by Nathaniel R
I'd be remiss if I didn't publicly thank Chris Feil for the extra work he did while I was away. Such a good hire. (Send him your love and follow him on Twitter!) Herewith 150 words each on two movies Chris already reviewed but I wanted to chime in briefly just cuz.
BABY DRIVER
As some of you know I just returned from the National Critics Institute. In one session we read a curated batch of stellar articles and we discussed in fine detail as a group what made them pop and resonate...
One was Manohla Dargis’s Times review of Baby Driver. I bring this up because everything I truly felt the need to say about this movie she already said! (This is nothing like my normal response to reading reviews). There’s such verve to her language in this piece — a lithe quick-footed muscularity that is perfect for the subject at hand. Even more impressive is the incredible specificity of opinion the review conveys. You have absolutely no doubt that she thinks Baby Driver is both a) special and b) lacking but c) doesn’t want to be churlish about it because Edgar Wright is such a singular talent. Same, Manohla, same. B+
SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING
We didn't need a third version of Spidey within a 15 year span but since we got it, bless Tom Holland for being so perfect for it. He’s charming, believably agile, and has the right mix of teen angst and smart-ass comedy. Bonus points for pairing him with a firecracker of a scene partner in Michael Keaton as the Vulture. Their scene together, sans costumes, is the highlight. Three cheers, too, the diverse casting and for dumping any hint of “origin story”. Pity then that there’s a whiff of the corporate generic. Nothing feels lived-in, not the vague high school, not the new relationship with Aunt May (wasting Marisa Tomei is a federal crime!), and certainly not the action sequences which are murkily shot and confusingly edited. With Holland at the center, we pray the sequel steps up its game in the filmmaking department to prove worthy of him. B-/C+
Further Reading
TFE Feil's review of Kong Skull Island (brand new on DVD & Blu-ray)
TFE Feil's review of Free Fire (brand new on DVD & Blu-ray)
TFE Feil's review of Spider-Man Homecoming
TFE Feil's review of Baby Driver