American Psycho Movie Trailer

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is an attractive young businessman, reaching the peak of his late twenties during the 1980’s. His job title is as immaterial to the audience as it is to Bateman himself, who is far more interested in where to be seen, what to be seen in and who to be seen with as he rides the yuppie trend. But Bateman’s obsession with shallow tokens of money and fashion is only rivaled by his bloodlust, which drives him to mutilate, murder and maul without remorse until his crimes begin to catch up with him.

If the introduction, the title and the many screenshots of Christian Bale wielding all kinds of household tools while splattered in blood weren’t enough to warn you: American Psycho is not for the faint hearted. It is originally based on a book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, which had to be considerably watered down to be a plausible screenplay for audiences and received criticism for its themes of sexual and physical abuse against women. Whether the Patrick Bateman of the novel had a hatred of women is debatable, but onscreen Bateman is willing to kill anything and everything that stumbles into his path without even a touch of guilt.

Like many psychopaths, Bateman wants to fit in and walk among the rest of the world unnoticed for what he truly is, which is why he becomes so obsessed with the details of the fashion of his particular era. A work colleague with a superior business card to his own has a deeper impact on Bateman than any one of the women and men who meet their sticky end on his lounge floor to the sounds of Genesis or Huey Lewis and the News, and depending on your sense of humor, American Psycho is actually a very black comedy and an excellent and clever satire.

Christian Bale has received more than his fare share of criticism for over dramatic outbursts, but in my opinion this is one of his best performances as charming but demonic Patrick Bateman. There are times when you can sense his hysterical desperation and marvel at the complete glee he takes at some of the murders, but American Psycho never gives in and allows us to believe that there’s something salvageable about Bateman.

He desperately wants to feel something, but not even his beautiful, privileged and ultimately self-centered girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) or his endearing secretary (Cara Seymour) mean anything to him. Willem Dafoe plays the detective who eventually catches on to the string of horrific deaths surrounding our protagonist and Jared Leto appears as a rival yuppie who keeps besting Bateman in their shallow world of fashionable restaurants and hair products, but there’s no doubt that Christian Bale steals the show.

It’s difficult to say whether I would recommend American Psycho. I find it funny and fascinating, but there’s more unwarranted violence here than most people could stomach, and you obviously have to have a very specific sense of humor to pick out the satire and irony between tramps being kicked to death and chainsaws being taken to prostitutes. The other problem is that American Psycho is the story of Patrick Bateman, who makes for a very interesting subject with a severe mental disorder but is not the kind of man who you could sympathize with.

If you do feel for this relentless murderer, you have bigger problems to deal with then picking your next movie to watch. American Psycho is not a moral story and without saying too much, there aren’t any Disney endings here. Personally I love the honesty of a film that doesn’t shy away from the story it’s telling to please the audience and I’m not the type of person who gets morally outraged faster than you can say “politically correct”.

American Psycho was made to be enjoyed. It’s not a documentary, it’s just entertainment like a film should be, so if you think that you can put aside the blood and guts and watch it for Christian Bale’s wild-eyed performance (apparently based on a TV interview with Tom Cruise) and the creative use of the work of Phil Collins, it’s unmissable.

American Psycho Movie Trailer

“Father of a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife and I shall have my vengeance in this life or the next..”

That kinda explains the entire plot.

A general from Spain, Maximus (Russell Crowe), brave and respected by his soldiers has won the emperor’s heart. Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) is dying and prepares to let Maximus rule Rome to solve all the social problems caused by way too many wars and a lot of corruption in the Senate.

There is a problem to the plan though, named Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who happens to be the emperor’s son and the logical successor to the throne. When Marcus Aurelius makes Maximus the protector of Rome, Commodus takes matters in his hands and kills his old father, while trying to murder Maximus too. The general somehow escapes and heads towards home, to see if his family is OK and save them from the new emperor’s fury.

When he arrives to his lands he finds the home burnt down and his wife and son murdered by the emperor’s soldiers. He’s then captured and sold in North Africa as a slave to Proximo (Oliver Reed), thus becoming a gladiator.

Commodus is now back in Rome, trying to serve his people “bread and circus”, to distract the population from hunger and plague. He un-bans the gladiators’ fights in the Colosseum and Maximus is brought to fight there too, with his team of gladiators.

From now on you can imagine what happens in the entire movie, I will not spoil it for you.

Even if the plot is dead easy and the movies is far from being perfect, there are still aspects that made it a good one. The Rome scenes have been shot in a “plaster like” surrounding, history contradicts some of the things presented in the movie, the entire plot is similar to any blockbuster movie with a hero with a huge gun in his hands, killing everything in his way. Still, Gladiator has something that justifies in the end all the awards and nominations it has received.

The filming is “gloomy” all through the movie. This has made some critics displeased with the idea, but in the end I think it best conveys the pain and dangers such a person had to face. The movie speaks about love, family and heroism. Maximus is well respected by his armies, he’s been a true hero and Rome could have dreamed for no better protector than him. He was a good loving husband and great father, but treachery destroyed his life.

And another thing that made me watch it for 3 times already is the MUSIC.

This movie has got an amazing soundtrack, created by Lisa Gerard (Dead Can Dance) and Hans Zimmer. And since almost all critics failed to notice the amazing music it had, I’ll invite you to listen to the title song “Now We Are Free”

One of the addicts is Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), who’s got two “problems”: sugar and TV. She’s spending too much time watching a game show whose host (Christopher McDonald) leads his audience to chant “We got a winner!”. Sara gets a phone call that misleads her into thinking she might appear as a guest in the show. That’s when she realizes she’s not fit for TV like this and embarks into a weight loss program based on diet pills.

As she’s losing weight, something is happening to her brains too. Even if she’s having hallucinations, her doctor doesn’t pay attention to this. As she’s increasing the dose, so is she losing her mind.

Her son, Harry (Jared Leto) is suffering from a less “exotic” addiction, but more expensive too. He’s always taking his mom’s TV to the pawn-shop to get the money for his drugs, while she’s recovering it so that she can feed her own addiction. His girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) are also addicts, always looking for a big score that “will get us back on track”.

One recurring scene, the key to the movie, is used to show how the drugs take effect and how mechanical everything is for these addicts: one extreme closeup to the pills/fix, injection/swallowing/sniffing. The pupils dilate. The sounds are extremely strong and all happens in fast-motion, since drugs don’t need to much to take effect.

The movie is absolutely “painful” and amazingly depicts how desperate addicts are for a “shot” and how their lives get destroyed by this addiction that leaves no place for anything else. Some of the scenes and shocking, the entire movie is not something to enjoy seeing. It’s that kind of a movie you see once and wouldn’t see again. Not because it’s bad, but because it has left you speechless.

This is not a “feel-good” movie, there’s no fun in it. As there is no fun in being addicted. And, after seeing this movie, I really doubt anyone would enjoy a “joint” anymore. Even if it’s not suitable for adolescents, I’d surely show it to my kids if they ever thought about messing with any “substances”. If this is not a wake-up call, then nothing is.

Please watch the movie and be prepared to be amazed. It’s worth the effort.

Julia Roberts outshines the rest of the cast and, even if many commented her clothes are too skimpy for such a movie, still delivers a great performance. Her character was Miss Wichita and the only thing she knows is to flaunt her sexuality, something Roberts can surely manage.

She’s the woman with no legal training, uneducated and blunt, but still she’s got some good instincts and a native intelligence. And stubborn enough to still fight the system, even if deep down she does realize her chances are slim to none.

While doing mostly paperwork for the law firm run by Ed Masry (Albert Finney), Erin senses there’s something wrong with a trivial pro bono case. She unveils a true hidden epidemic. Dozens of residents near Hinkley have developed multiple tumors and all kinds of affections and still no one was able to tie this to Pacific Gas & Electric, with their industrial plant placed near the town. The plant is using an anti-rust agent, a form of chromium, that’s contaminating the water supply.

Even if the case does seem impossible, Erin is so impressed by the tragedy hitting those families, she’s not willing to give up.

I have watched the movie for 2 times already and it’s been a great experience every time, even for a non-fan. It’s far from being the movie of the century, but it’s a good one to have in your list.