Good Time (2017) - The Safdies cook up a perfect heist thriller frenzy

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Two male characters run through an out-of-focus, flaring urban night image on this rave-filled poster for the Safdie brothers' Good Time

 

Conny and his mentally disabled brother rob a bank, but although they get away after, they soon find themselves hunted specifically by the police, and punishment is hard to escape.

Good Time is written by co-writer/co-editor Ronald Bronstein (Frownland (2007)) and co-writer/co-director, New-Yorker master filmmaker Josh Safdie (The Pleasure of Being Robbed (2008)), who co-directed with his brother, co-star/co-director/co-editor, New-Yorker master filmmaker Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs (2009)).

The Safdies achieve a deeply riveting, trippy, continuously authentically striking, eminently done crime drama opus magnum here with a phenomenal Robert Pattinson (Twilight (2008)) performance. Pattinson is wholly believable as our jumpy, deeply callous protagonist. Benny Safdie is just as impressive as his brother; Jennifer Jason Leigh (A Thousand Acres (1997)) is outstanding in a part as a poor wretch, whom Pattinson sponges on. He and the other criminals shown here are alternately knuckleheads, mean dogs and merciless crooks, - but they're also desperate people on the run, criminal renegades.

The photography (by Sean Price Williams (Jobe'z World (2018)) is unmatched, done at conversely street level and with a heli-cam sort of like on an American docu-crime show, and Good Time is underlain with an inciting electro score by Daniel Lopatin (The Bling Ring (2013)).

Among the year's best, Good Time is a wildly born neo-classic; unpredictable, unromantisizing, raw, shocking, funny, strong and enormously entertaining.

 

Pattinson talks about the film on Jimmy Kimmel Live here

 

Cost: 2 - 4.5 mil. $ (different reports)

Box office: 3.2 - 4.1 mil. $ (different reports)

= Uncertain (returned 0.71 - 2.05 times its cost, depending on the correct cost and gross)

[Good Time premiered 25 May (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in February - March 2016 in New York. The film opened #36 to a 125k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #24 and in 721 theaters, grossing 2 mil. $. The-Numbers.com claims the film earned 4.1 mil. $; the film's cost is reported with a much bigger span. The film won a minor award in Cannes; it was also nominated for 5 Independent Spirit awards, among other honors. The Safdie brothers returned with 2 music videos prior to their theatrical return with Uncut Gems (2019). Pattinson returned in 2 video shorts prior to his theatrical return in Damsel (2018). Good Time is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.60/10 theatrical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Good Time?

Tenet (2020) - Nolan blows smoke up your ass

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+ Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year 

Star John David Washington split in half, upside down, askew, on the coolly restrained poster for Christopher Nolan's Tenet

An unidentified spy gets recruited to a case that involves finding out the truth of ammunition and other objects that are seemingly inverted, sent from the future, moving backwards in time, a revolution that could be the end of the world.

Tenet is written and directed by British master filmmaker Christopher Nolan (Following (1998)), whose 11th film it is. Hyped as the film to resurrect the cinematic experience on the (hopefully) breaking point of the China virus pandemic, Tenet is as hyped as any in the filmmaker's illustrious career, and cinephiles everywhere are bursting with excitement to embrace it. Praise from many others should be seen in this light, as the well-meant wish to be patriotic to films more than the sober assessment of the work as it is.
Because Tenet is Nolan's poorest film since his tiny mystery B/W debut Following.
It opens with an elaborate philharmonic concert terrorist attack scene that we seemingly deliberately don't get to comprehend really, before we are flung on to what is the film's real deal: The time inversion objects and their consequences. An early dialog scene between John David Washington's (All Rise (2018)) protagonist hero, ominously only named 'Protagonist', and a scientist introducing him to inverted ammunition has her advising him; "Don't try to understand it. Just feel it." That feels like direct directorial advice from Nolan to us the audience, already disoriented from the opening action set-piece.
As a well-schooled movie-lover you will be trained to want to follow the film's direction, especially when it comes from one of the world's greatest living filmmakers, but the premise of just 'feeling' Tenet isn't possible, or perhaps just doesn't result in the right reward:
The film is overly stuffed with exposition throughout its lengthy running time, and most of it is hard to understand if not completely incomprehensible for those who are not physicists or cold-blooded nerds. Tenet is as cerebral and mumbo-jumbo as they come.
On top of that, the action is strange to behold, as one character fights another, who is moving backwards in time (or something), a bit like watching the violence occur underwater. It doesn't register as exciting, but you wonder for a moment how it was all accomplished and the no doubt monumental effort involved in getting it from page to screen. For a spy action thriller the way they are supposed to thrill and excite, try watching the last two or three Mission: Impossible movies instead. Tenet also got me to really look forward to the coming Bond movie even more, which should be big-budget action that's understandable. But don't take this as a recommendation of the film at hand.
Washington is handsome if bland as Protagonist, not a character that will go down in the books as one of the memorable ones, to put it mildly, and Robert Pattinson (Queen of the Desert (2015)) is equally handsome. Elizabeth Debicki (7 from Etheria (2017)) is sexy and good as the woman-in-peril, but only Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again (1991)) makes a real dent acting-wise as the film's stern and vicious villain Andrei Sator. Ludwig Göransson's (Creed II (2018)) score mimicks the iconic Hans Zimmer scores we have come to expect in Nolan's films, (Zimmer was unavailable this time), and it goes well with the many locations and big mechanical wonders in motion in grand images in Tenet, which are impressive to behold. Shame the film is perfectly incomprehensible.

Related posts:

Christopher Nolan: 2020 in films - according to Film Excess

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2017 in films - according to Film Excess 
Dunkirk (2017) - Nolan champions cinema with masterful war movie  

Top 10: Best future-set movies
Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in opulent, exciting epic
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
Inception (2010) - Nolan's best is a grand piece of action sci-fi, perfectly awesome nonsense  
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman  
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman 
Memento (2000) - Nolan's overrated amnesia mindfuck   
Following (1998) - Nolan's ineffectual debut 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 200-225 mil. $
Box office: 53.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Tenet premiered 22 August (Australia) and runs 150 minutes. Nolan claims to have developed the idea for the film for 20 years and spent 6-7 writing the script. Shooting took place in Tallinn, Estonia, Italy, Mumbai, India, Denmark, Oslo, Norway, London, the UK and California, including Los Angeles, from May - November 2019. The release has been delayed 3 times due to the China virus pandemic. The film opened to 53 mil. $ from 41 markets, not including several major markets still closed down. It opens in a handful of markets, including the US, Russia and China, on Sep. 3, with more following later in September and in October. Nolan reportedly has a 20 % gross deal, meaning that he has already made 10.72 mil. $ from the film and could make a much bigger fortune, if the film reaches the enormous gross needed for it to become successful. Nolan does not have an announced next feature yet. Washington returns in Born to Be Murdered (2021). Tenet is fresh at 78 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Tenet?

The Lighthouse (2019) - Menfolk lose it in Eggers' astounding masterpiece

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best B/W Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year + Best Psychological Thriller of the Year

Two halves of two men before the titular lighthouse on this tense B/W poster for Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse

A sobering ex-forest worker younger man arrives at a tiny rock island off the New England coast sometime at the end of the 19th century, where he is to work as a wicker at the important lighthouse under the direction of an older, curmudgeon ex-seaman.

The Lighthouse is written by Max Eggers (The Tell-Tale Heart (2008, short), production assistant) and master New Hampshirite filmmaker, his brother, co-writer/co-producer/director Robert Eggers (The Witch (2015)), whose 2nd film it is.
Robert Pattinson (Good Time (2017)) and Willem Dafoe (Edges of the Lord (2001)) both give fully immersed, great performances as the two very different men on the island, master class in acting I and II, they could be described.
Unusually shot in a near-square format on B/W film by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (Fray (2012)), the film is ripe with eye-popping visuals that never seem to transgress the practically possible with overt uses of CGI. Much of the story and its visuals have symbolic connotations that enhance the mystery and attraction of the film for viewers sensible to them; but The Lighthouse is as compelling and fascinating seen as a straightly concrete tale SPOILER of two men on an island who gradually lose their minds due to dire circumstances.
The film has little music, and its soundscape is dominated by a surreal, deep humming seemingly created by machinery on the isle. In tone the film plays us with complex affinities: Several sequences are dialog reliant, and especially Dafoe's character's authentic local sailor's vocabulary and grammar is a joy as delivered by the seasoned veteran. There's much humor and a genuinely good time to be had, surprisingly, surrounded by the extreme ardors and rancid squalor of two men who descend in drink on a deserted island. Incredibly these hilarious bickering and chum-making scenes also often lapse into truly terrifying scenes of mystery, menace and deep-seated existential dread.
It is all told with assured, tight editing in a film of scenes and images that get lodged in the audiences' memories like a strange, unnerving 19th century novel. - What does it all mean? This review, like the film, will leave it up to each viewer to discern for himself.

Related posts:

Rogert Eggers: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Witch (2015) - Eggers' unsettling period-set debut creep-out

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 18 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (returned 4.5 times its cost)
[The Lighthouse premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 109 minutes. Max Eggers wanted to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's The Light-House (1849), but found it difficult and collaborated with his brother to make the film, which has almost no resemblance to Poe's story. It is instead inspired by the 1801 Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy, which you can read about here. A shot in the script of Pattinson's actual erect penis was removed at the request of the financiers. A 20-meter working lighthouse was erected for the film. Shooting took place in 34 days in Nova Scotia from April - May 2018. The film opened #15 to a 427k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America, were it peaked at #8 and in 978 theaters (different weeks), grossing 10.8 mil. $ (60 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.6 mil. $ (8.9 %) and Mexico with 950k $ (5.3 %). The release was badly hurt by the cinema-closing Corona Crisis. The film was nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar, lost to Roger Deakins for 1917. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA, a prize in Cannes, 2/5 Independent Spirit award nominations and countless other honors. Eggers returns with Viking movie The Northman (pre-production), again with Dafoe. Pattinson returned in The King (2019); Dafoe in Tommaso (2019). The Lighthouse is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.04/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lighthouse?

The Rover (2014) - A dreary journey to Michôd's desolate, hopeless Australia

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A poster for David Michôd's The Rover that reflects the film's gritty, often open-air setting

In a post-apocalyptic future in Australia, a hard, merciless man gets his car stolen. He teams up with a brother to one of the robbers on a killing spree to get it back.

Gritty, taciturn, violent and sprinkled with the familiar Australian trademark of hopelessness as its general tone is the universe in which The Rover drags itself through. Watching it, it is hard to accept that the Guy Pearce (Lockout (2012)) here is the same man who 20 years in the past was such a thrilling, enthusiastic presence in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), - a very different, and infinitely more lovable kind of animal.
Robert Pattinson (Little Ashes (2008)) is the strongest card on The Rover's hand: He is impressive and very credible as the somewhat retarded brother of the robber. It is hard to get engaged in The Rover, SPOILER which is essentially about a murdering bastard and his stupid 'partner', who also becomes a (child-)killer.
We are given no information about the causes of the world's decline, and I also find no satisfaction in the reveal of the ending: SPOILER Pearce apparently wanted the car back so badly throughout the film, so that he could bury his dog, which was in its trunk.
The film is written and directed by David Michôd (Animal Kingdom (2010)) with Joel Edgerton (The Gift (2015)) contributing story elements. The Rover is a technically fine but desert-like dry film. For a much better apocalyptic film, watch The Road (2009).

Related posts:

David Michôd: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Animal Kingdom (2010) - Ruthless Aussies in tight debut
Hesher (2010) - Susser's immature, rebel-centered debut (co-writer)

 

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 12 mil. AU$, equal to approximately 8.5 mil. $

Box office: 3.2 mil. $

= Box office disaster

[The Rover premiered May 18 (Cannes) and runs 102 minutes. Filming took 7 weeks in Southern Australia from January - March 2013. The film opened #33 to 69k $ in 5 theaters, widening to 418k $ and #16 in 608 theaters in North America, where it grossed 1.1 mil. $ (34 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 0.4 mil. $ (12.5 %) and the UK with 0.2 mil. $ (6.3 %). Many critics lauded the film, and Quentin Tarantino, also a vocal fan of Animal Kingdom, called The Rover "a mesmerizing, visionary achievement." The film received many nominations in its native Australia, including 7 AACTA nominations (Australia's Oscar), winning two. The Rover is fresh at 66 % with a 6.4 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Rover?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) - Slade brings the popular teen franchise a thin cup of more, slightly better the same

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Kristen Stewart perfects her vampy look on the poster for David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Vampire Edward proposes to Bella, but she is also getting courted by Jacob the Indian werewolf, whom she is also fond of. Meanwhile a vampire gang are on the loose in Seattle.

Basically the story doesn't really move anywhere here in the the third Twilight movie. The plot is pretty secondary and often inscrutable, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with an eclipse.
Still, the film is handsomer than its predecessors, more romantic and has scenes with some charm, as well as Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World (2015)) as a welcome, new feature, taking over the part of Victoria from Rachelle Lefevre (The Caller (2011)).
The film is written by Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight (2008)), adapted from Eclipse (2007) by Stephenie Meyers (Twilight (2005), as the third and only Twilight feature from great English director David Slade (Hard Candy (2005)).

Related review:

David Slade: Hard Candy (2005) - A stylish and intense modern thriller classic

Five shirtless guys who are obviously werewolfs of native-American heritage ... ahem ... in David Slade's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 68 mil. $
Box office: 698.4 mil $
= Huge hit
[The Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiered June 24 (LA) and runs 123 minutes. Filming took place August - October 2009 in and around Vancouver with unspecified reshoots taking place later. An early draft of the script was leaked online in January 2010, apparently stemming from one of the cast's minor stars. The film broke many box office records and was a massive hit almost everywhere in the world. It opened #1 with a 64.8 mil. $ first weekend, (but was beat to #2 the next weekend by Despicable Me), in North America, where it grossed 300.5 mil. (43 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 45.7 mil. $ (6.5 %) and Germany with 33 mil. $ (4.7 %). It became the 4th film of the year to break 300 mil. $ domestically. Roger Ebert has given it 2/4 stars, translating to a note harder than this review. The film has made in excess of an additional 164.6 mil. $ from 9.4 mil. DVDs sold in North America alone. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is rotten at 49 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse?

Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby

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Robert Pattinson, look up! You're on the poster for David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis

A billionaire currency speculator drives around New  York in his Lincoln limo and bangs women and talks about money, markets, reality and his prostate, while anarchists protest outside. 
Cosmopolis, - the first novel by US writer Don DeLillo (Mao II (1992)) to be adapted onto the big screen, - is like listening to a group of philosophically inclined commerce students on drugs for almost two hours ...
One learns fast that plot is the last goal of the movie, which mostly takes place in the stretched vehicle and consists of a long row of prolonged conversations of speculative kinds. Big stars like Juliette Binoche enter the film shortly, - in her case mostly just to screw the uninteresting lead Robert Pattinson, which seems bizarre.
The gallery of characters is fundamentally very alienated and cerebrally concentrated, and no real emotions are engaged by watching Cosmopolis. Mostly, it seems ridiculous that all the characters wish to discuss philosophy - all the time.
The film instead seems like an invitation to read DeLillo's book, (which it is said to have adapted very loyally), - or to fall asleep.
Cosmopolis might very well be the worst film great Canadian director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises (2007)) has ever done. It is extremely tiring.

Related posts:

David Cronenberg: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall?
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!

Watch the trailer that makes Cosmopolis seem interesting

Budget: 20.5 mil. $
Box office: 6 mil. $
= Huge flop

What do you think of Cosmopolis?
Is Robert Pattinson an actor worthy of the attention and roles he gets? 
Why/why not?