A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after he narrowly escapes a bizarre accident.
Director:
Richard Kelly
Stars:
Jake Gyllenhaal,
Jena Malone,
Mary McDonnell
When Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.
A mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic moonlights as a getaway driver and finds himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor in this action drama.
Director:
Nicolas Winding Refn
Stars:
Ryan Gosling,
Carey Mulligan,
Bryan Cranston
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.
Director:
David Fincher
Stars:
Jake Gyllenhaal,
Robert Downey Jr.,
Mark Ruffalo
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.
In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.
Director:
Jean-Marc Vallée
Stars:
Matthew McConaughey,
Jennifer Garner,
Jared Leto
Based on the story of Micky Ward, a fledgling boxer who tries to escape the shadow of his more famous but troubled older boxing brother and get his own shot at greatness.
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea, and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director:
David Fincher
Stars:
Jesse Eisenberg,
Andrew Garfield,
Justin Timberlake
Evan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.
With the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access one hundred percent of his brain abilities, a struggling writer becomes a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with lots of dangers.
Patrick Bateman is handsome, well educated and intelligent. He is twenty-seven and living his own American dream. He works by day on Wall Street, earning a fortune to complement the one he was born with. At night he descends into madness, as he experiments with fear and violence.Written by
Lion Films
To gain his buffed-up appearance in the film, Christian Bale would spend several hours a day in the gym and then three hours a day with an on-set trainer. See more »
Goofs
The telephone next to Patrick Bateman's bed is a Bang & Olufsen model not available in the 1980s See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Waiter #1:
Our pasta this evening is squid ravioli in a lemon grass broth with goat cheese profiteroles, and I also have an arugula Caesar salad. For entrees this evening, I have swordfish meatloaf with onion marmalade, rare roasted partridge breast in raspberry coulis with a sorrel timbale.
Waiter #2:
...and grilled free-range rabbit with herbed french fries. Our pasta tonight is a squid ravioli in a lemon grass broth, and the fish tonight is a grilled...
See more »
Alternate Versions
For the US theatrical release, director Mary Harron had to edit the following two scenes (which are available on the unrated edition) in order to receive an R-rating from the MPAA:
The word "asshole" in the line, "Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole" was changed to just "ass".
The threesome during the same scene was trimmed several seconds.
Having read the novel by Easton-Ellis a year ago I was intrigued to find out how it could be made into a movie.
Whilst turned off by the totally uneccesary details of Batemans crimes in the book, I felt that Easton's insight into superficial 80's yuppie culture made it a classic.
Who could play a credible Bateman? Leonardo Di Caprio? I think not.
How would Mary Harron deal with those controversial torture scenes?
What we got was one of the finest movies I have seen for some time. Of course, those of closed minds will slate this film without even bothering to see it, simply because of the book's notoriety.
I was impressed to see how closely Harron followed the book, replacing the un-filmable seens with suggestion, aka ear-cutting scene from resevior dogs, so that you believe you have seen more than you have. There are more parallels with Tarantino, such as the use of classic (& non classic ) 80's pop to create a stylised feel to the movie, that has not been seen since Pulp Fiction.
Casting was superb, with Cristian Bale giving the performance of a lifetime, We, the audience, saw the souless monster within, Batemans superficial aquaintences, saw another faceless human being.
Just like the book, you are never sure wether Batemans crimes are real, or just imaginary, but his slide into insanity is clearly real and paced expertly by Bale.
Rheese Witherspoon as Evelyn was disappointing, "Election" showed what a great actress she is and although this role called for an airhead performance, it was clear that she was cruising.
Mary Harron deserves the credit for creating an excellent film, that could have so easily been just another slasher movie.
180 of 273 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
Having read the novel by Easton-Ellis a year ago I was intrigued to find out how it could be made into a movie.
Whilst turned off by the totally uneccesary details of Batemans crimes in the book, I felt that Easton's insight into superficial 80's yuppie culture made it a classic.
Who could play a credible Bateman? Leonardo Di Caprio? I think not.
How would Mary Harron deal with those controversial torture scenes?
What we got was one of the finest movies I have seen for some time. Of course, those of closed minds will slate this film without even bothering to see it, simply because of the book's notoriety.
I was impressed to see how closely Harron followed the book, replacing the un-filmable seens with suggestion, aka ear-cutting scene from resevior dogs, so that you believe you have seen more than you have. There are more parallels with Tarantino, such as the use of classic (& non classic ) 80's pop to create a stylised feel to the movie, that has not been seen since Pulp Fiction.
Casting was superb, with Cristian Bale giving the performance of a lifetime, We, the audience, saw the souless monster within, Batemans superficial aquaintences, saw another faceless human being.
Just like the book, you are never sure wether Batemans crimes are real, or just imaginary, but his slide into insanity is clearly real and paced expertly by Bale.
Rheese Witherspoon as Evelyn was disappointing, "Election" showed what a great actress she is and although this role called for an airhead performance, it was clear that she was cruising.
Mary Harron deserves the credit for creating an excellent film, that could have so easily been just another slasher movie.