To set the context, I was already pretty excited for Baby Driver when I saw the first trailer several months ago. I think part of that was because of my love for the Ryan Gosling film, Drive, as both have similar themes, a crime heist set around the getaway driver, and that is where the similarities end. Adding on to this was an A list of actors and the great comedy director and writer, Edger Wright. I hoped it was going to be at least good.

It was and so much more!

The first five minutes set the tone of the film extremely well as it starts with the protagonist, Baby, (yes, his name is Baby) sitting in a car with three robbers moments before the heist. Baby throws in his Apple earbuds and starts the music as the robbers get out and enter the bank in the middle of a sunny day. Baby stays in the car and jams out to his music, dancing and singing along in a way that makes you instantly relate to him as we all have had those moments. His jam session has quick breaks as he and the audience observe the robbery from the car. Baby's face giving us a great look at his discomfort to it and insight into his character. The robbers finally return, and they speed off to the first car chase in the film with the song Bellbottoms by Jon Spencer Blues Explosions blaring to the rhythm of the chase, and we see why Baby is the best.

To not mention the music or the driving in Baby Driver would be similar to watching Singing in the Rain and not talking about the music and dance numbers because Baby Driver takes a lot of hints from musicals films. There is a constant run of music in the background as Baby is almost always listening to music to drown out his chronic tinnitus, a constant buzzing in the ears. Because of the constant music, the movie uses it to help find an almost musical rhythm to the character's movements, the action, and the chase scenes. Baby's character is built well using this condition to portray who he is by his mounds of iPods for the different moods he is in and cassette tapes of his creation. 

The writing is fantastic, and the actors and actresses play their parts perfectly. The pairing up of characters with Baby worked perfectly be it the tension with his crime boss, the chemistry with his love interest, or the family aspect with his deaf foster father. All of it was fleshing out the characters beautifully. I also found myself several times surprised by the characters choices, but it never felt out of character for any of them as the surprises were a reaction to another character's instant action or a build up of actions.

The action scenes are great, and the chase scenes are some of the best I have seen in years. Never was I lost in what is going on or didn't know where the characters were. Action films need to have good continuity editing, and this movie has it.

Baby Driver is, without question, my favorite Edgar Wright film and is definitely a heavy contender for my favorite film of the year. I left the theater physically fighting the urge to speed home while listening to the soundtrack on Spotify. 

So, if you can't tell by now, I loved the movie, and you should see it as soon as you can but please, follow the traffic laws after you see it. Safty first!

Thanks for reading!

Baby Driver is Copyright of TriStar Pictures and associated production companies.

​When I was in college, one of my biggest fears was getting a 8 to 5 desk job, because I thought that was the dream killer. I dreaded it as I perceived it as selling out, as choosing security over passions. This worry lasted well after I graduated and influenced my decisions in looking and selecting jobs with irregular or flexible schedules for it to work around my sporadic writing sessions. This season lasted about a year after I graduated and I quickly learned that jobs with flexible schedules fit into two categories: They don't pay enough for the bills, or you are always on call with little down time. If these jobs are your dream then awesome! But if they aren't and you are only in it for the money and schedule so you can chase your dream, you may want to rethink it.

It was almost a year since I graduated and started working in real estate before I bit the bullet and got a full-time desk job. Was I scared that I was taking the easy way out? That I was selling out by not having three part-time jobs that could work around my writing to having a single job? That in a blink of an eye I would be forty and had left my dream in the closet collecting dust? Yes, I was scared that all that would happen. So, I stayed extremely conscious of my surroundings, and let my friends know so they could help me, as I started my first full-time desk job. Observing, fearfully, what my time would look like and just what would happen. It was about two months in when the realization set in, and I found the dream killer.

Myself.

It was myself and how I allocate not just my time but also my finances and energy. It was, and is, learning to force my writing to bend to my schedule and not just to write "when I feel like it." Learning that though I work Monday to Friday 8 to 5 I still had the evenings to write and the entire weekend. That the time is there no matter the job, you just have to use it. Choosing to discipline myself in writing after work even if I was a tired or drained. Cutting out the YouTube binge and the Facebook scrolling that, if I'm not careful, will take over my entire evening. Putting money where my passion is and saving for the editing, book covers, and marketing even when the Nintendo Switch looks amazing!

Now, keep in mind, I still do some of those things, but they have just been bumped down in priority, and I'm trying to consciously be aware of how much time I spend with them. I still play video games but after I get my writing done. I still watch YouTube, but I try, and fail a lot, to watch stuff that will improve my story telling. I have time for Netflix, but it's after I read, I'm not that good at this one either. And life will send you stuff that will force you to put your dream on the back burner for a bit. But once that stuff has settled or passed, the choice is back to you to bring it forward to a front burner.
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Basically, in the end, the only thing you can blame for killing your dream is yourself. But here is the best part about dreams. They can easily come back to life because of Christ. They can change and evolve to the real dream God wants you to chase and glorify Him with, because in the end, that's the point of the passions and dreams we have, to glorify Him with them. And if your dreams aren't doing that, we need to ask Him to change them, so they do or kill it and replace with the one He has given you. Trust me; God is much better at choosing your dream than you are.

Thanks for reading!