Nightcrawler with Jake G

G

Gillvane

Veteran
I saw it in the theater and I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. The performance by Jake Gyllenhaal

was amazing. He lost 30 lbs for the role. His supporting cast also gave a stellar performance. At some points the actor that plays his sidekick really steals the show.

The script was bang on because of the pacing. This script had a tight beat sheet, and hit all the plot points right on time. I think what really made this one an audience pleases was the narrative drive of the script. It always kept you wanting to know what was going to happen next, and it made you think something would happen any minute....and it did. Very well done.

Also, a very interesting sound track.

Spoiler alert:

The only thing missing, that it didn't need at all but I thought we might see, was a sex scene with Rene Russo, just for the what the hell is that going to look like and how awkward will it be? factor.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightcrawler/
 
Nice to see LA shot really well and that car chase scene was amazing. Riz Ahmed was the perfect regular guy and played it subtlely. I read that director Dan Gilroy stayed away from shooting in downtown since it's frequently portrayed in film but didn't want to ignore it and so portrayed it as a menacing skyline seen from a distance, which from the perspective of residents not living there, is entirely accurate.

SPOILER: As a native resident of Granada Hills, CA, I think all Granada Hills residents should protest that drug heists DON'T actually happen in our quiet little town.
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Just saw Nightcrawler the other night and loved it. So good on so many levels. Very rarely do I see a movie and immediately want to see it again but Nightcrawler falls into that category. I know it got great reviews but I was still wowed by it.
 
The only thing missing, that it didn't need at all but I thought we might see, was a sex scene with Rene Russo, just for the what the hell is that going to look like and how awkward will it be? factor.
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Oh
My
God.

Just reading this review now after seeing Nightcrawler. I assume you are half kidding, but I was totally hoping for that scene. I mean, that's the first thing I thought when the credits started rolling! Why couldn't we have that scene? hahahaha.

I agree with your thoughts on the pacing. I think that final 40 minutes were engaging. Ultimately this thing came to a quick, unexpected end and I could have stood for a bit more.

I think sexy shots of LA at night aren't automatically going to equal cinematic gold. But this was a good film. Missing something, I can't put my finger on it, but something.

Question: Where were all the legitimate news vans & crews at the crime/accident scenes? Is it just stringers that gather the news in LA?
 
Scott F said:
Oh

Question: Where were all the legitimate news vans & crews at the crime/accident scenes? Is it just stringers that gather the news in LA?
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This did not disturb my suspension of disbelief because I got the impression from the movie that the stringers were willing to bend or break the rules, doing things like speeding, running red lights, to get there first way before the regular news crews, and the stringers were cruising around looking for accidents, whereas the news crews were at the station. Whether this is true in the real world or not I don't know, but it worked for the movie.
 
I thought Gyllenhaal was fantastic in this movie, but I hated the ending. I felt like the movie was missing ACT 3, and that everything was tied up so neatly at break-neck speed. ( almost like they forgot to project the final reel of the film )
 
I really liked the cinematography and use of light and how they used kodak film for daylight and Alexa for night, gave it the right balance visually. as for the film itself, I think it's a bit overrated and I didn't like it as some people did, something in the story and character development didn't work for me, but I'm aware I'm a minority...
 
TheDingo said:
I thought Gyllenhaal was fantastic in this movie, but I hated the ending. I felt like the movie was missing ACT 3, and that everything was tied up so neatly at break-neck speed. ( almost like they forgot to project the final reel of the film )
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Totally agree. Mostly, to me, it was a perfect slope. What I mean by that is that it started strongest and then gently declined as it went on, to reach its lowest point at the end. It started very strong (mood, makeup, cinematography, intriguing story) and kept getting weaker... the more we understood what the story is really about, the weaker it got (for me) - it seems to me the film sold out the beginning, and the explanation for everything turned rather banal. It turned into a cheap morality tale. I mean, "the ruthless, ethics challenged sensationalist news gathering, ratings driven programming of news, evils of news papparazzis and the sensationalism rather than solid news"... wow, is that a safe target of criticism and is it ever boring - I mean, how insightful is this? We know all that. What new thing did we learn? So unnecessary. The JG character was super creepy - great, but in service of what? The creepy news gatherer? Creepy papparazzi? Creepy sensation peddling careerist? Oooh, scary... not. Just a total miss. All that creepiness in service of what? Amoral, maybe even psychopath - OK, but psychopath news stringer? Not exactly high stakes here, nor particularly interesting stakes. Been there, done that - media critique? Evening TV local news critique - sensationalist and ratings-driven, oh, boy, you don't say! Why, that's just terrible and unexpected!

The more we learned, the less interesting the movie became (to me). That said, outstanding performance by JG. Loved the photography. But a flawed movie for sure. Pity, it could've been so much better. All IMHO, YMMV.
 
I expected a third act, where JG's character would finally crash and burn while trying to run a legit news business. He was too much of a psychopath to keep it all together while running a company and being responsible for the well being of his employees. He would be the nightmare boss, and once any of his staff figure out what he's really all about the train would quickly go off the tracks. ( unless he only hires other psychos to work for him :evil: )
 
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