I saw this movie last week, one day after seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming. I liked Spider-Man; it would’ve been a great movie if not for the frustrating MCU-ness of it. Saved from being bad by Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya (she was amazing in a limited role), and, most of all, Jacob Batalon playing Peter’s friend Ned. Batalon, Holland, Zendaya, and the other high schoolers were having so much fun that it was hard not to have fun yourself.

I can’t say the same for Baby Driver. I had high hopes. Hot Fuzz is sublime. Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim are solid fun movies. This isn’t really a review so much as it is a collection of assorted thoughts. For more coherent thoughts, I would recommend Walter Chaw’s review, as he is the best movie critic working today. 

• I thought the last good big studio live-action comedy was Grand Budapest Hotel. Will reminded me of The Nice Guys, which is correct. There seems to be roughly one good big studio live-action comedy a year. Still waiting on this year’s. (Logan Lucky? Can’t stop watching the trailer.)
  
• Lot of people seemed to think the movie was good and let down by a bad final act. I didn’t get this until a couple days later, when it hit me that one character’s motivation at the end made no sense and was unexplained. This doesn’t bother me that much. I thought the ending was better than the middle, which dragged. Movie should’ve been 20 minutes shorter. 
• Edgar Wright’s amazing percussive gunfire (using guns as diagetic percussion set to the awesome soundtrack) ruled. 
• Baby’s relationship with his foster father was the highlight of the movie. I think the movie might have been stronger if it had been written around that and left Lily James on the cutting room floor, even though I found her delightful. 
• I liked the black-and-white shots. Nobody else seemed to.
• The “Jamie Foxx guesses Jon Hamm’s background” scene was terrible.
• The driving scenes were underwhelming. That seemed to be the main thing the movie would have going for it. So I guess the movie is underwhelming. There’s the “review.” 

How many recent movies fit this description: “Kevin Spacey plays a character named “Kevin Spacey” who goes by a pseudonym for some reason”?

Here’s a few: Baby Driver, Margin Call, The Men Who Stare at Goats, 21, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Not a movie, but you get the point. 

Spacey was scarier when he was younger. He’s obviously a great actor, but the parts that are written for him now are too transparently written for Kevin Spacey. Not his fault. (Reminds me of the joke about Dan Brown books: “Robert Langdon, a Tom Hanks-esque man….”).