Drive

Drive will probably be the year's most overrated film. The more I think about it, the less I like it. My Drive review. All the glowing reviews I read describe its greatness in one of two veins: the movie is novel, not limited to a specific genre (being novel is not necessarily good) and the performance of Gosling. I will give the movie the latter, but how does anyone reconcile the rest of the movie with the positive reviews? I just don't understand the critical reception being so positive. I blame it on a lack of roots, culturally and morally, keeping D Brooks recent editorial in mind. There's plenty of style in the movie, but where's the meat? The story is absolutely stupid.

all of the reviews seemed to say the same thing

"it's mostly style over substance, but what style!"

i suppose i'll skip and wait for moneyball

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not limited to a specific genre

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neo-noir

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the performance of Gosling

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um... you mean Albert Brooks? Gosling basically did nothing outside of shuffle around like a stoic knight. There was very little nuance to his performance.

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I blame it on a lack of roots, culturally and morally

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culturally? it's firmly entrenched in American noir tradition, with clear nods to european surrealism (the film was dedicated to alejandro jodoworsky). morally? are you kidding me? the archetypes are as clear as possible. the Driver is the knight, Irene is the pure, innocent "damsel," brooks and perlman being the evil king and dragon, respectively (taken from the mouth of Refn himself). If you couldn't discern the ethical standpoints of each character, then god help you.

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There's plenty of style in the movie, but where's the meat? The story is absolutely stupid.

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the story is a classic revenge tale. you want a detailed backstory? go read novels (and then posts reviews that no one reads). I suppose The Man With No Name trilogy is a failure because we don't know Clint Eastwood's history.

next time I'll let my friend text me to inform my opinion on how a movie is

When you are an adult with children and employee pay roll to meet twice a month you don't have a lot of extra time to see movies.

I take the opinions of my friends when choosing how to spend the limited amount of movie going time I have.

Snob.

Youre confusing my attack on tulanelsus passionate ignorance for snobbery, even despite that I substantiated my arguments (which snobs don't really do). If I'm a snob for attacking him, then basically the entire board is guilty and we should indeed call this place the Arts Board

Looks like some lame version of the Transporter.

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Looks like some lame version of the Transporter.

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But with better acting all around, better cinematagraphy, and far less mindless action. Oh and it doesn't have the worst action star of all time in Jason Statham.

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Looks like some lame version of the Transporter.

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I think you mean, "this is what The Transporter would've been if it wasn't a mindless, comic book, popcorn movie."

Drive's pretty damn good. Everyone saying "style over substance" is wrong. For the type of movie this is, it's got a ton of substance. It didnt have any of the usual flourishes I was expecting from Refn, except maybe the out of period/place music. Definitely recommend this movie.