THE REVIEW CORNER

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Barkhad Abdi Directed by: Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie Screenplay by: Ronald Bronstein and and Josh Safdie     The title for the movie might be Good Time, but the characters have anything but a good time in this film.  Nick and Constantine Nikas (Benny Safdie and Robert Pattinson respectively) are brothers who go on the occasional bank robbery.  When one goes wrong, Nick gets caught and sent to Rikers Island, a prison just outside of Queens, NY.  Nick suffers from some intellectual disabilities, for which he gets help, but Constantine wants to get him out of Rikers Island as soon as possible before something horrible happens to him inside the prison.  Constantine hears that he might be in a hospital elsewhere in Queens after potentially suffering injuries in the prison.  If Constantine is going to break him out, that's the place to do it.  Well, unfortunatel...

Starring: Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara Directed by: David Lowery Screenplay by: David Lowery     In theory, a film about a ghost lurking in the background much of the time should be a horror movie; one that should terrify you to the core (or not).  It might be a film that one thinks little of upon leaving the theater at the film's end.  Or it might be a film that sticks with audiences long after they leave.   A Ghost Story is a film that leaves the viewer unsure of what to think.     Casey Affleck plays a character only known as C.  Rooney Mara plays a character only known as M.  They are clearly in a relationship and living together, very much in love.  The film begins as they are trying to build their life together, but it comes to a tragic and crashing end when C is killed in a car accident appearing to be not far from the house.  M, seemingly unsure of how to deal with this sudden and shocking loss remains calm and some...

     Lots of film festivals lately!  Yes folks, I've been to another one showcasing short films.  I love short films.  Short films are amazing things.  A short film can do a number of things; it can showcase a particular scene and make that the central focus or even the entirety of the short film, or it can challenge the filmmaker.  It can challenge him or her by forcing him or her to condense a story into a short span of time.  It can challenge the filmmaker to develop a story, whether it be complex or simple, in a short amount of time.  I am often amazed by short films and the power they can have on the viewer.  HollyShorts is a big film festival here in Los Angeles.  It's an Academy Awards qualifier which makes it a very important and competitive festival.  I found the production value of some of these short films to be higher overall than some of the other shorts I've seen at other festivals like Palm Springs or...

     So, I've been to another film festival.  One of the great things about this particular film festival is that it is walking distance from my house, making it a little easier to get to than, say, Palm Springs (for a festival back in June).  Similar to the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, LA Shorts is also a festival for short films.      This was a screening block whose theme was music.  So, the question is, how many films about struggling musicians can be made?  Well, a lot.  But they're important films because they show the human side of the music industry; the level of passion and drive needed to succeed in such a cutthroat industry.  This screening block included a number of short films, but also a few music videos, something I felt was quite refreshing.  Here are some of my highlights.        Gatekeeper  is a film about a young African American woman trying to make it a...

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard,  Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, James D'Arcy, Kenneth Branagh, and Tom Hardy Directed by: Christopher Nolan Screenplay by: Christopher Nolan      Every few years, when there's a new film directed by Christopher Nolan, I get really excited.  Usually that particular film is my most highly anticipated of the year.  That was the case with every one of his films since Inception , and Dunkirk is no exception.  So does Dunkirk live up to the hype?  It most certainly does.      Based on the true story of the evacuation of allied forces from the beaches of France in the early part of the Second World War (before the United States entered), Dunkirk is a tour de force film about bravery and courage like no other.  The film has three distinct parts to it that in real life happened at different times; the mole, the sea, and the air.        ...

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, Anthony Hopkins, and Stanley Tucci Directed by: Michael Bay Screenplay by: Art Marcum and Matt Holloway      Does it ever feel like certain things are just getting old now?  Like, they're not even fun anymore? That's how I feel about Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment of the Transformers series that Michael Bay has said is his last (even though there will be more of these movies).      Optimus Prime ( Peter Cullen) is gone.  He has left to go find his makers and see what is left of the planet Cybertron after being ravaged by war between the autobots and the decepticons.  While there he is seduced by a weird transformer sorceress named Quintessa (Gemma Chan) and changes his name to Nemesis Prime.  She convinces him that in order for Cybertron to live once again, Earth must die.  So like an asteroid speeding towards a point of gravity, Cyber...

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal, Eiza Gonzalez, Jamie Foxx, and Kevin Spacey Directed by: Edgar Wright Screenplay by: Edgar Wright       This is the kind of film that is made specifically for the summer; the kind when you're just trying to beat the heat outside and see a movie that doesn't make you think too much and is just a whole lot of fun.  That's what we've come to expect with Edgar Wright films, and Baby Driver  is no exception.        Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver.  He works for an Atlanta crime boss who simply goes by the name Doc (Kevin Spacey).  Somehow Baby got himself into some debt with Doc and is working steadily to pay it off.  What the debt is and how he acquired such debt is not explained, but we go along with it anyway.  Apparently it's supposed to make the story a bit more compelling.  Doc never uses the same crew twice, but uses Baby for the getaway ca...