Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. It revoultionized the slasher/modern horror genre, and made a huge impact on the film industry in general. It went against the grain for movies at the time with the sudden death of the main character, shocking the audience.
A woman steals $40,000 from her boss's client to start a new life. She frantically flees from town, encountering the police, buying a new car, and trying to escape before anyone notices what she has done. Caught in a storm, she stays at a motel for the night.
Monday morning, at the office, everyone notices the main character's absence from work and the missing money. An investigation is then initiated to find the money and the criminal.
I felt as though the storyline to Psycho, while new and exciting when it first came out, has dated terribly. The whole plot comes across as quite dull, as well as being almost comically bad, like it is supposed to be some sort of spoof on horror films. The cinematography, however, is still beautiful, as the shots of the city are exoansive and well lit, and the close ups of the characters are framed so that we can see past their eyes and into the psyche. So while the plot didn't grab me, aesthetically i found Psycho to be very pleasing and well done.

The pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends

American Psycho is one of the most incredible films i have ever seen, and i think Patrick Bateman is a character everyone can relate to, to some degree. The movie and the characters really embody the commercialism, greed and materialistic obsession of wall street and upper class America in the late 80s/early 90s. Patrick is the most concentrated example of this, in early scenes commenting in his internal monologue that he is 'almost in tears' when he doesnt get a good table at a restaurant, as well as breaking out into a sweat over an exceptional business card that seems to give him more pleasure than his fiance. This scene is my absolute favourite from the movie, as its the first time we see Bateman properly lose his control over something. I love that his outburst only lasts a few seconds, and as soon as he's finished he goes back to being quite calm, showing no remorse. As a matter of fact, if one were to only view him from the left, you wouldn't even know that he had just dismembered his work colleague with an axe. I love how the blood is only spattered on one side of his face, almost like its displaying the two sides of a psychopath (the socially acceptable front they develop for public consumption, and the real, disturbing characteristics underneath.) Even the choice of music (Huey Lewis and the news' 'hip to be square') is perfect, such a daggy song paired up with a disturbing scene, edited just so that the chorus comes in when Bateman has finished and is calming down again, taking a moment for a cigar, while Jared Leto lays bleeding at his feet. There is no chance a movie like this would be made today, because all directors and filmmakers have turned into a bunch of sentimental nerds that love preachy movies with ridiculous dialogue and convoluted endings, practically aborting any scene where there is something remotely enjoyable to watch.

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwicLgOGJOI

They're not your husband

Earl is a seemingly disturbed man, who becomes obsessed with his wife's weight loss and appearance after two men talk about her crudely while she is working. Raymond carver uses the story of the unemployed husband and waitressing wife to paint a realist picture of a failing marriage. Earl has nothing to really live for and so becomes obsessed with the most menial of tasks, getting his wife to lose weight. It completely consumes him so that when she says that people at work are worrying about her, his possessive streak shows and his reply is 'they're not your husband', giving him self an undeserved sense of entitlement. When Earl re enters the place where his wife works, the other wait staff are convinced that he is some creep off the street because his demeanor is less that of a proud husband and more similar to a deprived pervert.