American Psycho (2000)

Patrick Bateman.
Single-handedly decimating prostitute populations
since the turn of the millenium.

At a glance:
Never read the '91 book from which it's adapted but this sure makes some compellin viewin. On the surface, a story about a sick fuck narcissistic investment banker named Patrick Bateman who kills people, for example, a colleague with a better business card than his because it has a watermark. Historically, it has gone down as an important psychological thriller that attracts academic interest due to its surrealist presentation of white collar rat race socio-dynamics. Long monologues on fine food and beauty products by lead actor Christian Bale (pic) expound a complex story with plenty of rewards, cerebral as much as visual.
Perennial wonderment:
Batman or Bateman, this Christian Bale couldda easily played Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight (2008) with equal aplomb, if you examine the emotional breakdown in the telephone scenes.
Reminds me of:
Myself, of course. You're a fucking ugly bitch. I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood. I want you to clean your vagina. I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?
Watch out for:
All the pop culture commentary by Bateman are actually great reviews on the subject. You just find it hard to capture it all because he's sayin it while he's choppin some guy or whore up. With an axe. Shiny one, even.
Most memorable line:
"Don't just stare at it. Eat it."
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

Cara Seymour & Krista Sutton in a butt-eatin competion

Pin this one down at four full stars for intellectual entertainment that lives on today due to its unusual delivery. Check out this excerpt I got for you from a Universal Studios site - The characters are captive to 1987 fashion, which costume designer Isis Mussenden describes as "much bigger than now - shoulders with lots of pads, big glasses, big earrings and necklaces, and clothes that used large quantities of fabric. It's a general rule of thumb that when times are affluent, the clothing becomes voluminous." Mussenden's challenge was threefold. "As a costume designer, my first job is to interpret the script and build characters off the clothes," she says. "Clothing not only conveys character and mood visually, it also tells the story. When Bateman is feeling powerful, he wears a red tie, a shirt with bold stripes. But in weaker moments he appears in a lighter suit and a less flattering yellow tie.

Public Enemies (2009)

"What does zit mean, zis word, moll, Johnny?"

At a glance:
Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard in the same movie? It's a biopic about a violent Depression Era gangster? Bring it on!
Bad news on the doorstep:
It's a 140-minute struggle to care about a bank robber who, although played with some measure of suave and swagger by the chameleonic Johnny Depp (check out the pickup lines he gets!) it suffers from an uneven, peculiar narrative style. We just can't couldn't give a toss about John Dillinger - whom musta been helluva more interestin than this damn movie. Hell if it didn't finish strong, I might even have hated it. On the whole, it just seems like a whole lot of A-list stars just decided to appear in a B-grade flick. Michael Mann - why laa?
Perennial wonderment:
Of whether Marion Cotillard can finally go Hollywood has been solved! Yay. Her English comes off odd, though.
Reminds me of:
The Untouchables (1987) and Lonely Hearts (2006). Hell if they made it just a little goofier, I wouldda thought of Bugsy Malone (1976).
Watch out for:

The bedroom scenes between Cotillard and Depp and tell me how they were because I sure as hell didn't see me none at TGV Bukit Tinggi in Klang where I caught this. I'm surprised this movie even made it to Malaysia.
Most memorable line:
The one about his favourite things in life.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
A gangster movie has either gotta have lotsa class or lotsa intensity - this one has neither. Will see if I can get the 1991 TV film Dillinger (or even better the 1973 one) and see if they're any better. This movie didn't teach us too many things, except that Billy Crudup, who was Dr Manhattan in Watchmen (2009), does a good J. Edgar Hoover impersonation. Aah... who's gonna make the next L.A. Confidential (1997)? ★★★

The Dark Knight (2008)

"Here's my card..."

At a glance:
That which does not kill you will only make you stranger. Stranger still is how Christopher Nolan managed to better the already formidable Batman Begins (2005), what with how tricky the franchise is. In the past 10 years or so, blockbuster adaptations of comic book superheroes have rarely touched the greatness, nor captured the essence, of the character at hand, perhaps with the exception of Iron Man (2008). Between Bruce Wayne and the Batman however, there's already enough character struggle to perish all thoughts of any Catwomen cleavage needed for blockbuster appeal. Rarely does an overtly mainstream picture discuss power, justice, due process and the rule of law so accessibly for the regular moviegoer. Bruce Wayne is billionaire playboy and expert criminologist at the same time - yet story is filled with legal themes, almost academic even. I ain't even at The Joker yet.
Bad news on the doorstep:

Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The pre-release sudden death of Aussie star Heath Ledger - to which Warner played a good hand with - a marketin strategy that mustn't be insensitive to the late actor. Perhaps it's fittin then that he delivered his best ever performance as the maniacal Joker, the kind of precision in actin that occurs to an actor maybe once or twice in his or her entire lifetime. Don't think it's out of order to say that Joker drew from Ledger as much as Ledger from Joker. The Chelsea grin carved across the jester's face already goes some way towards tellin the tale of an entirely believable anarchist whose twisted appetite for destruction shines brighter than all the Batman beacons Commissioner Gordon could ever assemble on Gotham's rooftops.
Perennial wonderment:

Like a mad dog.

How Christian Bale is always upstaged in all his movies, to good result. You seen Terminator Salvation (2008)?
Watch out for:

Never start with the head. The victim gets all fuzzy.

The pencil-disappearin magic trick, courtesy of The Joker. Nice.
Most memorable line:
Alfred: "Some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with - they just want to watch the world burn."
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
★★★★★ Can't wait for the next instalment. Surely Two Face will have more screen time?

You wanna know how I got these scars?
My father, was a drinker, and a fiend.
And one night, he goes off crazier than usual.
Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that.
Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it.
He turns to me and says, "Why so serious?" Comes at me with the knife.
"WHY SO SERIOUS?"
He sticks the blade in my mouth... "Let's put a smile on that face."
Why so serious?

Terminator Salvation (2009)

At a glance:
What can I say - it's the latest Terminator movie and I ain't ever watched me any. I can't be bothered, I'm sorry. I'm interested to watch only BAD Arnie movies like Conan The Destroyer and not somethin that could actually be good. I watched this purely because I like Christian Bale and I wanted to see what kind of movie required the sort of intensity which made him go off on that famous rant. I also want to see more of Moon Bloodgood's victorious tits after I recently saw her in Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li. Oh yes, that and it's also part of my job. Not as fun as it sounds, trust me.
Bad news on the doorstep:
It's a market-friendly PG13 and not R, unlike all its predecessors.
Perennial wonderment:
If Christian Bale would quit the superhero stuff and go back to playin villains like the whoremongerin mad fuck in American Psycho. Much more intruiguin, I'd say. In a semi-related thought, the mad fuck in this movie turns out to be Sam Worthington, whom I remember appeared as an equally mad fuck in that croc-movie Rogue opposite Radha Michell. He plays half-human-half-robot Marcus Wright, who reminds me of that other mad fuck who has no neck, Wayne Rooney.
Reminds me of:
One of the few sci-fi movies that amused me - Total Recall.
Watch out for:
The chase scene on the bridge. It's like Fast And Furious meets Transformers.
My hands were clenched in fists of rage:
When Moon Bloodgood gave quarter ball ...at most. I blame the kiddie ratin. They really ought to have gone all out for a R adventure. Even the violence just flutters by.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi? for an average movie seen by a curious, first-time Terminator newbie. I won't ask for a call to terminate the franchise but I do wish it were a more adult-orientated film. Trust the Malaysian censors to have let it through with a tame U.