BABY DRIVER (2017)

Genre: Action / Thriller
Running Length: 1:53
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Eiza Gonzalez, CJ Jones, Jon Bernthal
Director: Edgar Wright
Screenplay: Edgar Wright

Life lesson: Not everyone appears the way they seem. So don't be too quick to judge and be kind to everyone you meet, for they could be fighting their inner demons you know nothing about.

From a narrative standpoint, BABY DRIVER doesn't really break any new ground. The story is about Baby (Elgort), a getaway driver who works for a criminal mastermind (Spacey). After finishing his "one last job", Baby retires to spend time with his new found love (Lily James). As predicted, nobody really gets to leave the world of violent crime.

Sounds familiar but yet, writer director Edgar Wright manages to create a very visual and fresh viewing experience. And it's all gotta do with the directing, the magic of editing and the SONGS! Almost the entire movie was cut in time to the songs employed. It was edited in such a way to have us hear Baby's personal soundtrack as he goes through his day-to-day.

His choice of songs not only informs us of his mood but we get to also know his character better with every song played. Such a concept reminds me of Guardians of the Galaxy but Wright's technique is much more refined here. As a result, this movie feels like a pseudo-musical especially its first half. What more with some scenes where bright colours are exploited.

Eventhough such an approach hint a world of fantasy, this movie is actually pretty grounded especially the second half where things take a dark turn. The car chase scenes generated real suspense (vs the Fast and Furious kind which are...kinda boring) and I felt nervous when a character is about to shoot another person (vs the John Wick kind which is also...kinda boring). Perhaps the latter movies remind us of video games where we are desensitized by its CGI violence. People do get hurt in this movie, sometimes in shocking ways.

That said, some characters are not really well written particularly the female characters. They felt one-dimensional. The same can't be said for their male counterparts as they have much more layers in their characters. I didn't really enjoy Ansel Elgort's smarty pants performance in The Fault In Our Stars but in this film, he is perfectly cast and is charismatic as hell. And Jamie Foxx! He is so intense here as the live wire and walking time-bomb of the group, I was genuinely terrified whenever he appears on screen.

Not the best movie of the year but definitely the most fun.

RATING: 8.5/10  

ANT-MAN (2015)

 
Genre: Action/Science fiction
Running Length: 1:57
Cast: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, T.I., David Dastmalchian
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenplay: Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, Paul Rudd

Marvel's ANT-MAN is a tight and smaller scale movie (see what I just did there...) compared to the other epic and god-like superhero movies. And it packs a lot of heart too. In fact, it seems to share the same template as last year's surprise hit Guardians of the Galaxy:

• It goes for fun over dark brooding drama. 
• It's bright and uses a similar bold color palette. 
• Just like Chris Pratt, Paul Rudd is a likeable and humorous hero (heck, there's even a similar ripped six pack abs side profile shot of the actors in their respective movie trailers)      

I was a little skeptical when I watched the first trailer and not knowing much about the comic book, I thought the name "Ant-Man" was a tad too goofy. But boy was I wrong! The ability to shrink to a size of an insect is actually brilliant and lethal at the same time. The idea is so dangerous that if this technology falls into the hands of the wrong people, it would have serious global consequences. And that's actually the premise of the movie; to break into a high security premise to steal and destroy this technology before our main villain sells it to a bigger bad-der organization. Think of it like the Ocean's Eleven heist of Marvel movies.

What worked in this movie is its great cast. Rudd's comic timing is perfect and he's generally a nice guy who's trying to do the right thing for his daughter. Evangeline Lilly gets me everytime whenever she plays a strong character with scenes where she breaks down emotionally. Michael Pena steals every scene he’s in. And of course, there's Michael Douglas. He still has charisma and he oozes personality. And the action scenes are never too loud and bombastic. The climatic fight scene between Ant-Man and the baddie is ingenious as it switches between their perspective and that of normal-size human scale (and it also involves Thomas The Tank Engine Train). And kudos to the effective use of effects. When our hero shrinks down to size, his surroundings look unbelievably detailed and real.

Indeed, less is more.

Rating: 7.5/10