Baby Driver

First Hit:  Thoroughly enjoyable and fun to watch.

The music mood of the film begins right away. The music is critically important to Baby (Ansel Elgort) because he spends most of his time with his white earbuds in his ears to listen to music that the audience hears during critical moments and sometimes as background in other scenes.

Baby uses the music piped into his brain to drown out the constant noise due to tinnitus. It could be that one of the reasons I related well to this film. Because of the explosive noises I was subjected to in Vietnam and from the extra loud rock concerts I attended, I have a severe case of tinnitus which means I have a constant loud noise in my head all the time.

I find that when I write, especially the two books I’m currently writing, I do it with music headphones on or I use the background noise of a café because it helps me concentrate. That’s why Baby listens to music especially when he drives the getaway vehicles for robberies set up by Doc (Kevin Spacey).

Doc obtains information about banks, armored cars, or even the post office he thinks would make great targets for cash. Doc then gathers a crew of people to do the job and each crew is a cast of different characters for each job he does except Baby.

Doc caught Baby stealing his car once and the trunk contained bags of drugs. Although Baby didn’t know about the drugs, when he fenced the car the drugs were lost. Doc makes Baby drive for the robberies because he’s the best driver there is and Baby’s share of the jobs goes to Doc as repayment for the lost drugs.

The robbery teams include; Buddy (Jon Hamm) Griff, (Jon Bernthal), Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), and Bats (Jamie Foxx). Darling and Buddy are a couple and work together but their first time working with Bats is quite an experience.

When Baby meets a waitress, at a diner he frequents, he is immediately taken with her because she sings while she walks by. Debora (Lily James), is drifting like he is. Her singing reminds him of his mom who sang and also worked at the same diner before she died in a car accident when he was a little boy. He was in the car when his parents died and it was this event that gave him the tinnitus.

When she says to him, she just wants to get in a car and drive west to a new life, he completely falls for her. Baby decides that he’s going to do one last job for Doc, pay off his debt, and ask Debora to go west with him.

This is a great set up for the film because Bats is crazy as hell, Buddy and Darling are fully capable of mayhem, Doc is arrogantly mysterious and Baby is, well, incredibly focused and talks very little.

The only things that I didn’t like in the film was the opening scene which seemed to choreographed and a couple of the scenes when Baby is walking to and from a coffee house to bring the robbery teams coffee. They were a bit to staged as well. Else I loved the driving scenes, the music and the premise as it was unique.

Elgort was fantastic. His inner character is exemplified during the scenes where he's with his foster parent Joseph (CJ Jones). Now that Jones cannot care for himself alone, it is Baby who takes care of him. His boyish soft looks belied the intense driven young man inside. He was perfect for the part. Hamm was great as the intense man, feeding habits including his girlfriend, Darling. Gonzalez was wonderful as the intense woman who was loved by Buddy. Together they had matching intense, impulsive and wild natures. Foxx was off the charts crazy. He clearly made this role his own. Spacey was perfect as the guy with the mean sarcastic whit. He’s got a wonderful ability to make his character drip in a smarmy liquid way. Jones was strong as the deaf man who loved Baby and wanted only the best for him. James was beyond amazing. Her sweet strong personality was perfect for the part. She exuded this role completely. Edger Wright wrote and directed this unique film with deftness. I loved the choreographed driving scenes and my only criticism I’ve already shared. This is one of the best actions films of the year.

Overall:  This movie was a joy ride.

Horrible Bosses 2

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, it lacked being a full on comedy.

The three main characters Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) are opening their own business with a product for the shower.

The whole storyline around this and their interaction is, for the most part, not funny. They try funny bits; like demonstrating their product on TV, breaking into a house and stealing some nitrous oxide; but they aren’t funny at all. There is very little that's funny about the bits these three do together. However the funny parts is when they bring other characters into the fold.

Chris Pine as Rex the son of the owner of a large distribution company. Christoph Waltz as Bert the successful owner of the distribution company. Kevin Spacey as Dave the old imprisoned boss they wanted to kill. Jamie Foxx as Dean “MF” Jones, their criminal friend who gives them guidance.

And last but not least, Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julie Harris and sex addicted dentist. Each of these other characters bring in dialogue and aliveness that make the audience laugh-out-loud. However in the end, the film is dead on arrival.

Bateman looks bored in the role. He’s supposed to be the smart steady one and he's this character to the detriment of the film. Sudeikis tries to be lively  and funny as the sex starved guy, but again the role and dialogue is old before it comes out of his mouth. Day as Dale the family man, is dull and unintelligent and ads little to the film. However, Pine is dynamic, over the top, and great as the son who wants more from his dad than he has. Waltz is oddly funny as the guy who puts his business and money over the welfare of his son (Pine). Foxx is intensely funny as the bad-ass friend of the crew. Spacey is intimidatingly intense as the imprisoned scruple-less boss. Aniston is great as the sex starved dentist. Watching her spit out her desires of what she wants to do with the men is precious. Sean Anders and John Morris wrote an unfunny story for the main characters while livening up the dialogue for the other characters. Anders didn’t do a very good job of writing and directing this comedy.

Overall:  This has to be the last of this series – it would only get worse if they try.

Margin Call

First Hit: This smart educational film opens the door to understanding the mortgage crisis of the late 2000’s.

What this film does is give the audience a human flavor as to why the mortgage crisis happened.

Human not in the context of the mortgage holders, but the guys in a Wall Street house who created bundling of the subprime mortgage packages and sold them.

In this Wall Street firm, recent losses have created firings. One of the fired, Eric Dale (played by Stanley Tucci), has been working on some numbers which concern him. When he leaves he gives a thumb drive to a young new Analyst, Peter Sullivan (played by Zachary Quinto).

Sullivan works for Will Emerson (played by Paul Bettany), who works for Sam Rogers (played by Kevin Spacey). Will is smart and has about 10 years with the firm and when Sullivan finishes the analysis that Dale started, he immediately sees that the company is overexposed and is exposed for more than their capital worth.

Like the mortgages of many, they are underwater. This brings in the heavy weights. Rogers calls Jared Cohen (played by Simon Baker) who calls the CEO John Tuld (played by Jeremy Irons). A 2:00 AM meeting between all these players and lawyers, the meeting starts with Sullivan explaining what he discovered.

The Head of Risk Sarah Robertson (played by Demi Moore) indicates that they tried to tell Tuld this could happen but Tuld indicates that this is now water under the bridge. What can they do to save the company now? Tuld decides to sell all of their positions at a loss, even though they know that doing this will destroy the market for mortgages, their relationships with all other brokerage companies they work with, and maybe destroy the company.

However, by leading the charge to sell this bad debt they will lose less than the others. To do this they know what they are doing and that is where the morality of their decision comes into question.

Tucci is great as one of the guys who complies with the end decision, all for money. Spacey is wonderful as the head of sales who motivates the crew for the last selling spree, he does it for the money as well. Quinto is sublime as the smart analyst. Irons is absolutely dead on as a ruthless player. Baker is very good as the guy who didn’t listen enough and is mostly responsible for the company’s plight. Moore is OK as the woman who pushed for a change but was unconvincing enough. Bettany is very good as the guy who thinks he knows it all but really relies on the smarts of others. J.C. Chandor wrote and directed this film which was intelligent, educational, well scripted, and provided excitement and interest.

Overall: This was a wonderful film to see and provided enough of a layman’s language explanation to shine light on the financial mess we’re now in.

Horrible Bosses

First Hit:  Uneven film from the beginning but in the end it came together enough to be enjoyable.

Nick Hendricks (played by Jason Bateman) works in a large corporation for Dave Harkin (played by Kevin Spacey) who is the perfect ultimate jerk of a boss.

He lies about Nick, takes advantage of his work ethic, and is vindictive. Dale Arbus (played by Charlie Day) who only wants to be married to his fiancé works as a dental assistant for Dr. Julia Harris D.D.S. (played by Jennifer Aniston) who is a very horny dentist and spends most of her time trying to persuade Dale to screw her at work while the patients are under anesthesia. Kurt Buckman (played by Jason Sudeikis) is a top account manager for a local company. He works for Jack Pellit (played by Donald Sutherland) who admires Kurt, but Jack dies and his son Bobby (played by Colin Farrell) is anointed to run the company.

Bobby is self-obsessive and a cocaine and sex addict. He begins to make Kurt’s life miserable. The three are friends and during one of their nights out they hatch a plan to kill their bosses. Of course they know nothing about it and end up seeking advice from Dean “MF” Jones (played by Jamie Foxx).

After the introduction of these characters and their reasons why they want their bosses dead, the film falls into series of bits, some funny some not.

Eventually the film finds its story and legs and comes home in a reasonably satisfying way.

Bateman is the settling energy and most reasonable person in this film. He’s also funny. Spacy is, for me, the scene stealer. When he’s on the screen he’s definitely worth watching. Day is at his best when he accidentally inhales a bunch of cocaine he’s cleaning up. Aniston is playing a role very unlike her normal roles and she is a hoot to watch. Sudeikis is suave as a guy who is not necessarily handsome but smooth enough to get almost anyone to have sex with him. Farrell is almost non-recognizable but his abilities to express are all Farrell. Fox is wonderfully intense and funny to watch as the professional murder consultant. Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan M. Goldstein wrote this script and for the most part it felt like a bunch of un-integrated bits. Seth Gordon directed the film but seemed lost after the strong beginning, but was able to bring it home well enough.

Overall: Although this film was lost much of the time, it did come together at the end to make the sit worthwhile.

Shrink

First Hit: Although a bit tedious, it is a watchable film with some good acting and interplay.

Kevin Spacey plays Henry Carter a psychologist who has a hit book out about how to be happy. But he is anything but happy.

From the moment the film opens we know something is really wrong with Carter. He’s stoned all the time. He is seen sleeping everywhere but on his bed. He sleeps on the floor, on a pool deck chair, on the couch and most anywhere but on his bed. He pays passing attention to his dog and barely a bit more to his patients.

He occasionally says something of wisdom to his patients but mostly spends his time thinking about his next hit on a joint. There is a great intervention scene where his family, patients and friends try to get him into a abuse program and he just blows them off.

His father who is also a psychologist decides to send Carter a young girl for pro-bono therapy. Jemma is a young girl who is missing school to go see films and is missing her mother. Carter finds out her mother committed suicide which is what his wife did. At this moment Carter and Jemma begin to heal.

Spacey is perfect as the arrogant, intelligent, and personally lost “psychologist for the stars”. His patients represent Hollywood people with Hollywood type problems which are amusing to watch. Keke Palmer plays the girl and drew me in to watch her. She has a strong presence. Saffron Burrows plays a centered Kate Amberson the wife of a country/rock star who is fully narcissistic.

Overall: This is an OK film, not great, but I found myself interested in how it would turn out.