It’s hard to talk about Nocturnal Animals without giving much away. You can watch the trailer and still have no idea what the movie is about (just a bunch of serious actors looking serious, saying serious things, kind of like the Next Week on Mad Men commercials), and I think that is the best way to go into this movie. I will say you can add it to my previous list of favorite Jake Gyllenhaal movies, probably at #2 or #3. I will say it features the most intense sequence of the year. I will say that between this and Arrival, Amy Adams might be the 2016 movie MVP.  I will say that Aaron Taylor-Johnson turns in the most harrowing villain since Heath Ledger’s Joker (I know right? the kid from Kick-Ass? Seriously). And finally, I will say that this movie requires a BIG disclaimer regarding the first 15 or so minutes, especially the opening credits.  I considered walking out of the theater 10 minutes in, thinking this film may be a little too artsy for me (it is made by Tom Ford after all) and that I made a big mistake.  But stick with it, it gets really good once the Gyllenhaal shows up. I’d actually recommend walking into the theater 5 minutes late if possible, because you will find the opening credits unsettling and awkward, I promise you. And to be honest I don’t even know how it relates to the rest of the movie.  Tier 1 – RATED GREG