Jamie Foxx Gives the Performance of the Year in the Awesome "Baby Driver"

Get your rear to the theater and see Foxx and "Baby Driver" on the big screen

I'm coming to you all straight from Chicago, and I want to talk about my new favorite, "Baby Driver", once again. Instead of giving a spoiler free review or talking about a certain song, I want to single out who I thought had the best performance in the movie. First off, this movie is packed with stars. Names like Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Lily Adams, Ansel Elgort fill out some of the big names. But, one of the biggest names also did the best job, in my opinion, and that person is Jamie Foxx as Bats.

Jamie Foxx was tremendous in this movie. I know I kind of singled him out last week, but I want to dig a little deeper today. I know that Foxx is an Oscar winner(Ryan Gosling should have won that year), but for the most part, he's a comedic actor. He is not funny, at least not on purpose, in "Baby Driver". He's a psychopath in fact. When he first showed up on screen, in a cocked red leather hat and a big red sweater with a King playing card on it, he was all business. He was a criminal that wanted to get his money by any means necessary. He did not like Baby right off the bat, and he made this known immediately. He belittled and mean mugged him the moment he met him. He didn't trust Baby either. When Doc is laying out a plan and Baby has his headphones in the whole time, Bats is eyeing him. Even when Baby tells him the plan back verbatim, Bats is still skeptical. It only got crazier from there, and Foxx displayed that craziness to perfection. When Bats' team job goes awry, Foxx pulls off the psychotic side so convincingly, I forgot he was acting. I no longer saw Jamie Foxx, I saw Bats. That is how I know he nailed it. When I only refer to you by your character's name to people I tell the movie about, that means, to me, that you nailed it.

Later on, and this isn't a spoiler, when Bats, Buddy and Darling get together to do a job, Bats is still super weary of Baby. Possibly more so than he was the first time. Foxx played this paranoia great. I bought his skepticism, his worry, his want for truth, his need for everyone to be all in on the job. Then the cop scene happens. Again, no spoilers, but Bats shows his true colors, and it's horrifying. Mind you, Foxx plays this completely serious. There are no laughs to be had, only fear. I squirmed in my seat, and I think that's what Foxx and Edgar Wright wanted. The following scene, in the diner, was just as creepy. His breakdown of Buddy was eerily correct. His face to face with Debora, real scary. His shake down and argument with Darling was incredible. And his nose to nose with Baby, again, I was squirming. When they eventually do their big job, Bats gets what's coming to him, but it is shocking. I will reiterate, no spoilers, go see the movie to see what happens. You'll thank me later.

What Foxx did was undeniably great. Even people who aren't as high on this movie as I am have singled out Foxx's performance. He was incredible. I'd much rather he get the Oscar for this performance than for playing Ray Charles, and he was great as Ray Charles. He was so much better as Bats though.

There's a million reasons to see "Baby Driver", but Foxx's performance would be reason number one I would tell people to see it. See it on the big screen as well, to get Bats' full effect. This is the third time I've talked about "Baby Driver" in the past 6 days, and I guarantee I will talk about it a bunch more. This movie is great and Foxx's performance is noteworthy and classic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has been a huge Jamie Foxx fan since his big-time breakout role as Coach Armstrong on the classic television program "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper".

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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"Baby Driver" is a Perfect Movie

And this is the perfect music delivery system

I just got home from seeing "Baby Driver", and I'm here to tell you that you need to see this movie. My review is going to on the shorter side because I implore everyone to see this on the big screen. That is the way this movie is meant to be seen. Anyway, I went with my father to a matinee. I have been waiting to see this movie, so I have been purposefully staying away from reading anything about it or watching too many previews. I'm glad that I did it that way.

There is so much to like in "Baby Driver". Ansel Elgort as Baby is phenomenal. I didn't know who this kid was, my wife told me he was in "The Fault in our Stars", but I haven't seen that movie, so I didn't know what to expect. Well, he was outstanding as the getaway driver. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that this is a movie about a driver that helps bank robbers get out of trouble. That is in all the previews. What makes Elgort's performance, and the movie for that matter though, is he is always listening to music because of an accident he was involved in as a child. He has a ringing in his ears, so to offset the noise, he listens to all types of music. I'd go so far as to say that this was a musical crime movie. The music is just terrific. There is a little something for everyone. I was also very pleased to see Baby listen to his music on an iPod. I think he and I may be the only 2 people in the world that still have them, and use them.

Besides Elgort's performance and the music, Jamie Foxx was great. He is bad to the bone, and when he is on screen, you know there is trouble. Same thing can be said for both Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez, a relative unknown to me. They were a married couple that like to rob banks together. Their relationship was one of my favorite things from this movie. Jon Bernthal, in a very small performance, is equally as scary and as good as everyone else. His line, again, this is not a spoiler, "you have to be a little criminal to be in crime", should be the tagline for this movie. Kevin Spacey, making a return to the big screen, was brash, arrogant, rude and I loved his performance. It was like they took his character from "Swimming with Sharks", and put him in this movie. I'm always reminded of how good an actor he can be when placed in the right role. Lily James as Debora and Baby's love interest was perfectly cast as the damsel in distress. She was excellent as well. Everyone, even Flea, did a great job in this movie.

Edgar Wright also holds a special place in my heart when it comes to movies. He made "Shaun of the Dead", "Hot Fuzz" and "The World's End", all with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as a trilogy of sorts, and I love all those movies. Then he made "Scott Pilgrim vs the World", and that is one of my top 5 movies of all time. I was predestined to enjoy "Baby Driver". But, I more than enjoyed it, I adored it. It was fast paced. There were multiple love stories. It was dark. It was humorous. It was well acted. It was especially well written and directed. And again, the use of music was just wonderful.

Like I said at the top, I do not want to spoil anything, and I feel like if I dig deeper into the plot, that is exactly what I'll do. Just do yourself a favor and go see this movie ASAP. It is getting great reviews, as it should. I love that it feels like a 50's heist movie, what with the clothes worn and the music being played, but it is set in modern day. I love Atlanta being the town that the movie takes place in. I loved every little thing about this movie. 

Just go now and watch this movie. I think that is the third time I have said that. It is so well done, and it is so nice to see an original movie nowadays when everything seems to be a remake or a sequel. "Baby Driver" is neither of those things, it is an original.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He will never give up on his iPod. Music was meant to have the clicks of the mechanical wheel when a person is choosing their next track. It is more pure.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.