Nightcrawler (2014)

NIGHTCRAWLER  (2014)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Dan Gilroy
    Jake Gyllenhaal, Renee Russo,
    Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed
Jake Gyllenhaal plays an enterprising small-time thief (and a guy without a lot of obvious social skills) who goes into business shooting grisly crime and accident footage and selling it to a bottom-feeding television producer played by Renee Russo. Through the course of his on-the-job training, Jake goes from observing and recording events to anticipating and even staging them, all to get the killer shot - a fire, a gun battle, a car wreck, a bloody corpse - that will lead off the morning news. (Enjoy your Cheerios, folks.) I know that "if it bleeds, it leads," but if this is the level broadcast news has arrived at, we're doomed, and Gyllenhaal's nerdy, mercenary, mad-eyed performance is truly creepy. A nightcrawler, for sure.