Viewing Thread:
"Christian Bale - Actor and Nut Case"

First off, a test, does the B tag work in the title? Unlikely methinks. Anyway, on with the topic:

I've enjoyed every performance I've seen from Christian Bale, he's played some excellent roles. I just watched The Machinist last night and this was no different - I'm actually surprised they didn't put Bale up for an Oscar in that one though. I won't go into the details of the movie because its one of those that is so easily spoiled by any hints you give, particularly if you've seen certain other similar movies. My question though: is Christian Bale insane? He lost a tremendous amount of weight to play Trevor and then put on extra bulk to play Batman and I'm really not convinced that he'll have got through that without leaving lasting damage.

For anyone who has seen a picture of the movie or, even better, the movie itself, you'll know what I mean - he was scarily thin, its hard to believe he could even stand up. From what I'm told, he ate a tin of tuna and an apple every day, nothing else (except water), in the lead up to the movie. I'm not convinced I could cope with that, particularly if the option was open to just not bother.

Any thoughts?

Tiltawhirl wrote:
> The best thing Bale has done has been Batman, he was good in
> Equilibrium as well. American Psycho did absoloutly nothing for me,
> just seemed like it felt like it was more intelligent than it really
> was

I thought Equilibrium was really poor and uninteresting, and the role gave Bale little to work with.

American Psycho's being a good film is down to personal preference, but I do think Bale's performance was better in that than in either Batman or Equilibrium, especially considering the character he had to play. In Bruce Wayne he got to express a character with more facets than just "Money/Clothes/Kill", and did he well, but I found Bateman in Psycho to be a more intriguing character precisely because he seemed so one-dimensional in his dualism (if you see what I mean).

Of all the things the American Psycho film could be described, intelligent probably isn't one of them.

The best thing Bale has done has been Batman, he was good in Equilibrium as well. American Psycho did absoloutly nothing for me, just seemed like it felt like it was more intelligent than it really was

I did enjoy Rules of Attraction though.

Nope.

Kilgore Trout wrote:
> In case anyone wonders what ssxpro is on about, I removed his attempt
> at using bold in the title - it looks funny.


Ah, I wondered where that had gone. I tried editing it, but couldn't find the right box, so I left it. I take it there isn't a way for us to edit subject titles as well as the content of the original post?

Oops.

Well you clearly knew what I meant. ;o)

Meka Dragon wrote:
> Now the world don't turn to the beat of just one drum...

Move, not turn.

[URL]http://tv.cream.org/specialassignments/themes/diffrent_strokes.mp3[/URL]

Kilgore Trout wrote:
> Meka Dragon wrote:
> Stuff
>
> Funny, I loved Everything Is Illuminated, I thought it was really
> funny, but found Fear and Loathing a real struggle to get through.

Thereby proving the theory of different strokes for different folks:

Now the world don't turn to the beat of just one drum...

Blank wrote:
>> Oldboy was a fantastic film; it was supremely violent but there was a
> reason there, it was all motivated by something. It wasn't "Then
> he does something horrible because the other guy has a better
> business card," under the pretence that "HE'S A PSYCHO!!!!
> IT DOESN'T HAVE TO MAKE SENSE!!1 HAHAH I'M A GENIUS!!"

--

Ah, but I don't think American Psycho is a bad film. I think it's great, and probably the best thing that Bale has done. I just reckon the book is awful, and they've improved the film version many times over by softening it a bit, but leaving room for Huey Lewis murders and chainsaw throwing.

Meka Dragon wrote:
> Stuff

Funny, I loved Everything Is Illuminated, I thought it was really funny, but found Fear and Loathing a real struggle to get through.

I think there's a difference between getting into something because it's popular and enjoying something simply because it's popular.
That's almost as bad as the people that won't like anything remotely popular because it gives them an anti-cool.