Logan Lucky (2017)

[Athena]

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Rebecca Blunt. It features an ensemble cast consisting of Adam Driver, Channing Tatum, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Hilary Swank, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan, and Jesco White.

[AimingforYoko]

Highly enjoyable caper flick. With the possible exception of Seth MacFarlane's British douchebag energy drink mogul, I liked all the characters. Even the moronic characters weren't that moronic.

Two Rule 32's for this flick: The self-referential bit with the news calling the heist crew, "Ocean's 7-11".

And a minor, but hilarious sub-plot about George RR Martin and his inability to get the last two chapters of his Song of Ice and Fire series out.

You done good Soderbergh, stick around for a while.

[Raja]

I just loved the ideal of Katie Holmes as a hillbilly trophy wife. But the little brother blurting out the song story behind Rihanna's Umbrella was the line of the movie.

 

I was sitting there thinking damn they are giving away too much forensic evidence for the CSIs before the how we did it reveal. 

[Shannon L.]

I thought it was cute, but expected it to be funnier.  I much preferred Ocean's 11.  

Adam driver's character was my favorite and, thanks to being tired, laughed longer and harder (although, quietly) than I probably needed to about the cauliflower caper, but the way he talked about it just gave me the giggles.  I wish I knew what that was about! 

Loved the GOT conversation and didn't hear the "Ocean's 7-11" bit. 

I didn't think the doctor, the energy drink mogul or the race car driver were necessary, even though the scene outside the bar after the fight was funny.

All in all, maybe I should watch it again since it's getting pretty good reviews, but I'm not sorry I spent the money on it.  I'm just glad it was matinee money and not full price.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Far too silly for my tastes.  I am typically sensitive to Hollywood insulting and shaming mountain/southern folk in its offerings.  Somehow, this movie avoided that.  There was base respect.  That is a very positive aspect, imo.

I couldn't get past the absurdity of Daniel Craig in that role, with that make-up/appearance.  I never saw in his eyes the crazy nor menace that character would have had.  Credit to him for the attempt, though.

Elvis' grand daughter was aight as the lil sis.  However, off her role as a sophisticated prostitute (The Girlfriend Experience) and her fair good looks, I never did see her as a rebel.  She seemed more a model.

There was zero chance that the warden could have contained the news of the uprising.  Cool Hand Luke was two generations ago, y'all.

My favorite, laugh out loud moment, occurred in the very last end credit graphic.  It said, give or take, "This is a work of fiction.  No similarity to any person living or dead is intended.  

Spoiler

The only thing robbed was you."

While its heart was definitely in the right place, the story was just too fantastical for me.  I never was emotionally involved in the humanity.  I was always aware they were characters in a play.

[raezen]

I enjoyed the movie but it wasn't earth shattering to me. It's not like Dunkirk where I'm actually telling people you have to see this. 

Everyone was good in their parts and all the scenes were good but it didn't congeal as well as I would have liked. 

I agree with others that it was very respectful of the place and the people and didn't just use them to poke fun. I loved the daughter because they didn't try to use her to criticize the pageant culture or make her into a pageant queen. She was just a little girl with many interests. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by raezen

[Browncoat]

I saw this last night, and it was one of the damn stupidest movies I've seen in a long time.  That said, I did laugh a lot, and overall enjoyed this total re-run of Ocean's Eleven, but I doubt I'll recommend it to anyone.

The accents were all over the place, except for the little girl (who was fabulous in all ways but singing, bless her heart).  Loved that she was helping her daddy fix his truck and knew what each tool was.

It was also obvious that someone not from West Virginia (or really, anywhere in the southeast US) wrote the script.  No one, and I mean absolutely no one around here refers to any highway as "the 85" or "the 13".  There's no "the" there -- it's just 85, or possibly I85, but never "the" 85. 

Somebody needs a lesson in geography as well.  The Charlotte Motor Speedway is at least a three-hour drive from the closest point in West Virginia, crossing through a chunk of the conveniently forgotten Virginia.  No way could anyone commute daily to Charlotte from West Virginia and be home before dark, much less by 4pm.  And I suppose they left the racetrack after the heist well before the race was over, otherwise they'd never have made it.  Race traffic is brutal -- almost as bad as eclipse traffic.

I did like the heist itself, and the machinations behind it.  The pageant subplot made me think of "Little Miss Sunshine" and I had to go watch the dance sequence again.  I kind of thought that Daniel Craig and his boiled eggs were a nod to "Cool Hand Luke", but that might be giving this movie more credit than it deserves.  I also loved the scientific explanation of the gummy bears and bleach pens, but I'm a science nerd, so there's that.  The "prison riot" cracked me up, too.

Edited August 23, 2017 by Browncoat

[clb1016]

On 8/23/2017 at 1:30 PM, Browncoat said:

It was also obvious that someone not from West Virginia (or really, anywhere in the southeast US) wrote the script.  No one, and I mean absolutely no one around here refers to any highway as "the 85" or "the 13".  There's no "the" there -- it's just 85, or possibly I85, but never "the" 85. 

 

That's because most films are written by people who live in California where they do say it that way ("take the 110 to the 5" or whatever).  As a native New Yorker, I remember once being totally taken out of a TV show when a character said he was late because traffic was heavy on the "freeway," which is not a word used by NYers.

[JenMcSnark]

On 8/25/2017 at 8:28 AM, clb1016 said:

That's because most films are written by people who live in California where they do say it that way ("take the 110 to the 5" or whatever).  As a native New Yorker, I remember once being totally taken out of a TV show when a character said he was late because traffic was heavy on the "freeway," which is not a word used by NYers.

Yep, but it's mainly a SoCal thing.  Although we NorCal folks do say freeway.  I'm actually surprised to hear that it isn't a common usage outside of California!  Learn something new every day. 

[clb1016]

Freeway may be used commonly all over the country for all I know, but it certainly isn't used in the NYC area.

[Bruinsfan]

In the Mid-South we tend to use expressway or parkway, but I don't think it would sound weird exactly to hear someone local use the word freeway. That "The" before a highway number would definitely stick out like a sort thumb, though, no one does that in this part of the country.

[tinaw]

I just got back from seeing this movie. I enjoyed it 

I liked the robbery at the race track. The plot and how the heist was done was good. Prison riot was funny

I liked Daniel Craig's character. As someone up thread pointed out he didn't have that edge and anger you'd expect. Kind of reminded me of Kevin Costner's character in "Perfect World" 

Little girl was cute. Should not be singing though. Katie Holmes I liked and the Logan sister I liked

[cpcathy]

I enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for Soderbergh, and I loved the cast. Channing Tatum is becoming someone I will run to the theater to see. Adam Driver was spectacular. The caper was fun and I really enjoyed the ending.

[Browncoat]

1 hour ago, cpcathy said:

Adam Driver was spectacular

Agreed.  I hadn't really heard of him before The Force Awakens, but since then, I've seen him in a lot of things, and a wide variety of things.  He's always different (unlike some), and always does a superb job with his role. 

[MisterGlass]

Saw this today, and it was...fine.  Adam Driver was definitely the stand out - his dead pan comments were the funniest part to me, with the improv chemistry lesson a close second.  I enjoyed Daniel Craig and Riley Keough too.  This is the second thing I've seen her in after Fury Road; she's got a good presence in these supporting roles.  The movie had good moments but it was slow for the first two thirds.  I'm not a particular Channing Tatum fan, though he has done good work, and he didn't always hold my attention as the protagonist here. 

Oddly I feel like the movie wasn't silly enough; it was still trying to be grounded and that hampered some of the comedy.

Did anyone else get the overwhelming impression that this was sponsored by Ford and Lowes?

On 8/22/2017 at 6:24 PM, Shannon L. said:

I didn't think the doctor, the energy drink mogul or the race car driver were necessary, even though the scene outside the bar after the fight was funny.

Agreed.  It felt like they thought it needed to be longer so they added some other random parts.  It might have flowed better if they had skipped those and gotten to the heist sooner. 

[tennisgurl]

I really liked this one, but I am a big sucker for a fun heist movie, and it had a great cast. It was funny, and the characters were likable, and I loved seeing how the heist ended up working out (Especially when Daniel Craig was explaining how he was making his homemade bomb). I always love Adam Driver, Daniel Craig was clearly having a blast playing against type, and I am really enjoying Channing Tatum these days. I have always had a soft spot for him, but thought that a lot of his early action/romance roles were rather bland. Now that he is becoming more of a comedic/character actor, he is really coming into his own. 

I appreciated that they didn't double down on the "lets all laugh at the poor dumb rednecks", and mainly saved that for Daniel Craig's two dumbass redneck brothers. Most everyone else ranged from normal smart to very intelligent, especially with Clyde and Jimmy, who pulled off a super impressive heist, especially for normal guys who had very little real experience with complex criminal activities. I also liked that they gave some money to the poor woman who`s car they totaled in the course of the heist, as well as other people who helped out.

The little girl was also super cute. Her singing along to Country Roads when her dad came in was really adorable, especially when the whole crowd (even the kind of asshole step dad) started singing along. My one complaint was that there was a little too much padding at time, but its a minor complaint. It wasn't super deep or anything, but it was fun and smart, and thats what I wanted. 

[Silver Raven]

I noticed that Joe Bang's brother Fish had a tattoo that said "DANGERUS".