116 minute running time so at least 20 to 30 minutes too long … my young trading buddy Joe recommended this one, but I wasn’t thrilled … the opening sequence of morbidly obese old women dancing naked (performance art, ya know) was so horrific that I had to block the screen with my hand until it had passed … story of Jake Gyllenhaal’s wife and daughter being abducted didn’t ring true because young Jake is quite fit and he would have fought like an animal before what happen happened.

Anyway, gaunt Michael Shannon really steals the show, he’s so good (Take Shelter was a Top Ten movie of mine from whatever year that was, and of course who can forget Agent Van Alden), and a youngster named Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the lead psychopath and he’s also very good. But the movie was weirdly structured (two stories in one) and as I said, the main story didn’t ring true, so you can give this one a pass, not recommended.

Barry Hertz: “a ridiculous, high-camp mess that could easily be mistaken for substance, if it weren't so irredeemably silly … the entire endeavour reeks of self-congratulatory wit and a visual style so cold it could freeze the sun.”

I’ll give the great Rex Reed the final word in his perfect review: “… Ford never finds the proper way to blend the complex narratives into a coherent and cohesive structure … ‘Nocturnal Animals’ is dark as the night sky, twice as empty.”

They said the case wasn’t well prepared, was a sloppy job, slapdash, no evidence, evidence gathered improperly, won’t stand up in court.