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| Ansel Elgort is Baby Driver |
Edgar Wright's
Baby Driver is solid entertainment that never transcends its comic book premise. Regardless, this is a step up for Wright after the tedious machinations of
The World's End. Yet another heist film, Wright is up to the challenge of mixing action and music to exciting effect as he did in
Scott Pilgrim vs the World. The heists and car chases go swimmingly. The acting is pretty good, though Kevin Spacey and Jon Hann veer close to self-parody. Wright is able to build a nice rapport between his two leads, Ansel Elgort and Lily James.
However, all the sound and fury do not add up to much. Elgort's relationship with a crippled African American foster Dad is cringe inducing and the effort to make Baby both a complete innocent and an expert getaway driver seems foolish for even this slim story. A scene showing our hero self-reflexively singing along to Carla Thomas' "B-A-B-Y" strains to echo Tom Cruise in Risky Business, but doesn't even rise to the level of Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink. Baby Driver runs out of steam three quarters through and limps along to a redemptive and 'happy' ending. It is a pleasant enough diversion which, as is true of most of Wright's work, leaves one hungry for a trace of sense or meaning.
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| Charlize Theron is an Atomic Blonde |
David Leitch's
Atomic Blonde does not transcend its comic book premise and is barely reasonable entertainment. Leitch's background is in stunts and these do provide the highlights of this film. The Cold War skullduggery set in Berlin strands worthy thesps like Charlize Theron, Toby Jones, John Goodman, James McAvoy and Bill Skarsgard in an inane succession of double crosses. The soundtrack is predictable, as is the demise of the lesbian love interest. The sets resemble those of a softcore porn film. Not that I am complaining, but why does Ms. Theron bathe in a see through tub? A stupefying rather than edifying movie. (12/19/17)
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