American Psycho (2000) - Mary Herron

So I finally got around to watching this movie and godDAMN is it good!! I can't help but find it pretty comical after seeing meme after meme of scenes in this movie, but if anything it really lended itself to my viewing and interpretation of it. I think it does a really good job of setting up this juxtaposition of the existential internal thoughts of Patrick Bateman against the peppy vapid culture of Wall Street traders. He says the famous "There is no real me, only an entity, somthing illusory" line and then it immediately cuts into a "Walking On Sunshine." So absurd and yet, that's kinda the point, isn't it? I think it does such an amazing job of critiquing masculine ideals-- this guy has everything (money, status, shredded physique, stylish apartment, a group of successful "friends") and yet it seems like he spends the whole movie screaming for someone to notice what he's doing, because nothing he does seems to ever matter. He literally drags a bloody body through his apartment lobby and the doorman doesn't bat an eye. He says he can't control himself and I feel like he is almost compelled to kill due to this aching emptiness from his life, and yet sometimes it seems he almost wishes he would be caught, that somebody would break the ice so to speak, to get to the root of what he is going through so that he doesn't have to continue this pointlessly successful, hypermasculine facade. Immediate favorite of mine.

10/10

Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Baz Luhrmann

This movie was a heavy fixation and comfort movie of mine for quite some time. I have. Many feelings about it. But keeping things in the realm of words and not wild flailing and frothing at the mouth, fantastique musical. I really adore the arrangements of the songs and the choices, nothing ever feels particularly out of place or like it was chosen just because the song was popular at the time. They are remixed together in really moving ways that get you right to the meat and bones of the emotions going on, I just think they're great. Your Song? Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend?? El Tango De Roxanne????? FUCK!!!! THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!! NEED I SAY MORE?? I WILL! The use of leitmotifs!!! AGH!!! Come What May and how it comes up again and again and evolves is soooo good. The aesthetics of course, AMAZING. Nicole... Ewan....... my bisexual ass can't. The set design, the acting, the constant use of and yet never confusing visual and musical metaphor, the plot that is complicated enough to be rewatchable over and over again yet understandable enough on a first watch to keep up with... god. Need to watch this again ASAP.

10/10

Rear Window (1954) - Alfred Hitchcock

I was first introduced to this story through the 1998 made-for-TV movie adaptation starring Christopher Reeve, and I really loved it! I thought the concept was very solid (though the sex scene was maybe a little gratuitous/had weird chemistry haha) but I had no idea it was an adaptation at first, let alone of a Hitchcock film. I hadn't actually seen any of his films before seeing Vertigo with my partner a couple years back, to which we soon after watched Rear Window. So far, this is my favorite of his for sure, I think it's so interesting seeing just how effective a good story and good film-making can take a story that can seem sort of antiquated and really make it just grab you by the throat with how captivating it is! I've seen my fair share of 50's era television, mostly in the form of The Twilight Zone which really makes this movie all the more impressive. Maybe it is just the level of funding for a show vs a film by a well-known director, but man does he really know how to make a movie. I knew how the story ended and still the scene when the neighbor comes in, and he's just standing there in that pitch black, blocking the doorway, knowing there's no chance of escape for a wheelchair-bound Jefferies... so tense. Master of his craft for sure, though that is hardly an original take. Fun fact, my grandmother once told me that she remembers when his movies were coming out in theatres, but she never saw them because she was too scared by them! I think it's neat at least.

10/10

Blade Runner [Final Cut] (1982) - Ridley Scott

Ok so... I think this is one of those movies that I've heard and seen so much about ahead of time that I had kind of built up an expectation of what it would be like before I ever watched it. It was... alright. I really like the set and costume designs as well as the other aesthetic features like backdrops/art, and the plot is intriguing, I guess I just assumed it would go deeper into an argument about replicants and their rights or maybe what it means to be human, but it just didn't. I want to give it another watch in time and probably do a bit more research on the history of the movie since to my knowledge this was one of the pioneers of what became cyberpunk/synthpunk, and I think knowing more about that would deepen my appreciation of it. Also the make out scene... or whatever the hell that was... rapey. Did not like that did NOT understand what was going on. Was he like taking advantage of her because she doesn't have anyone else to go to? Or was she actually into it? Also maybe it's just because I can only ever see a younger Harrison Ford as Indy, but his character is kind of a nothing burger. Which again I think just stems from a lack of any kind of thought provoking argument for him to comment on.

6/10