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March 28, 2024, 08:07:25 PM

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Last Night in SoHo

Started by phantom_power, May 25, 2021, 05:09:47 PM

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13 schoolyards

I rewatched Baby Driver recently and I reckon Wright's problem since he went to the US is that since Scott Pilgrim he became the go-to guy for high energy action films where the lead is a completely unlikable pratt. They're both films that seem to think people (teenage boys) want to cheer on a lead who acts like a self-absorbed dick to almost everyone around them - Baby in Baby Driver would make more sense as a character if he was 15 (maybe he is 15?).

Everything else in those films is good to great and the supporting performances are always at the very least decent so the films are still definitely watchable. The leads just seem horribly misjudged, especially when you read the Scott Pilgrim books and realise the movie - which to be fair was begun well before the books wrapped up - misses out on the entire final act where our lead realises he is a dick and changes his ways.

I'm actually excited for this, because it finally looks like something different from a clearly talented film maker.

zomgmouse

Wright's American films (Scott Pilgrim, Baby Driver) are a bit too generic for me whereas his British ones (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, to a lesser extent The World's End) have quite a unique spin on particular genres and a refreshing stylistic flair (and fun scripts/performances) which elevate them. So a return to his home turf is welcome news.

phantom_power

Quote from: madhair60 on May 27, 2021, 08:12:18 PM
i just think his films are crap mate

You may not like his films but he is very much not a hack. The care and attention and love in his films are evident. There are criticisms that are perhaps valid but "hack" isn't one of them

Old Nehamkin

Edgar Wright is also one of the shrinking collection of current noteworthy genre filmmakers who haven't yet been absorbed as journeymen for some cinematic universe or another[nb]Obviously this might have turned out differently if Wright's Ant Man project had worked out, but maybe the fact that it didn't is evidence that he wasn't quite malleable enough for that world.[/nb] and are still engaged in the (evidently) increasingly arduous and thankless process of getting original non-franchise genre movies into cinemas. On that basis I have to award him an official "non-hack" badge until he signs up to do Venom 3 or something.

phantom_power

Even if he does end up doing a comic book film you can bet he will be also still developing original material.

SteveDave

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on May 28, 2021, 08:54:46 AM
Edgar Wright is also one of the shrinking collection of current noteworthy genre filmmakers who haven't yet been absorbed as journeymen for some cinematic universe or another[nb]Obviously this might have turned out differently if Wright's Ant Man project had worked out, but maybe the fact that it didn't is evidence that he wasn't quite malleable enough for that world.[/nb] and are still engaged in the (evidently) increasingly arduous and thankless process of getting original non-franchise genre movies into cinemas. On that basis I have to award him an official "non-hack" badge until he signs up to do Venom 3 or something.

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/edgar-wright-on-to-direct-a-new-adaptation-of-the-running-man/

Old Nehamkin

Quote from: SteveDave on May 28, 2021, 09:33:21 AM
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/edgar-wright-on-to-direct-a-new-adaptation-of-the-running-man/

Times being tough in cinema I am willing to make some allowance for stand-alone remakes or re-adaptations as far as my hack/non-hack classification system goes. When your upcoming directorial slate starts to look like "Marvel film/Star Wars film/gritty origin story about, I dunno, Captain Hook?" - then you're in trouble.

Old Nehamkin

Quote from: phantom_power on May 28, 2021, 09:11:12 AM
Even if he does end up doing a comic book film you can bet he will be also still developing original material.

You would certainly hope so, but it just seems like all the directors who go down that route end up getting progressively bogged down into more and more franchise commitments. People often bring up the "one for them, one for me" ideal as an attainable situation for auteur directors who sign up to direct mega-franchise films, but that never seems to actually materialise. There always seems to just be less and less space for any original films at all.

phantom_power

I think that can work, and it is certainly something that Spielberg has done for a lot for his career, and I would think that someone like Taiki Watiti seems to be doing the same thing, following Thor up with Jojo Rabbit, and Coogler seems to also be attempting.

Old Nehamkin

Quote from: phantom_power on May 28, 2021, 10:29:04 AM
I think that can work, and it is certainly something that Spielberg has done for a lot for his career, and I would think that someone like Taiki Watiti seems to be doing the same thing, following Thor up with Jojo Rabbit, and Coogler seems to also be attempting.

This came up in another thread recently so don't want to repeat myself too much but while Waittiti's current slate does include another original film, it also features another Marvel, a Star Wars film and a Willy Wonka reboot series for Netflix. It's hardly an even balance. As for Spielberg, the landscape of cinema has changed an enormous deal since his heyday and I believe he's talked explicitly about the increasing difficulty he's had in securing funding and theatrical release status for his original projects like Lincoln etc.

phantom_power

Yeah it is definitely harder at the moment to get an original idea made. I was just saying that lots of directors are still trying to achieve that, even while making franchise stuff. It must be tempting to fit a couple of franchise films in while you go through the long process of getting an original film greenlit, written and get through pre-production rather than only make a film every six or so years

Custard

Taika Waititi has two projects going on at the moment. Rita Ora and Tessa Thompson

https://www.vulture.com/2021/05/taika-waititi-rita-ora-and-tessa-thomspon-photos.html

Reader's voice - "You spawny get!" etc

madhair60

i looked up what "hack" means and it turns out i am wrong and always have been wrong. I retract my accusation

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on May 27, 2021, 09:45:47 PM
Relax, everyone. It's just madhair.

i'm a good dude

madhair60

i'm not being disingenuous btw, i genuinely thought it meant something else

phantom_power

What did you think it meant, out of interest?

madhair60


McChesney Duntz

Quote from: zomgmouse on May 28, 2021, 07:51:31 AM
Wright's American films (Scott Pilgrim, Baby Driver) are a bit too generic for me

You what now? One can critique those films in a number of ways, but one thing neither of them are is fucking "generic."

cacciaguida

Quote from: Mister Six on May 25, 2021, 07:54:06 PM
Got Matt Smith in it, so I'm sold.

Don't tell the lads in the This Time thread...

They'll claim that he takes them right out the action. Not to mention that they can tell he's reading the lyrics to Downtown off the back of a napkin in the Cafe de Paris

zomgmouse

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on May 28, 2021, 08:25:26 PM
You what now? One can critique those films in a number of ways, but one thing neither of them are is fucking "generic."

I think they're far closer in spirit to other American independent cinema, making them to me a lot less singular.

greenman

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on May 28, 2021, 10:15:48 AM
You would certainly hope so, but it just seems like all the directors who go down that route end up getting progressively bogged down into more and more franchise commitments. People often bring up the "one for them, one for me" ideal as an attainable situation for auteur directors who sign up to direct mega-franchise films, but that never seems to actually materialise. There always seems to just be less and less space for any original films at all.

Although i think theres a difference between franchise/non franchise and blockbuster/non blockbuster here, people like say Wright or James Gunn you could argue that really making blockbuster films has always been their intention, a desire to entertain with some broad dramatic brush strokes is there right from the start even if the budgets were smaller.

Lord Mandrake

I like Edgar Wright generally but Baby Driver was poor. All mouth and no trousers, over reliant on tunes and gimmicks, 2d characters, no heart. Snyder gets excoriated for his constant slo mo and speed ramping, yet Wright is equally guilty of leaning on hyper fast cutting  and musical queues.


Oh, Nobody

Saw this on Saturday night as an LFF preview screening thing with a pointless Q&A ("Are you proud of this film you made?"  "Yes I am proud of this film I made" etc), and enjoyed it well enough BUT

Before the film a guy came out and read a prepared statement from Edgar Wright, William Castle style, along the lines of 'hope you enjoy the movie but please don't tell anyone about the twist in the second half"

Watched the whole film, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE TWIST WAS.

colacentral

I've always taken "hack" to mean someone who is derivative, eg a comedian's "hacky material" is material that's been done a million times before.

In this context, it's easy to see why people like Wright and Tarantino would be called hacks. I mean, they both to some extent seem to be people who get most of their ideas from watching other films (as in, their interests and life experience seem to begin and end with the genre films they've watched), and seem to want to make certain types of films just to make them, like ticking genres off a list, or Mr. Ben wearing a new costume.

I like his films with Pegg and Nick Frost because they're funny. I really don't rate his style in general at all though, being too showy and too film school. Again, I don't rate Tarantino for the same reasons. There's a lack of soul with both of them.


Custard

Booked a ticket for this next week. Really looking forward to it

Stephen King likes it, and says he's looking forward to seeing it a second time. Therefore it is obviously good.....isn't it.......

Glebe

Quote from: Shameless Custard on October 26, 2021, 08:03:54 PMStephen King likes it, and says he's looking forward to seeing it a second time. Therefore it is obviously good.....isn't it.......

Saw that yeah. Then again, saw at least one review that absolutely slated it.

Magnum Valentino

Quote from: colacentral on October 14, 2021, 02:33:21 PM
I've always taken "hack" to mean someone who is derivative, eg a comedian's "hacky material" is material that's been done a million times before.

In this context, it's easy to see why people like Wright and Tarantino would be called hacks. I mean, they both to some extent seem to be people who get most of their ideas from watching other films (as in, their interests and life experience seem to begin and end with the genre films they've watched), and seem to want to make certain types of films just to make them, like ticking genres off a list, or Mr. Ben wearing a new costume.

I like his films with Pegg and Nick Frost because they're funny. I really don't rate his style in general at all though, being too showy and too film school. Again, I don't rate Tarantino for the same reasons. There's a lack of soul with both of them.

Everyone raving about his Sparks films isn't annoyed enough at the cutesy credits for the interviewees (like "see above" for Beck and "Duran" and "Duran" for the two lads from Duran Duran).

I too have really soured on Edgar. Without Simon, there's nothing of value for me.

lipsink

#57
I saw it a few weeks ago and while it looks lovely, in the end it's just basically fine. I do like Edgar Wright but found this and Baby Driver enjoyable but just lacking something. Maybe his films just aren't for me anymore.

surreal

#58
Just back from seeing this - it looks very nice, Edgar wearing his giallo influences on his sleeve, and it was the first 18 rating I've seen in a while.  Turned out that was probably for the language rather than Anya Taylor-Joy covered in bright red.

Still felt like an Edgar Wright film though, the little dashes of humour and even though it is a "proper" horror this time.  The thing that affected me most was Matt Smith tbh as I've never seen him in anything except Who so it was a bit distracting.

Anyway, I'm not much of a horror fan but I enjoyed it, decent Halloween flick especially if the 60s are your thing. 

surreal

Quote from: Oh, Nobody on October 14, 2021, 01:02:03 PM
Watched the whole film, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE TWIST WAS.

[SPOILERS]

It was
Spoiler alert
who had been offing who
[close]
I think