Just a super fun, cleverly constructed, quietly hysterical little movie that's as refreshingly well-crafted as anything Soderbergh has ever done, though surprisingly lighter (aside from maybe the Ocean's movies and The Informant!), in the best way.
Right in the space between not quite being essential cinema but being exactly the sort of thing you wish there was more of being made. And thankfully Soderbergh is back to do it. Just terrifically entertaining and unexpectedly sweet.
Now hopefully it does well enough to gain clout for them to bring Magic Mike XXXL into our lives.
Last edited by Henry Gale; 08-17-2017 at 05:38 PM.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
It's understated and fun in that Soderbergh way. Solid cast... I can't see why anyone would not like this movie (unless Sodes just ain't their thing).
Two Wolverine movies in one year? haha /I'll see myself out
Edit: The humor in the trailer has me interested. Along with having Soderbergh and this cast. If it has a "The Nice Guys" feel to it I'll probably love it.
Last edited by Rico; 08-20-2017 at 12:18 PM.
Destined to be the most underrated movie of the year, but I love Soderbergh. Anyone else get Nashville vibes from the John Denver sing-a-long? Brought a tear to my eye.
Last edited by Pop Trash; 09-10-2017 at 09:00 PM.
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
Yeah, this isn't going to drive anyone crazy, but as a self-proclaimed redneck version of an Ocean's 11 movie, it's pretty damn good.
The George R.R. Martin scene is the most curious one. It's kind of like the Julia Roberts scene in Ocean's 12 in that it goes too far in turning the whole movie into a parody, but funnier.
Or the most overrated? I'm kind of baffled by the 93% Tomatometer for this one. As heist films go, this was awfully dull. The tension never really ramps up. The humor just isn't there. And the performances are scattershot. Daniel Craig fares best. MacFarlane fares worst. Driver and Swank are ... odd. And Tatum is a big non-entity in the lead. For a film that takes NASCAR as its setting, the related plot elements sure are half-baked. I expected a film with a little bit more of a substantial understanding of its milieu. Not a film that simply references the only West Virginia song anyone knows and calls it good.Quoting Pop Trash (view post)
Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***
No, that would be Baby Driver.Quoting Spinal (view post)
Ratings on a 1-10 scale for your pleasure:
Top Gun: Maverick - 8
Top Gun - 7
McCabe & Mrs. Miller - 8
Crimes of the Future - 8
Videodrome - 9
Valley Girl - 8
Summer of '42 - 7
In the Line of Fire - 8
Passenger 57 - 7
Everything Everywhere All at Once - 6
Still have a lot of Soderberghs left to see, but I have long found him a formally versatile director that can be so much that descriptor that his films can be a little cold and distant; that works for me when it becomes an analytical mode into twisty, potentially lurid material like Sex, Lies and Videotapes and Side Effects, or is applied into sustained coolness of star charisma like the Oceans films.
But Logan Lucky totally snuck up on me emotionally. Like my favorite of his, Out of Sight, his formal control here for once feels like a complete reflection and extension of its protagonists: cool, breezy professionalism up front first, a layer of poignant undercurrent later. And Soderbergh follows accordingly, spinning a fun, fast-paced, detail-oriented heist plot that simply notes along the way, without fuzziness or preachiness, the effects of class divide and corporatization inherent in these characters' lives, along with gently comedic but by no means simple or condescending empathy in their depictions. The pageant scene is almost as good an emotional undercurrent bubbling up as clear window into the leads' minds, in which each film pivots itself thematically around, as the Gary/Celeste scene in Out of Sight. 8/10
Midnight Run (1988) - 9
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
Sisters (1973) - 6.5
Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5
I feel like Soderbergh has no idea where Charlotte and West Virginia are in relation to each other.
THIS! These people did minimum 4.5 hour drives every time they hopped in a car.Quoting Mr. McGibblets (view post)
last four:
black widow - 8
zero dark thirty - 9
the muse - 7
freaky - 7
now reading:
lonesome dove - larry mcmurtry
Letterboxd
The Harrison Marathon - A Podcast About Harrison Ford
It's a Soderbergh film alright. I can see him giggling as he was planning these shots. It's essentially a red neck Ocean's 11. I wish Soderbergh was featured in the Rick & Morty Heist episode.