Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Baby Driver (2017)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-03-2017, 06:42 PM:

CINEMA: Regal Moore Warren, Moore, OK
AUDITORIUM: 8
PRESENTATION: Warren GRAND Auditorium with Dolby Digital Cinema with the WAVE (*waves back at screen*)
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Jerk kicking my seatback
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

Oh hey look the online ticketing system is down (something about a "configurtion error" with the credit card processing) so there's two massive lines to buy tickets for the two ticket sellers and one employee who's just standing there doing nothing. It takes about fifteen minutes to get tickets as the sellers go through the process of helping customers find a seat to reserve and explain that they know the online ticketing is down and no it didn't charge their credit card. Then there's the guy in front of me who has a million questions about how the Grand auditorium floor vs balcony works, if he can visit the bar before the show starts, and whatever else.

THE PLOT: Nobody puts Baby in a corner, especially while he's driving. Wackiness ensues.

This is a modern-day take on classic drive-in getaway car features with impressive chase scenes often sequenced to the beat of classic rock and pop tracks. It's mostly a shit ton of fun before getting a bit dark and unnecessarily complex with a lot of plot holes, but sort of redeems itself with an ending that suddenly turns into a chick flick.

The first chase in the Subaru is especially impressive.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 07-03-2017, 09:58 PM:

Sounds like Regal is already working their magic.

The movie was excellent. Saw it in an AMC Prime screen that was arguably turned up too loud but with this movie it worked well. Movie was a shit ton of fun.

As Sam mentioned, the "complex" part weirded me out. And most of it stemmed from one simple misunderstanding that never did get cleared up between anyone, WHICH DRIVES ME CRAZY even though that perfectly well could/would happen in real life. It's just... it didn't have to happen the way it did..... AH!

But yeah, it's well worth watching.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 07-09-2017, 11:11 AM:

I saw Baby Driver in auditorium 7 at the AMC Elmwood 20 in Harahan, LA, just west of New Orleans. I'm not normally a huge fan of heist films, but this movie is fantastic. The cinematography, editing, script, production design, sound design, and performances all complemented each other to deliver filmmaking at its finest. The film handled the questionable morality of its protagonist better than heist films usually do. I was riveted throughout, and I cared.

The theater played a short intro from Wright, where he thanked us for leaving our couches to see it the way he intended, big and loud. The audio was excellent.

Unfortunately, auditorium 7 is not very big. What's worse though, is that I'm fairly certain the film was cropped. I thought at the beginning, "oh, I guess they shot this in 1.85:1." Later, I read that the movie was shot in scope. I called and asked a manager to look into it. He said that everything appeared to be set correctly but that he would have a couple of people look into it. I am assuming that screen 7 is simply fixed at 2:1, which makes me sad.

Go see Baby Driver.

Somewhere else.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-12-2017, 08:27 AM:

I saw Baby Driver this past weekend at the Bow-Tie Harbor 9 Auditorium 8.

The presentation was typical DLP (good and the lumen level was nice). The sound was interesting as I think the surrounds doubled as Left/Right channels and one of the woofers/subwoofers is toast (flapped). But really, it wasn't that bad.

Onto the movie. It isn't the greatest chase movie of all time, its story was quite thin. However, it was a really fun time with good music to go along with it all. It was exactly what I was seeking this weekend and I'd recommend anyone that likes action/chase movies with loud music to give it a viewing. It won't change your life but you should leave with a smile on your face.

Rating wise, I'd say a 2 out of 4 but I'm pretty tough on ratings.

-Steve

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-30-2017, 08:48 PM:

This movie is a lot of fun. I love a good chase scene and this movie has three or four of them. The cool music added to the fun, especially considering it was actually part of the main character's story. I especially enjoyed the opening credits where a lot of words from the song "Harlem Shuffle" were also painted on power poles, store windows, the sidewalk, etc. as Baby passed them. Clever stuff. The story was good and had some nice twists and turns.

I really liked the sound mix. There's one scene where Baby and another guy listen to the same song by each using half of a set of ear buds -- and the music is coming out of all the surrounds. I thought it would have been cool to only have it coming out of one side during that.

I'll give it a four out of five stars. It's pulling horrible crowds, unfortunately. People say they're sick of superheroes and sequels but that's all they're attending these days. Wake up, people.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 07-31-2017, 02:45 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
Rating wise, I'd say a 2 out of 4 but I'm pretty tough on ratings.

I usually withhold final judgement of a movie after I've seen it a few times and at least a year or two have passed. Then, it's still often pretty hard for me to give a movie a clear x out of y stars.

I'd say it definitely would score higher than a "50%" for me though. If this movie doesn't get you above that level, then what other of the current main stream releases does? [Smile]

quote: Mike Blakesley
I really liked the sound mix. There's one scene where Baby and another guy listen to the same song by each using half of a set of ear buds -- and the music is coming out of all the surrounds. I thought it would have been cool to only have it coming out of one side during that.

It's interesting, but I thought about the same during that scene. Then again, it might have given the feel like the scene would be told through the perspective of that particular bad guy.

quote: Mike Blakesley
It's pulling horrible crowds, unfortunately. People say they're sick of superheroes and sequels but that's all they're attending these days. Wake up, people.

It's rather odd it did so bad in its country of origin. In the markets it was released around here, it did pretty well.

There was an argument that the relatively bad performance of the movie could be attributed to the title. I agree that the name is rather confusing for many people.

It would be interesting to know how much a bad name can really affect a movie's performance.

Personally, I think the rather mediocre performance in some markets can largely be attributed to a lack of advertising and not so much the name.

The movie didn't bomb though, with a production budget of $34M, rather limited expenditures on marketing and a gross of somewhere in the $90M in the U.S. alone, it will make its money back.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-31-2017, 08:21 PM:

quote: Marcel Birgelen
There was an argument that the relatively bad performance of the movie could be attributed to the title. I agree that the name is rather confusing for many people.

Well...the name is odd, and then the poster is primarily pink, so people might draw the wrong conclusions about the content. Not the best marketing job, I would say.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 08-02-2017, 05:21 PM:

in terms of the sound mix, I thought the Dolby Atmos mix (which I heard at Arclight Bethesda) was outstanding, perfect combination of action and songs. ... and oh yeah, the movie is flat out fun!