Baby Driver: The latest project from writer/director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) is the slice of pure cinematic electricity that this mostly underwhelming summer movie season desperately needed. With Baby Driver, Wright has essentially made the world's first heist-centered jukebox musical. Everything from the intense,beautifully-choreographed car chases and shootouts to the movie's more tender character moments possesses a distinct rhythm that makes the film feel like an unpredictable epic-length song. While the immense, immersive musical backdrop that drives almost every scene helps give the film a very unique feel, the high-octane symphony that is Baby Driver wouldn't have been nearly as effective without its rich characterization. The Atlanta criminal underworld that Wright concocted is full of colorful personalities that are brought to life with maximum aplomb and charisma by the film's outstanding ensemble cast (led by Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey and a scene-stealing Jamie Foxx, giving the most horrifying performance of his career thus far). Memorable characters are an underrated hallmark of great action flicks, so it was great to see Wright craft a film that features numerous protagonists and antagonists that have already permeated their way into the deepest caverns of my brain. Baby Driver is an exhilarating, brilliantly-directed masterpiece that will undoubtedly go down as one of my favorite films of 2017.
4.5/5 Stars
The House: What a deflating letdown. Despite boasting an excellent premise (a 40-something couple team up with their neighbor to run an illegal casino so they can pay for her daughter's tuition), a cast full of gifted improv comedians (Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, numerous others) and a writer/director team in Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien that have been behind some of the funniest movies to be released over the past few years (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, both Neighbors films),The House somehow manages to be a painfully mediocre comedy. Every single laugh-out-loud moment of the film was spoiled by the trailers, the rapport between the cast wasn't very strong and it sorely lacked the goofy, spastic energy that usually drives Cohen and O'Brien's work. This is a huge, head-scratching misfire that is well below the quality of the output usually produced by the film's key players.
2.5/5 Stars
Spider-Man: Homecoming: It may haven taken 13 years, but the Spider-Man franchise is back on track baby! Spider-Man: Homecoming thrives by failing to repeat the sins of Spidey's past three big-screen adventures. Homecoming (wisely) ditches the forced gritty tone of both Amazing Spider-Man films by portraying Peter Parker as the bumbling teenager he was in the comic books, which goes a long way in helping inject the long-absent sense of fun back into this franchise. Tom Holland proves his turn in Captain America: Civil War wasn't a fluke by flawlessly portraying Spider-Man as an eager yet often overmatched hero that is still learning to live with his extraordinary powers and the coming-of-age awkwardness that drives the story leads to some of the sharpest comedic material to ever appear in a Marvel movie. As refreshingly fun and goofy as Spider-Man: Homecoming is, it still manages to get bogged down by the typical Achilles heels of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Michael Keaton's Vulture is yet another underutilized, mediocre villain and with his love of disorienting quick cuts and wide shots, director Jon Watts repeatedly proves that he has absolutely no fucking clue how to stage a coherent action sequence. While it's not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, Spider-Man: Homecoming sets up a very solid foundation for this revamped franchise.
4/5 Stars
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