Marka wody mineralnej Evian odkąd obejrzałem film “American Psycho” kojarzy mi się jednoznacznie z postacią Patricka Bateman’ a. Skojarzenie utrwaliła książka, która była kanwą filmu. Bret Easton Ellis stworzył przewrotną, wielopłaszczyznową powieść napisaną w świetnym stylu. Ale ja właściwie nie o tym. Otóż główny bohater- nowojorski yuppie, a prywatnie sadysta, socjopata i seryjny morderca jak większość osób z jego otoczenia jest przewrażliwiony na punkcie formy i utrzymania młodzieńczego wyglądu. To właśnie on pomiędzy mnóstwem drinków i działkami kokainy pije nieustannie wodę Evian.

Po tym jak obejrzałem sobie nową reklamę Eviana z rozbrykanymi niemowlakami stwierdziłem, że kult młodości sięgnął chyba już najdalej jak się da. Twórcy wyciągnęli mit o wodzie życia połączyli go z bardzo wyraźnym symbolem niemowlaków i puścili na wrotkach po parku. Swoją drogą za te oldschoolowe wrotki to wielki plus. Chociaż to pewnie też specjalny zabieg, aby odwołać się do dzieciństwa odbiorców. Zatem pij Eviana i żyj młodo, cokolwiek to znaczy.

The man in The Observer had it right: the book that Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro most closely resembles, for me, anyway, was a Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho. Like Psycho, Cave’s novel is a quick, compelling book to read, and I finished most of it within the space of one night. The fact that you know how the story is going to end from the very first sentence, from the title, and from the fact that the book is split into three parts the last of which is titled ‘Deadman’, and the fact that the titular Bunny is such a grotesque and loathsome beast, mean that you find yourself pacing through the pages to see how he gets his comeuppance.

Bunny and Psycho are similar in many ways: the importance of pop culture references (80s MOR in the latter, high energy early noughties pop in Cave’s book); the violent, pathological obsession with sex and women’s bodies; the fact that both protagonists have but only the dimmest sense that their actions may be ‘wrong’; and the importance placed on describing the detail of the material world. Both are also infused with a manic and deeply black comedy; I found a rich seam of hilarity in the contrast between Bunny’s view of himself as a debonair, irresistible superman and the fact that he races around Brighton in a bright yellow Fiat Punto covered with seagull droppings, wearing garish shirts and ties with cartoon insignia.

Where The Death of Bunny Munro really differs is that it describes a world which is sordid both fundamentally and on the surface, whereas American Psycho is slick on top, grim below. Cave fills his book with truly stomach-churning descriptions of Bunny’s world: he is so aroused by the sights and sounds of Brighton’s seafront that he pulls over into a sideroad to ejaculate into “a cum-encrusted sock he keeps under the car seat”; a hotel breakfast is “adrift in its sullage of grease”; the man who supplies Bunny with the beauty products he sells to women around town sits obesely in a dark, airless office with a fridge full of lager and a collection of Swedish pornography.

All this repulsiveness made me wonder, after the first fifty pages, whether this was going to be a chore rather than anything like an enjoyable read. But that was giving Cave insufficient credit, of course, because the tale rapidly shifts perspective by introducing the figure of Bunny Junior, Bunny’s nine-year-old son. Bunny Junior gradually takes control of the narrative and, because he is clear-headed, sane, and caring, the reader can view the father’s hideousness from a little more of a distance, rather than being quite so fully immersed in his world. Bunny Junior also provides what the book really needs: a hero, someone to root for.

This tee is paying tribute to American Psycho.
Since yesterday it is availble on Mighty Healthy’s online shop.

Info: MightyHealthy

this video is so cool. incredible that they pulled it off.

There has been a lot of lists running around the web about the best movies from 2000-2009. The sad fact of the matter is that none of the lists have been truly correct. I am a movie aficionado, so making this list will not only be a walk in the park for me, but it will also provide you with the movies that actually were the best from this period. It gives me great honor to present to you the top 30 best movies from 2000-2009…

1. Mar adentro (2004) Director: Alejandro Amenábar
2. Sideways (2004) Director: Alexander Payne
3. Match Point (2005) Director: Woody Allen
4. The Pianist (2002) Director: Roman Polanski
5. There Will Be Blood (2007) Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
6. Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001) Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
7. American Psycho (2000) Director: Mary Harron
8. A Beautiful Mind (2001) Director: Ron Howard
9. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) Director: Peter Weir
10. Adaptation (2002) Director: Spike Jonze
11. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Director: Ang Lee
12. Donnie Darko (2001) Director: Richard Kelly
13. Lost in Translation (2003) Director: Sofia Coppola
14. Juno (2007) Director: Jason Reitman
15. Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Director: Alfonso Cuarón
16. Casino Royale (2006) Director: Martin Campbell
17. The Departed (2006) Director: Martin Scorsese
18. El laberinto del fauno (2006) Director: Guillermo del Toro
19. A History of Violence (2005) Director: David Cronenberg
20. Superbad (2007) Director: Greg Mottola
21. Babel (2006) Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
22. Dogville (2003) Director: Lars von Trier
23. In Good Company (2004) Director: Paul Weitz
24. Wedding Crashers (2005) Director: David Dobkin
25. Grizzly Man (2005) Director: Werner Herzog
26. The Aviator (2004) Director: Martin Scorsese
27. Old School (2003) Director: Todd Philips
28. The Dark Knight (2008) Director: Christopher Nolan
29. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Director: David Fincher
30. Up (2009) Director: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

THE TRAILERS FOR THE TOP 3 BEST MOVIES OF 2000-2009

chloe sevigny – american psycho

A stack of twelve-teen books from the library sit on my desk. Which ones do I read?

A list of books three pages long, three columns wide, size 10 font, Times New Roman typeface is saved on my computer in alphabetical order. It’s been growing at a rate much faster than that which the strikethrough lines have been inching their way through titles since my second year in undergrad. Which ones do I read?

I have a file in my drawer of hanging files for writing related things that says “fresh ideas.” In there are upwards of twenty pieces of chit paper from the receipt printer at the restaurant that have handfuls of favorite book titles written by dozens of co-workers since 2005 to the present and counting – books these individuals who I come to love think I should read. Which ones should I, then, read?

***

It’s been years since I’ve seen the movie American Psycho.  I guess I don’t remember distinct series’ of scenes like you sometimes do from movies you watched years ago that made an impact.  I remember the cover -  Christian Bale’s character, a rich face sliding out from behind a gleaming knife blade and all of it rising from a dark, ominous background.  I remember him living a lie.  I remember addiction in everything.  And too much of everything.  But I never did read the book.  Maybe with intention, maybe not.  But I also didn’t believe in much of anything then – and that plays a part.

Bret Easton Ellis was recommended to me by a friend more recently, however, and I reevaluated my reasoning for abstaining from this literature…any literature for that matter.  Let me break for a moment to be very clear.  I love to read. Love.  Love.  Love.  Forget time management and graduate school and the fact that lately, I’m notoriously tired despite the twelve hours of sleep I’m getting each day.  I still worship the written word and have upwards of nine items on hold in the South Suburban Library System at any given time.  I consider my reading palette vast and open-minded and I try to keep it that way intentionally.   I enjoy reading about things that I don’t know about; after all, isn’t part of the fun in it all the fact that we are humbled by the thrill of learning more than we know?  Okay, since we’re all clear on that, we can return to our regularly scheduled program.

Ellis writes novels like American Psycho based primarily on a style called social satire.  There are a number of views on this style and even more nuanced views when Ellis’s particular work comes into play, none of which I am going to spend any time slicing and dicing.  I explored them and if you care, you can – but you won’t.  Because this was my little project and research component to make a relatively small personal decision about my own reading habits.  And it worked, and I did, and Ellis got the boot.

Most of my skepticism is in the fact that I don’t really buy into Ellis’s concept of social satire as a justification for how he breaks the rules of literature.  I’ll use another author here as a foil.  I think my favorite author is David Foster Wallace.    He recently died tragically by suicide in his forties, a brilliant man.  Wallace broke all the rules.  They do say in writing that you have to know the rules in order to break them.  And that you have to follow them for some time before gaining the respect to prance around as an acclaimed rule-breaker.  Both true  to the deepest degree of Wallace.  My historical background of Ellis isn’t strong.  It’s weak, in fact.  But those who talk him up to me attach Rules of Attraction to his name as a foundational work – you know, one that will cause recognition to bloom in hesitant faces.  Rules of Attraction follows no rules.  From what I’m learning about Ellis, he’s not a guy who cares one lick about following literary rules.  Maybe he just has his own plan to follow and it’s a smidge out-of-context with the American literary scene.  He seems a bit self-obsessed and it crawls into his novels about every third publication, so maybe that’s a factor.  I’m not sure.  But he’s too rebellious of a genre and an art that I respect for me to support his riots.

In essence: Ellis produces this piece of artwork (his novel, American Psycho) that claims to be a social satire on the era of excess that the 1980’s spends its days spiraling towards.  The novel is a hit with a huge crowd of folks for its brilliance in capturing the overwhelming concept of excess hidden behind a day-to-day facade.  The form and shape that excess takes in Ellis’s novel borders literary pornography, with violence in detail far beyond a plot-driven need.  The excess that society has derailed into is disgusting, true to a fault.  But Ellis does not capture this.  Ellis fails to socially comment on excess, but instead adulterates the literary functions that artists with his gift are offered with the pen and the page.  Using violence, or any other display of excess, I think Ellis could have depicted a rise above this pattern of social demise and cleverly commented on American excess in the 80’s.  Instead of commenting on the nation’s patterns, he participates shamelessly in them.

Hace un tiempo Zero, un lector del blog, nos dejó un interesante análisis de la excelente intro que tiene la serie y que nunca me canso de ver en cada episodio. De esa misma intro hemos visto muchas parodias creadas por fanáticos y por la misma gente de Showtime, y también una versión modificada al final de la segunda temporada (adentro el video)
Ahora, gracias danymetal, otro lector habitual del blog, tenemos más información respecto a la intro y una comparación con la de la película American Psycho protagonizada por Christian Bale. ¿La vemos?

Excepcional opening, ganador del premio Emmy (los Oscar de la televisión) al mejor diseño de secuencias de títulos de crédito en 2007. Secuencia originalmente titulada Mourning Routine (rutina matutina) o también Killer Breakfast (desayuno asesino/excelente) compone magistralmente planos detalle del día a día de una mañana cualquiera con alusiones a macabras formas de homicidio. Extraordinariamente conceptual y metafórico, está inspirado en los más minimalistas títulos de crédito de American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000).

Ahí en la página hay más información, pero es más bien técnica creo yo, están más que invitados a pasar a leer y dejar un comentario.

Como decía, ha habido varias parodias y algunas introducciones modificadas, por ejemplo esta emitida durante el episodio The British Invasion de la segunda temporada:

Podría escribir tanto… pero una imagen dice más que mil palabras. Abajo está la galería con imagenes que capturan los momentos exactos a esas alusiones al homicidio de las intros, y algo que me encantó: ¡el story-board original!

Galería

Por cierto, la película de Bale es excelente, véanla (está basada en una novela). En la película, el protagonista se llama Patrick Bateman, alias que usa Dexter en el episodio Love American Style en su licencia falsa de la DEA (Brigada Antidroga). En el filme, Bateman es un asesino serial psicótico y joven empresario.
Y no, no me aburre hablar una y otra vez del mismo tema

Artwork by es.King

Click Image to Download Soundtrack

Artwork by es.King

Click Image to Download Soundtrack

For Halloween this year, I dressed as Pat Bateman from the movie “American Psycho.” Here is a teaser of my costume.

American Psycho - Halloween 2009

Medium: Digital art, digital photo taken with Kodak camera, edited in GIMP

Art Copyright I. Arcticus (A.G).

I am really digging Chase Utley’s Patrick Bateman haircut:

Seriously, he looks like Bateman with hat-hair and minus the chiseled physique.  I wonder if he kills hookers in his spare time? Is he obsessed over business cards?  Does he listen to Phil Collins?

More on that later…..

DON’T JUST STARE AT IT!!! EAT IT!!!

-Brenden

Today’s listen to this an 80’s cover by a man who ironically does one of the best 80’s superstar impressions. Miles Fisher who many of you probably know as Tom Cruise in Superhero Movie (that clip can be seen here) or in Mad Men, is actually a great singer, and his cover of Talking Heads – This is The Place is catchy as hell and I guarantee even if you don’t like it first listen.. it will stick in your head.

Slashfilm ran a piece about Fisher not too long ago praising him as the best Tom Cruise impressionist ever, I hope he can losethe stereotype though because he is a talented artist.

Here is the song:

Miles Fisher – This Must Be The Place

And here is the brilliant video, Miles Fisher as Christian  Bale who is impersonating Tom Cruise in a parody of American Psycho.

‘Tis the season! With the end of the decade and Halloween approaching, now’s the best time to torture your soul with the best horror this decade has to offer. Now, please, forgive me. The horror genre, like everything else, is getting blurrier. It’s hard to tell just what exactly is a horror film these days. I attempted to honor the genre, while keeping a clear opinion of what the best are. Enjoy!

10. 30 Days of Night

It was either this or Zombieland. A) You already know and love Zombieland. B) This is a comic site! I have to mention the adaptations when I can. 30 Days of Night could’ve easily been mediocre. An essential part of the book’s success was Templesmith’s art. Having said that, this movie looks pretty damn good. Snow always feels epic. 30 Days of Night is well-acted and well-made. It manages to naturally stretch Niles’ novel, making it, in some ways, better. To those of you who vomit at the sight of sparkly, beautiful teenage vampires, watch 30 Days of Night. These are just about the ugliest vampires ever filmed, and that’s a good thing.

9. Land of the Dead

I would’ve loved to re-watch this one, but I figure I have to get this out before Halloween. Romero’s return wasn’t as earth-shattering as we may have liked, but there’s plenty of merit here. For one thing, Land of the Dead looks great and features actors who can actually act. For another, Romero still manages to scare us with creatures who aren’t all that scary, providing uniquely gory deaths for his decent actors. And what would a Romero Dead flick be without some social commentary? With “Fiddler’s Green,” he managed to capture both the atmosphere of rich nations, who live in luxury while many still live in hell-holes, and of a post-post 9/11 world. While we sit comfortably, discussing American Idol, the evil is still lurking, and, perhaps, evolving.

8. The Mist

Ok, it’s kind of a zombie movie with bugs, but that’s different, right? In fact, thanks to the titular mist, the creatures can be grand and epic, without looking too cheesy. We’ve got some great actors here: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Toby Jones. They help elevate the material. Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, completes his King trilogy, and it’s a lot of gruesome fun. This being a comic site, I have to mention Darabont’s Walking Dead TV involvement. If you want to see if he’s right for that adaptation, this movie will give you a clue.

7. 28 Days Later

Again, I would’ve loved to re-watch this. I even rented it, and I will watch it, but I’m a slave to this post. Danny Boyle was a good director before Slumdog Millionaire. I swear he was, and this film is part of the proof. I mentioned in my introduction how the horror genre has gotten blurry. Indeed, this film helped start that, with many rabid fans crying, “These aren’t zombies!” Well, whatever they are, they’re scary as hell. 28 Days Later has many impressive, grim shots of a destroyed London. It has great performances from the then-newcomer Cillian Murphy and the always-fantastic Brendan Gleeson. This may have helped splinter the zombie genre, but at least it’s pretty damn good.

6. Shaun of the Dead

This movie hammered home what George Romero has known since the 70’s: zombies are hilarious! They’re such boring monsters. In this film, we can barely tell them apart from the boring humans, maybe that’s just because they’re British. Shaun of the Dead is hilarious, but it also manages to touch upon the important elements of zombie movies, such as banding together, social commentary, and that wonderful gore.

5. Drag Me to Hell

I don’t want to oversell this, but Drag Me to Hell is arguably Raimi’s best film. We’re back to Evil Dead 2, with the perfect mixture of terror and comedy. Christine isn’t as lovable as Ash. She’s not really meant to be. However, Alison Lohman is a perfect horror heroine. She has the innocent looks and a wonderful scream. Amongst the laughs and gasps, this movie teaches us some very valuable lessons. Never deny an old gypsy! And never dig up a body in the worst storm of the decade!

4. Grindhouse

Yeah, it’s one film, damn it. Funny thing about this being on a “best” list, it’s trying so hard to be bad. That said, this is probably the most enjoyable pick on my list. Ok, so Deathproof isn’t much of a horror film, even though hot girls are getting hunted and slaughtered by a badass Kurt Russell, but Planet Terror is horror all the way, in the vein of a Carpenter flick. You’ve got the babes. You’ve got the gore. You’ve even got the great actors, like Bruce Willis! And if you’re not at least a little scared of testicle harvesting, I don’t know what to tell ya.

3. American Psycho

Finally, a slasher movie where the murders don’t matter, even within the context of the film! Bateman’s murders are an expression of his boredom and vanity. Mary Harron took this material and made it an exploration of male insanity, rather than just Bateman’s. You’ve all seen these guys. They’re on Wall Street. They’re trying to sell you something. They might even be firing you. American Psycho documents masculine squabbles in deliciously, horrific detail. Perhaps, most chilling of all, the film asks, “What if these assholes really are killing, and, with wealth & power, their mess is wiped clean?”

2. Antichrist

I was mugged by God. That was my initial reaction to this film. True of almost every great film, on the first viewing, we’re not really sure what we’ve seen. This movie’s depth is so endless, it threatens to swallow you whole, taunting you to disregard it as Eurotrash. What I am sure of is the bravery of Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsburg, who follow Trier’s insanity to the end. Trier is a madman, as most great directors are, and his images, no matter how shattering to our senses, are fully realized here.

1. Sweeney Todd

The bloodiest musical, Burton’s possible best, and indeed, the greatest horror film of the decade. Burton stays faithful to the original tale, as well as Sondheim’s music. Depp and Carter are dressed like 30’s horror stars, paying homage to both the genre and the original film. I never felt Sondheim’s music should be gloriously sung, no matter how talented Angela Lansbury is. These songs are sad and personal, and though Burton’s cast aren’t singers, they are actors, and they deliver their tunes in the best possible way. You won’t find any prancing or choreography here. Sweeney Todd is a dark, terrifying tragedy that will slash its way into your nightmares as efficiently as Mr. Todd’s razors.

For more comic goodness, go here.

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE is scrawled in blood red lettering in the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.

Word Count: 118

So the 90s are coming back into fashion, and it is coming back into music too! Azari and III have cobbled together a jolly little tune here. The video is very American Psycho, very graphic. Serious Parental Advisory label on this one – you have been warned! Wonder how long You Tube are going to let this stay up there…

On Thursday, I finished my random pharmacy shift and headed down to The Empress for some Bastards action of the non-Tarantino kind.  I was bummed for missing out on the first set, which included a reading from Lisa Dempster, but I did get to see (and record) Allison Browning’s performance of an untitled piece. 

The sound quality isn’t great, so you might want to read the written version here. 

Spoken word nights are a bit hit and miss. Read You Bastards 3 isn’t an exception to the rule, though I do enjoy the mash of curated/non-curated prose/poetry and the ambience of The Empress, but Ozlem Baro’s ‘Hotel’ was the highlight of the second set, its vulnerability silencing the crowded room.

I also performed my piece, ‘Patrick Bateman’, a homage to American Psycho. I had consumed American Psycho during my Deakin years; the novel is a fascinating study technique-wise and I had wanted to reconstruct its style and write about the act of. Anyway, I performed the first half of ‘Patrick Bateman’, got feedback from Lisa (yay!) and ate some of her vegan birthday cake before trundling home. Lisa, I owe you a birthday drink…possibly two.

Reading 'Patrick Bateman' @ Read You Bastards 3 (photo courtesy of Read You Bastards peeps)

No. 3 was the last Read You Bastards for Visible Ink, but the 2009 editorial team may continue the Bastards tradition in 2010. Meanwhile, Lost and Found: Visible Ink 21 is launching on Monday, 9 November 2009. The cover’s beautiful; lets hope that the words are equally gorgeous.

Lost and Found: Visible Ink 21 (image courtesy of www.visibleinkmag.wordpress.com)

Christian Bale’s ‘American Psycho’ Inspiration: Tom Cruise

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These were supposed to be board graphics for Pacific Drive. I was going to do a movie serial killer line. Jim turned this down for the same reason he turns everything down… “It was corny”.

BTW notice the detail in the business card, that is, if you are an American Psycho fan.

(click to enlarge, it might look a little blurry)

Yeah, and this was supposed to be the supplemental shirt. I actually almost dig it more than the board cuz its hella simple.

Fuck this. Im making these Harsh Tokes shirts and boards!

Christian Bale’s performance in 2000’s ‘American Psycho’ is said to be so frighteningly believable he must have had some real-life inspiration. Turns out Bale studied Tom Cruise’s mannerisms to bring the clean-cut murder addict to life.

The role of Martian-like Patrick Bateman involved looking at the world like somebody from another planet, watching what people did and trying to work out the right way to behave. Christian Bale’s inspiration came from watching Tom Cruise on David Letterman, ‘he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes.’ Bale was really taken with Cruise’s bizarre energy.

Priceless.

Read more from the movie’s director, Mary Harron, in an interview with BlackBook>

Horror and comedy have closer ties than many would believe. Raimi’s video nasties understood that the two visceral genres could compliment each other perfectly if used correctly. Raimi’s infamous Evil Dead series received polarised responses from audiences because of the juxtaposition from two supposedly opposing genre forms. Some people just don’t know when to laugh or cry. One persons comedy is another persons Schindler. Looking at Shaun of the Dead, American Psycho and An American Werewolf in London you can begin to see why these films have developed such intense cult followings while at the same time completely alienating other audiences.

Zombieland attempts to cater for both sides of the fence, but in doing so fails to address either genre convincingly. If this is America’s answer to Shaun of the Dead (and I am not the first nor last to make this comparison) then it says more about quality control of two industries with vastly differing pay packets than successes within the sub-genre. Whereas the latter juxtaposed hilarious action with a grim, washed-out physical atmosphere for comedic effect, Zombieland’s camera work is too crisp, to shiny, it simply lacks the flavour that came with the zom-rom-com cult classic.

As everything that happens in the film follows the lead character’s rules for survival to the letter, there are no surprises. Columbus seems to know everything in advance. The writing gets caught up in its own intertextual analysis and self-reference that it doesnt begin to address the gaping flaws in the narrative. The zombies never come close to turning the tables on our heroes; thus killing any tension there might be. Even with the odd’s completely stacked against them, their lives are never really in any danger. The self-conscious humour and guitar laden soundtrack reiterate this further.

Moving onto a deserted highway strewn with the detritus of the old world that once existed, our main character Columbus runs into the deranged Tallahassee (the characters are named after the place they come from). Woody Harrelson’s character Tallahassee embodies what the movie is and hopes to be, masculine, coolly stylised and charming, but a bit on the slow side. In the advertising campaign for this movie, Woody is the selling point, portrayed as the post-modern cowboy Snake Plissken. On paper and synopsis’ this is quite funny and sounds like it could work well. On film however, it comes across a little too patronising. For example Tallahassee’s catch phrase “time to nut up or shut up,” is repeated over and over with patronising efficiency.

If i’ve said “patronising” more than once, it’s because it underpins every aspect of the film. If you didn’t feel that way, you may very well be this movie’s intended target audience in the new era of zombie fanboy. A teenager with a short attention span and a thirst for twinkie advertisements and ironic pop culture references. Keep the humour current and at least some will find it funny. The problem with that angle, is that a year down the line the film will offer little more than a snippet into the year previous.

Good Cameo though.

Dré

I haven’t done any real homework yet, but I have done some general trolling around the web looking for stuff about Ulysses. The only other thing I’ve done of merit so far is start and finish American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis.

I don’t recommend it.

I’ve seen the movie a few times.  It was really disturbing and really good the first time.  The second time I was disappointed because it was only disturbing… but now I’ve hit a point where it’s a pretty solid movie… a lot going for it.  Like the crisp visuals (the bright flash of the ax), my favorite acting of Christian Bale’s… (he doesn’t do much wrong.  It all works for the sadistic mind of Patrick Bateman),  and it conveys the era well.  Very well according to some people who actually lived through it.  Namely my father.

But the book… tsk tsk.  Too much of the obsession over brands and what everyone is wearing and what appliances have what features.  I understand what Ellis was trying to do, but it was overkill and sometimes I had to skim.  Now, the movie, it convey Bateman’s depravity or lack of humanity or whatever through implication.  Through the hint of blood on his mouth, through his bestial eyes… but the book just puts it all out there.  Dismembered women lying in pools of their own blood for days and days in his apartment… check.  Women’s vaginae tied up with blue ribbons rotting away in his locker at his “Xclusive” gym… check.  Cannabalism.   So much cannabalism that I can’t talk about it.  … Check.  You thought Seven was disturbing?  You haven’t read this book.  You thought Blue Velvet was upsetting?  You haven’t read this book.

Watch the movie if you want another Dexter fix.  Don’t read this book.

I’m sorry I did.

And check out this interview with the director of the movie American Psycho… guess who was the inspiration for Bale’s Bateman…!! Guess!

http://www.blackbookmag.com/article/mary-harron-reveals-inspiration-behind-patrick-bateman/11810

making progress on my painting.

it’s Delirium from the Sandman.

and some preview shots from the American Psycho: Patrick Bateman shoot

if you haven’t seen this movie, shame on you!

thanks again to my dear friend Matthew at www.dimhorizonstudio.com
if you ever need an easy to work with photographer, contact Matthew!