I watched this drama / thriller featuring Jake Gyllenhaal a couple weeks ago, but haven’t posted about it yet cause I’ve been traveling back and forth over the pacific ocean.
In this movie, Jake plays an out of work sociopath who starts out stealing chain link fences to sell for scrap metal, then finds his calling in hawking footage of accidents and crimes to news stations.
The concept of this movie is really intriguing, and it portrays the news stations as greedy companies who market and sell tragedy. What really sells this film though, is Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance. He manages to be unnervingly creepy and likable at the same time, and you really feel like you can see the manipulative workings turning in his head through the look in his eyes.
If you aren’t already disgusted with TV news, you will be after watching this. Regardless of how realistic it is or not, the fact that it’s believable should tell you something. This story really highlights the exploitative and manipulative nature of the news, and Gyllenhaal’s character is like a personification of those characteristics. He exploits his one employee, in the most extreme way possible. He manipulates and coerces the TV executives. And he fits right in in that world.
This is a fast paced, exciting, thoughtful, and slightly disturbing and dark movie that will make you question the morality of what you see on TV, if you don’t already. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark movies, or anyone who wants to see an especially good performance.
Check it out!
Jonas David 
Spoiler review here: I am surprised you didn’t write about how he blackmails Nina for sex. I am surprised that he did do that. And I am surprised Nina just gave in to it. I am also surprised that he would think fucking her meant controlling her because she could really pull the switch on him on many occasions. Do you think he did for a sense of feeling he is in control of the situation? Though by later statements it seems Nina didn’t do everything he wanted in bed so she was also using cards to deflect him.
Ah yes, I did forget to mention that specifically, and it definitely subtracted from his likability at the end there, as did some … other stuff he did. I don’t think he did it to control her really. I got the impression that he just views everything as a transaction. He has no care about what she wants, he only sees what he wants and how he can ‘purchase’ it.