Nightmare Alley

It's almost like Woody Allen is a co-director, giving hints about music and cast and story and more. And what at cast! Cooper and Colette great. The achingly beautiful art decor sets push into noir oddness. Beautiful start to finish. But a mid-point switch in tone feels like an important scene is on the cutting room floor. A final big con isn't the final BIG scene, and oh how it works is mesmerizing; del Toro borrows a final shot from Allen's masterpiece 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' and slams it all out of the ballpark. Almost perfect.

It looks lovely with del Toro's usual flair for sumptuous visuals, cinematography and production design, but despite many engaging parts, ‘Nightmare Alley' isn't as entirely as gripping as I'd hoped, in large part because it's too long and often feels like it's not getting very far at a sensible pace. That being said, the core story is fantastic and the committed performances from a great cast often manage to sell it despite shortcomings. A particularly strong third act and finale really ends things on a high note.

Fairly long., but wonderful atmosphere and acting. I enjoyed the entire movie all the way to the end. If you can devote 2 and a half hours, watch this movie.

Personally, I thought it was riveting all the way through. One of, if not the best movie I've seen in the past few years. Truly an incredible storyline and some awesome themes to explore. I feel like its a movie that will reveal new things every rewatch.

What a waste, movie is overrated and all over the place no storyline to follow, shouldn't deserve two hours screentime

Not sure if I totally got it. Liked whatever I did. Welcome return to form for Mr. Cooper. And what a star cast.

It's going to take another watch or two to form my opinion, but I liked it. It was super captivating and Cate Blanchett was phenomenal, but it almost felt like something was missing from Stan's character. Idk. I'll definitely need to watch this again though.

Guillermo Del Toro will never cease to prove how unique his direction. This entire movie relies on his peculiar yet brilliant vision and how he manages to make each character truly stand out. And visually? A stunning piece of work. Cooper does a wonderful job and his chemistry with Blanchett is spot on.

Beautiful filming, brilliant actors, but my god it was so slow and by the half way mark I had to keep fast forwarding like it was a weekly soap.

plot twist, terrifying and cautivating