I'm really glad I checked this movie out! I never bothered cause it just seemed so slimy and gross, which it was...but it was also excellent! Thanks to Good Movie I've now seen: Love and Basketball, Road House, Pretty Woman, and Nightcrawler, and all four were total bangers!
It's also given me an excuse to rewatch Interstellar, Inside Man, Sandlot, and Game Night for the first time in a long time, and all four rose in my estimation (even though I already liked them all quite a bit).
Thanks for expanding my movie horizons! Good Movie is like one of those fun college electives everyone wants to take (this is absolutely a compliment)!
I swear to god this is true: I took a bowling class in college. It was literally held at a bowling alley and all we did was bowl. Every Tuesday and Thursday. It was my favorite ever class.
Yes! I did that too! I went to UC Davis and there was a bowling alley on campus. Getting to bowl for an hour twice a week in between classes was awesome, and we got a half-credit for it too!
I took a phys ed elective in high school called Bowling & Billiards - we took a bus to the local lanes, which had a bar called the Red Eye Lounge and featured 12 bowling lanes and a billiards room with six tables. Best "gym" class ever. The owner was this old boozehound named Mike and swore at anybody who lofted the ball.
Hey Mike sorry to bother you, but the app you mentioned can I save the movie or shows on my phone? Because I’m headed for a day long treatment/observation. And doctors told me there will be no wifi usage or mobile data. Only they know why. -Shain
This was such a great one, and I don't need to rent The Town, because I have seen that movie so many times I think I can play it back in my head at this point! I'll try to recover from you relating to Patrick Bateman.
Few things-
I would put Paxton in True Lies and A Simple Lie into his all-timer performances. Really different performances, but so very Paxton. It is really sad that we didn't get many more years of him.
Gyllenhaal is a great actor, but I think this performance is a perfect example of how good he is when he stays on the tightrope - when he goes completely unhinged (Gilroy's follow-up with him Velvet Buzzsaw, Mr. Music in The Sack Lunch Bunch, and that insane character he plays on Okja), it's to varying success.
I would definitely decide to haunt someone if they messed with my dead body, but if I'm honest, I'd haunt someone for much less, because I'm petty.
PS for a short time I lived on the same street as Kevin Rahm (his wife is a surgeon, so they lived near the hospital where I worked), and I didn't realize it until I finished an episode of Mad Men, left the house to go to work, and did a doubletake when Ted Chaough walked by.
Tom and I are starting the SECRETLY TERRIBLE HUMANS club. Let us know if you wanna join. All you gotta do is punch a 5-year-old in the stomach and steal $400 from a grandma.
I definitely know some 5 year olds that could get it...and what's grandma gonna do with that money anyway? I deserve it way more than a fake Nigerian prince
One of my favorite scenes ever- Aliens when Paxtons character asks Private Vasquez “anyone ever mistake you for a man?” And her reply “No, you?” I would have been BOUNCING OFF THE WALL if I was there for that burn. So good. He was such a jerk in that movie - love him as a jerk. Oh the guy that tried to seduce Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies! The best
Brianna Barksdale from The Wire is great in Snowfall, too. And is a welcome face on The Pitt. I'm always like "that's D'Angelo's mom!" Michael Hyatt rules.
Also, as the dad of a toddler right now, I agree that we shouldn't COMPLETELY DISCOUNT that the toddler instigated the stabbing or otherwise facilitated it. It's highly unlikely, but it's not IMPOSSIBLE.
Sorry to disagree, Shea, but Brianna Barksdale from The Wire turned into Dr. Akopian from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for me. Once you see her sing you can't go back.
Maybe my favorite good movie yet and I had never seen it before. What a heater. I like to think of GOOD MOVIE like a weekly watch recommendation from someone who knows a lot more about movies than I do. Like that episode of Seinfeld where the video rental employees all publish their “picks”.
Thanks for the introduction and for a great essay as always Shea.
I really like the thing of all of us watching the same movie or thinking about the same movie each week. It's such a nice bit of respite to be able to log on and chat with everybody. It feels like a real community.
I was in such a rush to post my joke about Ted Chaough from Mad Men’s big eyes that I forgot my real comment:
I rewatched in advance of this week and I had either forgotten or missed entirely the first time that it features one of the most quietly terrifying lines I’ve ever heard.
Lou is talking about the home invasion news story and says “If I had a family and I lived in a home, that might make me nervous.”
And the thing is… we’ve seen his apartment.
Not much of it, but we’ve seen it. It’s not much of an apartment but it’s still clearly where he lives. He doesn’t say “If I had a family and I lived in a fancy house” or “If I had a family and I lived in a nice neighborhood”
He says “If I lived in a home.”
We’ve SEEN his home!
Gyllenhaal plays Bloom as such an unsettling freak with almost no sign of his actual interior life that this small, seemingly casual line becomes an initially perplexing and then chilling glimpse into how he views the world.
One of the interviews I watched, Gyllenhaal was talking about how Lou is a product of the internet. That's why he talks in either (a) vague generalities, or (b) tidbits of very specific trivia. He never offers any sort of insight he's learned on his own. I imagine if you asked him what exactly a "home" was, he'd rattle off some dictionary version of a definition rather than what you or I might offer up.
This makes me want to see the magical realism version of the movie where Lou Bloom is an actual coyote who is cursed and/or granted a wish to become human and learns how to behave by watching finance bros on YouTube.
I agree that Gyllenhaal deserved an Oscar nomination, so who are we throwing out:
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything (the Oscar winner)
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
I admittedly have only seen Birdman of the movies above, but it feels like Bradley Cooper is the weak link and could easily be replaced with Jake's portrayal of Lou Bloom.
A theme in GOOD MOVIE seems to be Oscar snubs - Amy Adams in Arrival, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. Apparently the GOOD MOVIE general consensus is that the Academy doesn't know what it's doing (and it doesn't - haha).
Very much related, Shea named all the great movies from 2014 (I think 20 in total were named), but only mentioned 2 of the 8 best picture nominees (Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel). How Interstellar didn't get in is a mystery to me.
I would happily lose literally any of the people in that group to make room for Gyllenhaal. (And while we're at it, we can throw out any two others to make room for McConaughey in Interstellar and Miles Teller in Whiplash.)
My five would probably be Gyllenhaal (winner), McConaughey, Teller, Keaton, and Tom Hardy from The Drop as a surprise dark horse pick.
I was surprised how crazy people went for Cooper in American Sniper. I think he's been really great in some other stuff, but that performance just didn't really register for me.
I hope Kevin Rahm/Ted Chaough from Mad Men reads this and is appropriately honored that in a 5,000+ word review of Nightcrawler, the only mention of big eyes was about him.
I feel like the lack of backstory on Lou works the same way it does for the Joker from The Dark Knight. It makes them like, less of a person and more of a phantom alien thing.
Shit, now I’m imagining that the Joker and Lou are actually brothers, both completely insane but vastly different skillsets
I just realized that the actors for each of them were the leads for Brokeback Mountain, as intensely human a movie as you’ll find, totally the opposite of Nightcrawler and TDK.
I'm really glad I checked this movie out! I never bothered cause it just seemed so slimy and gross, which it was...but it was also excellent! Thanks to Good Movie I've now seen: Love and Basketball, Road House, Pretty Woman, and Nightcrawler, and all four were total bangers!
It's also given me an excuse to rewatch Interstellar, Inside Man, Sandlot, and Game Night for the first time in a long time, and all four rose in my estimation (even though I already liked them all quite a bit).
Thanks for expanding my movie horizons! Good Movie is like one of those fun college electives everyone wants to take (this is absolutely a compliment)!
I swear to god this is true: I took a bowling class in college. It was literally held at a bowling alley and all we did was bowl. Every Tuesday and Thursday. It was my favorite ever class.
Yes! I did that too! I went to UC Davis and there was a bowling alley on campus. Getting to bowl for an hour twice a week in between classes was awesome, and we got a half-credit for it too!
This substack is Bowling Class, print the tshirts
Same. Also a TR class for PE credit. My friend was in the same class, and it was all Big Lebowski references all the time.
I took a phys ed elective in high school called Bowling & Billiards - we took a bus to the local lanes, which had a bar called the Red Eye Lounge and featured 12 bowling lanes and a billiards room with six tables. Best "gym" class ever. The owner was this old boozehound named Mike and swore at anybody who lofted the ball.
I'm trying to find it. Something to save on my phone so I can watch it when I am undergoing treatment.-Shain
I found it on Kanopy, which is a free streamer if you have a library card! JustWatch is the app I use to find movies for the cheapest/free!
Thank you! -Shain
Hey Mike sorry to bother you, but the app you mentioned can I save the movie or shows on my phone? Because I’m headed for a day long treatment/observation. And doctors told me there will be no wifi usage or mobile data. Only they know why. -Shain
Unfortunately, you cannot download the movies on Kanopy, you need cellular/wifi for that one. Sorry! Good luck with your treatment!
Motion for you to create the Bill Paxton Award given to the most clutch co-star of every Good Movie
I kind of love that idea.
Game Night to Nightcrawler to The Town is a Michael Jordan generational run.
I wish there was a way to put GIFs as replies here because I promise you I would've used the Jordan shrug one, lol.
Agreed, one of Jake’s best films. Lou would be in a cabinet position for this administration if he were a real person. He would fit right in.
hahahahaha
This was such a great one, and I don't need to rent The Town, because I have seen that movie so many times I think I can play it back in my head at this point! I'll try to recover from you relating to Patrick Bateman.
Few things-
I would put Paxton in True Lies and A Simple Lie into his all-timer performances. Really different performances, but so very Paxton. It is really sad that we didn't get many more years of him.
Gyllenhaal is a great actor, but I think this performance is a perfect example of how good he is when he stays on the tightrope - when he goes completely unhinged (Gilroy's follow-up with him Velvet Buzzsaw, Mr. Music in The Sack Lunch Bunch, and that insane character he plays on Okja), it's to varying success.
I would definitely decide to haunt someone if they messed with my dead body, but if I'm honest, I'd haunt someone for much less, because I'm petty.
"I think this performance is a perfect example of how good he is when he stays on the tightrope."
What a line. I can't wait to steal this and pretend like I'm the one who came up with. Thanks, Em.
Haha, I would be honored!
PS for a short time I lived on the same street as Kevin Rahm (his wife is a surgeon, so they lived near the hospital where I worked), and I didn't realize it until I finished an episode of Mad Men, left the house to go to work, and did a doubletake when Ted Chaough walked by.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love this movie, even though, much like Shea, it makes me ask some uncomfortable questions about my own inner motivations.
Also, Paxton is the man.
Tom and I are starting the SECRETLY TERRIBLE HUMANS club. Let us know if you wanna join. All you gotta do is punch a 5-year-old in the stomach and steal $400 from a grandma.
Released the fleas and ticks into that animal shelter as planned, Shea!
I definitely know some 5 year olds that could get it...and what's grandma gonna do with that money anyway? I deserve it way more than a fake Nigerian prince
Lou Bloom turns us all, at least for a little while, into Chris Rock talking about OJ:
“I’m not saying he shoulda done it… but I *understand.*”
lololol
Could have used another scene or two of Paxton. One of my faves to ever do it.
Nobody has ever said, "You know what that movie needed? Fewer scenes with Bill Paxton."
What a king.
One of my favorite scenes ever- Aliens when Paxtons character asks Private Vasquez “anyone ever mistake you for a man?” And her reply “No, you?” I would have been BOUNCING OFF THE WALL if I was there for that burn. So good. He was such a jerk in that movie - love him as a jerk. Oh the guy that tried to seduce Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies! The best
Brianna Barksdale from The Wire is great in Snowfall, too. And is a welcome face on The Pitt. I'm always like "that's D'Angelo's mom!" Michael Hyatt rules.
Also, as the dad of a toddler right now, I agree that we shouldn't COMPLETELY DISCOUNT that the toddler instigated the stabbing or otherwise facilitated it. It's highly unlikely, but it's not IMPOSSIBLE.
She has also been on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Alien: Earth. Michael Hyatt's got range!
Sorry to disagree, Shea, but Brianna Barksdale from The Wire turned into Dr. Akopian from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for me. Once you see her sing you can't go back.
She sings?????????????????????
https://youtu.be/OG6HZMMDEYA?si=DFtuUafn8POiwX5L
THAT'S what I know her from!
THANK you!
One of those movies that makes you go "That was really good. I don't know if I'll ever want to watch that again."
I'm finding out while working on GOOD MOVIE that maybe I kind of love those sorts of movies.
That Tour de Mexico joke at the end was perfect, awesome job, no notes. 😂
Like Tracy McGrady throwing alley-oops to himself off the backboard, lol.
Maybe my favorite good movie yet and I had never seen it before. What a heater. I like to think of GOOD MOVIE like a weekly watch recommendation from someone who knows a lot more about movies than I do. Like that episode of Seinfeld where the video rental employees all publish their “picks”.
Thanks for the introduction and for a great essay as always Shea.
I really like the thing of all of us watching the same movie or thinking about the same movie each week. It's such a nice bit of respite to be able to log on and chat with everybody. It feels like a real community.
I was in such a rush to post my joke about Ted Chaough from Mad Men’s big eyes that I forgot my real comment:
I rewatched in advance of this week and I had either forgotten or missed entirely the first time that it features one of the most quietly terrifying lines I’ve ever heard.
Lou is talking about the home invasion news story and says “If I had a family and I lived in a home, that might make me nervous.”
And the thing is… we’ve seen his apartment.
Not much of it, but we’ve seen it. It’s not much of an apartment but it’s still clearly where he lives. He doesn’t say “If I had a family and I lived in a fancy house” or “If I had a family and I lived in a nice neighborhood”
He says “If I lived in a home.”
We’ve SEEN his home!
Gyllenhaal plays Bloom as such an unsettling freak with almost no sign of his actual interior life that this small, seemingly casual line becomes an initially perplexing and then chilling glimpse into how he views the world.
“if I lived in a home”
What does Lou think that apartment is?
What does he think “a home” is?
One of the interviews I watched, Gyllenhaal was talking about how Lou is a product of the internet. That's why he talks in either (a) vague generalities, or (b) tidbits of very specific trivia. He never offers any sort of insight he's learned on his own. I imagine if you asked him what exactly a "home" was, he'd rattle off some dictionary version of a definition rather than what you or I might offer up.
This is so spot on.
He totally acts as if he memorized tech bro business success motivational speech, and uses those lessons to interact with people.
Spends his nights up in the Hollywood mountains with the other coyotes memorizing some shit book titled "How To Dominate Every Negotiation".
This makes me want to see the magical realism version of the movie where Lou Bloom is an actual coyote who is cursed and/or granted a wish to become human and learns how to behave by watching finance bros on YouTube.
I agree that Gyllenhaal deserved an Oscar nomination, so who are we throwing out:
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything (the Oscar winner)
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
I admittedly have only seen Birdman of the movies above, but it feels like Bradley Cooper is the weak link and could easily be replaced with Jake's portrayal of Lou Bloom.
A theme in GOOD MOVIE seems to be Oscar snubs - Amy Adams in Arrival, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems, Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. Apparently the GOOD MOVIE general consensus is that the Academy doesn't know what it's doing (and it doesn't - haha).
Very much related, Shea named all the great movies from 2014 (I think 20 in total were named), but only mentioned 2 of the 8 best picture nominees (Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel). How Interstellar didn't get in is a mystery to me.
I would happily lose literally any of the people in that group to make room for Gyllenhaal. (And while we're at it, we can throw out any two others to make room for McConaughey in Interstellar and Miles Teller in Whiplash.)
My five would probably be Gyllenhaal (winner), McConaughey, Teller, Keaton, and Tom Hardy from The Drop as a surprise dark horse pick.
Tossup between pushing out Cooper or Cumberbatch, IMO (both good actors but those were not their best showings).
I was surprised how crazy people went for Cooper in American Sniper. I think he's been really great in some other stuff, but that performance just didn't really register for me.
If the Oscars like biopic performances so much they should give them their own category. Toss all of them but Keaton.
Keaton (Birdman)
McConaughey (Interstellar)
Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
Teller (Whiplash)
Ralph Fiennes (Grand Budapest Hotel) (winner)
another great essay! I had never see this movie, but it sure is great. also, this was hilarious:
[imagine me whispering this in the smallest, quietest, most discreet whisper possible]
…I kinda respect it.
If I could've used a smaller font, I absolutely would've.
I hope Kevin Rahm/Ted Chaough from Mad Men reads this and is appropriately honored that in a 5,000+ word review of Nightcrawler, the only mention of big eyes was about him.
Ted Chaough from Mad Men, we know you're out there. Show yourself.
He knows. His character on Scrubs' defining quality was: *sparkly eyes*
The way they kept shining the sunlight on his face, lolol. I miss Scrubs a lot. Did you see they're making a new season?
Heck yeah. Can't wait!
I feel like the lack of backstory on Lou works the same way it does for the Joker from The Dark Knight. It makes them like, less of a person and more of a phantom alien thing.
Shit, now I’m imagining that the Joker and Lou are actually brothers, both completely insane but vastly different skillsets
I just realized that the actors for each of them were the leads for Brokeback Mountain, as intensely human a movie as you’ll find, totally the opposite of Nightcrawler and TDK.
Movies, man
Movies, man.