Movie Review: Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was truly a movie that took me by surprise. In viewing the trailer for this film, it was honestly not a movie that appealed to me all that much, and I originally had no intention of watching it. But on one boring night with nothing better to do, I opted to watch Nightcrawler for some random reason and was quite pleasantly surprised with the film overall.
Nightcrawler follows the story of Louis Bloom who is looking for a job. Upon witnessing a car accident one night and seeing a news crew turn up to record the action, he eventually works his way into the cutthroat crime journalism industry. Becoming caught up in being the best in the business, Bloom walks the fine line between reporting and perpetuating the crimes that bolster his paycheck.
The movie itself is fast and precise, just like its lead character. There's no off-shooting storylines that weigh this movie down. I think this is largely why I enjoyed it, because I quickly got swept up in both the plot and the character of Lou Bloom and his brash way of operating. I actually had apprehensions about Jake Gyllenhaal playing the lead in this movie, as in my opinion some of his other characters have been somewhat overacted (namely Detective Loki in the 2013 film Prisoners). However, I found his portrayal of Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler to be a good mix of believable, idiosyncratic, and unhinged to the perfect degree.
The one negative aspect that I felt pulled this movie down a bit was the relationship between Lou Bloom and Nina, the news director that buys his footage. I found it to be bizarre and slightly off-putting in a way that's hard to explain. I can see the vision that Dan Gilroy (writer and director) had for this part of the storyline, but it was nonetheless an element of Nightcrawler that didn't seem to mesh correctly with the rest of the movie.
Overall, if you typically enjoy thrillers and crime movies and can stomach seeing some blood and gore, I would recommend seeing this movie. It's not a film that I would proclaim to be amazing, but it is certainly worthy of any award nominations that it receives and is worth a watch.

Rating: R

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

Run Time: 117 minutes

Release Date: October 31, 2014

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Album Review: Goddess

I decided to do yet another album review here on my blog, and this one is for the album called Goddess by the singer Banks. This is her debut album, and overall I am enjoying what I've heard from her so far.
All of the songs on Goddess have a very smooth-sounding quality to them, with a combination of both electronic and R&B influences. I feel that this style of music that Banks has created for herself is a good mix of the electronic sound that dominates many popular songs today, but is balanced out well by the use of more soulful and slower R&B. It's the kind of music that one can slowly fall asleep to at night, due to it's slow and methodical qualities.
But despite the album's calm and soothing sound, the lyrics that Banks applies to her melodies on Goddess pull the songs down to a, for lack of a better word, depressing place. This is the one aspect of this album that I dislike somewhat, as its seemingly dulcet exterior gives way to woeful lyrical themes. In other words, listening to this album will not necessarily put you in your happy place.
Putting this one negative aside however, overall I have enjoyed the majority of the tracks on Goddess. I think that Banks is one musician to keep our eyes (and ears) out for in upcoming years, as I see a lot of potential in her debut album Goddess.

Artist: Banks

Genre: Electronica/R&B/trip hop

Number of Songs: 14 (plus 4 bonus tracks)

Release Date: September 5, 2014

My Rating: ★★★☆☆