Baby Driver

I kind of feel like I’ve seen this movie before. The getaway driver who agrees to do one last job. Count the tropes. Efforts to give this concept a “haircut” to make it look like something new only partially succeed. Would The Transporter be a vastly different movie if the “transporter” had a backstory? Or an old guy he’s trying to protect? Or a weird ear thing that makes him play music all the time? Otherwise, really, this feels like Edgar Wright pandering to the Fast and the Furious crowd. Moments of this are watchable and fun, but it’s really nothing new.

It Comes at Night

A lot of movie company bosses seem to forget the existence of John Carpenter’s The Thing. Because it seems like a lot of hot-shots rolling in off the street, who just happened to have caught Carpenter’s aforementioned paranoid opus on cable or something, pitch their remakes and rip-offs with aplomb. And the bosses and critics seem to be saying, “That’s so original! Let’s do it.” The main guy played by Joel Edgerton even LOOKS like MacReady. So those people who’ve never seen The Thing, or people with amnesia, might like this. Which is fine, but Mr. Carpenter deserves royalties.

Wonder Woman

Watching the perfectly cast Princess Diana of the Amazons leap out of the World War One trench and easily kill dozens of enemy soldiers is exhilarating. Much has been made about this hero being a woman and the movie being directed by a woman. And this is a lot like eating a gluten-free pizza crust. The conversation is always like: how does it compare to the real thing? Wait! This crust is gluten-free?? Really? It tastes like the real thing! And so: Wait? This movie was directed by a menstruating woman? With a vagina? You’re kidding?! It would be nice if, someday, this novelty wears off and we could just look at the story of Diana as a piece of popular entertainment. As it stands now, ignoring the forced novelty of it all, it’s overlong but pretty good. Origin stories tend to not be very suspenseful. I mean, you know they’re going to live at the end. And so the weird, overwrought, CG ending of this feels a little bit like comic book lip-service. Here’s a battle... because battles are required. But the casting here is precise and it does feel like there’s a different point of view of the proceedings, as trope-filled as they are. There’s a refreshing lack of Zack Snyder’s cuttiness and bombast that makes the popcorn taste a little bit better. So, kudos to Patty Jenkins and company for trying to salvage the DC universe…