OVP: Baby Driver (2017)

Film: Baby Driver (2017)
Stars: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx
Director: Edgar Wright
Oscar History: 3 nominations (Best Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Film Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Seven years ago, I had one of the more surprising moments of my cinematic life when I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  Up until that point I had never seen one of the films of Edgar Wright, and only knew him by his trailers, none of which particularly interested me.  Michael Cera had at that point become something of a movie star, so it wasn't surprising to see him headlining a comedy for the summer, but like Jonah Hill & Seth Rogen, names I associated with him, he wasn't a calling card for me.  Still, the reviews were quite strong for the picture, and the movie I was supposed to see was sold out, so I thought "let's give this a shot, shall we, as I'm already here?" and so I went in and saw the movie, and I LOVED IT.  I have seen Scott Pilgrim more times than probably any film from 2010, including The Social Network, and I can quote most of the lines.  I was so hooked that I was surprised when Edgar Wright suddenly became less prolific, and didn't make another movie that seemed to capture that quick-witted, visual-flare style of Scott Pilgrim again (perhaps it was due to the Box Office not loving the picture as much as I did).  So when Baby Driver's trailers invited me back looking like they'd been torn out of the same page book as Scott Pilgrim, it didn't take any coaxing for me to be in the theaters.  I was there opening weekend.

(Spoilers Ahead) Inevitably Baby Driver was not going to be Scott Pilgrim, if in part because it wasn't going to be a discovery, but man did I like it anyway.  The movie centers on a getaway driver named Baby (Elgort, perhaps the only actor working who could pull off that moniker), who is about to undertake a heist with a motley crew made up of Buddy (Hamm), his wife Darling (Gonzalez), Bats (Foxx), and Doc (Spacey), the leader of the group.  Like all good crime movies, we see a successful heist to kickoff the picture, and then it unfolds into a series of deadly mistakes, which lead Baby to rebel against the crew as he wants to get out and start a new life with a young waitress named Debora (James).  The film unfurls with multiple characters dying in the process, and a lovely, happy ending akin to Scott Pilgrim as the picture unfolds.

The fun of Scott Pilgrim was that, even at its most ridiculous (how is it that Ramona Flowers has so many evil exes that have superpowers?), was that the lines were snappy and the characters were heartily felt, and certainly the script here delivers.  While there was nothing quite as remarkable as "Julie Powers Has Issues" (I still do a spit take), these are all actors with clearly fine comic timing, give or take Lily James (who isn't really asked to be funny), and some of the visual bits, like anything surrounding Baby's name or his relationship with the deaf man he lives with, feel plum and full of movie positivity.  Honestly-one of the rare things about the first half of Baby Driver might be it's so joyfully in love with its main character, and I liked that.  After seeing him now in a couple of movies, I'm still not entirely sure about how extensive Ansel Elgort's skills are as an actor, but he's nearly impossible not to enjoy watching, and not just because of that exaggeratedly handsome mug of his.  He has to be one of the most charming figures to come to the movies in a long while, and he is exactly right for this part as Baby.  The film lives or dies based on his work, keeping the movie and intrigue about his character steady, and he does that with aplomb.  I genuinely don't know where his career will take him, but between this and his similarly well-cast work in The Fault in Our Stars, he's at least quite fine at picking out scripts.

The movie derails a bit in terms of its fun in the final third of the film, when it borrows perhaps too liberally from Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, and both Kevin Spacey & Jon Hamm see their characters go in too extreme of directions.  Spacey, while an actor with fine comic timing, doesn't really have a read on a character whose motives are hard to suss out unless you want to start projecting some sort of homosexual love that he has for Baby, and Hamm can't seem to ground his character's dramatics enough toward the end of the movie, making him (in my opinion) the weakest link in the picture, which was not an opinion frequently shared by other critics.  Honestly, for all of the criticism that January Jones gets for being a limited actor, aside from spoofing his handsome-man persona on 30 Rock, has Jon Hamm ever done anything approaching the gift he exhibited in 30 Rock?

That said, for the first half, and occasionally in the second, this is a delight to behold.  Wright combines fun, energy, and wit (both visual and aural) so well onscreen that even when he gets a little bloated or overly confident, it's hard not to dismiss that while you're enjoying your time in the theater.  If you haven't yet, catch this (or Scott Pilgrim), as it's now available on DVD.  And share your thoughts on the picture below!

Taking a Break

I will be back to full-time posting on Monday, but in the meantime, just be thankful the world has an Ansel Elgort

I Have a Problem...

I can't

stop staring

at photos of

ANSEL ELGORT!!!!

He's cool with it though.

Ansel Elgort for a Busy Day

Sorry about no afternoon post yesterday (and no political post this morning, though between Iran and Rand Paul this morning, did you really want me to talk about politics?).  I had a lunch meeting yesterday and went out with a friend last night, but will try to be back to normal this afternoon and for sure tomorrow.  In the meantime, let the mesmerizing beauty of Ansel Elgort hypnotize you into thinking I wrote the greatest blog post ever...

See, you've already forgotten I posted!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's Saturday-huzzah!!!  And with that, we get back into our old "Everybody's Linking for the Weekend" write-ups, where I link to some of the articles and stories that I've been following all week.

On Entertainment...

-Lena Dunham continued to stir up controversy with her article about "Dog or Jewish Boyfriend?" for The New Yorker.  I know that Lena may do things like this on occasion just to see where the uproar flies (I love her, but she occasionally trolls the public a bit), but in this case it was just a cute article playing on the ridiculousness of stereotypes that isn't dissimilar to the humor of Sarah Silverman or Larry David.  Plus, the reaction to it seems wholly predictable and no piece I've read seemed particularly genuine other than knee-jerk.  As a result I'm not going to link to the outrage articles, but occasionally provocative speech is just that and while I get where people are coming from, I don't quite agree with them.

-Tim Brayton over at the Film Experience finished up his fascinating take on the Rise and Fall of Dreamworks animation, whose Home premieres this weekend amidst a tumultuous time for the studio.  Honestly-this is one of the coolest articles I've read in a while with an in-depth look at a Hollywood studio (recalling Entertainment Weekly before the magazine just became a series of photos with pun-inflected captions to them).  Do yourself a favor and check it out.

-Loved this article from Buzzfeed recounting one person's look at the One Direction break-up, and particularly the part about the double standards employed on girls (who are silly for loving a band so much) and boys (who can mourn and weep over LeBron leaving Cleveland without any public mocking).

On Politics...

-The big story out of Washington yesterday had to be the retirement of Harry Reid.  The chips fell quickly and Politico has an account of how Chuck Schumer swiftly assumed the mantle of next Senate leader, while The Hill looks through the contentious Democratic Primary that could emerge with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto seeming the frontrunner but Rep. Dina Titus and former Secretary of State Ross Miller both also appearing interested.  I'd like to remind both Titus and Miller that the Republicans have an open governor's race in 2018 and Sen. Dean Heller running for reelection, so if we all learn to share we might have a clear primary and everyone gets a prize.  Meanwhile every Republican in the country is salivating over the prospect of Gov. Brian Sandoval taking a shot at the open seat, as seen in the LA Times, but he seems more intent to wait and see if Jeb Bush picks him over Rob Portman for the veep slot.  In a presidential year, a Republican field without Sandoval would probably start as the underdog considering the uptick in Hispanic voters and recent trends in Nevada regarding presidential elections.

-National Journal included an article about potential fractures for the Democrats headed into the 2016 cycle.  Indeed, with Nevada, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania all seemingly poised to have contested (and theoretically bitter) primaries, the weird streak of Democrats clearing the field for their preferred candidate appears to be over.  Speaking of Illinois, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the preferred candidate by many for that state, appears likely to enter the race against Mark Kirk (see this article from HuffPo for more details).  Between Duckworth (or her congressional colleague Robin Kelly) in Ilinois, Kamala Harris in California, Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, and Donna Edwards in Maryland, a record number of women of color could be entering the Senate in 2017.

-One other story yesterday came out from the EPA.  Bloomberg reports that at least one unidentified chemical was used by most companies while fracking, which comes amidst an all-out war against the practice by environmental groups, including a ban on the practice in New York.  This occurs at a time when we seem to have too much oil in reserves and nowhere to put it.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

Ansel Elgort is the prettiest of all of the pretty people.

My Favorite YouTube Video of the Week:

My beloved Grace Helbig has her own show that premieres next week, and in preparation for that jump to the mainstream, she was on Jimmy Fallon.  Here she is discussing her mom:

Just One More...

-I cannot believe that this is happening, but my beloved Suze Orman Show will be signing off tonight after 14 years on the air.  The Washington Post did a beautiful piece on Suze, her show, and her legacy (the good and the bad), but I will say that the way those teenage girls felt up-top about One Direction, I feel about Suze leaving.  I met her once at a book-signing (she was bound-and-determined to talk with every last person), and she referred to me as adorable when I came up for an autograph.  I told her that her book Young, Fabulous, and Broke had changed my entire perspective on money and had become my "financial bible."  She smiled, said she "loved that" and indicated that The Money Book was "my new financial bible" (which it has become).  I will miss our Saturdays together, and while I always follow her on Twitter and am excited to see where her new talk-style show takes her, I'm going to miss our Saturday nights together.

John's Top 10 Movies of 2014

Oscar has done it.  The Globes have done it.  Basically every critic on the planet has done it.  And now it's my turn!  Here are my Top 10 (listed alphabetically) films of 2014!

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

A meta experiment that examines the way we spit out celebrity, Michael Keaton's game look at a former star that eerily mirrors him in real life is the performance of a lifetime.  Special points go to Emmanuel Lubezki for a terrific camera trick of making the film seem like one long take, and to Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for taking that trick and making the film effervesce.

Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater)

An experiment in the way we look at the movies, and the way we look at our own lives.  Few films have ever dared to embark on such a long journey (twelve years in the making), and no director can make us examine the fragility of time and the grand scope of life like Richard Linklater.  It's one of those films that has to be seen to be believed.

The Fault in Our Stars (dir. Josh Boone)

Yes, my friends, occasionally teen romances can be truly great movies, but you'd be forgiven from thinking so after the dreck we've had to endure for years.  Yet here we have a romantic drama with a compelling female lead (Shailene Woodley, and thank god for her at the movies this year) and an irresistible Ansel Elgort in a role that likely made him a star.  If you aren't in tears by its end, you have no heart.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (dir. Peter Jackson)

The final chapter in Peter Jackson's six-part look at the Kingdom of Middle Earth rarely lets up, giving epic battle after epic battle, but its power rests in the quieter moments of the movie: Thorin's battle with himself, Bilbo's final moments as he realizes his part of the adventure is over, and the quickening heartbeat of Sauron's evil growing ever stronger.  A David Lean-style finale for the most important filmic series of the past three decades.

The Lego Movie (dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)

The most fun I had at the movies all year.  Yes, it's technically a giant commercial designed to sell billions of dollars worth of the title toys, but it's also complete joy, mixing nostalgia from the audience's youth with a virtual feast of imagery and sight gags.  Plus, it's that rare comedy that actually finds a way to use the skills of all of its cast members, from bit parts by Jonah Hill and Will Forte to Star of 2014 Chris Pratt as our lead everyman.

Nightcrawler (dir. Dan Gilroy)

A terrifying look into the heart of a mad man.  The film relies upon us trusting a person because he looks like a movie star, and then we realize a bit too late that he's not down-on-his-luck, but instead a true sociopath, careening through Los Angeles hell bent on the best story, regardless of what happens to those around him.  This is arguably the best serial killer film we've seen since, well, Zodiac, so clearly Gyllenhaal has found his niche.  And you'll never look at the news in the same way again.

Pride (dir. Matthew Warchus)

Perfect.  That's pretty much the only way to sum up Pride, perhaps the best ensemble piece I've seen on screens since...I can't even remember.  A cast of British veterans and newcomers make you feel for causes you may never have given a second thought, and show perhaps the most damning indictment of the government's indifference to the poor and the sick you've seen.  And somehow it's still a light and spry comedy-gay or straight, if you haven't seen it yet, you're an idiot for not rectifying that situation.

Stranger by the Lake (dir. Alain Guiraudie)

If Alfred Hitchcock and Rainer Werner Fassbinder had a baby, it would probably have come up with Stranger by the Lake, a spooky look into a French cruising beach completely out of time and space.  The movie itself poses many riddles amidst the graphic love scenes, principally "what do we want out of life" and "where is our youth best spent?"  And of course the film has arguably the best ending of any movie this year, petrifying in a way few films dare to be.

Under the Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer)

In a year where ambiguity reigned supreme over the art house, no film better captured that lack of understanding more than Under the Skin, Jonathan Glazer's long-awaited follow-up to Birth.  The film could be a horror film masquerading as a thriller, or it could be a coming-of-age movie about a woman haunted by some recent tragedy.  Whatever it is, it's a provocative look at what's below the surface in all of us, and how art can continue to change the way we approach the world.  And Scarlett Johansson hasn't been this effective since we first learned of her eleven years ago.

Wild (dir. Jean-Marc Vallee)

Movie stars, despite what the media says, are not dead.  They just don't get the strong roles they used to, and so thank goodness Jean-Marc Vallee can find a way to meld a truly compelling narrative with one of our greatest stars, Reese Witherspoon.  Like Cheryl, Reese has been lost in the cinematic wilderness for years, but you couldn't tell that with the verve and life force she brings to this woman, whose story of trying to find redemption in the wilderness breaks every survival cliche you can imagine, and ends up being a journey through time that we all must endure.

And there you have it-the Top 10 films of 2014!  Any make your personal list?  Any that you haven't seen (in which case-why not?!?!)?  Sound off in the comments!

The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Film: The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe

Director: John Boone

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars (I know, I’m as shocked as you are…let’s discuss)

On occasion, you run into movies that you, if you’re proper and rational, shouldn’t remotely love.  You look at the films and realize they’re cloying and manipulative and filled with emotional buzzwords like cancer and first love and whatever we used to call the term for YOLO before that insidious acronym enjoined our collective social medias.  You see that the main actress is playing a character far too world-weary even for someone dying of a disease or that her love interest is far too perfect, the sort of boyfriend you dream of when you’re trying to comfort yourself after yet another emotionally-stunted set-up, even if you’re fully-aware that he couldn’t possible exist in real life.  You recognize the silliness of hiring an Oscar-nominated actor to play a Snidely Whiplash-style author that you’re certain will have an epiphany before the film ends.

You do all of these things, and yet, in spite of yourself, you end up falling in love with the movie.  Call it An Affair to Remember.  Call it Notting Hill.  Call it The Notebook.  Or, in this case with one of my favorite cinematic experiences of the year, call it The Fault in Our Stars.

(Spoiler Alert) I cannot even tell you how much I hate myself for loving this movie.  I was texting my brother through part of the film about how Ansel Elgort’s character is the sort of person that decent women (and a few men) end up single or settling because they believe he can exist in real life, like an adult version of Santa Claus.  The scene where he protests that he’s still a virgin because he lost his leg to cancer felt like almost annoying pandering to the audience to make his relationship with Hannah Grace (Woodley) more chaste; a guy that gorgeous, charming, and sweet is going to have women all over him, regardless of his limb count.

But it’s impossible not to love his Gus.  While he occasionally becomes the manic pixie dream boy, he is so charming and affective that you don’t particularly care.  The scenes where he’s flirting with Hannah Grace are effortless charm.  This is clearly an actor who is going to have his pick of parts for years to come.  It helps that Woodley is grounded in a wonderfully-felt performance, never quite feeling too precocious, though not quite falling into the sap like you feel would be so easy to do, but Elgort feels like the real deal as well.  I’m already starting a countdown to the Half Nelson and Blue Valentine period of his career.

The film itself is wildly effective as a love story.  Perhaps because cinematically I’ve been a bit love-starved for straight-forward romances I couldn’t get enough of their fun and the care that John Boone puts into us getting to know these characters, particularly our heroine Hannah Grace.  We see the facades that they both built up for themselves and Boone does something marvelous with that: he doesn’t bust them over.  The people at the end of the film are the same as the ones at the beginning, deeply affected by their first taste of romance, but still grounded into being the same people.

The supporting players, like most romantic dramas, are a mixed bag.  I though the entire plot with Willem Dafoe felt indulgent (was this John Green’s proxy in the novel, cause if so he has some esteem issues to work through), and perhaps the only part of the film where the cloying actually sunk in-this was too much of a cartoon to actually make us care enough for him to be the messenger toward the end of the film.  Balancing him well was Laura Dern as a mother so desperate to keep her daughter alive-I LOVED the scene where she admits that she’s starting to take classes, that the shame of acknowledging her daughter will die soon and she’ll have to live on was so subtle, but perfectly felt.  I’m so glad she’s enjoying such a wonderful string of elevated supporting roles-I just wish she’d luck out a bit more and find a lead role.

All-in-all, even with the ending that you can see coming a mile away (the film cares too much about Hannah Grace to be, to quote The Hours, “the character who makes others appreciate life more”), I was still a ball of tears, crying on my couch while Hannah’s first love (perhaps, as is indicated, her only?) leaves her with the full experience of romance-not just the highs but the unspeakable lows.  I had not read the book, but I suddenly understand the woman who was dabbing her eyes on the bus a few months ago while finishing this novel.

We’re going to leave things there, but the damage is already done for me-loved it.  Loved every minute of it.  Even the parts I hated.  Anyone else loving this, which has become 2014’s Guilty Pleasure for yours truly?  Where do you see Ansel Elgort’s career going next?  How long before Shailene Woodley gets her first Oscar nod?  And which John Green book should I inevitably read first?  Share in the comments!