‘Nightmare Alley’ review: Bradley Cooper swindles his way to the top in Guillermo del Toro’s gorgeous carnival melodrama

I love the way Guillermo del Toro spends a production budget. The director-fabulist behind “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape of Water” and other trancelike stories wants us to feel, and smell, and taste what he does. The worlds he creates on screen are a part of the world around us, as well as a different one, sprung from his imagination, in cahoots with some brilliant designers.

“Nightmare Alley” is del Toro’s latest exercise in methodical cinematic