feels like one of those 70's heist movies, so it kind of fits, some of the more outlandish parts.

Wright's writing has always been deeply rooted in genre conventions, and for some people this means cliches, but whether or not something is a cliche is kinda relative.

Like at this point, I find the whole "villain gets captured mid movie, put in a transparent cell and then breaks out" to be trite, but that depends less on the number of times its been and more on the number of times I've seen it done.

Also, this is now Wright's most profitable movie yet. And not even his most expensive. Plus, some other comic book movie director-I think his name is "Molan" or something really liked the film too, which is something.

Finally saw this. Absolutely fantastic.

And that killer track. Oh my god. Fucking masterful.

Somehow I never realized Baby saw Debora before they meet in the diner. Not sure how I missed that. I am dissapoint. With myself.

In other, more important news, according to this:

http://www.slashfilm.com/baby-driver-sequel-2/

There's apparently going to be a sequel. Which...I'm not sure how I feel about. I loved this movie. But it feels a little like lightning in a bottle and trying to do it twice will probably dilute it.

Among other things in the article, Wright's been getting a lot more attention and offers since the movie came out (since it was by a large margin his biggest financial success) which is great, since he totally deserves it.

I'm not the only one who thinks this movie is absolutely creeptacular now, right? An evil Kevin Spacey turning a significantly younger man into an indentured servant, yeeeeeeeeesh....

I mean, i guess.

That's all outside context stuff, and will most likely fade.

I saw the movie after the "Spacey affair", and it didn't change a thing. Spacey is a mob boss, not an abuser, which would be far Harsher in Hindsight. On the contrary, his character is extremely civil and respectful despite his position of power.

Great watch nonetheless. The editing has to win the Oscar.

I don't like the idea of a sequel either. The first was good and stands alone.

Now, would I like something that's a SPIRITUAL Successor or more movies with that excellent of editing? Yes. Sequel to the story? Not really.