#16- NIGHTCRAWLER (2014)

This is the feature film debut for director Dan Gilroy. He is normally a writer, but he took a chance in the director's seat. This movie was great! Like really great, one of my favorites of 2014. Gyllenhaal turned out an incredible performance as a selfish, yet extremely likable master of manipulation. This was an original screenplay, but based off the real occupation of renegade photo journalists (often called nightcrawlers, get it?!), mostly found in big cities. The story I thought was pretty engaging. Gyllenhaal plays an extremely talented liar with not much of a conscience. He finds the job that he born to do. The overall tone of the film is pretty dark and gritty, but gorgeously photographed by Director of Photography Robert Elswit. James Newton Howard did the score, and it was a very different sound than what we're used to hearing from his work with M. Night Shyamalan. The visual aesthetics are pretty highly stylized, yet reminiscent of the grindhouse films of the 70's and 80's. Stu really didn't care much for this one, but I'll let him tell you all about it. Thanks for listening to and supporting Movie Show Theater!