I'm in love with the fact that Patrick explains Patrick being given the chance to info dump about movies is shot like a serial killer finding his next victim.
Just rewatched AmbuLAnce after watching this video and one thing struck me that Patrick didn't mention: as a movie made during the pandemic, this seemed like Bay's crazy, over-the-top way of honoring medical professionals. Honestly, WAY better than standing outside and clapping...
@@squeegeeboy Oh shoot! Missed that - thanks for pointing it out. I guess what I meant to say is that Bay treated the paramedics the way he generally treats the military - he obviously respects them, and maybe even more now after the pandemic.
I think the reason why Jake Gyllenhaal is so good in this movie is because, reportedly, Michael Bay was so hands off with this movie, Gyllenhaal at one point picked up the camera and said, quote "I'm Ed Nortonning this bitch". Reportedly.
@@pleasekillyoursef They're hilarious and I hope they stick around for long enough to egg Sony into yet another theater release. Edit: also, morbius starred Jared Leto, not Jake Gyllenhaal.
I watched 3 minutes of the video, then turned it off, watched the entirety of Ambulance, cried two times and now I’m back to finish the video. Pat didn’t lie, it’s great.
Absolutely agree with you about how Bay used drone cameras effectively. I was very cynical about drone shots in Hollywood movies. Whenever I saw one it just looked like a TH-cam blog, but the shots in this film single handedly justified the technology to me.
Which is really surprising because this type of drone-specific footage has been common in action sports for years. I’m pretty sure that professional camera people, shooting action movies, have been aware of this style for a long time.
This really makes me want to hear Bay’s thoughts on how he’s been depicting both women and weapons over the course of his career, and if this is a turning point or an anomaly.
I’m ok with not hearing them. It always cheapens the impact for me. If you’re gonna do something, just do it, you know? Announcing it just makes it seem disingenuous.
As the stranger in the bar who spent 33 minutes telling you why Michael Bay was underrated... it's funny watching y'all go on about how great Patrick is 😅 he IS great!! ❤️ But if you've ever had an opinion contrary to what's popular before... you know how this goes irl 🙃 It's easy to be the guy who tell people about Patrick. It's hard to be the guy who's like Patrick. Glad Patrick found his band of misfits myself included!! here on YT ❤️
Hey Patrick, I’d love to hear you talk about trailers for movies and how Hollywood creates them. Often time people say misleading trailers cause movies to fail but there’s probably classics that have trailers that don’t fully reflect the film. (Maybe a breakdown about what makes a good trailer, like your needle drop video)
Once an adult makes their mind up about something, it's pretty hard to change. For years I assumed Michael Bay's movies had zero artistic merit but Patrick Willems single handedly convinced me to rethink this and I ended up changing my mind. I think that's pretty great and pretty heroic on Patrick's part (even though it's just silly movie stuff). Now I give Ambulance and Michael Bay's oeuvre a B-, which is pretty good
I had this relationship with Bay too, It's hard to believe this but the current blockbuster landscape has turned him into a "eldest statesman" of the summer action movie genre. I rewatched The Island recently and I was gobsmacked by how far superior it was than in my memory, and the once "vulgar and glittering" cinematography of Bay now looks like a 50's Technicolor movie next to the cinematography of The Gray Man or of the MCU movies.
sometimes you just need a single beacon of genuine positivity amid a sea of criticism to let yourself admit a position of vulnerability and change your opinions
Issue is he came up with the "summer action blockbuster" look that is currently popular but everyone dismissed it as tasteless and easy to do. Except he is an ads director first and he can actually make shot choices and has intention behind his camera.
Yeah, it's ironic how his style was labeled as "thoughtless" and "easy to replicate" in the 2000s (specially in the early 2010s) when in reality it's the quite the opposite. There were tons of Bay copycats but none of them really got his style, contrast that with the Russo Brothers or even Snyder's style which are very easy to replicate and painfully average at best and thoughtlessly bland (the Russo Brothers are WAAY more guilty being bland though).
Very happy with all the recent videos on both your channels and even happier that there have been so many. Looking forward to another year of crazy shit.
Thank you for the amazing work this year. You’re the reason I finally stopped fighting with myself and finally accepted my love for Bay. I saw this opening weekend and loved it. Was extremely disappointed that it bombed but at least we still got a fantastic 4K release. You said literally everything I thought about this film, down to this being Bay’s most mature film. Can’t wait to see what both of you have in store in the coming year. Happy New Years!
With the exception of the first film, he truly wasted a good decade of his life making Transformers film. The only good thing he got out of it was given a free pass to make Pain And Gain, which I maintain is legitimately a good film.
The Cristopher Cross music clip foreshadowing was almost as brilliant as the mention of big dogs in little cars. Also, as someone who spent time in Stockholm I am sure you learned that in Nordic languages appending "en" to a noun indicates a definite article. That is, the Danish title is "The Ambulance" while the American version is just "Ambulance." See? Totally breaking expectations.
It's really interesting seeing how your lighting has evolved with your videos, it has a genuine direction now instead of just what might look "professional" and you can see how much of an impact things like your more experimental videos in covid like the Coppola video and ofc the massive undertaking of your feature have done for you and your teams experience.
Wait, this movie flopped? How??!! It was one of the only movies I actually went to theater to see in 2022 with my sister and while we were both a bit overwhelmed because we hadn't seen a stressful movie like that in a long time, we both loved it!
Oh this whole video is set up here my gah much respect on this video, also the first three transformers movie will forever be special to me just cause I grew up with them 5:59
It’s crazy to think we’re nostalgic for the big MB, but more and more we’re starting to realise what good qualities come through his work that most blockbusters absolutely lacks. And now you’re telling me AmbuLAnce is good?! Okay I gotta watch this.
I've watched ambulance about 7 or 8 times since it was made available for streaming and I'm still not tired of it. Michael Bay has a few modern gems like Pain & Gain and Ambulance is right up there with it. My only gripe was how some of the editing, particularly in the "sailing" scene (still my absolute favorite scene in the movie, to the point where I've watched the entire movie just for that scene) seemed really disconnected and, like some of Bay's other films, sacrificed conversation and scene continuity for a preferred take or a snappy cut(not the intentionally comedic cut you mentioned). Other than that complaint this may be my favorite Michael Bay movie, for a lot of the reasons you stated in the video. Great job as always.
I too love _"Charade"_ (the superb 1963 Stanley Donen version with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, Ned Glass and George Kennedy, of course - all great turns), but I'd say it's in my top 10 rather than my number one. I have a lot of bad luck with DVD and BluRay players - I'm poor, so I buy them cheap, and they tend not to last very long - and the first disc I always make sure I put on as soon as I get each new player is *_"A Life Less Ordinary",_* the 1997 Ewan McGregor/Cameron Diaz film directed by Danny Boyle. Thing is, I haven't been able to find anything on TH-cam about this wonderful movie - it feels like the nostalgia train hasn't pulled into that particular station yet. It's obviously not recent enough for it to be considered contemporary or modern, but in terms of great movies in living memory it feels like the queue hasn't yet progressed beyond the early-to-mid-'90s... so maybe it's due its time in the limelight in a few years, but I think that whole late-'90s phase of movie-making is worth a good look. I mean, around those last years of the closing millennium, you had a good selection of adventurous mid-budget movies that were really interesting and played with some fun ideas... Sure, you had your shoestring indie productions like _"Clerks"_ which had had that underdog DIY charm that made them critical darlings blossoming around that time, and you certainly had your big-name, big-budget blockbusters (like Bay's _"The Rock"_ mentioned in this video), but there were a lot of these quietly-good movies which were either trying to break from convention or straight-up thumbing their noses at it. Not just _"A Life Less Ordinary",_ but also _"Very Bad Things", "The Usual Suspects", "Grosse Pointe Blank", "Fallen", "The Spanish Prisoner", "Mystery Men", "Wild Things"_ (the _original_ one, with its genuinely effective plot-twists and playful switching of POV, rather than the sequels which basically just said "people _clearly_ only watched that first one for the girl-on-girl stuff" and leaned into that)... between the first tenuous steps towards mainstream comic adaptations with _"Blade"_ and _"The Crow"_ and various big-banner extravaganzas like _"The Matrix"_ there were some very good movies which weren't small enough for a signal-boost from the Sundance set, but weren't mainstream enough to get all the promotion and one of those fancy new "web-sites" all the kids were talking about. (By the way, all these are examples from my personal collection - the movies I keep on shelves in the corner of my apartment just waiting for the day one of my friends says they want to watch something "interesting"...) Incidentally, on the subject of _"The Matrix",_ it's worth pointing out that _"Strange Days", "Dark City", "Johnny Mnemonic", "The Thirteenth Floor"_ AND _"Nightwatch"_ were _all_ released _before_ that first Wachowski opus - all of which shared many stylistic and narrative ideas with the blockbuster but were drowned in the PR deluge and talk of Bullet Time. Not saying that _"The Matrix"_ didn't make some strides into original filmmaking, but rather than being something totally new it was more a natural progression of the cinematic zeitgeist. Hot take dropped, stepping down from soapbox. My point being, there were so many genuinely good movies from the tail-end of the Nineties which don't seem to get any attention in TH-cam cinephile circles. Maybe it's worth casting your mind back to a few of those gems to outrun that nostalgia train and get in first with some statements on an as-yet overlooked time in cinema history which has fallen into the memory chasm between "contemporary" and "classic". Even a couple of genre retrospectives covering that whole time would be interesting (since I'm sure you have plenty more examples in mind than I have on my shelves), although I obviously think _"A Life Less Ordinary"_ is worth its own discussion for its twists and turns, its interweaving parallel storytelling between semi-realism and outright fantasy with juxtaposing musical cues from its mix of then-contemporary and Motown music in the soundtrack, its heightened feeling of reality even in the more-realistic parts to the point of dreamlike sequences interspersed naturally into moments of gritty dramatic tension, its cynical yet wistful take on romance, its playful flirting with the action genre while maintaining a strongly narrative-driven plot, its dark comedic dialogue focusing on the mundane during serious moments without breaking the immersion... but I'll let you watch it for yourself and draw your own conclusions! Also, it has fantastic eccentric performances from Ian Holm, Ian McNiece, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Dan Hedaya, Delroy Lindo, Holly Hunter and Maury Chaykin... they were overshadowed by the two leads in all the promotion, but they all deserve a shout-out because every last one of this great ensemble cast elevates the movie with their performance.
Just for convenience, a list of the movies referenced above: * _"Charade",_ 1963 (an understated stylish masterpiece known for its sparkling dialogue); * _"The Crow",_ 1994 (the legend of Brandon Lee's death aside, a dark action beauty with a sublime soundtrack); * _"Strange Days",_ 1995 (surprisingly grounded for a cyberpunk masterpiece); * _"Clerks",_ 1995 (still some of Kevin Smith's best work, before he lost sight of the poetry of the mundane); * _"The Usual Suspects",_ 1995 (it should be made illegal to spoil the ending, but we all know it by now...); * _"The Rock",_ 1996 (fun in a switch-your-brain-off, Michael Bay way); * _"Johnny Mnemonic",_ 1996 (cyberpunk brain-hacking movie with Keanu Reeves playing a cardboard cutout main character with cybernetic enhancements and mad hacking skillz who gets recruited by a bunch of rebels who are fighting against a monolithic omnipresent enemy for the right to control the destiny of humanity, who goes on to save... oh, you're not going to watch it anyway, so why bother? This one has Henry Rollins and a dolphin, though...); * _"Grosse Pointe Blank",_ 1997 (funny as hell, great action, fantastic soundtrack, pitch-perfect dialogue - just watch it); * _"A Life Less Ordinary",_ 1997 (obviously, for all reasons given above and more); * _"Fallen",_ 1998 (a more-subtle-than-it-might've-been supernatural psychological thriiler relying on story rather than SFX, with Denzel Washington and John Goodman); * _"The Spanish Prisoner",_ 1998 (a tense and understated con-job from the POV of the mark - featuring Steve Martin in a role where he doesn't smile once, which is very creepy); * _"Wild Things",_ 1998 (don't be put off by the borderline-porn reputation - that's really just a distracting misdirect as to what's really going on in the plot); * _"Blade",_ 1998 (the granddaddy of the MCU, years before _"Iron Man"_ or even Ang Lee's _"Hulk"!);_ * _"Dark City",_ 1998 (the most obvious predecessor of _"The Matrix",_ so often wrongly accused of being a rip-off); * _"Nightwatch",_ 1998 (Russia's answer to movies like _"Underworld"_ before the west had even thought to ask the question); * _"The Thirteenth Floor",_ 1999 (another movie overshadowed by the Wachowskis' juggernaut, this one features a large part of the action taking place in a virtual simulation of a time long before the actual futuristic setting, dealing with the allure of trading lives for a simpler time and wiling escapism, with a tight little noir-ish mystery plot in there as well); * _"The Matrix,"_ 1999 (do I _really_ need to elaborate on this one...?); * _"Mystery Men",_ 1999 (did for wacky indie comics what _"Watchmen"_ did for thoughtful graphic novels); * _"Very Bad Things",_ 1999 (the dark and edgy older brother of the _"Hangover"_ movies). Hey, I wrote a small essay in the comments - I figured I should include a bibliography...
I generally hate Michael Bay movies, but I put Ambulance on one evening when I was too exhausted for anything actually good... and holy shit, it was great! It got my adrenaline pumping AND it was an actual human story. Amazing! How it could have failed definitely requires explanation.
Many people today live stressful lives full of fear and anxiety. We don't enjoy stressful movies. It's hard for a person who lives the real version of this story to enjoy the action-packed phony version of this story. Michael Bay action movies aren't fun when you live the real life of the blue-collar workers being portrayed.
Is it bad I genuinely want to hug MB for seeming to have progressed as a person? I mean maybe it was someone else’s influence on this film, unlikely given Bays dictatorial style. Maybe he goes back to being the man we know him to be? Very likely. But hey, this movie seems very cool and I definitely want to watch it now.
While I enjoyed the story and acting in Ambulance. Plus, I quite love the way Bay's film look. My only complaint about Ambulance was with some of the camera work and more of the editing. The quick cuts along with the shaky bits and then the drone work I felt was a bit much. Let me put it this way. I raced motocross for 30 plus years, I love roller coasters, and I have ridden in planes helicopters boats, and yet the movie Ambulance was the first time I ever felt like I was about to get motion sickness.
I think that was kinda the goal. There are other directors who will use this technology in less extreme over the top ways (or are already doing it), while Michael Bay can just go all out and tell the pilots to go to the limits of what the drones can handle. In anything that's not a Michael Bay movie, it would be out of place. While here it can be celebrated and show off what's possible
I really enjoyed The Gray Man. I thought Ryan Gosling's straightforward performance worked for the focused-action-hero trope. And Chris Evans was a whole lot of fun as a playfully brazen sociopath. The dialog was sharp and clever-maybe to a fault, but I bought into it. It didn't deliver any new ideas or genre mashups or high concepts, but I considered it good at what it was going for: a Jason Bourne flick sans amnesia.
On one hand, I liked The Gray Man quite a bit. On the other, Ambulance was so much better in every conceivable way that I'm not gonna come out swinging for its honor. Ambulance rules.
I missed it in cinemas, but got to watch it on DVD, (yes, I know, some people still use those things). I agree with mostly everything you say, and it's great to see someone like Bay treading new ground. My main issue with the movie was that I just couldn't follow the action. One shot didn't feel connected to its predecessor. It felt more like a montage of action scenes/shots instead of an actual cause-to-affect story of characters trying to achieve opposing goals. Basically, what this movie really did was make me appreciate movies like Mad Max: Fury Road even more.
It's not bad. but there's a really tight 90 minute thriller in there somewhere and Bay bloats it up to 2 hours and 16 minutes. The paramedic should have been the main character. It's pretty amazing what he can do with a $40 million budget.
I legit feel the same way on that. There was a tight 90-100 minute film that could have made a really solid action flick, but that little extra did sour it just a tad, at least for me too. I'd still say you could be watching much worse still, ala Gray Man and Red Notice for the same runttimes with effects that make you wonder where much of those budgets went.
It’s currently 2 am where I am. Dog woke me up because he’s freaking out from the wind outside. I’m getting over a cold so I don’t feel great and feel freezing even though it’s 73 inside. I’m curled up in my blanket watching this next to my 3 year old because he’s been having trouble sleeping with nightmares. And just wanted to say, this video made me very happy and was probably the perfect video to watch right now. Thank you. Going back to sleep now
Really enjoyed this film. If this video could get a special screening at an IMAX with Patrick interviewing Bay post show it would make my year. I saw this at a crowded screening (must have been the only one) on opening night and what I remember is even people who said after it they didn't like it were smiling and laughing. That contrast with many films these days where people solemnly say yeah that was really good almost like its an obligation. One of the best theater experiences of the year.
Just watched AmbuLAnce. Honestly a great time, compelling in a frenetic way, like the best Bay movies. Gyllenhaal was definitely on Bay's level for this one. Also, you read my mind with the drone cinematography. I was a little wary of it in Ambulance because of how I saw it used in The Grey Man. Similarly, it totally fits with Bay's style! And he actually does interesting things with it!
This episode was awesome! From the return of 'evil' Patrick to the Calgary name drop ( shout out to my boys at Sentry Box) this was so good.. I still don't understand Patrick's love of Michael Bay, but it fun to hear his passion.
I need Patrick Explains Patrick to somehow solve a mystery while explaining about the detective & crime procedural TV genre, talking about shows like Columbo or Monk 😂
23:33 it ties into your 80s movie analysis, we are all shifting away from that mentality (fina-fucking-ly) and Bay is here too. He is saying "yeah, bureaucracy does suck, but not *because* its bureaucracy, but because it fails to do what it is *supposed* to do. Whenever I meet someone who says they hate taxes, I always ask "do you hate taxes? Or do you hate the misuse of tax revenue?" and usually it's the latter. And it's an important distinction that people fail to make. Often though, bureaucracy exists to justify its own existence. There are uses for it, but it has ballooned for decades.
Ya know i'm a fan of the quick or slow swooping drone shots, but for the love of cinema put them on stabilizers because when you pitch and yaw with the drone it takes me right out the movie.
YES! I have been yelling at all my friends about this movie. They have mostly told me that Michael Bay is a hack director and that I should stop breaking in to their apartments.
Hot diggity damn - your use of Extreme Ways was genuinely mind blowing; both made me crack out laughing yet still pulled off genuinely enough to pull out those goosebumps such a scene played straight should/could. Weird! So umm..thanks? I guess And right after writing this I remember Patrick doesn'd read these but hey whatever
"And right after writing this I remember Patrick doesn'd read these but hey whatever" - but Emma reads them and may select them for him to reply to on the Patrick Replies videos.
Excellent video. Finishing the explain with Moby's Jason Bourne music is a stroke of genius, It really got me laughing. I didn't watch ambulance before seeing this because I was afraid of watching another Bay after all the Transformers, but you made me watch it and boy oh boy, I don't regret it. You're also responsible for me watching RRR which I would probably have never watched otherwise. Holy molly what a movie. As for Grey Man, as much as I agree with what you said, I kind of enjoyed myself watching it, but clearly not a quarter of the fun I've had watching Ambulance. Thanks Patrick, for everything.
YOU GET ME! I went to see this in theaters all hype just got done smoking a joint grabbed some popcorn and a soda and literally only like 15 people was in the theater. Like wtf l was so disappointed in society. And watch just like everything else l love it will hit Netflix and a few years and it will be number 1 and everyone that’s 26 and younger will call it a hidden gem.
I'm in love with the fact that Patrick explains Patrick being given the chance to info dump about movies is shot like a serial killer finding his next victim.
I love the fact the building that shot centers is the Calgary homeless shelter.
Just rewatched AmbuLAnce after watching this video and one thing struck me that Patrick didn't mention: as a movie made during the pandemic, this seemed like Bay's crazy, over-the-top way of honoring medical professionals. Honestly, WAY better than standing outside and clapping...
He mentions it at the beginning of this video that it's recognizing first responders
@@squeegeeboy Oh shoot! Missed that - thanks for pointing it out.
I guess what I meant to say is that Bay treated the paramedics the way he generally treats the military - he obviously respects them, and maybe even more now after the pandemic.
he literally calls it "a tribute to first responders"
AND the cops are the bad guys. ACAB realness
How is it better?
I think the reason why Jake Gyllenhaal is so good in this movie is because, reportedly, Michael Bay was so hands off with this movie, Gyllenhaal at one point picked up the camera and said, quote "I'm Ed Nortonning this bitch".
Reportedly.
My favorite part is when he yells "It's Ed Nortoning time!" and Ed Nortons all over the place
That's wild, I want to believe that happened.
I was about to make a Morbius joke, but then i remebered they where never funny
@@pleasekillyoursefThat is a take for all time. You deserve some Morbiusbucks.
@@pleasekillyoursef They're hilarious and I hope they stick around for long enough to egg Sony into yet another theater release.
Edit: also, morbius starred Jared Leto, not Jake Gyllenhaal.
I love that the movie Patrick praises and the one he trashes (Pain & Gain and the Gray Man) were both written by the same guys
I watched 3 minutes of the video, then turned it off, watched the entirety of Ambulance, cried two times and now I’m back to finish the video. Pat didn’t lie, it’s great.
The same goes here 💯
Absolutely agree with you about how Bay used drone cameras effectively. I was very cynical about drone shots in Hollywood movies. Whenever I saw one it just looked like a TH-cam blog, but the shots in this film single handedly justified the technology to me.
I don’t understand how Roberto De Angelis isn’t getting Best Cinematography mentions across the regional critics groups and industry groups.
Oh Man, the shot that goes under the Patrol and then almost hits the other car almost Made me jump from my seat
@@Wired4Life2dude is swooping his drones all over the place and past buildings, its not that revolutionary
@@GuineaPigEveryday Those aren’t typical helicopter-establishing/2nd-unit action coverage shots.
Which is really surprising because this type of drone-specific footage has been common in action sports for years. I’m pretty sure that professional camera people, shooting action movies, have been aware of this style for a long time.
This really makes me want to hear Bay’s thoughts on how he’s been depicting both women and weapons over the course of his career, and if this is a turning point or an anomaly.
Actually, the Last Knight was the middle section of why he moved from that BBB aspect to less Bay today.
I’m ok with not hearing them. It always cheapens the impact for me. If you’re gonna do something, just do it, you know? Announcing it just makes it seem disingenuous.
It’s never been an anomaly. He’s always been this way.
“as memorable as Jake Sully” it took me about ten minutes to remember who Jake Sully is
I think that's the joke.
Jacob Stully... Jacob Stully... oh, he's... fine. He's a f***in'... sweet kid. th-cam.com/video/zqp3HqOwZvg/w-d-xo.html
The point about how humanized every character is makes sense of why this movie got me invested in spite of Bay's typically frenetic style.
Definitely feels more like a speed sequel than the actual speed sequel.
I'm seriously going to end up that stranger at the bar who tells you for 33 minutes why Patrick Willems is great and you should watch him.
As the stranger in the bar who spent 33 minutes telling you why Michael Bay was underrated... it's funny watching y'all go on about how great Patrick is 😅 he IS great!! ❤️ But if you've ever had an opinion contrary to what's popular before... you know how this goes irl 🙃 It's easy to be the guy who tell people about Patrick. It's hard to be the guy who's like Patrick. Glad Patrick found his band of misfits myself included!! here on YT ❤️
Unironically one of my favorite movies of 2022, I'm so happy to see you talking about it and exposing it to more people
Hey Patrick, I’d love to hear you talk about trailers for movies and how Hollywood creates them. Often time people say misleading trailers cause movies to fail but there’s probably classics that have trailers that don’t fully reflect the film. (Maybe a breakdown about what makes a good trailer, like your needle drop video)
This is my 2nd fave of the year. Saw it in a theater full of absolutely SHOCKED patrons.
Once an adult makes their mind up about something, it's pretty hard to change. For years I assumed Michael Bay's movies had zero artistic merit but Patrick Willems single handedly convinced me to rethink this and I ended up changing my mind. I think that's pretty great and pretty heroic on Patrick's part (even though it's just silly movie stuff).
Now I give Ambulance and Michael Bay's oeuvre a B-, which is pretty good
I had this relationship with Bay too, It's hard to believe this but the current blockbuster landscape has turned him into a "eldest statesman" of the summer action movie genre.
I rewatched The Island recently and I was gobsmacked by how far superior it was than in my memory, and the once "vulgar and glittering" cinematography of Bay now looks like a 50's Technicolor movie next to the cinematography of The Gray Man or of the MCU movies.
sometimes you just need a single beacon of genuine positivity amid a sea of criticism to let yourself admit a position of vulnerability and change your opinions
Issue is he came up with the "summer action blockbuster" look that is currently popular but everyone dismissed it as tasteless and easy to do. Except he is an ads director first and he can actually make shot choices and has intention behind his camera.
Yeah, it's ironic how his style was labeled as "thoughtless" and "easy to replicate" in the 2000s (specially in the early 2010s) when in reality it's the quite the opposite.
There were tons of Bay copycats but none of them really got his style, contrast that with the Russo Brothers or even Snyder's style which are very easy to replicate and painfully average at best and thoughtlessly bland (the Russo Brothers are WAAY more guilty being bland though).
I watched Ambulance in theaters and the spleen surgery scene was my most unexpected scene of the year BY FAR
Very happy with all the recent videos on both your channels and even happier that there have been so many. Looking forward to another year of crazy shit.
One thing I always admire about bay is his screen presence which is so young I mean the guy is 60 now but thinks like a 21 year old guy love it 😍
Jake Gyllenhaal is a lot like Michael Bay, both don’t always have to take it to 11… But they do, we love them for it
But Gyllenhaal is capable of a quite and subtle performance. That Bay if capable of that is something that I will only believe once I see it.
the only thing i had an issue with was how short some of those awesome drone shots were. i want that footage to KEEP GOING, man.
With how fast paced and risky the drone shots are, making them twice as long would have meant exponentially more retakes
Calgary has art house theatres. Can confirm. That’s where I used to go to see my art house movies that weren’t playing near me
you ended on Moby... what a damn boss move. fabulous. Bourne Identity is one of the key films that made me love movies
Whenever I need to reset my film hyperfixation I just watch a Patrick Willems video.
Thank you for the amazing work this year. You’re the reason I finally stopped fighting with myself and finally accepted my love for Bay. I saw this opening weekend and loved it. Was extremely disappointed that it bombed but at least we still got a fantastic 4K release. You said literally everything I thought about this film, down to this being Bay’s most mature film. Can’t wait to see what both of you have in store in the coming year. Happy New Years!
Bay only has himself to blame for tarnishing his own brand
Ambulance is proof positive that Michael Bay was absolutely SLUMMING IT with the Transformers sequels.
With the exception of the first film, he truly wasted a good decade of his life making Transformers film. The only good thing he got out of it was given a free pass to make Pain And Gain, which I maintain is legitimately a good film.
And here I was waiting for the Beast Wars movie.
@@martin43427 one of rocks best
@@katherinealvarez9216 as long they do better than dinobots
@@tylerdurden788 I forgot that they did that. I didn't watch the movies after transformers 2. I did see bumblebee. It was cute.
The Cristopher Cross music clip foreshadowing was almost as brilliant as the mention of big dogs in little cars. Also, as someone who spent time in Stockholm I am sure you learned that in Nordic languages appending "en" to a noun indicates a definite article. That is, the Danish title is "The Ambulance" while the American version is just "Ambulance." See? Totally breaking expectations.
I would kill to see Pat talk about James Cameron's filmography
It's really interesting seeing how your lighting has evolved with your videos, it has a genuine direction now instead of just what might look "professional" and you can see how much of an impact things like your more experimental videos in covid like the Coppola video and ofc the massive undertaking of your feature have done for you and your teams experience.
Wait, this movie flopped? How??!! It was one of the only movies I actually went to theater to see in 2022 with my sister and while we were both a bit overwhelmed because we hadn't seen a stressful movie like that in a long time, we both loved it!
"That's 45¢" is one of the best line reads of the year.
im so glad you're covering this film! one of my favorites of this year..Jake killed this performance
The color grading of the opening of this video is absolutely beautiful 1:26
Oh this whole video is set up here my gah much respect on this video, also the first three transformers movie will forever be special to me just cause I grew up with them 5:59
The Extreme Ways drop at the end... can't wait for your next feature.
It’s crazy to think we’re nostalgic for the big MB, but more and more we’re starting to realise what good qualities come through his work that most blockbusters absolutely lacks.
And now you’re telling me AmbuLAnce is good?! Okay I gotta watch this.
Brian's score once again absolutely delivers, loved the return of the "It's Patrick's Show" theme at the end. Also guess I need to watch Ambulance.
So-o-o-o, Patrick was in Alberta! (Calgary looks beautiful!)
I've watched ambulance about 7 or 8 times since it was made available for streaming and I'm still not tired of it. Michael Bay has a few modern gems like Pain & Gain and Ambulance is right up there with it. My only gripe was how some of the editing, particularly in the "sailing" scene (still my absolute favorite scene in the movie, to the point where I've watched the entire movie just for that scene) seemed really disconnected and, like some of Bay's other films, sacrificed conversation and scene continuity for a preferred take or a snappy cut(not the intentionally comedic cut you mentioned). Other than that complaint this may be my favorite Michael Bay movie, for a lot of the reasons you stated in the video. Great job as always.
I'd throw 13 hours in there too.
I too love _"Charade"_ (the superb 1963 Stanley Donen version with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, Ned Glass and George Kennedy, of course - all great turns), but I'd say it's in my top 10 rather than my number one. I have a lot of bad luck with DVD and BluRay players - I'm poor, so I buy them cheap, and they tend not to last very long - and the first disc I always make sure I put on as soon as I get each new player is *_"A Life Less Ordinary",_* the 1997 Ewan McGregor/Cameron Diaz film directed by Danny Boyle.
Thing is, I haven't been able to find anything on TH-cam about this wonderful movie - it feels like the nostalgia train hasn't pulled into that particular station yet. It's obviously not recent enough for it to be considered contemporary or modern, but in terms of great movies in living memory it feels like the queue hasn't yet progressed beyond the early-to-mid-'90s... so maybe it's due its time in the limelight in a few years, but I think that whole late-'90s phase of movie-making is worth a good look.
I mean, around those last years of the closing millennium, you had a good selection of adventurous mid-budget movies that were really interesting and played with some fun ideas... Sure, you had your shoestring indie productions like _"Clerks"_ which had had that underdog DIY charm that made them critical darlings blossoming around that time, and you certainly had your big-name, big-budget blockbusters (like Bay's _"The Rock"_ mentioned in this video), but there were a lot of these quietly-good movies which were either trying to break from convention or straight-up thumbing their noses at it.
Not just _"A Life Less Ordinary",_ but also _"Very Bad Things", "The Usual Suspects", "Grosse Pointe Blank", "Fallen", "The Spanish Prisoner", "Mystery Men", "Wild Things"_ (the _original_ one, with its genuinely effective plot-twists and playful switching of POV, rather than the sequels which basically just said "people _clearly_ only watched that first one for the girl-on-girl stuff" and leaned into that)... between the first tenuous steps towards mainstream comic adaptations with _"Blade"_ and _"The Crow"_ and various big-banner extravaganzas like _"The Matrix"_ there were some very good movies which weren't small enough for a signal-boost from the Sundance set, but weren't mainstream enough to get all the promotion and one of those fancy new "web-sites" all the kids were talking about.
(By the way, all these are examples from my personal collection - the movies I keep on shelves in the corner of my apartment just waiting for the day one of my friends says they want to watch something "interesting"...)
Incidentally, on the subject of _"The Matrix",_ it's worth pointing out that _"Strange Days", "Dark City", "Johnny Mnemonic", "The Thirteenth Floor"_ AND _"Nightwatch"_ were _all_ released _before_ that first Wachowski opus - all of which shared many stylistic and narrative ideas with the blockbuster but were drowned in the PR deluge and talk of Bullet Time. Not saying that _"The Matrix"_ didn't make some strides into original filmmaking, but rather than being something totally new it was more a natural progression of the cinematic zeitgeist. Hot take dropped, stepping down from soapbox.
My point being, there were so many genuinely good movies from the tail-end of the Nineties which don't seem to get any attention in TH-cam cinephile circles. Maybe it's worth casting your mind back to a few of those gems to outrun that nostalgia train and get in first with some statements on an as-yet overlooked time in cinema history which has fallen into the memory chasm between "contemporary" and "classic". Even a couple of genre retrospectives covering that whole time would be interesting (since I'm sure you have plenty more examples in mind than I have on my shelves), although I obviously think _"A Life Less Ordinary"_ is worth its own discussion for its twists and turns, its interweaving parallel storytelling between semi-realism and outright fantasy with juxtaposing musical cues from its mix of then-contemporary and Motown music in the soundtrack, its heightened feeling of reality even in the more-realistic parts to the point of dreamlike sequences interspersed naturally into moments of gritty dramatic tension, its cynical yet wistful take on romance, its playful flirting with the action genre while maintaining a strongly narrative-driven plot, its dark comedic dialogue focusing on the mundane during serious moments without breaking the immersion... but I'll let you watch it for yourself and draw your own conclusions!
Also, it has fantastic eccentric performances from Ian Holm, Ian McNiece, Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Dan Hedaya, Delroy Lindo, Holly Hunter and Maury Chaykin... they were overshadowed by the two leads in all the promotion, but they all deserve a shout-out because every last one of this great ensemble cast elevates the movie with their performance.
Just for convenience, a list of the movies referenced above:
* _"Charade",_ 1963 (an understated stylish masterpiece known for its sparkling dialogue);
* _"The Crow",_ 1994 (the legend of Brandon Lee's death aside, a dark action beauty with a sublime soundtrack);
* _"Strange Days",_ 1995 (surprisingly grounded for a cyberpunk masterpiece);
* _"Clerks",_ 1995 (still some of Kevin Smith's best work, before he lost sight of the poetry of the mundane);
* _"The Usual Suspects",_ 1995 (it should be made illegal to spoil the ending, but we all know it by now...);
* _"The Rock",_ 1996 (fun in a switch-your-brain-off, Michael Bay way);
* _"Johnny Mnemonic",_ 1996 (cyberpunk brain-hacking movie with Keanu Reeves playing a cardboard cutout main character with cybernetic enhancements and mad hacking skillz who gets recruited by a bunch of rebels who are fighting against a monolithic omnipresent enemy for the right to control the destiny of humanity, who goes on to save... oh, you're not going to watch it anyway, so why bother? This one has Henry Rollins and a dolphin, though...);
* _"Grosse Pointe Blank",_ 1997 (funny as hell, great action, fantastic soundtrack, pitch-perfect dialogue - just watch it);
* _"A Life Less Ordinary",_ 1997 (obviously, for all reasons given above and more);
* _"Fallen",_ 1998 (a more-subtle-than-it-might've-been supernatural psychological thriiler relying on story rather than SFX, with Denzel Washington and John Goodman);
* _"The Spanish Prisoner",_ 1998 (a tense and understated con-job from the POV of the mark - featuring Steve Martin in a role where he doesn't smile once, which is very creepy);
* _"Wild Things",_ 1998 (don't be put off by the borderline-porn reputation - that's really just a distracting misdirect as to what's really going on in the plot);
* _"Blade",_ 1998 (the granddaddy of the MCU, years before _"Iron Man"_ or even Ang Lee's _"Hulk"!);_
* _"Dark City",_ 1998 (the most obvious predecessor of _"The Matrix",_ so often wrongly accused of being a rip-off);
* _"Nightwatch",_ 1998 (Russia's answer to movies like _"Underworld"_ before the west had even thought to ask the question);
* _"The Thirteenth Floor",_ 1999 (another movie overshadowed by the Wachowskis' juggernaut, this one features a large part of the action taking place in a virtual simulation of a time
long before the actual futuristic setting, dealing with the allure of trading lives for a simpler time and wiling escapism, with a tight little noir-ish mystery plot in there as well);
* _"The Matrix,"_ 1999 (do I _really_ need to elaborate on this one...?);
* _"Mystery Men",_ 1999 (did for wacky indie comics what _"Watchmen"_ did for thoughtful graphic novels);
* _"Very Bad Things",_ 1999 (the dark and edgy older brother of the _"Hangover"_ movies).
Hey, I wrote a small essay in the comments - I figured I should include a bibliography...
3 and a half minutes in, and I'm sold. Still gonna watch this, but I already now want to see the movie. That's how you do an introduction.
I generally hate Michael Bay movies, but I put Ambulance on one evening when I was too exhausted for anything actually good... and holy shit, it was great! It got my adrenaline pumping AND it was an actual human story. Amazing!
How it could have failed definitely requires explanation.
Many people today live stressful lives full of fear and anxiety. We don't enjoy stressful movies. It's hard for a person who lives the real version of this story to enjoy the action-packed phony version of this story. Michael Bay action movies aren't fun when you live the real life of the blue-collar workers being portrayed.
Blame Comcast/Universal for their idiotic dumping it on streaming after seventeen days strategy (and I'm using the word strategy very loosely).
Never heard of this movie before but I’m excited to watch it now based on your recommendation.
Is it bad I genuinely want to hug MB for seeming to have progressed as a person? I mean maybe it was someone else’s influence on this film, unlikely given Bays dictatorial style. Maybe he goes back to being the man we know him to be? Very likely. But hey, this movie seems very cool and I definitely want to watch it now.
The Grey Man is a textbook example of why constraints and restrictions are so important to art.
@lrig snart give them The Community Movie
Happy New Year Willems.
Happy New Year...
While I enjoyed the story and acting in Ambulance. Plus, I quite love the way Bay's film look. My only complaint about Ambulance was with some of the camera work and more of the editing. The quick cuts along with the shaky bits and then the drone work I felt was a bit much. Let me put it this way. I raced motocross for 30 plus years, I love roller coasters, and I have ridden in planes helicopters boats, and yet the movie Ambulance was the first time I ever felt like I was about to get motion sickness.
I think that was kinda the goal. There are other directors who will use this technology in less extreme over the top ways (or are already doing it), while Michael Bay can just go all out and tell the pilots to go to the limits of what the drones can handle.
In anything that's not a Michael Bay movie, it would be out of place. While here it can be celebrated and show off what's possible
somehow i have been fully sucked into another patrick video about a movie i haven't seen...and i'm in love
I hope you enjoyed my home town. Not sure why you were here but I am going to create my own head cannon you and Dan Olsen did something amazing.
Never cared for Bay's body of work, but I'm super excited that the Patrick Explains format is back!
Same here, what few movies of Bay's movies I have seen his best are alright for one or two viewings and they are only suitable for background noise.
Thank you for giving Music Man the credit he so rightfully deserves. The best performance of this, or any, century.
16:10 that spleen pop honestly jump scared me
27:04 thank you so much for the Moby needle drop
I watched this movie with my brother. He said it was the first time he's been in a cinema for over a year. What a movie to come back to
I loved this movie and hopefully it will influence future projects despite its low box office. Thank you for giving it the attention it deserves
Thank you for this wonderful video, Patrick!
You made me appreciate more AmbuLAnce.
I won’t lie when Patrick said « … This movie rules » it made me very, very happy. Love to see you explain those.
20:45 i hope someone calls an AMBULANCE for the Russos i screamed 🤣🤣
I really enjoyed The Gray Man. I thought Ryan Gosling's straightforward performance worked for the focused-action-hero trope. And Chris Evans was a whole lot of fun as a playfully brazen sociopath. The dialog was sharp and clever-maybe to a fault, but I bought into it. It didn't deliver any new ideas or genre mashups or high concepts, but I considered it good at what it was going for: a Jason Bourne flick sans amnesia.
Evans was fantastic in the Gray Man.
I was cautiously optimistic about this movie as I watched you explain it.
Then you mentioned Garrett Dillahunt.
I'm 100% in.
Looks like Michael needed a few more decades than most, but he's finally starting to grow up.
SOLD! the drone shots done by a drone racing champ makes sense and has me very curious.
Finally saw this and even with all the praise and proof of why this was amazing and a cinematic gift you somehow still under sold it!!
On one hand, I liked The Gray Man quite a bit. On the other, Ambulance was so much better in every conceivable way that I'm not gonna come out swinging for its honor. Ambulance rules.
This enthusiasm is unparalleled and very contagious 😀
I missed it in cinemas, but got to watch it on DVD, (yes, I know, some people still use those things). I agree with mostly everything you say, and it's great to see someone like Bay treading new ground. My main issue with the movie was that I just couldn't follow the action. One shot didn't feel connected to its predecessor. It felt more like a montage of action scenes/shots instead of an actual cause-to-affect story of characters trying to achieve opposing goals.
Basically, what this movie really did was make me appreciate movies like Mad Max: Fury Road even more.
It's not bad. but there's a really tight 90 minute thriller in there somewhere and Bay bloats it up to 2 hours and 16 minutes. The paramedic should have been the main character. It's pretty amazing what he can do with a $40 million budget.
I legit feel the same way on that. There was a tight 90-100 minute film that could have made a really solid action flick, but that little extra did sour it just a tad, at least for me too. I'd still say you could be watching much worse still, ala Gray Man and Red Notice for the same runttimes with effects that make you wonder where much of those budgets went.
Though it didn't change my (negative) impression of the movie, I appreciated your insights into Ambulance.
Gonna be in the back of one of these by the end of the night. Thanks for reviewing it.
It’s currently 2 am where I am. Dog woke me up because he’s freaking out from the wind outside. I’m getting over a cold so I don’t feel great and feel freezing even though it’s 73 inside. I’m curled up in my blanket watching this next to my 3 year old because he’s been having trouble sleeping with nightmares. And just wanted to say, this video made me very happy and was probably the perfect video to watch right now. Thank you. Going back to sleep now
Well well happy new year to us! Thanks and have a good one!
Once again, Patrick takes a movie and moves it from my “watch it on an airplane maybe” list to my “ok I’m actually going to watch this” list
Really enjoyed this film. If this video could get a special screening at an IMAX with Patrick interviewing Bay post show it would make my year. I saw this at a crowded screening (must have been the only one) on opening night and what I remember is even people who said after it they didn't like it were smiling and laughing. That contrast with many films these days where people solemnly say yeah that was really good almost like its an obligation. One of the best theater experiences of the year.
Can't describe how big of a Michael Bay fan I am and how amazing these Michael Bay video's make me feel. Thank you for making another one!
Same.
Bay is the best.
Wow, okay this is now worth checking out. That Bourne ending was hilarious 😂!
Just watched AmbuLAnce. Honestly a great time, compelling in a frenetic way, like the best Bay movies. Gyllenhaal was definitely on Bay's level for this one. Also, you read my mind with the drone cinematography. I was a little wary of it in Ambulance because of how I saw it used in The Grey Man. Similarly, it totally fits with Bay's style! And he actually does interesting things with it!
the node to bourne identity toward the end was unexpected fun! :D :D good job :D :D :D
This episode was awesome!
From the return of 'evil' Patrick to the Calgary name drop ( shout out to my boys at Sentry Box) this was so good..
I still don't understand Patrick's love of Michael Bay, but it fun to hear his passion.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano team ups are my favorite. I love when they're in stuff together
Patrick talks about the giant dog and then has the temerity to then talk about how the movie “hits paws” for a couple minutes.
Can't wait to see this movie on The Criterion Collection. The Michael Bay trifecta.
I need Patrick Explains Patrick to somehow solve a mystery while explaining about the detective & crime procedural TV genre, talking about shows like Columbo or Monk 😂
23:33 it ties into your 80s movie analysis, we are all shifting away from that mentality (fina-fucking-ly) and Bay is here too. He is saying "yeah, bureaucracy does suck, but not *because* its bureaucracy, but because it fails to do what it is *supposed* to do. Whenever I meet someone who says they hate taxes, I always ask "do you hate taxes? Or do you hate the misuse of tax revenue?" and usually it's the latter. And it's an important distinction that people fail to make. Often though, bureaucracy exists to justify its own existence. There are uses for it, but it has ballooned for decades.
Ya know i'm a fan of the quick or slow swooping drone shots, but for the love of cinema put them on stabilizers because when you pitch and yaw with the drone it takes me right out the movie.
Lol, looks like my rewatch of Ambulance last night was perfectly timed
Bay seems at his best when he's got some restrictions, whether budget, COVID or Spielberg leaning over his shoulder
26:11 love the To Live and Die in L.A. homage!!
This conformed what I always suspected Patrick is a daydrinker.
As if the Turner Classic iMovies Wine Club video didn’t
YES! I have been yelling at all my friends about this movie. They have mostly told me that Michael Bay is a hack director and that I should stop breaking in to their apartments.
Hot diggity damn - your use of Extreme Ways was genuinely mind blowing; both made me crack out laughing yet still pulled off genuinely enough to pull out those goosebumps such a scene played straight should/could. Weird! So umm..thanks? I guess
And right after writing this I remember Patrick doesn'd read these but hey whatever
The best part of every Bourne movie
"And right after writing this I remember Patrick doesn'd read these but hey whatever" - but Emma reads them and may select them for him to reply to on the Patrick Replies videos.
Ok i just finished watching the film and you were absolutely spot on Patrick. Thank you.
This is the best channel on TH-cam
Excellent video. Finishing the explain with Moby's Jason Bourne music is a stroke of genius, It really got me laughing.
I didn't watch ambulance before seeing this because I was afraid of watching another Bay after all the Transformers, but you made me watch it and boy oh boy, I don't regret it.
You're also responsible for me watching RRR which I would probably have never watched otherwise. Holy molly what a movie.
As for Grey Man, as much as I agree with what you said, I kind of enjoyed myself watching it, but clearly not a quarter of the fun I've had watching Ambulance.
Thanks Patrick, for everything.
this is still one of jake gyllenhaal's funniest performances for me.
Patrick in Calgary? If true, fingers crossed for a Folding Ideas cross over
Happy New Year Patrick 🎉 our favorite movie and show essayist🎉
I'd love a breakdown of Patrick's color grading
this made me sit down and watch ambulance with my father in law on new years day and it was a great way to spend the day
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Jakey G film where he didn’t either play a deranged weirdo or a soldier/cop.
YOU GET ME! I went to see this in theaters all hype just got done smoking a joint grabbed some popcorn and a soda and literally only like 15 people was in the theater. Like wtf l was so disappointed in society. And watch just like everything else l love it will hit Netflix and a few years and it will be number 1 and everyone that’s 26 and younger will call it a hidden gem.
The Taylor Swift reference in this video is S tier. Patrick, you've just delivered the 'Pain & Gain' of your career.
My dude. I JUST finished The Most 80s Movie and was looking for something new to watch and here comes this notif LIKE A CHAMP ILY PATRICK
That Moby sting is iconic 27:07