Never Be Bored
13 October 2018
Floor It
Baby Driver, 2017 Edgar Wright film. Ocean's 8, 2018 Gary Ross film, travel posters by Alex Asfour, short animated films Electrocop by Corentin Yvergniaux and Voltige by Léo Brunel.
The first scene of Baby Driver has to be one of the best first scenes of all time. Within the first few minutes we get to see Baby, a music loving getaway driver, do his thing—i.e., drive a pretty car super fast and perfectly in time to the song he's playing on his iPod. While a bank robbery goes on in the background, Baby is rocking out in the car, and once they need to make their escape, he leads the police on a merry chase around downtown Atlanta, all to the beat of Bellbottoms by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
At its heart, Baby Driver is a classic action movie with a hint of romance, and while it does at times flirt with the cliche, it has so much fun with it that it's still one of my favorite movies. Every scene, every moment, every shot seems like it was carefully crafted for effect, and put together, it's amazing to watch. No wonder it was nominated for and won various awards for editing and sound mixing—it's a masterpiece, full stop.
For another flashy action movie, try Gary Ross's 2018 Ocean's 8. I adore heist movies like this, I like seeing all the planning and then watch each little piece fall into place. Points for an all-women heist team featuring Sandra Bullock, Rihanna, and Awkwafina, double points for the scene where they all show up at the Met Gala looking flawless.
If you too dream of driving off into the sunset with vintage flair, check out the work of Alex Asfour, and his travel posters in particular. His freelance work is at IdeaStorm Creative Studio, but I think it's easier to check out all the amazing travel posters through his online store. The collection has a cohesive feel, but each poster is unique, and the colors and gradients are just absolutely gorgeous!
I studied abroad in Arles, France a few summers ago, and one of the highlights was watching the end-of-year projects from the nearby animation school Ecole MoPA in a Roman amphitheater. These students are seriously talented (one recent graduation project was nominated for an Oscar) and a lot of their work is posted online. If you loved the music synched car scenes of Baby Driver, watch Electrocop by Corentin Yvergniaux. (I think the theme of the year was cars—another of my favorites was Voltige by Léo Brunel.)