NIGHTCRAWLER: It's a Game Where They Crawl Around in the Night Like Worms

In which Jake Gyllenhaal finally makes his X-Men debut.

Director: Dan Gilroy
Writer: Dan Gilroy
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton
Runtime: 117 mins.
2014

The brilliant feat of Nightcrawler is that it manages to be scathingly political without ever emphasizing that that's what it has on its mind. I tend to be suspicious of art that brands itself as "political" because it's often obvious... on the nose... self-important. At any rate, I've found that every work of art is political in its own way, consciously or no, and the most effective art is frequently covert or subtle when it comes to that affiliation.

Nightcrawler is a savage takedown of capitalism and news journalism, without pretending to be anything more or less than a crackling thriller. Maybe movies like these are the most politically important, since the plot and premise are enough to get them greenlit by the studios, and the themes and motifs are enough to make the audience question established moneymaking systems like the studios that approved them. It's a neat trick, one that I noticed recently in The Lego Movie, of all things.

The catalyst for all the action that unfolds is Lewis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal): sociopath, fence-stealer, smooth talker, professional miscreant. The lurid fluorescent setting of Los Angeles does not surround Lewis Bloom--Lewis Bloom penetrates Los Angeles. Nothing happens outside of his desire for it to happen, a desire that is at once monstrous and coolly efficient. The machine of his will encounters resistance, to be sure; the world does not bend to accommodate Lewis, nor does Lewis bend to accommodate the world. He reaches out and forcibly twists the world into the shape of his choosing. He is a god to those around him, and this god in turn prays to the sacred altar of the television.

INTERSTELLAR: A Galaxy Far Near Away

In which LOVE was the universal constant ALL ALONG.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Bill Irwin, John Lithgow, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi, Casey Affleck, Josh Stewart, Topher Grace, Mackenzie Foy, and a secret
Runtime: 169 mins.
2014

Director Christopher Nolan has been something of a hot button issue lately. Ever since the cultural zeitgeist that was The Dark Knight released to rave reviews and ravenous ticket sales, Nolan has had a legion of devoted fanboys. I use that term particularly: I here consider fanboyism the state of devoting oneself to a cultural property to the point of ignoring and/or actively seeking to debunk that property's flaws. Not every Nolan fan is a fanboy, though he certainly has plenty--to the point of alienating many of those on the fence about his work. Understandably so. When you try to have a conversation about the quirky blemishes of a director's craft, only to be stonewalled with denials and insults again and again, I can see how you might sour on the director in question.

Thus a party of so-called anti-Nolanites has arisen, critical of Nolan's work, but more critical of the culture surrounding it. Meanwhile the Nolanites fire back with increased vitriol, and the fence-sitters shake their heads, possibly falling off the fence due to vertigo. The talking point at the center of all this hooplah has, of course, been Interstellar.

STARGATE: A Galaxy Near Near Away

In which Kurt Russell teaches an alien human how to smoke.

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Cast: James Spader, Kurt Russell, Jaye Davidson
Runtime: 121 mins.
1994

Only after I started watching Stargate did I realize how complementary it was to Christopher Nolan's new blockbuster film event, Interstellar. Both feature humans traveling through wormholes to the far reaches of the universe. Both are directed by men known for their summer popcorn bombast (though Roland Emmerich wouldn't enter the cultural consciousness in a big way until his next movie, Independence Day). They're both... did I mention the outer space stuff?

I've run out of similarities so soon because, for all its flaws, Interstellar is a movie with heart, soul, and an artistic vision. Stargate is a movie with three independent fight scenes all taking place in the same poorly designed, Egyptian-themed, paintball-esque corridor.

Going into this movie, I didn't realize that it was the source material for the decently popular decades-spanning television franchise that included the shows Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate: Universe. It makes sense. A world in which we humans have discovered a centuries-old wormhole device that allows us to dial in to different destinations in the universe--the premise of the Stargate movie and the subsequent shows--would provide much fodder for syndicated entertainment. Indeed, the only part of the movie worth anything at all is the initial anticipation of what will be found on the other side of that portal. Emmerich is in a hurry to do away with that wonder. The characters enter the portal and nobody seems all that impressed by the alien world they have discovered, nor is it all that impressive. However, I'm guessing wonder plays more of a factor in the television show. It's always nice when folks can rip a good idea from the clutches of fools.