― s trife (simon_tr), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
all the more for me!
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
I mean, I'm in love, I'm sorry.
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― st (simon_tr), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
There is something about Chloe. This stupid ass slow computer made me lose some stuff I had written, gosh darnit. Um, she's kind of like SEXY and shit. Damn, much love.
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
http://www.htautographs.com/celebrity/images/s/sevigny.JPG
― ron (ron), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
BUT.. anybody that clicks: seriously sexy pic of CS, no?
(ok, i quit)
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 13 April 2003 06:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― j.a.e., Sunday, 13 April 2003 08:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 13 April 2003 08:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
'pumpkin you're dating an asshole...pumpkin you're datingthe biggest dickweed in new york...pumpkin you're datinga tumbling, *tumbling* dickweed...'.
― piscesboy, Sunday, 13 April 2003 09:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 13 April 2003 15:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― ron (ron), Sunday, 13 April 2003 16:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think that by strategically choosing which of his exploits to put on screen, and which ones to merely imply (the phone conversation when he goes completely bonkers paranoid), it still has the effect of desensitization--oh haha he killed someone while listening to Huey Lewis, aren't we funny and postmodern to laugh at this?--while not going to the point of pedancy. I think it still creates the same point: you aren't paying any real attention to the fact that this man is doing this, it's just commonplace and even amusing.
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 13 April 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― ron (ron), Sunday, 13 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 13 April 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 13 April 2003 16:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sand.y, Sunday, 13 April 2003 20:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― st (simon_tr), Sunday, 13 April 2003 20:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 13 April 2003 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
My problem lately with Bret Easton Ellis, who I used to like a lot, is that a lot of his work reads like "What if Maxim rewrote Catcher in the Rye", particularly Less Than Zero. I understand that focusing on what Julian wears is an important literary device, but spending FOUR CHAPTERS focusing on what Julian wears is pointless and lulls the reader away from what is actually going on. I wish he'd temper his insistance on boring everyone half to death with details to "prove" his point that violence/drugs/abusive sexual relationships are commonplace and ignored by the jaded modern youth (TM).
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 13 April 2003 22:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 13 April 2003 23:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, 13 April 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
What a vision! I now imagine Springsteen saying something like "You can skip most of my music."
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 April 2003 00:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 20 June 2003 08:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 20 June 2003 16:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 June 2003 16:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 20 June 2003 16:25 (twenty years ago) link
Anyway, those parts are hilarious and informative. And the fashion stuff is priceless, I'm paraphrasingk, but 'she was wearing what looked like a cross between used Benetton and The Limited' and a jacket from, I'm guessing Charivari?' it's like historical artifacts now.
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 20 June 2003 16:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Friday, 20 June 2003 16:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:23 (eighteen years ago) link
It does go downhill after the first 45 minutes.
― kingfish (Kingfish), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:27 (eighteen years ago) link
i do like the book though, in its own trashy way.
― latebloomer: i hate myself and want to fly (latebloomer), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― latebloomer: i hate myself and want to fly (latebloomer), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link
the scene where he's naked except for a pair of trainers, and chasing the prostitute with a chainsaw? that's my mr darcy moment. HOTT.
― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 07:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― BARMS, Wednesday, 3 August 2005 08:57 (eighteen years ago) link
"Whose moronic idea was it to drink dry beers?"
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 3 September 2007 17:01 (sixteen years ago) link
I've probably seen this film in excess of a hundred times. I'm not even kidding.
― aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Monday, 3 September 2007 17:14 (sixteen years ago) link
this kickstarted a massive crush on ... Patrick Bateman. -- The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, August 3, 2005 7:53 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link
― abanana, Monday, 3 September 2007 18:38 (sixteen years ago) link
shes probably best friends with suzy or something and this shit will get me off her list forever but fuck it yo its a real actual goal of mine to sex chloe sevigny someday WHAT UP GIRL -- st (simon_tr), Saturday, April 12, 2003 10:53 PM (4 years ago)
― gershy, Monday, 3 September 2007 18:48 (sixteen years ago) link
gershy, revivalist
― and what, Saturday, 19 July 2008 15:17 (fifteen years ago) link
she be my queen
― s trife (simon_tr), Sunday, April 13, 2003 2:23 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/e81bc5bd6c57d28e73073539679a68991dbc67c8_m.jpg
― and what, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:32 (fifteen years ago) link
this is probably my favorite movie of the decade
― a passion for posting (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:37 (fifteen years ago) link
beginning of this thread is so classic!!!
― I know, right?, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:39 (fifteen years ago) link
btw i saw her two weeks ago in amoeba, she was next to me leafing through the cocteau twins section
― omar little, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:40 (fifteen years ago) link
http://chloesevigny.biz/chloe-sevigny-02.jpg
― and what, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:43 (fifteen years ago) link
I still think of her as the Sassy magazine intern.
― Nicole, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:46 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.fashionista.com/images/entries/chloe%20sassy.jpg
― Nicole, Saturday, 4 October 2008 00:50 (fifteen years ago) link
no one would claim am psycho is better than robocop but still a great, great film
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Friday, 5 February 2010 01:18 (fourteen years ago) link
they are both special in their own ways - i love them both.
― sarahel, Friday, 5 February 2010 01:50 (fourteen years ago) link
I just watched this again, because of this little web article: http://www.wordandfilm.com/2011/09/censorship-causes-blindness-the-5-best-banned-books-turned-films/
Which listed it first among the best adaptations. And while I would get into a bar fight about some of their other choices, this one I agree with this one totally. What Mary Harron did with the material is, I believe, actually better than what Brett Easton Ellis did with it. Ellis half meant it, which makes for heady but truly unpleasant reading. The satire in the movie is blunt, but bever blunt like an overly-obvious statement, more like a baseball bat used as a deadly weapon. And it's never dull, because of course Patrick Bateman sharpens all his various knives to a glimmering shine.
I don't think the movie is at all ambiguous about whether he is a mass murderer or simply going mad. The movie makes it clear that he's going -- has gone -- totally mad. He shoots a police car with a pistol, and it explodes, and then he looks at the gun as if to say, "Wait... that only happens in movies. Something is very wrong. Even wronger than I thought." The cutaways during the final scenes of Chloe paging through his datebook, which becomes increasingly and then totally filled with nothing but violent and pornographic ink sketches, is expository of the fact that he's slowly been losing his mind over that period of time. (Think of Robert Crumb's older brother.)
And the last speech, which ends with, "This confession has meant nothing," is straight from the book IIRC, and carries the same weight that Ellis meant it to. After all the jokes and the Lynchian weirdness and the revelation that he is nothing but totally mad... he is still totally mad. Whether he killed a bunch of people or not. And he still has no purpose whatsoever to his life.
Great movie. Brilliant movie.
― DSMOS has arrived (kenan), Thursday, 29 September 2011 05:44 (twelve years ago) link
my go-to movie about zinging 80s corporate culture is robocop, fwiw
I agree, but American Psycho is not about that. It's about indulging your basest (and often most motivating) senses of status and pleasure and vanity, and getting extremely good at doing so, and then one day suddenly realizing that you have no reason to exist, and it's difficult for you to imagine anyone else having any reason to do so, either. It's about deep -- REALLY deep -- crisis of spirit and identity. Robocop asks, "Why are they there?", but American Psycho asks, "Why am I here?"
― DSMOS has arrived (kenan), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:07 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, this is a dope movie.
Perfect adaptation of the material. Tasteful without dulling the novel's edge, actually improving on it in a lot of ways.
― wasabi pea-sized masculinity (latebloomer), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:13 (twelve years ago) link
robocop still better though
― wasabi pea-sized masculinity (latebloomer), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:25 (twelve years ago) link
i've dug every mary harron film to date, and this might actually be my least favorite of the three, but it's still great. i agree about the book. ellis had a great idea for a book and some terrific dialogue, but the novel's like twice as long as it needs to be and the writing is just so purposefully dull and blank (which i know is ellis's 'thing' but it doesn't make rereads very rewarding). ellis on a good day is like bad joan didion.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:25 (twelve years ago) link
also, robocop's gore scenes are better and funnier
― wasabi pea-sized masculinity (latebloomer), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:27 (twelve years ago) link
remember when ellis said this film was no good because directors need to have 'the male gaze'? the guy is such a fucking twit.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:27 (twelve years ago) link
oh god yeah that was ridiculous.
― wasabi pea-sized masculinity (latebloomer), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:48 (twelve years ago) link
in that interview he had an interesting take on Harron's approach vs his own vision of the novel but then he threw in that essentialist garbage.
― wasabi pea-sized masculinity (latebloomer), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:50 (twelve years ago) link
agreed re: that essentialist garbage, but man can we talk about CHLOE SEVIGNY'S ASS
― Sophomore subs are the new Smith lesbians. (the table is the table), Thursday, 29 September 2011 06:58 (twelve years ago) link
there's a bit here just after he says "Christ, i'll call you" where his face changes briefly back to dead-eyed/Psychomode from smiling/ bullshit mode as he walks off that's just amazing. split-second, barely perceptible; perfect!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsjgoPM977E
and Sevigny can piss off after she said this about my beloved cityhttp://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/tv_and_showbiz/s/1485597_us-actress-chloe-sevigny-manchester-was-one-of-the-grimmest-places-id-ever-been-in-my-entire-life
― piscesx, Sunday, 22 April 2012 14:25 (twelve years ago) link
pro-tip: no one actually pays any attention to Chloe Sevigny
― I need new, hip khakis (DJP), Sunday, 22 April 2012 21:35 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnkZZFUhAOg
― buzza, Sunday, 22 April 2012 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
I'm watching American Psycho for the third time. I like the fact that the tension it builds up remains as intense as the first time I watched it. The scene where he hires the hookers and makes his sex tape is gut wrenching, you just never know if or when he's going to go completely nuts and slash them up in frenzy. Uncomfortable but irresistible viewing. I don't think it gets better with more viewings, but it is always awesome to watch. Patrick Bateman is a scary dude.
― smartmouthnewbie (captain rosie), Friday, 27 April 2012 18:08 (twelve years ago) link
mary harron's newest film, 'moth diaries', is fucking terrible, btw.
― akm, Friday, 27 April 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
havent read/seen neither book nor novel for a long time but am i right in remembering that the film makes it explicit where the book hadnt that bateman only has his job because of his family?
haha i just recall really having a bee in my bonnet about something and i never got round to ironing it out
― r|t|c, Friday, 27 April 2012 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
i thought the book hinted at that, too, but i don't remember where. what does bateman do at his job? the book and movie were very good at eliding this. this is the first time i've ever used the word 'eliding' btw so i hope it goes ok.
― Philip Nunez, Friday, 27 April 2012 22:53 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e3662085fb/american-psycho-with-huey-lewis-and-weird-al
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 15:48 (eleven years ago) link
I was just about to post that. Curse you, Raggett!
― ARE YOU HIRING A NANNY OR A SHAMAN (Phil D.), Wednesday, 3 April 2013 17:47 (eleven years ago) link
I have to return some videotapes
― calstars, Sunday, 23 November 2014 02:24 (nine years ago) link
Eh. Not a fan of the movie at all, which to my mind defangs and deflates the book.
Though there are parts of the book I can't read these days, I much prefer it. And while I know it's supposed to be unclear whether he's really killing all these people or wishing he were, I always took this book literally.
― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 23 November 2014 02:32 (nine years ago) link
(A much better BEE film adaptation, though problematic in its own ways: "The Rules of Attraction.")
― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 23 November 2014 02:36 (nine years ago) link
Just finished the book, a must read if you like the film.
― calstars, Saturday, 6 December 2014 23:56 (nine years ago) link
Do you like Huey Lewis and The News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.
― calstars, Saturday, 6 December 2014 23:57 (nine years ago) link
Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your asshole. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.
― calstars, Saturday, 6 December 2014 23:59 (nine years ago) link
I wish Kubrick had taken this on
― calstars, Sunday, 7 December 2014 00:02 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2vv_wp1hk0
― piscesx, Sunday, 7 December 2014 00:17 (nine years ago) link