comment #1

MilkMan says ...

I knew it. The trailer made it look like some bad Curtis Hanson movie from 1986. Is it okay for me to bust on Curtis Hanson? I mean I love LA Confidential just like everyone else, but the rest of his CV is about as good as...well, Gregor Jordan.

comment #2

actionman says ...

Wonder Boys was great. 8 Mile was solid. I even liked In Her Shoes. But Lucky You -- that was f'ing awful.

comment #3

MindlessObamaton says ...

MM: WONDER BOYS is great, but it hasn't aged well.

Wells: Sounds like the story colelction it's based on. I am pretty surprised still that AMERICAN PSYCHO was as great as it was. Of course, they jettisoned the more loathsome aspects of the piece, but still.

comment #4

televisiontears says ...

There's a popular theory that Ellis never intentionally satirizes the over-privileged, vapid subjects of his work, but that he's essentially just like them, and is just writing what he knows. While I wouldn't go that far, I think there might be a splash of truth to it.

It's a shame about the film, though. I was looking forward to another great Ellis adaptation. I even enjoyed Roger Avary's too-short Rules of Attraction.

comment #5

Geoff says ...

Agreed on American Psycho mindlessobamaton.

Anybody who reads Ellis realizes that any adaptation from a book of his has the potential to be shit.

comment #6

Rothchild says ...

This was the worst movie I've ever seen at Sundance.

comment #7

Geoff says ...

televisontears

his book Lunar Park has fun with that notion...in a way.

comment #8

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Anybody who reads any book realized that any adaptation from a book has the potential to be shit.

Oh, and Bret Easton Ellis rules (but even I never liked the Informers).

comment #9

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

*realizes, sorry

comment #10

MilkMan says ...

Forgot about Wonder Boys. Solid film. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said anything about nice old Curt.

Go Griffins!

comment #11

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Wonder Boys seems to be saying to be a good college professor all you have to do is smoke a lot of pot and try to bang Katie Holmes.

That film was a joke. You were right the first time, MM, Curtis Hanson does blow. Almost as bad as the "musical group" Hanson if it were not for L.A. Confidential...

comment #12

JapAdapters says ...

Curtis Hanson wrote the script for a late-70s crime movie called The Silent Partner that's a really good little thriller. Very clever.

comment #13

actionman says ...

Wonder Boys is hardly a joke, Kaned. C'mon. That film is beautifully written, very well acted by the entire ensemble, and has as-usual fantastic cinematography from Dante Spinotti.

comment #14

MilkMan says ...

Jesus Christ was Christopher Plummer butch and greasy in that film, JapAdapt. Daryl Duke's Payday is a masterpiece. Rip Torn is fucking awesome.

comment #15

Josh Massey says ...

"...and boring the living shit out of the audience."

Hilarious. Of course, that is exactly why you must continue going to these films. Because your best writing comes out of frustration and vitriol.

And Wonder Boys has aged just fine, thanks.

comment #16

Mr. Buckles says ...

Milkman, I respect thee. However, I first must say that I think Wonder Boys is a terrific and fun entertainment.

Hanson is collateral damage here and I say leave the guy alone, he really doesn't deserve to be put into the crosshairs in this context, well, maybe some for Lucky You.

This is like the time in college when my friend Mitch made fun of my friend Adam because his girlfriend had back fat. I laughed loudly and Adan attacked me. Sure, we were both piggish but why nail me? Why is the laugher held in contempt when he wasn't the one making the offending comment?

comment #17

JapAdapters says ...

Yeah, MM, he was a doosey. One of the great under seen villains in cinematic history. I saw that movie in the theatre when i was 7, and have never looked at a fish tank the same since.

comment #18

DarthCorleone says ...

I'm glad this was sold out, as I had included it on the list of possible films worth seeing for my boss.

Mr. Buckles>> Maybe if you find it funny, that's almost just as bad. It's an involuntary impulse, but it indicates that you'd think the thought. Just because you aren't the one who voiced it doesn't mean you get a pass. Laughter is also encouraging further remarks of that sort. Maybe that's just me. I'm not saying the guy who made the joke isn't more at fault (he is), but that doesn't absolve you of guilt.

comment #19

hunterd says ...

I love me some Brett Easton Ellis. One of the few current authors I read. I haven't got around to looking at Informers yet, but I was looking forward to the film. BEE's books are weirdly effective as films.

comment #20

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Agreed, hunterd.

Are we all forgetting Less Than Zero. I'd argue that film has held up surprisingly well, esp. against that saccharine John Hughes shit that constantly gets pimped out by Gen X-ers.

comment #21

BurmaShave says ...

This doesn't drop anytime soon, does it? I'd hate for Mickey to get NORBITed by this and/or KILLSHOT.

And from THE RIVER WILD through IN HER SHOES Curtis Hanson had one of the more respectable runs of any journeyman director in the modern era, and LA CONFIDENTIAL is one of the greatest films of all time.

comment #22

actionman says ...

Is Killshot going to get a wide release?

comment #23

actionman says ...

I will answer my own question -- NO. Killshot goes out on 5 screens this Friday.

comment #24

YND says ...

"about as rancid and repellent as a movie of this sort gets."

"empty, drugged-up Hollywood zombies smoking too much, drinking too much, doing too much blow and boring the living shit out of the audience."

"often flat and tedious; sometimes it's repulsively stupid."

Huh. Sounds like a Brett Easton Ellis book.

comment #25

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I'd rather give Killshot a chance than vpluntarily sitting through The River Wild again.

Have to confess I'm a bit surprised by all this Curt Hanson love...perhaps it is the Obama giddiness bleeding through?

comment #26

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

*voluntarily

sweet jesus.

comment #27

Edward Havens says ...

Plain and simple fact:

If the words "Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis" appear in the credits of any movie, you have been warned in advance that what you are about to watch is shit. Not The Shit. Just shit.

comment #28

smiley says ...

Bale gave an excellent performance in American Psycho, but beyond that the movie was awful. Easton Ellis is a hack and I've got to agree with televisiontears most of his "satire" is probably incidental.

comment #29

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Well, that's a plain and simple opinion. And that's valid.

However, American Psychoscored a 66% on rotten tomatoes. That is actually not too shabby (and certainly not shit), esp. considering the people that were already predisposed to hate it based on the source material. It is actually a pretty clever film, and I would argue that the satirical edge is actually a lot sharper in the film than in the novel.

Have you seen the film, Edward?

comment #30

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Okay, apparently we all love Curtis Hanson and hate Bret Easton Ellis today. I give up; I'm happy to be in the minority on this one.

comment #31

hunterd says ...

I like Hanson and Love BEE, where does that leave me?

comment #32

berg says ...

in BEDROOM WINDOW Hanson has Elizabeth McGovern and Isabelle Huppert in the same movie ... for stalker movies BAD INFLUENCE is hard to beat ... and HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE - "Don't fuck with me retard." ...

comment #33

hunterd says ...

Well, Just found out that this is playing SBiFF. So, I guess I'm gonna see it next weekend.

comment #34

MilkMan says ...

Here are my thoughts on Bret:

Someone has to chronicle the lifestyles of the rich and amoral. They make up a very important slice of the American pie. There are many ways of going about the task, and almost all of them are incorrect. Because, in the end, no one really cares about these people or what happens to them or what their problems are if they are presented as human beings. Bret had the good sense to flatten them out, focus of the surface, and never go any deeper. He does not ask for the reader's sympathy or pity. He asks that the reader to give exactly what the characters give: nothing. To properly adapt Bret you need a director who adopts this kind of pose. You can't turn his stuff into melodrama because there is no melodrama to be extracted from his work, which is why all of the adaptations have seemed so hysterical, Rules of Attraction (which I liked) and American Psycho included. You know who would be a perfect fit for Bret's work? A young Paul Schrader. Or Bresson. Or Ozu. Bret's works are not diatribes or tracts about the hideousness of modern american or the monied class. They are journalism. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I think it's true. American Psycho is a great psychological profile of a very specific type of person who emerged in the 80s, and there are still plenty of them with us today. These people don't care. About anything. Or anyone. Bret's problem is that maybe he's just too great an actor.

comment #35

Edward Havens says ...

Kaned, you have to look deeper.

American Psycho may have a 66% on the Tomatometer, but look at its average rating. A 6.2 just isn't very good. The New World, which has a 61%, gets a 6.7 average rating. Even Velvet Goldmine, which has a 54%, has a 6.4 average rating.

comment #36

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Perhaps that rating is slightly over-inflated, perhaps not. The bottom line: 66% cannot be easily dismissed as "just shit." Some people enjoyed that film. A lot of people. I am one.

comment #37

frankbooth says ...

The only thing by Ellis I've read was Less Than Zero, and I wasn't impressed. I got the point a few pages in -- everything is empty, everyone is jaded, life is an existential void and we're all just going through the motions -- and wasn't surprised or particularly interested by anything that happened after that. A short story could have gotten the point across just as well.

"There's a popular theory that Ellis never intentionally satirizes the over-privileged, vapid subjects of his work, but that he's essentially just like them, and is just writing what he knows." I can buy that.

Milkman, you seem like a smart guy, and apparently you like Ellis. Explain it to me. Talk down to me, if necessary. Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruel...

comment #38

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Frank, BEE wrote Less Than Zero when he was about 19. I'm not saying he has necessarily changed his style, or even gotten better...but I do think you have to take his particular age into account when critiquing that particular novel. It truly is a pretty good debut considering he likely wrote it while taking ENG 101 at university.

comment #39

MilkMan says ...

Frank, I understand if you don't like BEE. It's okay. I mean, there are certain writers one can dip into all the time and enjoy and I don't think BEE is one of those writers. His writing is concerned with a very, very narrow range of subjects. But I would argue that he is a very moral writer writing about very amoral people. I just don't think people should dismiss him. His body of work is important, I think, if you want to understand our culture. Are his books about ugly people and told in a possibly ugly manner? I would agree with that. And that's why they are an acquired taste. So is Salo, and no one would accuse Pasolini of being in league with the fascist oppressors that populate that film. But then again, I don't read literature to get solutions to the dismal human condition. I read literature so that I can be reminded of what it means to be a particular type of person during a particular time. BEE nailed his time to a T. Is he out of fashion right now? Yes. But one day when people want to get a handle on what New York City (and by proxy, America) during the 80s, they could do a lot worse than starting off with American Psycho or The Rules of Attraction. Having been born and raised in the Valley, and having gone to the same high school that BEE did, I can tell you that he is not really exaggerating. I think time will judge BEE kindly. I think he will be a canonical writer. But I could be wrong. There is a really good book of Lit Crit called Shopping in Space that has a very precise take on BEE. Check it out if you want a much better explanation of the BBE phenomena.

comment #40

bmcintire says ...

Very well put, MilkMan. I'm curious about this film, not having read any of the short stories. I have to say enjoyed the films and the boks of ATTRACTION, ZERO and PSYCHO. His stuff has held up much better than McInerny's, that's for sure.

comment #41

MickTravis says ...

"Wonder Boys" is a good book, but I found the movie smug and not very funny. Without the interior monologue, Grady just seems like a prick.

"Brightness Falls" by McInerney is much better than anything BEE has cranked out, although I like both.

"The Silent Partner" is awesome. Christopher Plummer = one of the meanest villains in recent memory.

comment #42

lipranzer says ...

I read LESS THAN ZERO in high school, and it was hands down the most depressing book I have ever read - the only book that's ever come close is THE HANDMAID'S TALE. I'm not sure how I'd feel about it today - I haven't gone near it since (I didn't like the movie). AMERICAN PSYCHO the book had some really good stuff (the satirizing of 80's pop music, although I'm not ashamed to stay I did, and still do, like some of it), but was overwritten, and it seemed like Ellis was often enjoying the violent passages a little too much. The main reason I liked the movie so much was how Harron pared a lot of the excess down and kept the satire - that and the great performances. Both the book and movie of RULES OF ATTRACTION were empty, shallow, and not enjoyable.

comment #43

hunterd says ...

I ADORE the movie Rules of Attraction. Probably seen it a dozen times. And you know what? It gets better every time. I don't like any of Roger Avery's other movies, but by george do I love me some Rules of Attraction.

comment #44

Yuval says ...

Rules of Attraction is great and so is American Psycho, though the book is much funnier and its satirical edge is as sharp as it should be.
televisiontears - where exactly is this theory popular? Do the same people think that Dr. Strangelove is about how great the military and government are? Ellis may be a vapid individual himself, but to think his books are just a product of "writing what he knows" is to be stupid or ignorant.

comment #45

PastePotPete says ...

I actually liked the novel of American Psycho more than the movie... the movie is more entertaining probably(Bale is terrific) but it really overlooked the sharp jab that Ellis put at the ending of the novel. IE the importance placed on the phrase "This is not an exit" on the door Patrick Bateman is studying at the end.

You're forced to consider the possibility that Patrick Bateman really is a horrendous mass murderer, as opposed to fairly ironclad "it was all in his head" interpretation the filmmakers decided to force upon the viewer. I admired that Ellis forces the reader to choose.

BTW is it me or is it pretty much unlikely that a conversation this worthwhile would be had at ANY other movie blog? This is why I really appreciate Hollywood-Elsewhere.

comment #46

mpneeb says ...

Wasn't the book universally panned when it hit in 1994?
Did someone thing they could salvage something from it?

comment #47

frankbooth says ...

Thanks, MM. Thorough and well-articulated. Maybe I'll give him another chance, one of these days. Recommendation?

Not that I read the way I used to. Too many distractions. When I was a kid, I either watched The Love Boat with the family or hid in my room and read Catch-22 or Harlan Ellison or Ralph Ellison or whatever from the school library. Now I have Netflix and the infernal internet, plus all sorts of real-life trouble I can get into right outside the front gate of my building. If they ever come up with a waterproof computer I can take in the bathtub, that will be the end of my offline education. (Actually, my mobile device works pretty well for that. I'll drop it one day, I'm sure.)

Am I the only one? Anybody else spend far too much time skimming headlines and responding to blog comments to get any real reading done? I'm having a very hard time imagining myself getting through, say, Crime and Punishment these days. And I thought one's attention span was supposed to get longer as one got older.

"...no one would accuse Pasolini of being in league with the fascist oppressors that populate that film."

No, but I might argue that in the making of it -- as a result of the very act of conceiving and staging those atrocities -- he became what he beheld, a bit like Coppola's experience making Apocalypse Now. But I digress (or maybe not).

comment #48

George Prager says ...

WONDER BOYS is entertaining, but ultimately bullshit. Movies about people who write books almost always are. They venerate too much. Look at SMART PEOPLE. What a disappointment that movie was.
And yes, the book is way better, I can't understand why they didn't include the chapter where he visits his ex-wife.

comment #49

BurmaShave says ...

SMART PEOPLE was a piece of shit, and a depressing rip-off of WONDER BOYS, down to the Pittsburgh setting.

comment #50

BurmaShave says ...

Also THE RULES OF ATTRACTION (the novel) saved my life Freshman year of college.

comment #51

George Prager says ...

Having gone to college around the same time as BEE, I have to tell you that the cultural references, attitudes and mores he documents in that book are shockingly accurate. It's scary. He's like Frederick Wiseman.

comment #52

free games says ...

Lucky You was awful...

comment #53

Valentinus says ...

That film was a joke. You were right generic levitra the first time, MM, Curtis Hanson does blow. Almost as bad as the "musical group" Hanson if it were levitra generika not for L.A. Confidential...

comment #54

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