Film Review: AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000)

Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Bret Easton Ellis (novel), Mary Harron & Guinevere Turner (screenplay)
Running time: 97 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Crime/Drama
UK Release date: 21^st April 2000

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 3^rd March 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Believe it or not, I had never seen this film before today; it’s one I’ve obviously wanted to see for a long time, but it’s always eluded me. I must say it was worth the wait; a very interesting take on the psychotic killer motif with one truly remarkable performance from Christian Bale. I should say that I’ve never read the book on which it’s based so I can’t compare it with the literary work but here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

It’s the 1980’s; a time of excess and there’s no one better at it than New York company Vice President Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale). But despite the money, the beautiful fiancée, Evelyn Williams (Reese Witherspoon) and a great apartment; he’s not happy. See Patrick has a secret; one that’s about to make his life very difficult. See, he’s a psychopathic killer and in a fit of jealousy he’s just murdered one of his colleagues. This brings in a detective, Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe) who begins to poke about and Patrick is afraid he might discover more that he’s supposed to. This doesn’t stop him carrying on his ‘hobby’, he even nearly kills his own secretary Jean (Chloë Sevigny). But as time passes we can see he’s unravelling and it’s getting worse, even to the point where you begin to doubt what’s real and what’s just in his head. I think I’ll leave it there…

First off, Christian Bale is totally excellent in this part; because I’ve seen all the Batman films before seeing this, it came as a bit of a culture shock to see him in this particular role. But he carries it off brilliantly! I love the way his character’s narration overlay’s the images and the musical references are worked in so well. It’s a really well made film too with a pretentious cuisine and big chunky telephones taking us back to the 80’s. Having not read the book I did find some of it a little hard to follow, but I’ll add it to the reading list and give this one another look afterwards. Definitely worth a look though, if just for Bale’s performance.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 8.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.6/10 (based on 202,870 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0144084/

MetaScore: 64/100: (Based on 35 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 67/100 (based on 141 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 83/100 (based on 262,961 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_psycho/

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http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Evelyn Williams: Thousands of roses and lots of chocolate truffles. Godiva, and oysters in the half-shell.
Patrick Bateman: [Bateman narrating] I'm trying to listen to the new Robert Palmer tape, but Evelyn, my supposed fiancée, keeps buzzing in my ear.
Evelyn Williams: Annie Leibovitz. We'll get Annie Leibovitz. And we'll have to get someone to videotape. Patrick, we should do it.
Patrick Bateman: Do what?
Evelyn Williams: Get married. Have a wedding.
Patrick Bateman: No, I can't take the time off work.
Evelyn Williams: Your father practically owns the company. You can do anything you like, silly.
Patrick Bateman: I don't want to talk about it.
Evelyn Williams: You hate that job anyway. I don't see why you just don't quit.
Patrick Bateman: Because I want to fit in.

Patrick Bateman: You're a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood.

Evelyn Williams: What about the past?
Patrick Bateman: We never really shared one.

Waiter: Would you like to hear today's specials?
Patrick Bateman: Not if you want to keep your spleen.

Patrick Bateman: He was into that whole Yale thing.
Donald Kimball: Yale thing?
Patrick Bateman: Yeah, Yale thing.
Donald Kimball: What whole Yale thing?
Patrick Bateman: Well, for one thing, I think he was probably a closet homosexual who did a lot of cocaine. That whole Yale thing.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: MR. NICE (2010)

Director: Bernard Rose
Writers: Howard Marks (book), Bernard Rose (screenplay)
Running time: 121 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Biography/Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 8^th October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 9^th February 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I can’t claim to have known too much about this one before giving it a look; I have seen/heard Rhys Ifans interviewed quite a few times and this is one of his films that gets a lot of mentions. On the strength of this I decided to give it the once over. Not the best production ever, but quite a compelling (true) story nonetheless. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Based on his book, we are told the story of Mr. Nice; a.k.a. Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans). From his humble beginnings in a small town in Wales, on to Oxford University and then into the world of international drug smuggling. On the way he meets his wife, Judy (Chloë Sevigny) and is involved with an IRA arms dealer, Jim McCann (David Thewlis). He is recruited by MI6, lies in court but is eventually brought to justice. It’s quite an enthralling tale but one I ultimately found was very unbalanced (more on that later).

I don’t know whether it was deliberate or not, but I found the picture quality very poor. It may have been to make it look more like a period piece, but more likely it was the best the budget would allow. I thought Rhys Ifans did an excellent job, although he never seems to age all through the film! I loved the small part David Thewlis played; the mad-cap Irishman was just brilliant. As to the plot; well I found it far too sympathetic to Marks; not surprising since it was based on his book I hear you say. But I would have thought the filmmakers would have put a little balance in there; what effect did all the drugs he sold all over the world have? How many innocent lives were affected? All this seemed inconsequential and probably explains why, despite some excellent performances, the film didn’t perform very well both at the box office and also critically. For me, whilst I enjoyed the performances, I found it a little too self-indulgent.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (…Just)

My score: 5.8/10.

IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 3,571 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1183911/?ref_=sr_1

MetaScore: 60/100: (Based on 14 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 55/100 (based on 44 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 43/100 (based on 3,776 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_nice/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Howard Marks: A dealer is really just someone who buys more dope than he can smoke. And I have to say, I'm ashamed, I tried to smoke it all. There was just too fuckin' much of it.

LINKS:
(NOTE: All links were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer: