Good Time: Review

Good Time is Ferrara, Lumet, Mann, and Scorsese all rolled up into one lean, mean, and highly potent joint. (If that doesn't convince you to see it then nothing will)

The Safdie Brothers (who I've been quite a huge fan of for quite some time) evoke the best of the underground crime dramas of the 70's and 80's. It's tight, concise and filled to the brim with so much emotional strength. Each and every performance packs a punch, Robert Pattinson, and Buddy Duress give two of the very best performances of the year. The score resurrects the magic of Tangerine Dream. And the cinematography hurdles the viewer into the thick of every frenetic and nightmarish situation our lead character faces.

It's a real trip that firmly cements you in your seat to endure the utter madness. As the film moves along you feel it closing in on you, suffocating you and making you feel each and every gut-wrenching emotion it wants you to. Constantine Nikas is one of the most interesting lead characters of the year, he’ll say and do literally anything to keep up his ruse and survive. It’s a powerfully exhilarating and heartbreaking narrative that is so insanely dense and unpredictable that you’re guaranteed to feel exhausted by the end of the film.

This is a crime cult classic in the making. After Hours is my favorite Scorsese film and Good Time shares all of the components that make it such. It’s an insane non-stop rancid ride through the streets of New York that goes in all the ways that you would never be able to guess it too. It’s also one of the best films of 2017. The damned and the pure act from love, and dammit, they always will. (9.25/10)