A frenetic bank heist, a would-be rapper from Jersey, a documentary about a community torn apart in the aftermath of a teenager’s shooting — the cinemas are full of gritty stuff this weekend. First off, our Piers Marchant takes a look at Good Time, Benny and Josh Safdie’s verite-style drama that stars former teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson as a none-too-bright criminal wracked with guilt over his even dumber younger brother’s incarceration. And Philip Martin looks at Patti Cake$, an uplifting underdog story about a working class barmaid with dreams of making it in hip-hop. Martin also comments on Whose Streets?, which documents the days after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
Oh, there’s more. Dan Lybarger checks in with the director and one of the stars of PattiCake$, while Marchant interviews author Jeanette Walls, whose memoir The Glass Castle forms the basis for the current movie of the same name. In fact, we’re overstuffed this week — go to blooddirtangels.com to see Martin’s review of the quirky Brigsby Bear and our weekly Home Movies column. That’s Friday’s Style section in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.