Baby Driver - Review
Updated on June 27, 2017, 9:58 PM - Written by Tim Buttner
Baby Driver was a movie I was highly anticipating, and with the strong word of mouth and great reviews, it was facing the challenge of too much expectation. However, the movie manages to meet those expectations. It is a fun thrill ride of a movie.
First let's talk about the simple story. It's really simple, and the bare bones of what is needed to get characters from one sequence to the next. This is completely acceptable for this movie due to the fact that it is more about the brilliant technical exercise of putting the action in sync with the music. The soundtrack and the action make this movie what it is. However, the story is still good enough and works. The audience can connect with the characters. Although the characters are not developed in a three-dimensional sense, they still serve their purpose sufficiently enough that there's never a longing for more.
Edgar Wright has done an amazing job with directing this movie, which has been a passion project of his for years. The way in which he constructs each sequence to work in unison with the songs he has hand selected to be part of the spectacular soundtrack is spellbinding. It's like watching one music video after the next. And yet, it's so much more than one music video after the next. The way in which the action matches the beats of the music is fantastic.
The performances all work, and fit into the world that Edgar Wright is building. An audience can believe these characters exist. There is great tension in various scenes, and at the same time great humor. The movie could have done with more Kevin Spacey sprinkled in since he was one of the best characters. Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm seemed to be having a blast with the roles they were playing, and it at least works to make the audience have f...
Wonder Woman (2017) Review
Updated on June 2, 2017, 12:20 PM - Written by Tim Buttner
It's been a while since I last wrote a review. To be honest I got tired of writing negative reviews. Going to so many bad movies has taken a toll on my ability to write a review a day after seeing a movie. Wonder Woman is such a fun and wonderful movie that it helps make it easy to write this review. A large amount of the credit for this belongs to Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot.
To start I have not been a fan of the recent DCEU movies. I thought Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was awful and an absolute mess of a movie, and Suicide Squad was just as bad, if not worse. I mildly enjoyed Man of Steel, so a lot was riding on Wonder Woman. DC and Warner Bros. delivered. This movie was a breath of fresh air in a market over-inundated with super hero movies.
The movie is not without some things I wish could be improved, such as cutting out the bookends. It wasn't necessary, but I understand the purpose due to DC needing to fit this inside it's established DCEU Movie Universe. And I'll get more into the detail of the other parts that could have been improved later in this review when I go into spoiler territory.
The story was well constructed and easy to follow, and this was great because it allowed for the audience to get connected to Diana's character. The central conflict is introduced in a nice creative way where we get cool visualization with expositional dialogue. I was not bored at all throughout the film; The story moves along at a good pace. It has a good amount of humor to keep things light while still having very dark themes and subject matter. Overall, the character development and strong storytelling earned the big visual effects spectacle ending that so many of these large blockbusters don't ear...