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Nightcrawler, directed by Dan Gilroy

(R, 117 minutes)

Camera phones and high-definition camcorders allow competitive local TV broadcast affiliates to gather sensational footage every minute of the day. This footage is employed to attract the attention of perpetually bored viewers and creates a market for a new, unsavory time of journalism, which stalks the streets at all hours, looking for the latest gory disaster.

Among them are sociopath Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal). His hollow eyes and mechanical speech let us know he's an empty shell, a chameleon capable of adopting any identity necessary to masquerade as some sort of human to the outside world. To this end, he finds the perfect career path: recording violent crimes, horrific car wrecks and deadly house fires, along with their aftermath, and selling his footage to Nina (Rene Russo), the news director of Los Angeles' lowest-rated newscasts.

As Louis learns to produce shocking videos by re-arranging existing crime scenes, he becomes more and more indispensable to Nina. His success, and his no-qualms approach to sabotaging competitors, enables him to expand his business. Who needs ethics when you're making money?

Gyllenhaal is absolutely in his element (remember Donny Darko? Enemy?), reveling in yet another creepy character who lacks a moral center. That he is praised, and eventually exalted, for his twisted efforts, is entirely the point of this haunting, electrifying film. With Bill Paxton, Kevin Rahm, Riz Ahmed, Ann Cusack.

Addicted (R, 105 minutes) Just the thing for snuggling together with a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter night: A soapy drama, populated by very pretty people, about sex addiction. It's not well-written or brilliantly performed, but so what? Based on a best-selling erotic novel by Zane (the pseudonym of Kristina Laferne Roberts), the story concerns Zoe (Sharon Leal), a seemingly happily married mother of two who has this annoyingly overpowering sex drive. Coming to her rescue: a series of lovers (among them William Levy and Tyson Beckford). Trying to help: her therapist (Tasha Smith). Not for everyone. Directed by Bille Woodruff.

Rosewater (R, 103 minutes) The Daily Show's Jon Stewart makes his directorial debut with this earnest, competent but unexceptional based-on-a-true-story of Canadian broadcast journalist Maziar Bahari (played by Gael Garcia Bernal), who returns to Iran, where he was born, to interview a political candidate and ends up being arrested, interrogated and tortured over 118 days. With Haluk Bilginer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Claire Foy.

Laggies (R, 99 minutes) Unlike director Lynn Shelton's previous good work (Your Sister's Sister, Touchy Feely), Laggies is shallow, smug and myopic in telling the story of 28-year-old slacker Meagan (Keira Knightley) who, despite a fine education and plenty of opportunities, can't get it together to make something of herself. A chance encounter with a bunch of high schoolers lets her resume an adolescent existence while getting to cheat on her sweet, dull boyfriend (Mark Webber) with the disenchanted divorce-lawyer dad (Sam Rockwell) of one of her new adolescent pals (Chloe Grace Moretz). Why would anybody come up with a plot like this? With Jeff Garlin, Kaitlyn Dever, Gretchen Mol.

Force Majeure (R, 120 minutes) Tense, unpredictable and unnerving, this edgy psychodrama portrays a handsome, seemingly perfect Swedish family's breakdown after husband Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) reacts in a cowardly manner to an almost-devastating avalanche while on a skiing holiday. His wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), fierce about defending their preteen children, doesn't like what she sees in her husband. But she takes her time in letting him know. With Vincent Wettergren; directed by Ruben Ostlund. Subtitled.

In Your Eyes (unrated, 105 minutes) From director Brin Hill and writer/producer Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) comes this curious, clever, dialogue-laden romance between prim doctor's wife Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) and attractive ex-convict Dylan (Michael Stahl-David), who have a weird sort of metaphysical connection. With Nikki Reed, Mark Feuerstein, Jennifer Grey.

MovieStyle on 02/13/2015

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