13 Days of First-Time Frights: American Psycho

13 Days of First-Time Frights is a series of reviews for October 2019 where Douglas Laman, in the spirit of Halloween, watches and writes about thirteen horror movies he's never seen before. These reviews will be posted each Tuesday and Thursday as well as the last three Wednesdays of October 2019.

Entry #12: American Psycho

Christian Bale flew up to the status of super-stardom with portraying the titular superhero in Batman Begins, but much like future Batman performer Robert Pattinson, Bale spent his pre-Batman days doing a variety of bold smaller-scale films working with acclaimed filmmakers. For Bale, this meant getting to act under the guidance of names like Todd Haynes, Lisa Cholodenko and Jane Campion and also included the 2000 Mary Harron directorial effort American Psycho. This grisly social satire, adapted by a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, showed off the kind of acting chops that Bale would become famous for while also demonstrating Hanlon's knack for an insightful skewering of toxic masculinity.

The Dark Knight Rises Shows Why Christopher Nolan's Batman Movies Are So Beloved

I wouldn't say The Dark Knight Rises needs an apology for its general pop culture perception. Such a sentiment should be saved for a movie like Jennifer's Body that was hit by misogynistic reviews and toxic backlashes against its primary creative participants. Using that word for a movie like The Dark Knight Rises that got uniformly positive reviews from critics and made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office is ridiculous. That having been said, the films general reputation among the interwebs has been immensely negative, partially because the release of the movie coincided with a new rise in nitpicky YouTube channels like CinemaSins and Honest Trailers that ensured The Dark Knight Rises would be more known for background stuntmen gone awry than anything related to its storytelling or filmmaking.

Vice Is A Sprawling Saga of Corruption That Kind of Works (Surprisingly Well, In Fact) In Spite of Its Worst Elements

Adam McKay is mad as hell and he's not gonna take it anymore. Even when he was making ridiculous (though often highly hysterical) comedies that involved Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly licking dog turds, McKay clearly had some bitterness over how normalized powerful corruption was in America. Even a disappointingly rote Anchorman sequel managed to find time for commentary on how much 24-hour cable news is fixated on sizzle but not substance while the end credits of his comedic masterwork The Other Guys are dedicated to explaining how Ponzi schemes work. Is it any wonder then that his shift over to dramatic features with The Big Short and now Vice would tap directly into that frustration? What was subtext in his comedies is now the entire point of these more serious-minded, though frequently comedic, motion pictures that serve as McKay's most recent directorial efforts.

The Bolder Traits of Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle Can't Overcome Its More Tired Tendencies

Andy Serkis may have not planned to fixate his entire career around motion-capture performances but after portraying acclaimed characters like Gollum, Caesar and the 2005 version of King Kong, he's embraced it, to the point that not only has he founded a studio dedicated to this artform but his second directorial effort (following the dreadful biopic drama Breathe) is primarily centered around characters brought to life by the motion-capture process. What project would call for so many characters of this nature? Why, a new big-screen adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book of course, though this time around it's called Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle as an obvious homage to the classic fantasy adventure King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Hostiles Tries To Be A Woke Western But It Can't Quite Get It's Eyes Open

I've been beating the drum on director Scott Cooper for some time now, mainly thanks to how highly I thought of his 2013 feature Out of The Furnace (his 2009 motion picture Crazy Heart is also notably good). Thought it received an overall divisive critical reception upon initial release, I myself thought it was a great movie that managed to take the basic premise of a revenge action movie and imbue both a terrific Christian Bale performance and thoughtful grimness into it. Taking my love for his past works in mind, it breaks my heart to say that Scott Cooper's newest movie Hostiles, handily his most ambitious feature yet in terms of themes and scope, is a mess and an unpleasant one at that.

The Best Parts Of The Promise Frustratingly Tussle With Its Lack Of Substance

In 1914, young Armenian man Mikael (Oscar Isaac) has traveled to Constantinople, a city located in the Ottoman Empire, in order to further his education that he can pursue his career as a doctor. Being a medical student in this prestigious city is not cheap and his family can afford to send him here by way of a donation from a man in Mikael's village who wishes for Mikael to be arranged to marry his daughter. With both an arranged marriage and prospective years of education lying in front of him, the future seems rife with potential for Mikael, though a wrench is thrown into his marriage-related plans when he begins to fall for the already married Ana (Charlotte Le Bon).

The Prestige Is Magic, You Knoooooow....Never Believe It's Not So!

In between creating two different Batman movies that revolutionized how we would forever see the character, director Christopher Nolan managed to also churn out a thriller entirely centered on magicians entitled The Prestige. A Fall 2006 drama starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, it did not receive the massive box office intakes Nolan's directorial efforts now make without even blinking, instead ranking as the 61st biggest movie of 2006, winding up narrowly behind Final Destination 3 and the 2006 remake of The Omen. Of course, people have been talking about and enjoying The Prestige long after those horror films have faded from the public's memory and now upon seeing The Prestige for myself, it's easy to see why it's garnered such acclaim over the past decade.

Uber Endearing Fun And Cool Dragon Action Make Reign Of Fire A Real Treat!

There were a bunch of high-quality blockbusters that made heaps of cash in the summer of 2002, such as the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie (still one of the high points of superhero cinema), Lilo & Stitch and Minority Report. But you did have a bunch of outright abysmal movies also selling lots of tickets (a phenomenon far from uncommon in the summertime), such as the worst Star Wars movie, Attack Of The Clones, that live-action Scooby-Doo abomination and a middling Men In Black sequel. It's a pity those three duds were able to ride brand name recognition to major success while the vastly superior original movie Reign Of Fire had to settle for box office scraps.

Don't Expect Salvation For The Terminator Franchise In Terminator: Salvation

On three different occasions in the 21st century, someone has tried to get the Terminator franchise back up and rolling again, despite the entire saga coming to a pretty clear conclusion with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. And on each of these occasions, the resulting films have produced zero sequels and had steadily declining domestic box office results. In the middle of the two most wretched entries in this saga (Rise Of The Machines and Genisys) is Terminator: Salvation, a McG directed effort that brought Christian Bale aboard the franchise as John Connor and surprisingly comes out as the best post-T2 movie in the franchise, though don't take that as a glowing endorsement.

Knight Of Cups Review

Terrence Malick is a filmmaker whose boldness should be rightfully heralded as a wonderful thing. His audacity to challenge conventional forms of narrative storytelling is something that should be looked upon as something truly exceptional. Here is an artist looking to challenge both himself and the art form he calls home. Malick has my undying respect as a director and I can unequivocally say I'll always be looking forward to his features.

I just hope that future efforts from this man aren't as terrible as Knight Of Cups.

On The Screen And On The Spectrum: Christian Bale As Michael Burry In The Big Short

On The Screen And On The Spectrum is a recurring feature where I examine pop culture depictions of individuals with Autism, Asperger's or other developmental disabilities similar to Autism.

I mentioned in my original review of The Big Short that the portrayal of the character Michael Burry was one of the bets on-screen depictions of Asperger's Syndrome I'd ever seen on-screen. It may sound like hyperbole, but I totally stand by that statement. Not only is it a strong turn in its own right, but in the grand scheme of performances of people with Asperger's, it's one of the few to realize that individual on the Autistic spectrum are, y'know, actual human beings.

The Big Short Review

All pieces of writing, no matter what form (i.e. as a book, as a film, as a song) they take, intend to provoke some kind of reaction. Certain pieces of media look to make those who consume it laugh, other creations intend to sweep up its participants in sensations of euphoria. The Big Short makes it abundantly clear from the get-go that it wants nothing more than to send its viewers into an all-consuming mouth-frothing rage over the injustices that led to the financial meltdown of 2008. And, yeah, by the end I had more than a hint of resentment bubbling for the various figures at Wall Street who allowed this catastrophe to occur and got away from the calamity scott free.

The Big Short Trailer Has Big Name Actors And Stock Market Advice To Spare

Paramount just added another motion picture to a crowded Christmas Day release schedule today by announcing that Adam McKay's The Big Short will be released on December 11 in limited release and on December 23 in wide release. It's no shocker for weirdos like myself who obsess over movie release dates, considering Paramount is always doing these sort of last minute announcements regarding the crucial Christmastime frame (who else remembers their public indecisiveness over whether to release The Wolf Of Wall Street or Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit over Christmas 2013 two years back?), and to commemorate the films new release date, the studio has released a trailer for the drama that you can watch below!

The Trailer For Terrence Malicks New Movie, Knight Of Cups, Has Christian Bale Doing Things

When I saw Tree Of Life in 2011, it was the first Terrance Malick film I'd ever seen. I had no idea what to expect, except for dinosaurs, I knew dinosaurs were in it. Well, I got the dinos, but nothing much else of substance. The film was ambitious, I'll give it that, and the cinematography was beautiful. But it felt like it was trying too hard to be impactful without doing anything actually impactful. It sort of became blur of visuals after a while.

Exodus: Gods And Kings Review

All About That Exodus, Exodus, No Treble

I went into Exodus: Gods And Kings with some skepticism. You see, I played Moses in a VBS sketch for my Church group this summer and I was dubious to say the least that Christian Bale could match my acting chops. Sure, he had a $140 million budget and director Ridley Scott at his disposal, but did he have a snake puppet to utilize like I did? As it turns out, Bale is missing more than just a snake toy in his performance, as he and the movie itself feel lacking as a whole.

Aaron Sorkin Written Steve Jobs Movie Loses Home At Sony, But All Hope Is Not Lost

It's been a rough road for the Steve Jobs biopic written by Aaron Sorkin. David Fincher was supposed to direct it, make it a nice Social Network reunion, but he passed. Then, Danny Boyle came on as director, only for lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio to pass. Christian Bale, who had been floated around as a lead for the project when Fincher was directing, reattached himself to the project, and then left it. Michael Fassbender was in talks to play the lead of Steve Jobs, while Seth Rogen, Jessica Chastain and Scarlett Johnansson were in discussions for roles in the feature.

Christian Bale Will Be The Steve Jobs We Deserve And Need

You can call me crazy, but I think the newest Steve Jobs biopics casting for the role of the famed icon is a bit of an upgrade on Ashton Kutcher. This new Jobs movie has been in development for ages now, with Aaron Sorkin writing and directors like David Fincher passing on it. But Danny Boyle is confirmed to direct and now we have an actor confirmed to play Steve Jobs himself!

Will Arnetts Lego Batman Is Getting His Own Movie!

Adam West. Michael Keaton. Val Kilmer. Kevin Conroy. George Clooney. Christian Bale. Ben Affleck. These are the men who have brought Batman to life over the years through various mediums, with their interpretations of the Caped Crusader ranging from great (Bale, Conroy) to unknown (Affleck) to abysmal (Kilmer, Clooney). But the best version of him yet is the most recent, Will Arnetts turn as Lego Batman in this years spectacular The Lego Movie. And now, that particular version is getting its own film!

Classic Write-Up: The Fighter Review

A Fight (And A Performance) For The Ages

David O. Russell has quickly become one of cinemas most prominent writer/directors thanks to his 2012 and 2014 features Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Both received critical raves and massive box office, as well as vocal approval from this particular film critic. Both of those films, especially Hustle, are expertly made films, with excellent performances and thoughtful screenwriting. So I was eager to finally catch The Fighter, the movie made just before Russell reached his current popularity.

Franchise Frenzy: The Dark Knight Trilogy

Welcome to Franchise Frenzy! Every other week I post a column analyzing the quality and pop culture impact of a certain Hollywood franchise. This week, I swear to Christopher Nolan and cover The Dark Knight trilogy.

Three movies have really impact blockbuster cinema in the 21st Century: Spider-Man, Batman Begins and The Avengers (Inception as well, but mainly because every trailer now needs a BWAAAAMMMM) Spider-Man opened the floodgates for comic book movies, while The Avengers told everyone that more complex blockbuster storytelling was possible. And every single reboot for a while there cited Batman Begins expert mix of darkness and fun as the ultimate way to pull off a blockbuster film.