Drive

I have finally been able to catch up on watching some movies, thanks to Redbox. I watched Drive (2011) last weekend and I really enjoyed it. I'm surprised that it was snubbed by the Academy Awards this year, but hey, that happens. A lot of great films have been snubbed by the Academy for years, so I guess it can also be looked at as a compliment in some cases.

Ryan Gosling plays Driver, who is a car mechanic and stuntman by day and getaway driver by night. He is a man of few words and it's hard to tell what he's thinking, but he seems to try to be improving his life in order to escape his shifty past. Things seem to be getting better for him, once he meets the girl  down the hall from him, Irene. Irene's husband is currently in prison and she is taking care of her son on her own until he returns. Driver steps up to the plate to try to help her and quickly becomes attached to both her and her son. However, his life ends up turning for the worst once his car garage mechanic boss tries to set-up a race team using illegal money, putting Driver in charge of the main driving. It changes even more once Irene's husband returns from prison and he ends up getting involved with much more than he ever bargained for. 

I loved the 80s vibe that this film had. The 80s vibe is mostly evoked through the music. Ryan Gosling portrays a mix between James Dean and Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle from Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). He has the coolness, sexiness, and style of James Dean, but he has the hidden tough guy, hero persona of Bickle. So, if you're a fan of James Dean and Taxi Driver or 80s music and nice cinematography, then this film is definitely for you.