I watched "American Psycho" last night on blu ray. Hadn't seen it in years. The quality was amazing. Sound was excellent.
I actually think this film is a near masterpiece. It was much, much funnier than I had remembered (time has increased it's humor). It's basically a put down of the excessive decade of Reagan and the '80's and all the crazy clothes and big hair etc. There's much black comedy--yuppies comparing their business cards---the paper texture, the color, the fonts, the engraving...
Later after Patrick Bateman (a very hot Christian Bale) has killed Paul Allen (a very moist Jared Leto) with an axe in his all-white apartment without getting a single drop of blood on the walls---he sneaks into Allen's apartment to try to make it look like he's gone away out of town...when he first enters, Bale's breathy voice over says something like, "When I first entered Paul's apartment there was a moment of abject terror---as I realized his place was much nicer than mine and has a better view..." That made me laugh out loud. It's that kind of humor all the way through.
It wasn't nearly as bloody as I had thought and what there is of that is so tempered by the amusing dialog that it's not very bothersome. It's definitely NOT a horror film because the "horror" elements are so tongue and cheek. The scenes of a very naked Christian Bale running down the hallway of his condo chasing a hooker with a chainsaw are so nutty that they're actually funny.
It was directed by a woman...so that gives it a feminist vibe that I don't think a male could have achieved. And Christian Bale is VERY hot in this movie walking around in his tightie-whities. He's a guy who is obsessed with his physical appearance so there is much skin to take in.
The voice over at the beginning with him showering while you hear him explaining his unbelievably complex morning face-cleansing regimen is hysterical. The music really took me back too---as Bale's character is obsessed with Phil Collins, Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston and apparently in the book there is an entire chapter devoted to each artist! But the music and the club scenes etc really brought back the 1980's.
It's clever and dark and funny. I could even imagine Stanley Kubrick doing something similar with that kind of material.
I actually think this film is a near masterpiece. It was much, much funnier than I had remembered (time has increased it's humor). It's basically a put down of the excessive decade of Reagan and the '80's and all the crazy clothes and big hair etc. There's much black comedy--yuppies comparing their business cards---the paper texture, the color, the fonts, the engraving...
Later after Patrick Bateman (a very hot Christian Bale) has killed Paul Allen (a very moist Jared Leto) with an axe in his all-white apartment without getting a single drop of blood on the walls---he sneaks into Allen's apartment to try to make it look like he's gone away out of town...when he first enters, Bale's breathy voice over says something like, "When I first entered Paul's apartment there was a moment of abject terror---as I realized his place was much nicer than mine and has a better view..." That made me laugh out loud. It's that kind of humor all the way through.
It wasn't nearly as bloody as I had thought and what there is of that is so tempered by the amusing dialog that it's not very bothersome. It's definitely NOT a horror film because the "horror" elements are so tongue and cheek. The scenes of a very naked Christian Bale running down the hallway of his condo chasing a hooker with a chainsaw are so nutty that they're actually funny.
It was directed by a woman...so that gives it a feminist vibe that I don't think a male could have achieved. And Christian Bale is VERY hot in this movie walking around in his tightie-whities. He's a guy who is obsessed with his physical appearance so there is much skin to take in.
The voice over at the beginning with him showering while you hear him explaining his unbelievably complex morning face-cleansing regimen is hysterical. The music really took me back too---as Bale's character is obsessed with Phil Collins, Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston and apparently in the book there is an entire chapter devoted to each artist! But the music and the club scenes etc really brought back the 1980's.
It's clever and dark and funny. I could even imagine Stanley Kubrick doing something similar with that kind of material.