[9/1/2024]

Baby Driver

With its superb writing, flawless cast, amazing stunt work, striking colors, and much more, Baby Driver is a remarkable, distinctive, and enjoyable work of cinematic art. This film does everything perfectly. The soundtrack, though, is this movie's most noteworthy aspect. Throughout the entire film, the music acts as a character interacting with other characters, its beats complementing and punctuating what is happening on screen. This film serves as a perfect example of how imaginative storytelling can transport viewers from a straightforward narrative to an exhilarating roller coaster.

Similar to a song in a musical, the action and singing convey ideas that might otherwise go unspoken. Baby finds freedom in driving whatever automobile he can get his hands on and in music. And what amazing set pieces they are; despite the ridiculous action, Wright's emphasis on doing everything in-camera keeps it from ever being cartoonish. Whatever music is playing is precisely timed with the action. Gunshots, punches, gear shifts, and Wright's unique editing and camerawork all serve to highlight the drum beats and guitar.

It's difficult to contextualize the components of Baby Driver that succeed because so much is dependent on the interaction of pictures and speech. The film's opening sequence, a well-choreographed theft, is orchestrated like a symphony. The characters exit the car, glide to the trunk, and retrieve their guns with greater style than Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Throughout the film, the sound of gunfire is syncopated with the non-diegetic music. Baby's tragic relationship with Joe is centered on his inability to hear and how conversation takes precedence despite being portrayed in sign language and subtitles. Wright experiments with how films use audio and how audiences interact with sound.

The remainder of the cast is similarly entertaining and well-utilized. Kevin Spacey's Doc is cast as the villain with a debt hanging over Baby's head, but Spacey's deadpan approach contradicts everything. Spacey exhibits something resembling compassion for Baby, even if the young man must take in Doc's nephew to figure out the best method to rob a post office. Jaime Foxx's performance as Bats is hilarious; he's a loose cannon who only wants a reason to shoot someone. He's terrifyingly impatient. Mickey and Mallory are portrayed by Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez in the film. With their matching "his" and "hers" tattoos, the characters have a romantic and seductive vibe that is counterbalanced by their insane behavior. Lily James, as the charming Debora, is perhaps the weakest link. She is Baby's reason to exist; the charming 1950s epitome of Americana, as proven by Baby's Pleasantville-style fantasy. It's not that James delivers a poor performance; it's simply that the character is so underwhelming in comparison to the other more prominent actors.

With so many film inspirations, it's amazing that Baby Driver runs as smoothly as the vehicle scenes. The action and comedy are seamlessly integrated, with chuckles arriving as rapidly as Baby turns a corner. The action is tight and suspenseful, but Wright injects his signature style of humor, which normally appears in stressful situations. Wright's maturity as a director is undeniable, and Baby Driver is easily his most accomplished film.

[4/11/2023]

Suicide Squad 2

Obviously much better than the first one, I like that they went with a much campier and goofy tone rather than whatever the fuck edgefest the first was. It helped with the pacing a lot. I love that they chose more unused characters, like Bloodsport, Polka-Dot man, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, pretty much every character in the cast besides Ratcatcher, King Shark, and Harley. I especially like Bloodsport getting recognition considering he's one of Superman's cooler villains.

The use of Starro is pretty great and I liked that they showed how properly terrifying he is. It was a great way to introduce him to people who didn't read the comics, because he's probably one of the scarier Justice League enemies and DC characters in general. I liked the brutality of the movie, the ultra violence was pretty refreshing to see, I like the trend of extremely violent superhero media that has been happening as of late. I have very few qualms with the way the movie was handled overall.

Though occasionally difficult to read, the title cards are really imaginative. Everyone on screen appeared to be having a great time, and once the main group is established, it is full of people whose interactions are motivated by real and intriguing emotions. Cute father-daughter stuff always makes me happy, and I love that the token father in this film has a valid reason for being the way he is instead of this terrifying murder machine being the ideal father figure.

Overall, I like that they diverted from the tone of the first movie and pretty much entirely changed everything. The campier tone with more violent action suited it much better and the characters felt much more realistic. They did a good job focusing on each of them and giving them all their place in the story. I never felt like anything was dragged out to the point of boredom or glanced over too quickly. I think it was perfectly paced and pretty fun.

[26/9/2023]

The Stuff

The stuff is a campy horror movie with a relatively low budget. The acting is pretty sloppy at times and it has plenty of flaws, but I really enjoy it. Its pretty entertaining and lighthearted for the most part, giving off some Attack of the Killer Tomatoes vibes. The body horror is also pretty on point, people melting, heads inflating, heads caving in when punched. It never delves too far into trying to gross you out, which is one of the reasons why its so enjoyable. If you come into the movie open minded you'll have a pretty fun experience, the main cast is pretty goofy and enjoyable to watch throughout the scenes.


Its definitely a B movie, though it is entirely lovable, they do a lot with their small budget and most of the humor is pretty spot on. The characters are interesting, the pacing is pretty decent, and the plot is unique. Though admittedly I am probably a bit biased, I've been in love with this movie for a pretty long time and its one of my favorite horror movies of all time. I can see why other people wouldn't like it though, the humor might not be for everyone, and some might see the camp as a negative. Its not very scary either, being mostly a comedy written with a horror theme.

The plot mainly centers around a icecream-like snack called The Stuff, which was found in the middle of a quarry. Some guy saw it bubbling out of the ground, ate some of it, thought it tasted good, and turned it into a global franchise. Anyway, apparently said icecream hollows people out and turns them into zombie like drones, who try to force other people to eat The Stuff, its a pretty interesting albeit goofy plot. The story focuses on Mo Rutherford, a private detective, hired to figure out what they're putting into the stuff, a child named Jason, whose family has been taken over by the stuff, and Nicole, the marketing manager for The Stuff.


To avoid further spoilers I'll stop talking about the movie here, though I heavily recommend it to anybody who is interested in this sort of movie, one that doesn't take itself too seriously or too much like a joke. It has a coherent plot and is relatively mindless entertainment if you don't want to pay attention, but is also fleshed out enough to be entertaining to those paying close attention to the story. Though, there's a massive amount of plotholes and the acting isn't great, but those honestly only add to the charm in my eyes. You can tell the cast cared about the movie, and I love it for that. Its very campy and very memorable.