Corey Bayes

Corey Bayes—yeah, that name might ring a bell if you've ever fallen down the rabbit hole of films where things go a bit sideways in the best way possible. Take Logan Lucky, for starters. Picture a heist movie, but instead of slick, smooth-talking pros, you’ve got down-on-their-luck folks from West Virginia who can barely catch a break. NASCAR, prosthetic limbs, jail breakouts… It’s all a wild, Southern-fried ride with more heart than you’d ever expect from a crew plotting to rob a racetrack. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver bumbling through their misadventures, with Daniel Craig popping up as a bleach-blond safecracker—yeah, that’s a thing you didn’t know you needed until you saw it. Jump to Magic Mike, and suddenly things get a whole lot steamier—and sweatier. Not just about stripping (though, come on, it’s very much about stripping), but also about the grind, the hustle, and trying to make a buck. There’s a weirdly earnest look at what it means to chase your dreams when your dream is… well, dancing on tables for tips. Soderbergh’s direction gives it a gritty gloss, and there’s this sweet, raw undercurrent beneath all the gyrating. Now, Birdman. That’s a fever dream of a film. Michael Keaton’s character spirals through backstage chaos, self-doubt, and some truly bizarre hallucinations, all shot in what feels like one endless, dizzying take. It’s sharp, biting, meta, and a little exhausting—but that’s kind of the point. Fame, art, ego—everyone’s just trying to figure it out, and Corey Bayes is in the mix, catching the messy magic as it happens.