Baby Logan Lucky Driver

Two films I wasn’t sufficiently motivated to see in the theaters, although I saw the movie posters for Logan Lucky in the Paris Metro.  They’re both DVD-worthy but not much else.  Both involve cars & crime and have all-star casts.

Baby Driver.  Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver permanently addicted to iPods and mixes.  As a driver, he’s quite effective, though it’s this annoying import drift s**t we’ve been smacked with incessantly in the “Fast & Furious” movies (ZZZ).  The mastermind is Doc (Kevin Spacey).   Baby dates the cute flapper chick from Downton Abbey (Lily James); here she’s a cute waitress.   Flea and Jamie Foxx have roles, as does Don Draper (Jon Hamm), against whom they later face off against.   Lots of action, some modestly clever dialogue, but mostly the convergence of multiple talented actors in a marginally entertaining “robbery & chase” flick.   Here Spacey is kinda phoning it in, as if Frank Underwood has a part-time job as a bank robbery mastermind; likewise, Hamm dials Draper’s moxie and arrogance up just a little as Buddy.  As you might imagine, the prior heists go fairly well, it’s the final one which goes FUBAR.  Baby’s ultimate destiny is probably the one thing which distinguishes this film from hundreds of other similar ones.

Logan Lucky.   A pair of brothers, Jimmy and Clyde (Channing Tatum & Adam Driver) conspire to steal from the Charlotte NASCAR speedway.  In particular, under the midfield there’s a cash receptacle from all the concession stands, which as you might imagine tends to accumulate a larger amount of cash during races.  With the help of a safecracker and his younger brothers (Daniel Craig + Brian Gleeson & Jack Quaid) they manage to weasel it through.   Lots of NASCAR stuff here.   The Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan, is here as gluten-free NASCAR driver Dayton White, and Seth McFarlane plays a particularly obnoxious and unsympathetic Brit, owner of White’s team.   Darrel Waltrip and Jeff Gordon play themselves.  I’d say it comes together fairly well, so job well done.  By the way, with the beard, Channing Tatum looks like Doug Benson pumped up to XXL.  Maybe they should make a movie together.

I pick Adam Driver to play Roger Waters.  Is it a stretch to pick Leonardo DiCaprio as David Gilmour?  Hit me with your Mason and Wright casting choices.  If the Doors got a movie, we deserve one about Floyd.