2017: The Year in Film: "Baby Driver" Review

Edgar Wright is, without a doubt, one of the most unique and stylish directors working today. His films from Shaun of the Dead, to Hot Fuzz, to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, are genre bending, smart, and just different from pretty much everything else that's out there today. Due to the controversy surrounding his involvement and exit from Ant-Man a few years ago, he hasn't made a film since 2013's The World's End (which I'm pretty "meh" on), but once the promotional material for this one came out, I knew I was instantly on board.

In Baby Driver we're introduced to Baby, a... driver for a mysterious criminal organization headed by Doc (Kevin Spacey), a fast talking mastermind who runs various heists with various crews. Baby is the best driver in the business, and Doc considers him something of a good luck charm. Baby is an outsider in this criminal underworld, but he's a hell of a driver.

The Good: this flick is slick, stylish, smart, and a hell of a good time. The mix of action, heist, romcom and a killer soundtrack makes this movie something that only Edgar Wright could have made. It's almost if Edgar Wright made a Tarantino screenplay and I mean that in only the best way possible. The cast from top to bottom sizzles, with Spacey, Jon Hamm, and Jamie Foxx all turning in memorable performances. Young actor Angel Elgort is the right kind of charming and he has great chemistry with love interest Lily "cousin Rose from Downton Abbey" James. The main draw here is the chase/action sequences. From the jump, the driving action here is as good as anything in the Fast and Furious franchise or the Bourne films, which I'd consider the gold standard for modern chase scenes. The action sequences are smartly crafted and so damn slick. Like all of Wright's films, this one borrows copiously from archetypes and genres across the board so that everything here feels familiar without feeling derivative. There's certainly an art to that, and long story short: this one sizzles from front to back.



The Bad: there isn't a whole lot that's bad here... but if I have a critique, it's that some of the characterization is weak and/or nonexistent for some of the supporting characters. They feel more like stock types than actual people and while that's fine it's also a little disappointing in a flick that does everything else so damn well. The plot goes 100% over the top at a certain point, but it sticks the landing which makes up for some of the excesses. I also can't shake the feeling that this one is just Drive for mainstream audiences and with a slicker veneer.

Ultimately, from the opening scene this one will suck you in and keep you glued to the screen. Full of memorable dialogue, slick action, over the top characters and enough sweet moments to make it memorably Edgar Wright, Baby Driver does not disappoint. All of the leads are great, and there are extended, eye-popping action scenes that I have no idea how they were even shot.

9/10.

2017: The Year in Film: "Wonder Woman" Review

DC's extended movie universe has to this point been.... kind of a disaster. Man of Steel was a perfectly decent flick but Batman V Superman was an overstuffed and nearly unwatchable disaster and Suicide Squad was... dumb. Warner Brothers/DC needs a success in the worst way possible, and honestly, the world is better with Marvel having competition from someone, somewhere, so there's a lot of pressure on Wonder Woman to rescue DC from its own horrible decisions. Then you have the fact that superhero movies thus far have not been overly kind to women. There's a noticeable lack of diversity both in front of and behind the camera, so the world (and DC) needs a successful woman superhero to get behind. The good news is that Wonder Woman was the best part (by a mile) of BvS, that they seem to have nailed the casting (Israeli actress Gal Gadot was amazing in the Fast and Furious franchise), that they brought in director Patty Jenkins (an unconventional choice most famous for the film Monster), and that they seem to have been taking the responsibility of launching a huge franchise anchored by a woman seriously.

So, as an unapologetic Marvel fanboy, I've never in my life read a Wonder Woman comic. I don't know a whole lot about the character except that she has ties to Greek mythology and she's a straight-up badass. In Wonder Woman, the creative powers that be decided a straight-up origin story was in order,  so we're taken to the mythical island of Themyscira during WW1.

The Good: Gadot is great, simultaneously lending the flick a heart, humor and gravitas that's been missing from DC's films since Chris Nolan departed. The rest of the cast is also strong, with Chris Pine and Gadot's chemistry being the best part of the whole endeavor. I'm not a HUGE fan of the constant slow motion in DC's films, but the action sequences are generally good, with the film generally building to a solid emotional climax, even if the villain is a little silly. Connie Nielson and Robin Wright are strong as Amazonians, and the film in general has a good-natured humor that really offsets the darkness of the WW1 setting. I think the best decision the film could have made was setting the film in the past as a true origin story, allowing the flick to exist completely separately from the mess that's been DC's films up to now.



The Bad: I think the flick just barely missed, with ultimately the villain and plot being a little nonsensical. Like I mentioned above, the slow-mo makes the action sequences seem a little overwrought and ties back in not necessarily a good way to the other DC films. It's also a little weird that there were SO MANY similarities to the first Captain America film... I think a little similarity was inevitable, but there are some very conscious choices here that make it even more reminiscent that the flick had any business being.

Ultimately, the chemistry between Gadot and Pine alone is worth the price of admission, and Wonder Woman's origin story is well worth watching. The WW1 setting makes the film truly unique and its done smartly and with enough humor to make this one an absolute blast. If you're a fan of superhero flicks, or any of the actors involved, you could do much, much worse than Wonder Woman. 

8/10.