Fantastic, with a brilliant, brilliant lead performance

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2014)

Man, this year is giving us some extremely entertaining films. Nightcrawler follows a Los Angeleno with no conscious (redundant?), Jake Gyllenhaal, as he finds his professional calling as a "stringer," someone who films accidents and violent crimes and then sells the footage to the morning news. Man, is Gyllenhaal a scumbag in this movie! One of the biggest sociopaths in film history, the film is mostly amusing because it's just a blast to watch this slimy bastard work. This is not only his best work, but probably the best lead performance from an actor I've seen so far this year. As he gets better at his job, he gets bolder and bolder and thinks nothing of manipulating crime scenes (if he can get away with it) to get the better shot, and even the better story. Rene Russo plays the news director he directly deals with. Kevin Rahm (of Mad Men fame) plays the only person at the station with any conscience, so of course he is completely ignored. Riz Ahmed is also excellent as Gyllenhaal's assistant and protégé - kind of a goofy idiot, but it's fun to watch Jake bounce off of him. Any flaws are very, very minor, and I'd easily call this one of the great films of 2014, so far my second favorite (surpassing Gone Girl but not The Grand Budapest Hotel).