SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 215 - Good Time

Importance of self-resilience among blood relatives is a very common theme in similar stories, so calling it libertarian or right wing seems overblown. @Bullitt68 pointed out a good comparison in O'Reily brothers in Oz.

I'd agree its a strong feature of these kinds of films and perhaps that's exactly why they looked to focus on it? the argument between Connie and Ray at the end gets very specific with the former talking about dependence on family or welfare as a negative and that the latter "serves no purpose to society", heck he even takes a negative view of his drinking, all seems very Jordan Petersonish to me, a Sherdog bro flamewar onscreen. We see a character who whilst he values self suffiencent is ultimately constantly depending on manipulating others by any means possible.
 
I'd agree its a strong feature of these kinds of films and perhaps that's exactly why they looked to focus on it? the argument between Connie and Ray at the end gets very specific with the former talking about dependence on family or welfare as a negative and that the latter "serves no purpose to society", heck he even takes a negative view of his drinking, all seems very Jordan Petersonish to me, a Sherdog bro flamewar onscreen. We see a character who whilst he values self suffiencent is ultimately constantly depending on manipulating others by any means possible.
I take your word for it. For me Safdie movies aren’t intellectual but all about aestehtics of quirky mental and emotional landscapes.
 
This movie sucked two big fat nuts. Why don't people know how to write scripts anymore? And why work so hard to make a movie with a two million dollar budget look like it was made for two thousand dollars? "Film School Chic" isn't a thing you no-talent assclowns.

This was just a mess of a movie narratively speaking, and aesthetically speaking it was trying so hard, with its indie handheld camerawork and especially that God awful techno-sounding-nails-on-a-chalkboard-equivalent "score," to force a feeling of intensity that so clearly wasn't there that it made the lack of intensity all the more laughable and pathetic. After trying to do the O'Reily brothers shtick from Oz - and OG Emerald City inmate Poet even showed up as that ambulance driver - and doing it very badly, this movie turned into a shitty version of Judgment Night. I almost tapped out when the bandaged-not-brother went through that interminable flashback. Shoving in a new character who I couldn't give less of a fuck about - and giving me more information and backstory about him than the ostensible main fucking characters! - when I'm supposed to be investing everything into the brothers was the worst decision in a movie full of retarded decisions. When he jumped to his death (or fell - I was beyond caring by that point) I was relieved that I at least got one win out of this terrible movie.

tenor.gif
this post gets

1*UyX0vNDtKDwTm4jUqzuN_Q.gif
 
I take your word for it. For me Safdie movies aren’t intellectual but all about aestehtics of quirky mental and emotional landscapes.

This is actually the first thing of their I'v seen so I can't talk about there careers but I wouldn't say this was really an intellectual film but the character does I think have that aspect to him driving his actions and the drama. I mean he's not a protagonist were sposed to unequivocally root for is he? it feels like the story of such a character gradually unravelling.
 
Who takes their mentally retarded brother on a bank heist?

Lamo. I know right? It's even more unbelievable considering Connie is supposed to be this cunning crook.

"Who takes their mentally retarded brother on a bank heist" reminds me of Eyes Wide Shut where I complained about "what kind of loser takes a New York taxi to an upscale cult-orgy?"

xbc8-pI5sPCmNbZtCbHvwI0RSjeZwRBcjIE3jlk6Sf9N71zcR-573QG1xw4tePf0BcyhjHvX2VawwA9HQa-ILInXmrJ09IgneEZ5rofh2NxnfN8MuWkuQr56o098


This movie reminded me a lot of the people I grew up with though with the south pole jackets and shit.

I'm gonna assume that "south pole jackets" translates into European as Adidas tracksuit;)

ab67706c0000da84b0d5eb12c8635993d0b91c7f


The best part of the movie for me was when he was getting his “brother” out of the hospital. That was a nail biter and you could feel his anxiety while the bus was getting ready to go. Shew.

Really? For me, this movie pretty much amounted to "funny twists". The money gets paint-bombed. The wrong guy gets rescued. The security-guard gets arrested. It essentially worked best as a dark comedy.

I did enjoy the ending with his brother in class moving on. It was nice to see that.

Yeah. One of those statements that everything would have worked out better if Connie would just have let Nick stay institutionalised.

Which... I must say... seems to run contrary to the theme of the film. There seems to be a tendency of the legal system being portrayed as inept and malfunctioning. Consider:

* When Nick first gets put in jail -- there is a brawl in his cell which the security-guards seems to be able to do nothing about.
* Nick -- a mentally handicapped man -- gets placed in general penitentiary which ends with him becoming assaulted.
*Ray having spent 2 years in jail and rather than reform him, it has only aggravated his criminal prolifications.
*Them watching the Cops footage and getting upset how poorly the arrest was handled
*Crystal being arrested by the cops despite having done nothing at all.

I mean, an ending where Nick (tragically) ends up in jail just like his brother seems much more fitting to the narrative considering what we've seen come before. The legal system going "nah this guy is mentally handicapped get him proper help" doesn't seem like the attentive, right-thinking decision they'd do.

This was the first movie I've actually seen with Robert Pattinson and I thought he knocked it outta the park. Totally believable as a self centered pos.

Pattinson, I always thought he was just a teenage ass, but it seems like he is turning the curve and actually becoming a legit actor

Robert Pattinson is kind of having the same career-trajectory as Leonardo DiCaprio. He got big by being a teenage heartthrob (Twilight vs Titanic) which embarrassed the fuck out of him so now he's staring in all these challenging, weighty flicks so to get back his actors-creed (like: Lighthouse, Z, The King, this flick).

I was kinda middling on him. It worked but I wasn't all that moved. Mostly I hate Pattinson and his try-hard attitude for being far-and-away the worst part of The King (which was otherwise really good).

maxresdefault.jpg


Other problems include why were they robbing a bank to begin with,

They mentioned wanting to buy a farm in Virginia and live in their lonesome.

Which... doesn't seem like a life that Connie would enjoy but... okay.

Special mention to Security Guy who had 300 hits of acid poured down his throat. That guy is still tripping balls right now.

He's now the Captain of his own mind.:cool:

giphy.gif


and what happened to Connie?

The counsellor said that he's "where's he's supposed to be" so he's back in acting-school jail. :cool:

As a non-American, I always love seeing New York in movies and this one was no different.

Yeah, I have to agree it's a real concrete jungle.

For New York though, the sleazier the better. That's why 80's New York is the best. Lately, it has become so clean-looking. Ugh.

That scene with the dog though. 2 or 3 straight minutes of trying to listen to the scene but there's a bloody dog going wild all the way throughout. Drove me mad.

Subtitle Europeans > Dub/Eng Europeans:cool:

Honestly, I have no idea how you English/Dubb people ever manage such scenes. Or scenes where someone is mumbling or whispering. Like... how in gods name do you discern what they're saying? Do you have hyper-ears or something?

I thought it was shot and filmed really well. As mentioned, I liked this much more than Uncut Gems.

I'm the complete opposite. Uncut Gems was far better. Just a more cohesive character-study which a better sense of escalation. This movie was more funny twist after funny twist.

The main appeal of the film for me though besides Pattinsons performance would be how effectively it builds its acid trip rabbit hole atmosphere

The closest we get to Connie's world view is his rant to Ray which seems of the right wing libertarian variety, to that mindset a life being supported by others would be looked down on greatly.

While I agree that "builds its acid trip rabbit hole atmosphere" is the films greatest virtue (this really seems like the Directors speciality having seen Uncut Gems) I do think that Connie's independence-booyah speech fell kind of flat in terms of thematic-impact.

It really should have felt like some profound statement considering his manipulative-ways. But instead of feeling culminating of everything we've seen so far (like for example in Easy Rider where they say "we blew it") it just feels like something spat out there.

Considering how the film was improvised, I do wonder if it was something Patterson just came up with on the spot or if it was pre-planned.

In terms of the visuals I found the opening scenes rather by the numbers modern indie with shallow focus closeups

I would just like to state that I categorically loathe the "shallow focus closeups" esthetic.

It's like the new seasons of TUF where they just cram the camera so close to a person that it bumps into their nose. :D
 
Last edited:
During the jail fight scene, I kept thinking that Nick was gonna pull out some retard strength and beat the hell outta those two dudes.
 
During the jail fight scene, I kept thinking that Nick was gonna pull out some retard strength and beat the hell outta those two dudes.

It’s not cool to stereotype retards bro.
 
You could argue I spose such a person might view his brothers condition as somehow reflecting negatively on himself but also perhaps going against what seems like a right wing individualist view were admitting weakness is shunned. That really seemed to be the story of the film, seeing such a character come though all these situations showing quite a high degree of intelligence and self confidence
The closest we get to Connie's world view is his rant to Ray which seems of the right wing libertarian variety, to that mindset a life being supported by others would be looked down on greatly. I would agree its not the most weighty of films but that does seem to be were its substance is to me, seeing Connie is both highly manipulative to those around him but ultimately ineffective as well, he's just a small time crook and however smart he thinks he is he can't avoid his fate. Him and Ray are following an ideology that will never give them success.
all seems very Jordan Petersonish to me, a Sherdog bro flamewar onscreen. We see a character who whilst he values self suffiencent is ultimately constantly depending on manipulating others by any means possible.

giphy.webp


In all seriousness, what movie did you watch? Because there's no way that you're talking about the same movie that I watched. Literally none of this has anything to do with Good Time. In line with @Yotsuya, I would argue that this movie is almost apolitical. It's entirely fueled by emotionality, there's almost nothing of intellectual substance here on the theme or message level. But the funniest part is that if you really dig and you try really hard to extract something political, the only thing that you're going to find is anathema to anything even resembling a right wing or libertarian position/ethos, specifically in the scenes first with Connie and Crystal watching Cops and Connie showing his three-years-too-soon righteous indignation at cops taking crazy people off the streets - the only thing lamer than a lowlife career criminal rooting against the cops is acting like doing so gives him the moral high ground - and then with the "mean" cops who "don't have time for this shit" showing up at the amusement park and taking Crystal away. The only thing missing to situate this movie on the left side of the aisle is a giant BLM protest for Connie to run through, scored of course to loud faux intense synth "music."

As for the Jordan Peterson comment, I'm just going to ignore that because nobody who's read a single line of his writing or watched a single video of his in full would think that any of the morons in this movie exemplify anything that he's ever talked about.

Finally, to your comments about Connie's "high degree of intelligence": You mean the guy who broke the wrong person out of the hospital? That highly intelligent individual?

SnarlingCompleteChafer-size_restricted.gif


"Who takes their mentally retarded brother on a bank heist" reminds me of Eyes Wide Shut where I complained about "what kind of loser takes a New York taxi to an upscale cult-orgy?"

Now that you've put an actually good movie on the table for discussion, I'm going to have to step in and defend it. Leaving aside the reasonable and entirely plausible "character motivation" explanation - a cab is quicker, easier, and cheaper than a limo or a car service, especially given Cruise's characters limited information and given that he couldn't have possibly expected that he'd be walking into that - there's also the more intriguing "thematic" explanation. To the degree that Eyes Wide Shut operates like a Kafkaesque nightmare, the fact that everything, down to his mode of transportation, would betray Cruise follows perfectly the trajectory of a nightmare. Exposed in front of everybody, almost being made to stand naked before your tormentors, it's literally the stuff that nightmares are made of.

I'm gonna assume that "south pole jackets" translates into European as Adidas tracksuit;)

ab67706c0000da84b0d5eb12c8635993d0b91c7f

Haha, one of my favorite "culture shock" moments when I was with my Lithuanian ex was learning this Adidas thing. In my homeland of Chicago, that's just jock attire, but in her world, it's low class Eurotrash attire.



She legit had a hard time dealing with me wearing Adidas. In response, I of course taunted her endlessly with my three stripe style :cool:

giphy.gif


For me, this movie pretty much amounted to "funny twists". The money gets paint-bombed. The wrong guy gets rescued. The security-guard gets arrested. It essentially worked best as a dark comedy.

It could've worked as a dark comedy. This could've been a good Coen Brothers style, Raising Arizona/Burn After Reading-esque nonsense trek. Hell, Chad Feldheimer would've been a great partner-in-crime for Connie.

giphy.gif


Unfortunately, the intelligence, the inspiration, and the skill weren't there to pull something like this off. If you got enjoyment out of it by laughing at the idiocy, great, but don't give the filmmakers credit for crafting some brilliant dark comedy. You're the one doing the heavy lifting here, europe. Keep the credit for yourself ;)
 
Yeah the only thing deep about Connie is how deep the Narcissist in him runs.


OT: I would love to discuss Enemy staring Jake Gyllenhaal with you all. That movie needs to get put into a vote because there’s a lot to talk about.
 
While I agree that "builds its acid trip rabbit hole atmosphere" is the films greatest virtue (this really seems like the Directors speciality having seen Uncut Gems) I do think that Connie's independence-booyah speech fell kind of flat in terms of thematic-impact.

It really should have felt like some profound statement considering his manipulative-ways. But instead of feeling culminating of everything we've seen so far (like for example in Easy Rider where they say "we blew it") it just feels like something spat out there.

Considering how the film was improvised, I do wonder if it was something Patterson just came up with on the spot or if it was pre-planned.

I would just like to state that I categorically loathe the "shallow focus closeups" esthetic.

It's like the new seasons of TUF where they just cram the camera so close to a person that it bumps into their nose. :D

Yep I wouldn't disagree with that, unlike Long Good Friday when you see Shand increasingly reveals his flaws and see how ineffectve his tawdry methods are it doesn't ever feel like this film really builds up to a denouement of character. Connie's nature and actions stay pretty similar throughout the film and the shift is moreso events spirals out of control.

I would definitely agree with you that "shallow focus closeups" have become overused in modern arthouse(ish) with directors thinking that they alone will make a seen visually interesting, someone like Jonathan Glazer might use them a lot but rarely are they the only aspect of interest to a shot. To be fair though I would say with this film things start out relatively uninteresting exactly because the main dramatic shift across it is actually the visuals

I spose you could tie those two together as well and say that closeups are most effective when there getting across a subtly of character which doesn't really happen here.
 
Last edited:
Really? For me, this movie pretty much amounted to "funny twists". The money gets paint-bombed. The wrong guy gets rescued. The security-guard gets arrested. It essentially worked best as a dark comedy.
I think Safdie brothers are trying to come up with some completely new flavour of cinema combining humour, gringe, despair and suspense.
 
I think Safdie brothers are trying to come up with some completely new flavour of cinema combining humour, gringe, despair and suspense.

What came to mind for me was Michaël R. Roskam's work(not seen The Drop but Bullhead and Racer and the Jailbird) trying to merge crime thriller with visually expansive arthouse drama.
 
What came to mind for me was Michaël R. Roskam's work(not seen The Drop but Bullhead and Racer and the Jailbird) trying to merge crime thriller with visually expansive arthouse drama.

Never noticed any comedic moments in Bullhead or The Drop.

Like i wrote before the Safdie bros. work reminds me most of Lumet's work.The criminals in Dog Day Afternoon are just as stupid as in Good Time.
 
Never noticed any comedic moments in Bullhead or The Drop.

Like i wrote before the Safdie bros. work reminds me most of Lumet's work.The criminals in Dog Day Afternoon are just as stupid as in Good Time.

Not sure I'd say there was much overt comedy here either but its true his films are much more straight laced, it does I spose highlight the differences in scale as well Roskam goes in for pretty grand drama were as this(and from the sound of it uncut gems) largely avoid that.
 
Not sure I'd say there was much overt comedy here either but its true his films are much more straight laced, it does I spose highlight the differences in scale as well Roskam goes in for pretty grand drama were as this(and from the sound of it uncut gems) largely avoid that.
Good Time is more macabre than humorous. Uncut Gems has a bit more straighforwardly daft approach.
 
What came to mind for me was Michaël R. Roskam's work(not seen The Drop but Bullhead and Racer and the Jailbird) trying to merge crime thriller with visually expansive arthouse drama.
Just watched The Drop. Really good. I hadn't realised it's Roskam's movie.
 
Just watched The Drop. Really good. I hadn't realised it's Roskam's movie.

No I didn't pickup on it at the time either or I might have made more effort to watch it, I'm guessing it didn't make enough to break him into Hollywood though hence going back to Belgium for Le Fidèle/Racer and the Jaillbird(the worst renaming in film history?), I get the sense that didn't do too well either on the back of the trailer painting it as a conventional thriller.
 
giphy.webp


In all seriousness, what movie did you watch? Because there's no way that you're talking about the same movie that I watched. Literally none of this has anything to do with Good Time. In line with @Yotsuya, I would argue that this movie is almost apolitical. It's entirely fueled by emotionality, there's almost nothing of intellectual substance here on the theme or message level. But the funniest part is that if you really dig and you try really hard to extract something political, the only thing that you're going to find is anathema to anything even resembling a right wing or libertarian position/ethos, specifically in the scenes first with Connie and Crystal watching Cops and Connie showing his three-years-too-soon righteous indignation at cops taking crazy people off the streets - the only thing lamer than a lowlife career criminal rooting against the cops is acting like doing so gives him the moral high ground - and then with the "mean" cops who "don't have time for this shit" showing up at the amusement park and taking Crystal away. The only thing missing to situate this movie on the left side of the aisle is a giant BLM protest for Connie to run through, scored of course to loud faux intense synth "music."

As for the Jordan Peterson comment, I'm just going to ignore that because nobody who's read a single line of his writing or watched a single video of his in full would think that any of the morons in this movie exemplify anything that he's ever talked about.

Finally, to your comments about Connie's "high degree of intelligence": You mean the guy who broke the wrong person out of the hospital? That highly intelligent individual?

SnarlingCompleteChafer-size_restricted.gif




Now that you've put an actually good movie on the table for discussion, I'm going to have to step in and defend it. Leaving aside the reasonable and entirely plausible "character motivation" explanation - a cab is quicker, easier, and cheaper than a limo or a car service, especially given Cruise's characters limited information and given that he couldn't have possibly expected that he'd be walking into that - there's also the more intriguing "thematic" explanation. To the degree that Eyes Wide Shut operates like a Kafkaesque nightmare, the fact that everything, down to his mode of transportation, would betray Cruise follows perfectly the trajectory of a nightmare. Exposed in front of everybody, almost being made to stand naked before your tormentors, it's literally the stuff that nightmares are made of.



Haha, one of my favorite "culture shock" moments when I was with my Lithuanian ex was learning this Adidas thing. In my homeland of Chicago, that's just jock attire, but in her world, it's low class Eurotrash attire.



She legit had a hard time dealing with me wearing Adidas. In response, I of course taunted her endlessly with my three stripe style :cool:

giphy.gif




It could've worked as a dark comedy. This could've been a good Coen Brothers style, Raising Arizona/Burn After Reading-esque nonsense trek. Hell, Chad Feldheimer would've been a great partner-in-crime for Connie.

giphy.gif


Unfortunately, the intelligence, the inspiration, and the skill weren't there to pull something like this off. If you got enjoyment out of it by laughing at the idiocy, great, but don't give the filmmakers credit for crafting some brilliant dark comedy. You're the one doing the heavy lifting here, europe. Keep the credit for yourself ;)


giphy.gif
 
Back
Top