Terminator: Salvation gave me a good enough reason to finally catch up with Christian Bale's first (not counting his many kiddie supporting roles like
Newsies) major starring role in
American Psycho, which I never saw until this week, but meant to watch after seeing
The Dark Knight.
I like to watch movies in themed pairs, so I also grabbed
Charlie Bartlett, starring Anton Yelchin in his first major starring role (not counting
Hearts in Atlantis). Most people might recognize him from the recent
Star Trek remake, which is what led me pick up
Charlie Bartlett. But Anton also plays Christian Bale's time-travelling best friend/father in
Terminator: Salvation, which I'll be reviewing shortly. In the meantime, please enjoy my reviews of these past, quirky art flicks available now on DVD:
American Psycho (three stars total) Imagine a world where what you do when others aren't looking isn't as important as what you do when they are. Sound familiar? It's because we already live in that world, but I've heard a life of virtue defined as one that is "consistent even when no one's looking." That would be the exact opposite of the main character's life in
American Psycho. Thank goodness Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get this role right after
Titanic, because apparently he tried to (wanted to crush the hearts of thirteen year-old girls everywhere). I learned about this from the very informative interviews on the special features of the DVD. Turns out, Christian Bale won the starring part because, according to the director, he was the only auditioning actor that got that the character was a total loser and wanted to play him as someone who thought he was one restaurant reservation away from being a winner (mind you, he's a loser with Harvard degrees, money, a perfect body, a devoted secretary and multiple lovers). Unlike the serial killer, Dexter, from the Showtime series of the same name (which stole the murderous-looking food preparation over the opening credits from
American Psycho), the character of
Patrick Bateman is wholly unlikable, and yet some people evidently don't get that. One of the movie's writers says in an interview that guys still come up to her all the time and claim to be "just like Patrick Bateman." To which she responds, "you mean, you're a dork? Or are you a serial killer? ...Or both?" To me, he's a metrosexual from before the label existed, overcompensating on masculinity and being a serial killer is a metaphor for city life and modern dating, but it's more horror than comedy in this darkest of dark horror-comedies. A true horror-comedy to me has scenes that are only scary and then scenes that are only funny. It's supposed to be jarring and there shouldn't be consistent overlap, otherwise it would be just another dark comedy. The horror of the movie (i.e. what one still thinks about after the credits have started rolling) comes in his repeated torture of a particular call girl and not in his isolated, random streetside slayings. But there is some comedy to be found here. The funniest scenes have to do with Bale's character comparing near-identical business cards for paper grade and font type. His music reviews/monologues are pretty good too, but the music, oh,
the music is the best part. The movie's setting in the '80s is the next best thing, but it's not the kitschy '80s of
The Wedding Singer. No wacky new wave one-hit wonder pop jingles here, just what people actually heard most and followed back then: Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis, Robert Palmer and Simply Red. As a final note, one of my movie pet peeves involves schizophrenic protagonists that are revealed to be the killer as a plot twist (I'm talking about you,
Fight Club) but
American Psycho is almost a twist on that as you're never quite sure if Patrick Bateman has killed anyone at all. In fact, every scene where he's not with his cohorts could have happened in his head.
Charlie Bartlett (two and a half stars total - "perfectly average") Whether it's an incomprehensible Russian accent in
Star Trek or mature beyond his years psychobabble in
Charlie Bartlett, Anton Yelchin's comedy schtick seems to be in his speech patterns. I'm interested to see how his Charlie Brown-sounding strained vocal chords work for
Terminator: Salvation. I mentioned in my 12/3/08 post about comic books that "I don't like fiction about mental illness, but I'll read about it in nonfiction" and that could somewhat apply to this movie. The premise of a high school student "prescribing" psychiatric meds to his classmates should not have intrigued me, but it's worthwhile because of a
complex relationship triangle between a rebel student, his sympathetic high school principal, and the love interest/principal's daughter. There's no way Anton could've carried this movie alone, but he didn't have to because he had lots of help from Robert Downey Jr. (the principal), Hope Davis (his mother, for the second time since
Hearts in Atlantis), and Kat Denning (the daughter; also in
The 40 Year Old Virgin, The House Bunny, and
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist). Those supporting actors are probably the real reason I gave the premise a chance. Don't ask me why the main character goes for the principal's daughter over some other girl, other than it facilitates the rest of the plot, and gives him a miraculous chance to lose his virginity at one of those fabulous teen parties that don't exist in the real world. At least the party makes sense this time around, because Charlie's character actually IS filthy rich. The funniest character, Charlie's bully turned business partner, is like an ode to
Grease, being a black jacket bad boy with a heart of gold, and in the end he gets the blonde bombshell cheerleader who's a realistic bad girl on the inside, but trying to be better. We've all seen variations of the main character before. Charlie is the misunderstood new kid who goes after the authority figure's daughter and changes the mentality of the entire student body (think
Footloose). If I'm referencing a lot of
high school musical movies, it must be a subliminal thing. Charlie does a lot of showtunish piano playing, especially when he's high on ADD drugs. I could've done without all that, but it does go to show how original this protagonist is from other teen comedies. His wardrobe transition from prep school uniform to emo chic is accented by some funny t-shirts. I wish the generic alt-rock/pop-punk soundtrack was up to par with the rest of the movie. If for nothing else, you should watch this movie to see the principal point a gun at a student and say, "I wouldn't shoot you - I've got too much RESPONSIBILITY." Now there's an after-school special message you'll never see the same way again.
American Psycho (three stars total) Imagine a world where what you do when others aren't looking isn't as important as what you do when they are. Sound familiar? It's because we already live in that world, but I've heard a life of virtue defined as one that is "consistent even when no one's looking." That would be the exact opposite of the main character's life in American Psycho. Thank goodness Leonardo DiCaprio didn't get this role right after Titanic, because apparently he tried to (wanted to crush the hearts of thirteen year-old girls everywhere). I learned about this from the very informative interviews on the special features of the DVD. Turns out, Christian Bale won the starring part because, according to the director, he was the only auditioning actor that got that the character was a total loser and wanted to play him as someone who thought he was one restaurant reservation away from being a winner (mind you, he's a loser with Harvard degrees, money, a perfect body, a devoted secretary and multiple lovers). Unlike the serial killer, Dexter, from the Showtime series of the same name (which stole the murderous-looking food preparation over the opening credits from American Psycho), the character of Patrick Bateman is wholly unlikable, and yet some people evidently don't get that. One of the movie's writers says in an interview that guys still come up to her all the time and claim to be "just like Patrick Bateman." To which she responds, "you mean, you're a dork? Or are you a serial killer? ...Or both?" To me, he's a metrosexual from before the label existed, overcompensating on masculinity and being a serial killer is a metaphor for city life and modern dating, but it's more horror than comedy in this darkest of dark horror-comedies. A true horror-comedy to me has scenes that are only scary and then scenes that are only funny. It's supposed to be jarring and there shouldn't be consistent overlap, otherwise it would be just another dark comedy. The horror of the movie (i.e. what one still thinks about after the credits have started rolling) comes in his repeated torture of a particular call girl and not in his isolated, random streetside slayings. But there is some comedy to be found here. The funniest scenes have to do with Bale's character comparing near-identical business cards for paper grade and font type. His music reviews/monologues are pretty good too, but the music, oh, the music is the best part. The movie's setting in the '80s is the next best thing, but it's not the kitschy '80s of The Wedding Singer. No wacky new wave one-hit wonder pop jingles here, just what people actually heard most and followed back then: Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis, Robert Palmer and Simply Red. As a final note, one of my movie pet peeves involves schizophrenic protagonists that are revealed to be the killer as a plot twist (I'm talking about you, Fight Club) but American Psycho is almost a twist on that as you're never quite sure if Patrick Bateman has killed anyone at all. In fact, every scene where he's not with his cohorts could have happened in his head.
Charlie Bartlett (two and a half stars total - "perfectly average") Whether it's an incomprehensible Russian accent in Star Trek or mature beyond his years psychobabble in Charlie Bartlett, Anton Yelchin's comedy schtick seems to be in his speech patterns. I'm interested to see how his Charlie Brown-sounding strained vocal chords work for Terminator: Salvation. I mentioned in my 12/3/08 post about comic books that "I don't like fiction about mental illness, but I'll read about it in nonfiction" and that could somewhat apply to this movie. The premise of a high school student "prescribing" psychiatric meds to his classmates should not have intrigued me, but it's worthwhile because of a complex relationship triangle between a rebel student, his sympathetic high school principal, and the love interest/principal's daughter. There's no way Anton could've carried this movie alone, but he didn't have to because he had lots of help from Robert Downey Jr. (the principal), Hope Davis (his mother, for the second time since Hearts in Atlantis), and Kat Denning (the daughter; also in The 40 Year Old Virgin, The House Bunny, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist). Those supporting actors are probably the real reason I gave the premise a chance. Don't ask me why the main character goes for the principal's daughter over some other girl, other than it facilitates the rest of the plot, and gives him a miraculous chance to lose his virginity at one of those fabulous teen parties that don't exist in the real world. At least the party makes sense this time around, because Charlie's character actually IS filthy rich. The funniest character, Charlie's bully turned business partner, is like an ode to Grease, being a black jacket bad boy with a heart of gold, and in the end he gets the blonde bombshell cheerleader who's a realistic bad girl on the inside, but trying to be better. We've all seen variations of the main character before. Charlie is the misunderstood new kid who goes after the authority figure's daughter and changes the mentality of the entire student body (think Footloose). If I'm referencing a lot of high school musical movies, it must be a subliminal thing. Charlie does a lot of showtunish piano playing, especially when he's high on ADD drugs. I could've done without all that, but it does go to show how original this protagonist is from other teen comedies. His wardrobe transition from prep school uniform to emo chic is accented by some funny t-shirts. I wish the generic alt-rock/pop-punk soundtrack was up to par with the rest of the movie. If for nothing else, you should watch this movie to see the principal point a gun at a student and say, "I wouldn't shoot you - I've got too much RESPONSIBILITY." Now there's an after-school special message you'll never see the same way again.
No comments:
Post a Comment