Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Good Time, a soundtrack in search of a movie
An honest portrait, if an unattractive one
An intense, controlled Robert Pattinson in Good Time
My first thought upon leaving co-directors Benny and Josh Safdie’s Good Time (Josh co-wrote, while Benny co-stars alongside an intense, controlled Robert Pattinson) was: A soundtrack in search of a movie.
Movie
Good Time **
More than a soundtrack in search of a movie, though Daniel Lopatin’s propulsive electronic score displays an excellence and precision that most decidedly does not come through in cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ beyond-extensive use of closeups. Star Robert Pattinson can act, and he’s not hard to look at. But to justify the amount of acreage his face occupies for what seems like half the film, his young mug would have to <em>fascinate</em>, to serve as a clear expression of the complicated machinations below its surface. It doesn’t, and with good reason: it wouldn’t make sense for the part. Pattinson’s desperate character is, more than anything else, an animal operating on instinct: avoid capture, protect the pack (in this case, a mentally challenged brother who just wants to be able to “do what I want when I want.”). And while his instincts are sharp, he’s not so great at thinking things through. It could be argued that the film’s whole point is the stupidity of youth, the belief that the old have nothing to offer but restriction, frustration, and in a pinch, material support. If that’s the case, then it’s an honest portrait, if an unattractive one. And co-directors Bennie and Josh Safdie excel at catching the feel of those who really are living on the edge: struggling immigrants, hopeless ex-cons, and the tortured souls who cannot build a life with their pieces of the broken world. Maybe it’s not their fault that this dark joyride offers neither an ordered route nor a satisfying destination.
That’s not altogether fair, but it is understandable: Daniel Lopatin’s propulsive electronic throb and thrum display an excellence and precision that most decidedly do not come through in cinematographer Sean Price Williams’s beyond-extensive use of closeups. (And since the directors tend to call the shots about when it comes to camera placement…) Pattinson can act, even if he often seems just a touch removed and remote, and he’s not hard to look at. But to justify the amount of acreage his face occupies for what seems like half the film, his young mug would have to fascinate, to serve as a clear expression of the complicated machinations below its surface.
It doesn’t, and with good reason: it wouldn’t make sense for the part. Pattinson’s desperate character is, more than anything else, an animal operating on instinct: avoid capture, protect the pack (in this case, a mentally challenged brother who just wants to be able to “do what I want when I want”). And while his instincts are sharp, he’s not so great at thinking things through. Again and again, his plans go sideways, from a bank robbery to a daring rescue to an illicit attempt at fundraising. It could be argued that the film’s whole point is the stupidity of youth, the belief that the old have nothing to offer but restriction, frustration, and, in a pinch, material support. As Pattinson puts it to his brother: “Fuck Grandma! It’s just you and me!”
If that’s the case, then it’s an honest portrait, if an unattractive one. And the Safdies excel at catching the feel of those who really are living on the edge: struggling immigrants, hopeless ex-cons, and the tortured souls who cannot build a life with their pieces of the broken world. Maybe it’s not their fault that this dark joyride offers neither an ordered route nor a satisfying destination.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Good Time, a soundtrack in search of a movie
An honest portrait, if an unattractive one
Good Time, a soundtrack in search of a movie
An honest portrait, if an unattractive one
An intense, controlled Robert Pattinson in Good Time
My first thought upon leaving co-directors Benny and Josh Safdie’s Good Time (Josh co-wrote, while Benny co-stars alongside an intense, controlled Robert Pattinson) was: A soundtrack in search of a movie.
Movie
Good Time **
More than a soundtrack in search of a movie, though Daniel Lopatin’s propulsive electronic score displays an excellence and precision that most decidedly does not come through in cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ beyond-extensive use of closeups. Star Robert Pattinson can act, and he’s not hard to look at. But to justify the amount of acreage his face occupies for what seems like half the film, his young mug would have to <em>fascinate</em>, to serve as a clear expression of the complicated machinations below its surface. It doesn’t, and with good reason: it wouldn’t make sense for the part. Pattinson’s desperate character is, more than anything else, an animal operating on instinct: avoid capture, protect the pack (in this case, a mentally challenged brother who just wants to be able to “do what I want when I want.”). And while his instincts are sharp, he’s not so great at thinking things through. It could be argued that the film’s whole point is the stupidity of youth, the belief that the old have nothing to offer but restriction, frustration, and in a pinch, material support. If that’s the case, then it’s an honest portrait, if an unattractive one. And co-directors Bennie and Josh Safdie excel at catching the feel of those who really are living on the edge: struggling immigrants, hopeless ex-cons, and the tortured souls who cannot build a life with their pieces of the broken world. Maybe it’s not their fault that this dark joyride offers neither an ordered route nor a satisfying destination.
That’s not altogether fair, but it is understandable: Daniel Lopatin’s propulsive electronic throb and thrum display an excellence and precision that most decidedly do not come through in cinematographer Sean Price Williams’s beyond-extensive use of closeups. (And since the directors tend to call the shots about when it comes to camera placement…) Pattinson can act, even if he often seems just a touch removed and remote, and he’s not hard to look at. But to justify the amount of acreage his face occupies for what seems like half the film, his young mug would have to fascinate, to serve as a clear expression of the complicated machinations below its surface.
It doesn’t, and with good reason: it wouldn’t make sense for the part. Pattinson’s desperate character is, more than anything else, an animal operating on instinct: avoid capture, protect the pack (in this case, a mentally challenged brother who just wants to be able to “do what I want when I want”). And while his instincts are sharp, he’s not so great at thinking things through. Again and again, his plans go sideways, from a bank robbery to a daring rescue to an illicit attempt at fundraising. It could be argued that the film’s whole point is the stupidity of youth, the belief that the old have nothing to offer but restriction, frustration, and, in a pinch, material support. As Pattinson puts it to his brother: “Fuck Grandma! It’s just you and me!”
If that’s the case, then it’s an honest portrait, if an unattractive one. And the Safdies excel at catching the feel of those who really are living on the edge: struggling immigrants, hopeless ex-cons, and the tortured souls who cannot build a life with their pieces of the broken world. Maybe it’s not their fault that this dark joyride offers neither an ordered route nor a satisfying destination.
Comments