Review: "Short Term 12" (****½)

Editor's Note: Today marks a special occasion for me. I first put a bug in the ear of Lucy Doughty about writing for Reel Georgia many moons ago, and today we publish her first piece with us. "Short Term 12" is a remarkable film that won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Prize at SXSW earlier this year. I saw it at Sidewalk, where I was moved and impressed enough to have awarded it the full five star rating. Lucy's review is written as beautifully as the film plays out, and I look forward to reading everything she'll write for us in the future. Even though her reviews will make mine look as though I've compiled them using Alphabet soup, I'm thrilled to have such a gifted wordsmith on board. -CM

John Gallagher, Jr., Brie Larson, and Rami Malek star in "Short Term 12"

"Short Term 12" premiered in its first form as first-time writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Master’s thesis project at Sundance in 2009. A friend told Cretton he’d be a fool to attend Sundance without a feature length script prepared for the then twenty-minute short. “So I wrote one,” he said. The short won the Jury Prize, and Cretton began crafting his feature debut, which released after his second movie, "I Am Not A Hipster," did in 2012. The result captures a season in the lives of the young staff and residents of a teen foster care facility. Rooted in Cretton’s own experience on a group home staff, "Short Term 12" offers a gripping and often raw look at the transformative power of trust and vulnerability.

Scott Waugh's "Need for Speed" to film in Macon, Rome

The cast of "Need for Speed" clockwise from top left: Aaron Paul, Dakota Johnson,
Ramon Rodriguez, Michael Keaton, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots

Director Scott Waugh's adaptation of the popular video game franchise "Need for Speed" will begin filming in Macon in mid-April. The project's screenwriter, John Gatins, mentioned the possibility of the film shooting in Georgia last fall when he was in Savannah promoting another Georgia production, "Flight." Gatins accepted the Savannah Film Festival Spotlight Award for his work on "Flight" and had great things to say about working in Georgia. Two hundred cast and crew members are expected to travel to Macon for the production.

Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Dakota Johnson, Michael Keaton, Imogen Poots, Ramon Rodriguez, Kid Cudi and Rami Malek comprise the principal cast of the film. Location scouting has taken place throughout downtown Macon and it is expected that casting calls for extras will occur closer to production kickoff. 

Recent projects to film in Macon include the Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake baseball hit, "Trouble with the Curve," and upcoming Jackie Robinson biopic, "42," which will be released next month.

Filming will also take place in Rome at the Historic Myrtle Hill Cemetery in June.