Good Time

From ‘Get Out’ to ‘Lady Bird,’ ScreenCrush’s Senior Editor names the 10 best films of the year.

We’ve reached the doldrums of August, where studios release the titles not marketable enough for the summer movie season and not quality enough for serious award consideration. That means an odd mixture of horror films, formerly prestigious movies that have lost a little bit of their luster, and absolute junk just looking for a few screens to dominate for a couple of weeks. Oh, and what do you know? That perfectly describes this weekend’s new releases! Gee!

Despite what the title may suggest, the Safdie brothers’ Good Time isn’t exactly a good time. A race-against-the-clock crime drama that charts one night going from bad to worse, the film is more like 100 minutes of sheer chaos and adrenaline shot directly into your eyeballs. That’s far from a knock, though. Good Time is a uniquely exhilarating experience with a sharp, unflinching style and a magnetic performance from Robert Pattinson.

Robert Pattinson’s latest movie is wild. A gritty New York crime thriller that’s as exhilarating as it is straight-up disturbing in its acts of violence, Good Time is easily Pattison’s best role to date. As Connie Nikas, a small-time crook desperate to get his mentally challenged brother (Benny Safdie) out of jail, Pattinson gives a performance that’s not too showy or loud, but grounded in a composed and unshakable intensity. The latest film from the Safdie brothers (Heaven Knows What) is brimming with sequences that push the limits of its audience’s comfort, but there was almost one scene that would’ve gone much, much further.

As he’s transitioned into the serious-actor phase of his career, former teen girl fantasy Robert Pattinson has become something a fixture on the film festival circuit. This week, he’ll make the journey to Cannes when his latest starring vehicle Good Time plays in the Competition section, and though we common rabble will have to wait until August 11 for the U.S. release, today brings the first trailer for the A24-fronted project. And from the looks of this dizzying swirl of color and brutality, New York’s hometown heroes Josh and Benny Safdie have brought the heat.

Robert Pattinson, like his one-time co-star Kristen Stewart, seems to have found himself in the indie movie scene, most recently appearing as a supporting character in James Gray}s The Lost City of Z. His new film Good Time opens at Cannes later this month, and today it released its first preview images of Pattinson himself looking disheveled, desperate, and a little deranged.

Boutique film distributor A24 is having what’s known in the world of professional sports as a “career year.” As Hollywood took a big number-two in the bed with a bevy of pricy flops over the past few months, the agile indie outfit has hogged all the critical acclaim with such widely praised releases as The Witch, Krisha, Green Room, The Lobster, De Palma, Swiss Army Man, American Honey, and Moonlight. They’ve got one more trick up their sleeve for 2016, too, with the generation-spanning drama 20th Century Women due in December. (Spoiler alert: it’s wonderful.) And today, they’re shoring up their future with another exciting get.