MOVIE REVIEW: NIGHTCRAWLER

An ambitious young crime journalist probes the dark underbelly of L.A. in this cynical urban drama that marks the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy (Real Steal, Dan Gilroy). Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhall) is a petty thief in search of a payday when he stumbles onto the scene of a grisly car accident, and witnesses seasoned "Nightcrawler" Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) gathering video footage for a local news broadcast. Convinced that this is a career he could excel at, Lou promptly purchases a police scanner and a cheap video camera, and hits the streets. In short order Lou has hired an assistant (Riz Ahmed) to help him navigate the city streets, and started selling footage to local TV producer Nina (Rene Russo), one of Joe's regular buyers. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Dan Gilroy 

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed

Release Date: Oct 31, 2014

Rated R for Violence, Language and Graphic Images

Runtime: 1 hr. 57 min.

Genres: Drama

Review:

Nightcrawler is a kinetic film anchored by a career defining performance by Jake Gyllenhaal which is sure to garner more than a few acting nods come award season.  Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut isn’t perfect but it’s impressive enough to leave a lasting impression.  His film captures the hollow neon griminess of the Los Angeles at night all while following an empty and nearly soulless character.  Gyllenhaal’s performance is entrancing from the start as he channels a serial killers level of creepiness mixed with a robotic energy peppered with corporate speak as a second language.  Renee Russo is solid in a supporting role as the TV producer with an endless amount of moral grey area.  She’s reserved but just as focused as Gyllenhaal.  There is some clumsiness in Gilroy’s directorial effort which is most apparent near the end where the film lingers a tad longer than it needs to.  Still, it’s a rather impressive debut and perfect showcase for Gyllenhaal’s talent.

B+

Cindy Prascik's Review of Nightcrawler

Dearest Blog, yesterday I spent the final day of my vacation as you might expect: at the cinema with Nightcrawler.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

An unemployed but highly-motivated young man shoehorns his way into the LA video news business, but blurs the line between covering a story and becoming part of it.

Nightcrawler finds Jake Gyllenhaal on point as Louis Bloom, utterly mesmerizing from start to finish. Regular reader(s) will know that I worship Gyllenhaal's Donnie Darko performance as well, despite the fact I think the movie itself is grossly overrated.

The moral of the story is: Creepy Jake = Amazing Jake. Nightcrawler sets a dark, gritty tone, filled with nighttime skylines and some seedier bits of Los Angeles. The film's humor is darker still, uneasy graveyard laughs that keep the movie enjoyable without turning it silly.

Nightcrawler is an uncomfortable watch. At face value, it's unnerving to see Bloom using whatever means he deems necessary to achieve his ends. On a deeper level, it puts a spotlight on our society's willingness to exploit misery for entertainment. It's a fascinating, if unsettling, ride that hooks you for the duration and ends at exactly the right spot, suffering neither a hurried, contrived finish nor (as is annoyingly common in this day of three-hour non-epics) dragging on long after it should have said farewell.

Nightcrawler runs 117 minutes and is rated R for "violence including graphic images, and for language."

Nightcrawler is a terrific crime drama that should be considered a contender in at least the Best Picture and Best Actor categories come awards time.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Nightcrawler gets eight.

Until next time...

Happy Jake = *sigh