ON: BABY DRIVER (2017)

Baby Driver is an action crime film directed and written by by Edgar Wright, and starring Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Kevin Spacy, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, and more. It follows Baby, a music lover who is coerced into becoming the getaway driver for a crime boss.

Quotables (re: Baby)

Griff: I mean, is he uh, retarded?

Doc: Retarded means slow, was he slow?

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll know that I love stylish movies and great soundtracks. And throw in Edgar Wright, one of the most talented filmmakers working today, and we have Baby Driver – one of my favourite movies of 2017.

Probably the best thing about this movie is the direction in the action scenes. The chase sequences are some of the best I’ve ever seen. The opening car chase especially is brilliantly executed and so exciting and adrenaline-packed, and set to a very good soundtrack. 🙂

On that note, the music in this movie is very cleverly curated and probably one of the best I’ve ever heard.

There are no weak links in the cast. Ansel Elgort and Lily James are great and I thought their relationship was very charming. Elgort also adds so much personality and also a vulnerable touch to his performance that made his character very likable. Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm absolutely smashed their roles and Kevin Spacey is kind of amazing as the seemingly stone-cold crime boss.

I just love how unique this movie is. Everything about it, from the soundtrack to the style to the chase scenes, is so memorable. Baby is such a nuanced and interesting character, and unlike anything we’ve seen before.

Writing is solid. There are some amazing lines and hilarious comedic moments, but the script is not without a few flaws. There are plot holes, and I thought Baby could do with some more backstory work that was not shown in a flashback. I also thought the relationship, though charming, was a bit of a cliche and sometimes a little unbelievable, and the film does get rather cartoon-y at times.

But the chases are well-shot and practical, the costume design and visuals are remarkable and overall, it’s a very original, thrilling and awfully entertaining movie. My respect for Edgar Wright as a director and writer has rocketed – the amount of detail in this film is extraordinary. Baby Driver floored me the first time I watched it, and it also has great re-play value. Love!

Verdict: strong A-

 

What would your grade be? Did you have any other flaws with the movie? Leave me a comment!

– Q

ON: FAVOURITE SCREENPLAYS AND ALL THINGS WRITING

Since I have ventured into the territory of screenplay writing before, I tend to pay a lot of attention to the writing when I watch movies. So here are a few writing-related favourites for y’all!

Fave screenwriters:

• Aaron Sorkins and Quentin Tarantino. And Chris Nolan, of course. 🙂

Wish I’d written:

• Every Chris Nolan movie. Memento espesh because it’s brilliant, and how.

Fave screenplays:

• The Social Network and Steve Jobs are always thrilling to read aha. Just something about the way Sorkins writes his scripts, they’re so fast-paced and high energy and ridiculously entertaining. Tony Gilroy’s Bourne Identity is very innovative, Pulp Fiction and The Hateful Eight too. As for classics, The Godfather, 12 Angry Men and Chinatown.

I always feel like I’m the only one in the world who reads screenplays. Comment below if you do too! And if you don’t, and especially if you like to write scripts, I would highly recommend it! I’m thinking of making a post solely dedicated to advice for writers and the screenplays they should read. Would you be interested in reading? And comment what your favourite screenplay is!

– Q

MOVIE QUOTE #13

Another Nolan favourite:

Bruce: Why didn’t you just kill me?

Bane: Your punishment must be more severe.

Favourite movie in the Dark Knight trilogy?

– Q

ON: THOR (2011)

Thor is a 2011 superhero film directed by Kenneth Branagh, starring Chrsi Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins and a bunch of other famous people. In the film Thor, the to-be king of Asgard, is banished to Earth and stripped of his powers by his father. Thor struggles to reclaim his powers and prove himself worthy on Earth, whie in the process meeting the scientist Jane Foster.

Quotables:

Thor: I need a horse.

Pet shop dude: We don’t have horses. Just dogs, cats, birds…

Thor: Then give me one of those large enough to ride.

Also:

Thor: This mortal form has grown weak. I need sustenance!

ON: BATTLESHIP (2012)

It seems to be that whenever I realise that I can’t only review my favourite A-grade movies and I have to throw some crappy ones in there too, I think of Taylor Kitsch movies. *crying tears*

Battleship is a military sci-fi action film directed by Peter Berg and starring Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna, Liam Neeson and more! In the film, a US navy fleet (and some rival Japanese sailors) are the only obstacle between an alien invasion and global extinction.

Pre-movie thoughts:

• So uh, I didn’t know Rihanna was in movies. Eek.
• Peter Berg is responsible for Patriot’s Day, Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor and basically a bunch of the more decent Mark Wahlberg movies in the past few years. So Battleship definitely has potential as a big-budget blockbuster.
• The movie is actually named after the board game Battleship. I repeat, the pencil and paper game Battleship that we all played on rainy days back in the 80s (i.e. never). So it looks like just more Transformers-esque Hasbro merchandising ops. Plus an alien invasion. And military subplots. And Taylor Kitsch. Loooooong sigh.

MOVIE QUOTE #11

From the great Goodwill Hunting (and becoz, Matt Damon)

How do you like them apples?

Favourite Matt Damon movie? Because I really love The Martian, but Bourne and Goodwill Hunting are just classy. 😉

– Q

ON: THOR: RAGNAROK (2017)

Because school has started up again and this year is going to be very intense, I’ve decided to transition into writing shorter blog posts. My previous movie reviews would take over an hour to draft in total, and I don’t have that kind of time now (becoz high school, yo). So from now on my ‘reviews’ will be more me discussing my random, unabridged thoughts on a movie. Hope you like!

The last two Thor movies haven’t impressed me that much – they were okay/decent/watchable/B grade, but I haven’t ‘loved’ them. They were definitely the weakest links in the MCU. But then I saw the buzz around this movie and the very positive critic reviews, so I had high expectations!

The mandatory quotable, because I love this segment:

Thor: She’s too strong. Without my hammer, I can’t.

Odin: Are you Thor, God of Hammers?

Which is a GREAT point, by the way. That’s one of my favourite aspects of this movie – they’ve taken away Thor’s power, his hammer, just like they took away the Iron Man in Iron Man 3, and he has to get there on his own.

First of all, Chris Hemsworth’s haircut is amazing. XD

Taika Waititi brings a very whimsical, colourful touch to a great screenplay, and the actors certainly do it justice. I found it very similar in tone to Guardians of The Galaxy, which I feel has spawned a new sub-genre in the very serious superhero universe, which is very refreshing.

I thought the opening scene was great in that it set up the comedy aspect for the rest of the movie, and a Doctor Strange cameo f*ck yes! Mark Ruffalo I thought was great, and it was great that they explored his character a little more in this than the other films. It was really weird to see him actually talking and having half-conversations though, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Cate Blanchett is great as Hela. The makeup and costume looked amazing. But personally I didn’t really feel her as villain. Her character wasn’t very compelling, and I feel like if you’re going to be a Thor movie, your antagonist has to be better than Loki, who is one of the best superhero antagonists ever. And in my opinion, this didn’t cut it.

On the other hand, it was so cool to see Thor and Loki back together again! I’m still so split on Loki and his motives – is he a good guy? Is he a bad guy? Either way, it was great to have him fighting for a good side. But seriously, he needs a haircut. Asap.

Valkyrie is pretty kick-ass and it was great to see another strong female character. Jeff Goldblum is amazing. The soundtrack is AWESOME, and though it was a bit strange at first to hear rock/pop blasting out of this cosmic superhero adventure, I definitely got used to it real quick!

The Willy Wonka was weird though. *frown*

However, there were a lot of things I didn’t like. I think movies like this have to find a balance between being light and comedic and dark and intense. And in Ragnarok, sometimes an opportunity for a very powerful dramatic moment is played off as a joke. And that happens a lot. While I thought it was really funny, I would have liked some more drama and emotional heartstrings-tugging moments.

Also, sometimes things just feel a little random? It might just be me, but I felt the pacing was quite off at times, and the entire movie just felt a little sporadic and thrown-together.

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I personally didn’t like this movie as much as everyone else did. It’s certainly entertaining and fun, the action scenes and CG are very well done and the performances are all solid, but it’s not flawless. Once again I didn’t ‘love’ it, but it’s definitely the strongest installment in the Thor franchise, and I would recommend checking it out!

Verdict: light B+

What did you think of Thor: Ragnarok? Did you like it, or were you a little more undecided like me? Leave me a comment!

– Q

MOVIE QUOTE #10

This week, from one of my favourite movies of all time and one of Chris Nolan’s masterpieces, Inception:

Eames: They come here every day to sleep?

Old Man: No. They come to be woken up.

Favourite Nolan movie? Mine has to be Inception, but I absolutely adore Memento and The Prestige.

– Q

ON: HELL OR HIGH WATER (2016)

Hell or High Water is a neo-western crime thriller directed by David Mackenzie on a script by Taylor Sheridan. It stars Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges, and follows a divorced father and his ex-con brother as they resort to bank robberies in a desperate scheme to save their family ranch.

Quotables:

Comanche: I am a Comanche. Do you know what that means? It means ‘enemies forever’.

Tanner: Do you know what that makes me?

Comanche: An enemy.

Tanner: No. It makes me a Comanche.

This movie has been on my watch-list for months – naturally I was intrigued by the number of Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and of course Chris Pine (XD). So I had high expectations going in, and this movie did not disappoint.

• Acting-wise, the film is top-notch. Chris Pine and Ben Foster have excellent chemistry and give very authentic performances, while Jeff Bridges proves he’s still got it and gives one of the best supporting performances I have ever seen. #oscarsnubs!
• The cinematography is very nuanced and outspoken. Kudos for that gorgeous opening shot, and the long takes of the landscape in between!
• The writing is to-die-for. Every stream of dialogue is realistic and intelligent and the story itself is quite thoughtful and original. The movie stands as a breath of fresh air in our film industry filled with CGI summer blockbusters, Transformers crap, sequels and reboots and mindless action films, Hell or High water stands out as a movie that is truly authentic and meaningful. KUDOS!

• Did I mention the soundtrack. COUNTRY MUSIC *WHOOP*
• The visuals are great. Thanks to David Mackenzie’s direction, the setting is very well realised and done justice. The sad and desolate landscapes of the West are captured beautiful, and I also thought the colour grading served the film well. A fantastic-looking movie.
• Also, the title is like, really cool. 🙂

Hell or High Water is a gem – everything about it is brilliantly executed, my boy Chris Pine delivers once again, the rest of the cast is Oscar-worthy, and I really appreciated how complex the story was, especially in a moral sense. It’s a refreshing and different take on the practically-dead Western genre, and it’s pretty criminal that this didn’t get any Academy awards.

Verdict: A (very, very, very strongly recommend!)

I’m still working on condensing my posts as much as possible, but I hope that this convinced you to see this movie.

What did you think of Hell or High Water? Do you think it deserved an Oscar? Also, any ideas for what I can do with this blog and what I can change with my posts? Leave me a comment!

– Q

MOVIE QUOTE #9

This week I would like to feature a line from the great Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction:

Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.

Fave Tarantino movie?

– Q