Anyway, I think I really did enjoy reading American Psycho.  It was one of those books, I think, not developed according to the six steps of plot. Rather, it seemed more a slice of Patrick Bateman's life. (Yay for applying World Lit class.) Nothing was exactly resolved, there were a bunch of high points and low points rather than a story building up to a dramatic climax, and it just sets the reader down into a certain couple of years of Patrick's life. 

Oh, and for those fans of the movie wondering whether or not to read the book--weeeeelll...a lot of lines in the movie were quoted directly from the book. There is a lot of material between those lines. Bateman goes off into long rambles about random things, and he also describes the outfits (and, by association, respective designers of said outfits) worn by those around him in GREAAAAAAT detail. It gets kind of...tedious, really, but it makes sense given his mental condition. Random. Rambles.

So honestly, although I think I liked the book...I can't put my finger on what I really feel about it. I'll give an update if I figure it out.

For a more personal update on what's going with me...see my next post.

Okay, so, loads of people hate Tom Cruise. I happen to think he's alright when he's not crazy, and some of his movies are definitely cool.

So beware, haters of Tom Cruise. Valkyrie has joined Cruise's handful of phenomenal performances.

Now, some of you may think 'It's Tom Cruise. How can it possibly be good? He doesn't even have a German accent!' No, no he doesn't. Neither do any of the actors besides the one who plays Adolf Hitler himself. Think about this: invariably, some actor would not be able to believably manage such an accent...and the movie would be torn apart on that aspect, on that one actor.

All that aside, I'm not bothered by the accent thing. I was able to understand all the words pretty clearly, y'know? That's all that matters.

Onto the movie.

If there's one movie I regret not sitting down and watching earlier (the original Star Wars films excluded, because they still outrank this one as far as that sorta regret goes), it's The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). My dad has long been a HUGE fan of this movie, and I have seen bits and pieces walking through the living room, but never have I simply taken the time to sat down and watch it.

The Day the Earth Stood Still has all the deep thought that so many of today's movies tragically lack. At the beginning, a ship (the ever-popular flying saucer, to be precise) from outer space lands in the middle of a park in Washington, D.C. Out of it step a huge metal robot and a man in a metallic suit. The "space man," though he has honorable and non-aggressive intentions, is shot.

Klatu's (the space man, played by Michael Rennie) mission on Earth relates to a "growing problem" an alliance of planets outside Earth has noticed: now that the violent people of Earth are experimenting with rockets, their violence could extend to the rest of the galaxy. Why is this a problem? The rest of the galaxy has successfully taken measures to completely eliminate aggression, for which the penalty is death by...well...vaporization.

I think I'm a bit sleepy to do this movie justice with more summarization, but I'm just going to say...wow. Eliminating aggression. You know, the galaxy in Serenity tried that, too...know how that turned out?

Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good science fiction movie. I enjoy movies that make me think. I'm not sure I'd like to see the remake with Keanu Reeves...but I probably will rent it or something just to see if it can compare. Doubt it.