Nightcrawler, Mr Turner and Interstellar

David Cronenberg would have been proud of making Nightcrawler. But it is the screenwriter Dan Gilroy that is the first time director here. And what a great movie he has made. Jake Gyllenhaal has given us the most deliciously obnoxious hero I can remember. Surprisingly, Rene Russo (who happens to be married to the director) is not far behind. Jake as Lou Bloom finds his vocation trawling the nighttime streets of LA with his gullible assistant, a police radio, a GPS and a camera to find the most gruesome crimes or crashes that the TV station will broadcast. The movie has pace, is always gripping and assaults your brain and your heart. Excellent, except for the awful trailer that included important moments from the last half hour.

It must be awards season as the movies have just got a whole lot longer. Mr Turner is a fine film but half an hour too long. Apart from the magnificent award winning performance from Timothy Spall, I liked the way that so many shots were framed like a beautiful painting. Mike Leigh and his regular cinematographer Dick Pope (could he win an Oscar?) have created something colourfully special. There is an absolutely huge cast among whom there are stand out contributions from Dorothy Atkinson as his housekeeper, Marion Bailey as Mrs Booth and a real cameo from David Horovitch as Dr Price.

Baffling, complicated, sciencefreaky, provoking, impossible, silly, flawed, awesome. Christopher Nolan has this time stretched our credulity to the limit and beyond. If you just go with the flow  Interstellar works superbly well as a huge science fiction blockbuster. But there are so many unanswered questions that it does try your patience. I thought the performances from Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway were quite strange as if they were not sure who they were. But the action sequences were well done and there were times when the film was gripping. Although there were also times that it was too reminiscent of the too recent Gravity. and it was even more too long. Finally, never ask me to explain the ending.