The Gilroys are probably one of Hollywood’s lesser known dynasties. 89-year-old patriarch Frank D. Gilroy is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Subject Was Roses as well as a screenwriter, producer and director whose TV and film career goes back to the 1950s. His son Tony Gilroy earned Oscar nominations for writing and directing 2007’s Michael Clayton. His son Dan Gilroy is a current Oscar nominee for his screenplay for Nightcrawler, which also marks his long-delayed directorial debut. Dan’s fraternal twin, John Gilroy, is a long-time editor who was nominated for BAFTAs for both Michael Clayton and Nightcrawler. Several other family members are also in the business including Dan Gilroy’s fascinating actress wife, Rene Russo.

Nightwcrawler was one of 2014’s best films and one that should have received more Oscar nominations than just the one for Gilroy’s screenplay. Brother John’s editing should have been nominated and so should have the performances of the film’s three stars, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed and Mrs. Gilroy (Rene Russo).

Gyllenhaal plays a cocky fast learner who put himself into the news stories he covers as a freelance Los Angeles photographer. Ahmed (Four Lions, The Reluctant Fundamentalist) is his eager assistant and Russo (Get Shorty), still a knockout at 60, is the tough news director Gyllenhaal coerces into buying his material. Bill Paxton co-stars as Gyllenhaal’s reluctant mentor. Anyone who thinks Gyllenhaal’s Louis Bloom really isn’t as bad as he seems will surely get a shock in the film’s climactic scene involving Ahmed’s wary but ultimately too trusting Rick.

Nightcrawler is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Jeremy Renner gives his best performance since The Hurt Locker as San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb in Michael Cuesta’s Kill the Messenger. Webb was the reporter who in the mid-1990s uncovered the CIA’s involvement in the mid-1980s with Nicaraguan drug traffickers. After reporting that the CIA imported cocaine from Nicaragua to sell to Americans and give the profits back to the traffickers to use in funding the Contra rebels, Webb became the target of a CIA smear campaign that discredited him and led to his alleged suicide. The suicide is alleged because Webb purportedly shot himself twice in the head, something experts say is impossible.

Rosemarie DeWitt, as Renner’s wife, and Lucas Hedges as his eldest son also turn in excellent performances. Oliver Platt, Andy Garcia and Michael Sheen are among the many players who turn up in key supporting roles.

Kill the Messenger is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Keanu Reeves had his best role since The Matrix as the hit man forced out of retirement in Chad Stahelski’s John Wick. Playing a man whose wife has just died of cancer only to have his grieving interrupted by vicious second generation Russian-American thugs who invade his home, beat him, steal his car and kill his dog. He then goes on the warpath against what seems like the entire Los Angeles branch of the Russians Mafia. Michael Nyqvist (Dragon Tattoo Trilogy) plays the chief villain, the father of the dog killer, while Willem Dafoe, John Leguizamo and Ian McShane play characters who may be on either side. Bridget Moynihan is more than a bit over-the-top as a female assassin in the film which is certainly never dull. Great art it isn’t, but entertaining it is.

John Wick is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.

The Best of Me is the ninth novel written by the prolific Nicholas Sparks to have been filmed since 1999. Two more are in post-production.

The latest film from the author, whose best known work remains The Notebook, was filmed in three locations in Louisiana where the story takes place. Dawson (James Marsden) is an oil rig operator and Amanda (Michelle Monaghan) is the wife of a successful alcoholic businessman who ignores her. They are former high school sweethearts who are reunited at the funeral of a long ago friend (Gerald McRaney) and are played in flashback by Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato. Will the reunion lead to a happy ending? It depends on whether you watch the film with the theatrical ending or the alternate “tears of joy” version.

The film has a Metacritic score of 29 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 8. It was a big flop at the box office. Word of mouth was also very poor, but the negativity is mostly due to the film’s incredibly stupid ending. The “tears of joy” edition makes much more sense and leaves audiences with a lump in their throat, not a pain in their heart. That’s the only version to watch.

The Best of Me is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD. Both feature both versions but the two versions are separate streaming buys.

Frances McDormand gives an extraordinary performance in her SAG Award-winning role in the TV miniseries Olive Kitteridge directed by Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right). The Oscar-winning actress (Fargo) has never been better than as the small town Maine woman who is a middle-school math teacher in episode one and a retired housewife in the remaining three episodes. Though her character does not suffer fools gladly, she is nevertheless a woman of compassion who saves the life of a suicidal young man (Cory Michael Smith) and brings autumnal hope to a melancholy widower (Bill Murray) after the prolonged illness and death of her own husband, the town’s pharmacist (Richard Jenkins).

The acting all around is first rate with Jenkins and Murray, who were also nominated for SAG awards, almost as good as McDormand. John Gallagher, Jr. as her podiatrist son and the aforementioned Smith as the suicidal psychiatrist also excel in their major supporting roles. Smith, who has the lead in Todd Haynes’ forthcoming film of Patricia Highsmith’s Carol opposite Cate Blanchett, is a talent to watch. The only sour note is Zoe Kazan who plays the mousey object of Jenkins’ affections all too convincingly.

Olive Kitteridge is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

This week’s new releases include Birdman and The Theory of Everything.