It is not as if American Psycho is hallowed ground, like Casablanca or Gone With The Wind. It is just that a remake is so very unnecessary. Although the original came out over a decade ago, it was set in the 1980′s and so it can’t really be argued to be dated. It looks as though the planned remake will be set in a more contemporary New York, possibly addressing how the city has changed since the milieu of the book and original film. That is all well and good, though it could be argued that the milieu of the original was part of its distinctive quality and that to take the story out of that environment does more than a little violence to Bret Easton Ellis’s work.

Matters are not helped by news that the writer Lionsgate have employed to rework the script, Noble Jones, has written one short film five years ago and since then has worked as a cinematographer and second unit director. That is not to cast aspersions at his ability as a writer, he may well be extremely talented, but it doesn’t look good when a seeming novice is attached to such a high profile project. Jones has apparently finished the script and wants to shoot it as well, as a “down and dirty low budget” film. Hmm. We will see.

Source: Variety and Deadline.

Arcane Projects Movie T-shirt designs are inspired by the most famous fictional Film companies, corporations and settings in movie history.

From the vampire ridden town of Santa Carla, to dead pirates in the fog of Antonio Bay, to the infamous biker haunt, The Titty Twister Bar.

Check them out their range of amazing t-shirts here.

HeyUGuys have teamed up with Arcane Projects to bring you this competition, with four of the five designs below exclusively up for grabs. They are not yet available on the site so this is your chance to get your hands on one early!

These new style Movie company inspired tees have subtle left-breast designs to look like company work shirts, paying homage to some of the most famous Companies, Corporations and places from cinema’s all time greats!

So, who would you work for?…

Available are 10 t-shirts. Thats 1 tee to 10 winners, from their choice of the following designs.

1. Tyrell – Bladerunner.  Shirt in Brown S, M, L, Xl, XXL

2. Pierce & Pierce – American Psycho.  Shirt in Black S, M, L, XL, XXL

3. OCP – Robocop.  Shirt in Navy S, M, L, XL, XXL

4. Umbrella Corp. – Resident Evil. Shirt In Olive S, M, L, XL, XXL

And, this being HeyUGuys…

5.  Inferno Cavern Adventures – The Goonies.  Shirt in Honey, S, M, L, XL, XXL

So, what do you have to do to win one of these magnificent prizes?

Just answer the following question…

In Robocop what does OCP stand for?

Send your answer, your full mailing address, choice of shirt design and shirt size to TShirts@heyuguys.co.uk

The small print:

* This competition is open to everyone in the world. That means you.

* Only one entry per household will be counted.

* The competition will close Thursday the 31st of December at 23.59 GMT.

* The winners will be picked at random from entries received.

The full T&Cs can be read here.

Good luck everyone.

Arcane Projects T-shirts are made from high quality cotton tees with a superb screen print finish.  With many more movie inspired tee’s and hoodies available from the website, most designs come in a wide range of colours to suit the individual wearer’s taste.  Plus what other T-shirt companies will design a T-shirt for you based on your favourite movie? Arcane Projects will!

You can follow Arcane Projects on Facebook and on Twitter

Actress Sasha Grey states that her name was dually inspired by The Kinsey Scale of sexuality and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.  It is Dorian Gray I recall as I sit in a tiny screening room with the crisp, Vogue editorial, beauty of The Girlfriend Experience unfurling on the screen before me.  Utter lack of affect in the face of unspeakable actions.  Is prostitution unspeakable?  Perhaps, at least, it is the latter-day love that dare not speak its name.

When Steven Soderbergh selected Grey as his muse for this Sex, Lies and Videotape for an Apprentice generation, speculation was rife (and ribald) that The Girlfriend Experience would be as blue as the economic mood upon its release.  Pleasingly nothing could be further from the truth.

The Girlfriend Experience presents five days in the life of a unique independent contractor ““ Manhattan call girl Chelsea.  Chelsea’s $2000 an hour services conjure the illusion of an immersive relationship-lite.  Sexually she is a consummate courtesan but emotionally her role is closer to that of Geisha.  Solicitous, fascinated and utterly, china doll, detached.  Boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos) is fully aware of Chelsea’s double identity.  Chris understands the pressure of a life trading one’s self as a commodity ““ every cent of profit he makes over his wage goes to fill the coffers of the downtown gym where he trains the wealthy and time-impaired.  He is at an impasse and struggling to find a way forward.

While Chris struggles, Chelsea has an opportunity to introduce her charms to the readers of an influential punter-review forum.  She sleeps with the lecherous webmaster, he raves about her performance online.  He is paid in kind, she in custom.  Surely her flawless professional facade can withstand such a trade?  The story we see in broken fragments suggests not.  Chelsea’s dynamic with Chris has become as close to GFE as any $2000 encounter so new client Phillip appears a kindred spirit and an escape when her tightly knitted-life begins to unravel…

I suspect that many people will go to see The Girlfriend Experience expecting a dialogue on the cause and effect of life as a working girl ““ it is after all the cause du (Belle de) jour.  Others will go to see a little T&A.  They will all be disappointed.  In The Girlfriend Experience Steven Soderbergh has created a film which doesn’t proffer gift wrapped answers to the viewer.  There are no life lessons here.  Much has been made of the life-landscape behind GFE shot, as it was, in the weeks leading up to the 2008 Presidential election.  As he favours structured improvisation the “˜civilian’ cast were encouraged to speak just as they would in life, to discuss the headlines of the day and banter about the minutiae of their lives.  Thus the issues of the wider economy underscore the personal concerns of the cast and offer a timely context to a story originally conceived in 2006.  The important thing to bear in mind though is that this tale could take place at any period of modern history because it is a story unique to Chelsea and the extraordinary world she occupies.

I will confess to having been a little disconcerted by the way The Girlfriend Experience ““ as both a movie and a concept ““ has been represented in reviews.  I have read much that reinforces an idea of Chelsea as executive toy.  Or even as a bespoke provider of instant coupledom for the busy man-about-town.  The consensus appearing to be that GFE as a service is primarily about the G, that other distasteful F word diluted by phrases such as more than sex. Let me be very clear here then ““ The Girlfriend Experience is a film about a prostitute.  It is a realistic and direct look at one successful working girl’s working week.  It is doubtful that many of her clients are paying thousands of dollars for vanilla lovemaking and companionship.  To not accept this as fact is to misunderstand the absolute accuracy of Grey’s standout performance.  You want pretence, watch Pretty Woman.       

Of Sasha’s performance James Rocchi at Cinematical wrote “Grey is not a great actress — I can’t really imagine her playing Ophelia or one of the Three Sisters”. I cannot help but agree.  As one of the new power players in pop culture and contemporary porn I imagine, should Ms Grey set her sights on The Dane, she would insist upon playing the man himself!  In appearance her Chelsea recalls Alison Lohman’s transient foster child in Peter Kosminsky’s White Oleander ““ a cool, pale canvas awaiting interpretation.  For me though, in performance, Grey is pure Jennifer Jason Leigh ““ clever, complex and carnal.  She credits Leigh as one of her heroines and there are echoes of the same temperament and tone here.  I wonder that she has not received more praise for her compelling turn.  When she is on screen she commands your focus utterly.

Together DP Peter Andrews and Steven Soderbergh have created a striking film.  It has an authenticity that owes a great deal to the inexperience of the cast who, besides Grey, were predominantly playing variations on themselves.  Irrespective of the 2008 setting, its gloss, materialism and magazine shoot aesthetic lend an undeniable 1980s tone.  Further reinforced by the scattergun chatter of men on a Vegas bound jet that punctuates throughout. And anyone familiar with Bret Easton Ellis’s searing social commentary American Psycho will feel the retro force at its strongest as Chelsea meticulously details every outfit she wears.  The attention to detail is impeccable, her presentation so Rachel-Zoe-by-numbers as to be a gentle pastiche.  The red light camera emphasises the photo shoot effect, lending the available light all the mighty powers of an art department airbrush, so that the jumps from then to now and back become a flip through the pages of a life.

Chelsea hides behind her Zoe-disciple shades, impeccable wardrobe and the lowered gaze of a false-lashed eye.  In place of self-awareness, surface.  We never get any closer and we never understand.  She shields the dangers of her job with superstition as her only safeguard.  We see her in a town car with a driver, incongruously young against the formality of the backseat and lunching in a restaurant with a friend chattering about life and work.  We see her at home lounging on an overstuffed couch and we see her taking investment advice from a Hassidic jeweller client before taking him into the back room for the unfriendly F.  We see her at home, at work and at play.  We never see who she is.

The Girlfriend Experience offers no new ammunition to either side of the prostitution debate and it is much the better film for it.  It credits the audience with the ability to simply let it be what it is.  For that reason The Girlfriend Experience stands out as one of my favourite films this year and one I unreservedly recommend.

The Girlfriend Experience is released in the UK on 4th December

Read our exclusive interview with Sasha Grey here

View the full trailer below

As a lover of films I proudly own a huge amount of DVD’s and Bluray films I’ve collected over the years, approximately 700 in all, and having decided to watch them all I’ve started a journey revisiting worlds, characters and stories that I may not have seen again as the DVD’s sit on their shelving gathering dust.

Some movies have been binned or sold on eBay after viewing, or post viewing (I’ll list them later) and some have brought back fond memories of why I bought them and why I love movies so much.

Having so far watched up to Godfather on my adventure to view all my movies from A-Z in order, which has so far taken about two years, I’ve constantly added to my collection and started re-buying some films on Bluray to get the most out my TV and maximise my viewing pleasure.

I also find myself searching in HMV or Amazon regularly to find any films in the G’s or H’s I haven’t got yet so I can watch them soon, it’s kind of got to an addiction level with the more I watch the more I want to watch.

There have been times where I’ve bought films in the S’s or T’s for example and refuse to watch them out of order because Ive a system! I desperately want to see “There Will Be Blood” on Bluray but I wont”¦.out of principle, I need help!

I thought I should review each letter and give my top 5 films from each alpha block and maybe bring your attention to some films you may not have seen, films you’ve not seen in ages or films you should give another try.

First off was the A’s.

With such classics as Airplane, Alien, Aliens and Annie Hall it was a fine start to my adventure. Airplane was hilarious, Alien was as scary as it always has been, Aliens was a stunning all out action horror movie and Annie Hall was a quite brilliant subtle comedy film and all were a joy to watch, but I choose 5 films that I think were the best of the A’s and they were, in no particular order:

American Movie ““ This film is an amazing documentary following a man’s dream of making a movie with his friends, you watch him struggle with family problems, financial problems, drinking problems and filming problems.

The camera crew follow like-able Mark Borchardt, a long haired struggling American trying to live his American dream as an amateur film maker, he uses his friends, local actors and maxing out his credit cards to make a film called North Western but struggles to get anywhere with it, so he returns to completing a Horror film called Coven, a film he was working on but never completed years before.

He borrows money from his eccentric uncle Bill to finish the movie and along with his best friend and musician Mike Schank, who produces some of the films funniest moments, they set on completing the movie.

The film is a great watch and you really want Mark to succeed, you watch him struggle with normal life, with family, relationships and financial problems and you get a fascinating look at a struggling American’s life trying to live a dream which I too have a passion for.

American Beauty ““ Is this Kevin Spacey’s finest film? Possibly. Spacey plays a man with the supposedly perfect life but entering into a depression and mid-life crisis which escalates when he becomes infatuated with his daughters friend, buys a sports car and becomes friends with a teenager boy from next door who sells him weed this all leads to a mind blowing ending that leaves you shocked and amazed.

The film is beautifully shot and directed by Sam Mendes and fully deserves it’s 5 Oscars. It’s an unexpected classic with every aspect of the film working perfectly to produce one of the all time great movies.

American Psycho ““ The film for me that launched Christian Bale into adult stardom.
I’ve never seen a portrayal of a psychotic killer on film as good as this, and as funny!
American psycho is one of the most dark funny disturbing films of all time, it’s humour is subtle in ways you feel wrong laughing at times and the setting of 80′s yuppie America is fantastically realised.

Christian Bale is so stunning as Patrick Bateman that you can see why he has become one of the most passionate actors of our generation who totally immerses himself in every role he does, He is Patrick Bateman in this film.

Patrick Bateman is by day a wealthy successful investment banker and by night has the urge to kill people, and does in brutal ways whether it’s a chainsaw or a big f’n axe which is terrifying to watch but in a horrible way you kind of like him.

Stunning film if you haven’t seen it, you must do so soon.

Amelie – Probably one of the most beautifully made films of all time, the colours are stunning the acting is sublime and the story is one that is both affectionate and memorable that you won’t forget it for days after.

The film is French and made by the amazing Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It stars Audrey Tautau as Amelie, a young girl who decides to devote her life to helping people after finding a man’s lost childhood memories by chance and returning it to him, the delight it brings to him gives her this new perspective on life.

The story unfolds in wonderful little stories of people she choses to help, her father and his garden gnome, a failed writer, a hypochondriac, a stalker, the photo booth ghost, a young shop assistant, an old man who’s bones are as brittle as glass and the love of her life.

Every little story is woven together so well and expertly told that you can’t help but love the film and get drawn into Amelie’s world.

Nominated for 5 Oscars, it should of won them all!

American Splendor – A bizarre film this, but a fantastic comic book adaption from the comic of the same name. Starring Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar the creator of the American Splendor comic, the film follows Harvey in 1970′s as he goes through life as a miserable hopeless part of existence that enjoys scouring garage sales for bargains.

It’s at one of these sales that he meets Robert Crumb, who later becomes a successful underground comic book writer, this makes Harvey inspired to create his own comic and comes up with American Splendor a comic that’s a realistic unsentimental documentation of his working class life, the comic brings him fame and love and is a cracking watch.

The film breaks the forth wall at times, and also cuts in with Giamatti talking to the real Harvey Pekar on set which brings a realism to the movie.

Giamatti is stunning in this film and has won numerous awards for his role as Harvey Pekar. The film is slow moving but entertaining and was a real treat to watch as i bought it by chance on a drunken night out on recommendation from a fellow drunk friend.

I hope you enjoy these films us much as i did, i would love to hear your thoughts.

That concludes the A’s, I’ll be back shortly with my next top 5 B films.