Baby Driver (2017)

Sometimes I drag my heels about checking out something popular simply because I don't like the title. I was OK with Baby Doll, but this title is stranger (I didn't know of the Simon and Garfunkel song), and an R rating means no place for a literal baby. Turns out "Baby" is the nickname of Miles (Ansel Elgort), a youthful-looking driver in his early 20s.

In particular, a getaway driver for a network of armed robbers. Years ago, he stole a car from crime boss "Doc" (Kevin Spacey, eheh), who was impressed and let Baby work off his debt. Alas, he's done such a good job that Doc may never let him retire. Between his burgeoning relationship with waitress Debora (Lily James) and the increasingly troubling jobs, it won't be long before Baby takes the big risk of rebelling....

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

I'd seen a few movies written by David Mamet before, but not based on a play of his. Oddly enough, the most oft-cited moment does not occur in the play: One-scene wonder Alec Baldwin features as a company-hired motivational speaker with the attitude of a prototypical drill sergeant (Baldwin did look to Patton for inspiration). In truth, he seems to be channeling Al Pacino, for whom he was something of an understudy herein. I had seen this part already, and it didn't exactly make me eager for more, but I value my cinematic education.

That early scene helps establish the plot. At a super-shady real estate agency that cold-calls individuals to sell them overpriced land, business has not been good lately. The agency offers prizes for the two salesmen who accomplish the most in the near future but will fire the other two. It feels unfair to the less successful, because they've done well in the past and have just fallen on bad luck with regard to sales leads, if "luck" is the right word. In desperation, two conspire to steal the good leads and make it look like a plain burglary.