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[Blader]

Douchebag
Batshit insane
Violent

Am I describing Christian Bale or Patrick Bateman?

Ignoring the first one because you think everyone's a douchebag, but batshit insane and violent? Really? Because he yelled at a DP once?

 

[Solo]

There are lots of cases of him acting more than a bit "off". Also, he beat up his mom or sister or whatever.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Bale-GAF can't win this argument because Solo refuses to see The Fighter, and even if he did he would probably just accuse Bale of scenery chewing despite the fact that the real-life Dickie Ecklund is just as, if not more ridiculous than the movie makes him look.

 

[Solo]

Bale-GAF can't win this argument because Solo refuses to see The Fighter, and even if he did he would probably just accuse Bale of scenery chewing despite the fact that the real-life Dickie Ecklund is just as, if not more ridiculous than the movie makes him look.

You also can't win because one movie is not going to change the opinion I have on him after 15 or so previous movies

 

[WyndhamPrice]

You also can't win because one movie is not going to change the opinion I have on him after 15 or so previous movies

I would say (having watched the film) it's a great example of him breaking type from the characters he normally plays so it would certainly cripple your argument somewhat (most people in this thread seem to agree with this).

 

[Jacobi]

"Bale will not play Rabe but instead play an American priest called John who helps a great number of Chinese escape certain death. "

Nice, I haven't seen a second of the movie but it already sounds stupid as fuck!

 

[Discotheque]

It's not trolling. I like Yimou's films and increasingly dislike Bale, so I am voicing my opinion on an actor I don't like being cast in a filmmaker I do like's new project,


OMG TROLLZ

Now you all know how I felt when I was being persecuted for my anti-Leo beliefs a few months ago lol :lol)

Anyways this should be pretty weird. Yimou directing a westerner, eh I don't know. I'm intrigued.

 

[RBelong2Us]

There are lots of cases of him acting more than a bit "off". Also, he beat up his mom or sister or whatever.

:lol you're a clown

 

[Solo]

I'm not a clown.... I'm just ahead of the curve.

 

[Discotheque]

Bale has turned in many shit performances, but once in a while he has some great ones. Leo's much better I think.

But it's not so much that I hate these guys, I'm just bored of them getting in every film (particularly DiCaprio).

There isn't a lack of good leading actors, yet for some reason these people tend to be on a shortlist all the time. Hell, I like Ryan Gosling better than both.

 

[RBelong2Us]

. The one thing I will say about Bale as a negative is I don't think he's one of those actors who can rise above the script - if his character isn't written decently then chances are Bale won't do much with it.

How is that true when his performances in American Psycho, Machinist, Harsh Times, and Fighter "rise above the script"?

With regards to Pitt vs. Bale....Pitt didnt start to show much as an actor until he was at about the age Bale is right now.

 

[Discotheque]

How is that true when his performances in American Psycho, Machinist, Harsh Times, and Fighter "rise above the script"?

With regards to Pitt vs. Bale....Pitt didnt start to show much as an actor until he was at about the age Bale is right now.

Harsh Times? Seriously? That's like one of his most generic performances.

Fuckin' amateurs! lol

 

[Solo]

Harsh Times? Seriously? That's like one of his most generic performances.

Its the most unintentionally hilarious performance Ive seen in ages.

IM A SOLDIER OF THE APOCALYPSE

 

[RBelong2Us]

Bale has turned in many shit performances, but once in a while he has some great ones. Leo's much better I think.

But it's not so much that I hate these guys, I'm just bored of them getting in every film (particularly DiCaprio).

There isn't a lack of good leading actors, yet for some reason these people tend to be on a shortlist all the time. Hell, I like Ryan Gosling better than both.

yeah but see...you like Gosling more than both because of the fact he's hardly acting. If he all of a sudden decided to take on a bunch of roles you would be bitching about him just like you are about DiCaprio and Bale. Cycle of hate.

 

[Zhengi]

Imperial Japan did some nasty things in China during WWII (and all around asia for that matter) and I don't see how telling the story is anti-JP.

If it was a film about the Holocaust, I doubt any of these posters would be saying that the film is anti-German. Just goes to show the hypocrisy and double standard being employed here.

 

[Discotheque]

Nah not really. Because Johnny Depp's in everything and I still love that dude.

 

[RBelong2Us]

Odd since he's sucked lately

 

[Discotheque]

Odd since he's sucked lately

Yeah but he was a good Dillinger and also I can watch Ed Wood and Ninth Gate any time.

 

[Zeliard]

How is that true when his performances in American Psycho, Machinist, Harsh Times, and Fighter "rise above the script"?

Haven't seen The Fighter so I can't comment on the writing or acting there, but Bale's characters in both American Psycho and Machinist were fairly meaty roles, which he dug into nicely.

But if he's given a basic character then he doesn't usually tend to produce something that memorable with them. Purvis in Public Enemies, John Connor in Terminator Salvation, his char in 3:10 to Yuma, his action roles in Equilibrium and Reign of Fire, etc. In those films he's sort of just there. That goes for The Prestige as well, to an extent.

I did find him fun in Harsh Times, but I wouldn't say he "rose above the script" there, but more danced along with it. The character was already scripted as a crazy fuck and Bale took that and ran with it.

 

[Blader]

There are lots of cases of him acting more than a bit "off". Also, he beat up his mom or sister or whatever.

iirc, his mom and sister were asking him for money and saying shit about his wife, and he yelled at them to get out of his house.

OMG WHAT A MONSTER

 

[WorriedCitizen]

Two Nanjing movies came out last year alone. How many more are planned?

 

[genjiZERO]

If it was a film about the Holocaust, I doubt any of these posters would be saying that the film is anti-German. Just goes to show the hypocrisy and double standard being employed here.

If we thought it was a propaganda piece intended to bias one group of people against another in contemporary times I would at least.

The problem with this film is that it appears not simply to be a depiction of the Rape of Nanjing or a condemnation of killing, but as an attempt to vilify contemporary Japan in an attempt to bias Americans. This is a stretch - obviously - because there is scant information on the film, but it is not an unreasonable critique based on the recent trends in Chinese cinema, the fact that the directer already has a propaganda piece under his belt (Hero), and that the film appears to be geared towards Americans (why else would it be about a White Christian?). It's also reasonable based on centuries of Chinese literary traditions whereby modern issues are discussed using past historical events as models.

The problem with this film is that it appears to give the impression that it's saying "Japanese people are evil" and not that "this event was evil but it's divorced from the group at large that caused it". I'd have the same criticism if there was a holocaust film that I thought was trying to convince me that Germans were evil not just that the holocaust was an evil event.

 

[CiSTM]

Two Nanjing movies came out last year alone. How many more are planned?

Only seen City of Life and Death, what was the other ? I don't really see the problem of having multiple films about Nanjing if they don't tell the same story.

 

[linsivvi]

I tend to like Zhang's small budget stuff--I think I once read somewhere that every other film of his now are these big budget films so that he can fund his artsy projects.

I really don't like his big budget films. At all.

Not putting up much hope on this one.

If it was a film about the Holocaust, I doubt any of these posters would be saying that the film is anti-German. Just goes to show the hypocrisy and double standard being employed here.

Considering there are dozens of Holocaust movies being made every year. You're correct.

 

[Mifune]

The problem with this film is that it appears not simply to be a depiction of the Rape of Nanjing or a condemnation of killing, but as an attempt to vilify contemporary Japan in an attempt to bias Americans. This is a stretch - obviously - because there is scant information on the film, but it is not an unreasonable critique based on the recent trends in Chinese cinema, the fact that the directer already has a propaganda piece under his belt (Hero), and that the film appears to be geared towards Americans (why else would it be about a White Christian?). It's also reasonable based on centuries of Chinese literary traditions whereby modern issues are discussed using past historical events as models.

The problem with this film is that it appears to give the impression that it's saying "Japanese people are evil" and not that "this event was evil but it's divorced from the group at large that caused it". I'd have the same criticism if there was a holocaust film that I thought was trying to convince me that Germans were evil not just that the holocaust was an evil event.

I really think that's a big leap you're making based on the few details we have about this movie.

Hell, I'm tempted to offer you a tinfoil hat.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Bale keeps sipping on the warm blood of the haters.

 

[CiSTM]

If we thought it was a propaganda piece intended to bias one group of people against another in contemporary times I would at least.

The problem with this film is that it appears not simply to be a depiction of the Rape of Nanjing or a condemnation of killing, but as an attempt to vilify contemporary Japan in an attempt to bias Americans. This is a stretch - obviously - because there is scant information on the film, but it is not an unreasonable critique based on the recent trends in Chinese cinema, the fact that the directer already has a propaganda piece under his belt (Hero), and that the film appears to be geared towards Americans (why else would it be about a White Christian?). It's also reasonable based on centuries of Chinese literary traditions whereby modern issues are discussed using past historical events as models.

The problem with this film is that it appears to give the impression that it's saying "Japanese people are evil" and not that "this event was evil but it's divorced from the group at large that caused it". I'd have the same criticism if there was a holocaust film that I thought was trying to convince me that Germans were evil not just that the holocaust was an evil event.

Many of the Red Cross Committee members were white christian missionarys. John Magee was one of the big shots and this could be about him. Haven't read the orginal novel so I can't be 100% sure but right now I would bet on Magee.

 

[Peru]

I like his 'small scale' movies like everyone else here, but a movie like Hero is just as undeniably a great achievement, layer upon layer of Big Words and Grand Assessments of life and death and still the end result feels light, brief, focused. It's pompous in all the right ways.

 

[layzie1989]

 

[CiSTM]

I like his 'small scale' movies like everyone else here, but a movie like Hero is just as undeniably a great achievement, layer upon layer of Big Words and Grand Assessments of life and death and still the end result feels light, brief, focused. It's pompous in all the right ways.

Yeah, I loved Hero. Colors and choreography were just amzing. I didn't even think the movie as some kind of propaganda flick unti this thread. All I can think now is that kick ass fight scene in the rain

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Bale has a metric FUCK-TON of range of characters that he can play. He's a damn good actor, somebody who really engages himself with the texts that he works with. In fact, I would say that, out of all of the actors that are working today, he's one of the best at creating distinct characterizations from film to film. I especially find it funny that somebody who is such a big champion of LEO of all people is calling somebody out as having no range (like Leo, but good lord is his range of characters limited; talk about BROODING, Jesus Christ, have you seen his eyebrows in a movie recently?).

Also, outside of the on-set explosion, Bale is known by pretty much everybody in the industry as a great guy to work with, INCLUDING the guy who he was yelling at in said explosion. The mother-sister thing turned out to be a bunch of bullshit that they instigated, and he has no real other questionable incidents as far as I'm aware. The idea that he's some douchebag in real life is not really supported by anything other than Solo's seemingly arbitrary dislike of Christian Bale.

(Also, I would say that Bale > Jackman in The Prestige but is about = Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma, and The Machinist is way better than "good," both as a film and as a performance from Bale.)

Edit: and he wasn't worse than any other aspect of Terminator: Salvation, which is just a terrible shitfest that nobody involved escaped from. In fact, I somewhat enjoyed him in the movie, and I definitely believed that he could be John Connor.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Bale is practically like Craig. Both are fit for certain roles, and they pull it off, but other than that, they're mediocre actors. Also, their co-stars always outshines them.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Bale is practically like Craig. Both are fit for certain roles, and they pull it off, but other than that, they're mediocre actors. Also, their co-stars always outshines them.

I'd smh at this, but my head knows that you're just baiting Solo, so I'll let it alone.

Edit: And every actor is "fit for certain roles;" I see no proof that Bale's range of acceptable roles is any lower than anybody else's and, indeed, I would argue that it's quite a bit higher than the average, as he's got a certain malleability in both appearance and personality.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I'd smh at this, but my head knows that you're just baiting Solo, so I'll let it alone.

Edit: And every actor is "fit for certain roles;" I see no proof that Bale's range of acceptable roles is any lower than anybody else's and, indeed, I would argue that it's quite a bit higher than the average, as he's got a certain malleability in both appearance and personality.

Steve Zahn was a better actor in Rescue Dawn than Christian Bale.

 

[TheKaeptain]

If we thought it was a propaganda piece intended to bias one group of people against another in contemporary times I would at least.

The problem with this film is that it appears not simply to be a depiction of the Rape of Nanjing or a condemnation of killing, but as an attempt to vilify contemporary Japan in an attempt to bias Americans. This is a stretch - obviously - because there is scant information on the film, but it is not an unreasonable critique based on the recent trends in Chinese cinema, the fact that the directer already has a propaganda piece under his belt (Hero), and that the film appears to be geared towards Americans (why else would it be about a White Christian?). It's also reasonable based on centuries of Chinese literary traditions whereby modern issues are discussed using past historical events as models.

The problem with this film is that it appears to give the impression that it's saying "Japanese people are evil" and not that "this event was evil but it's divorced from the group at large that caused it". I'd have the same criticism if there was a holocaust film that I thought was trying to convince me that Germans were evil not just that the holocaust was an evil event.

Dude...that's quite a stretch since we don't know what is the plot.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

Steve Zahn was a better actor in Rescue Dawn than Christian Bale.

False, though Zahn was pretty good. Bale's character was more realistic and deeper-drawn, though his was a less 'flashy' part. That's part of my problem with the way that people, especially the Academy, judge performances: they go straight for the people that play the crazies/weirdos instead of looking for realisim/naturalism, which is what Bale has in spades in Rescue Dawn.

 

[Zeliard]

False, though Zahn was pretty good. Bale's character was more realistic and deeper-drawn, though his was a less 'flashy' part. That's part of my problem with the way that people, especially the Academy, judge performances: they go straight for the people that play the crazies/weirdos instead of looking for realisim/naturalism, which is what Bale has in spades in Rescue Dawn.

I think Zahn was good but I also attribute some of the praise he gets in Rescue Dawn to the fact that it's Steve Zahn, and some may not have expected that kind of dramatic performance out of him.

 

[genjiZERO]

Many of the Red Cross Committee members were white christian missionarys. John Magee was one of the big shots and this could be about him. Haven't read the orginal novel so I can't be 100% sure but right now I would bet on Magee.

The problem is that culturally China is hostile towards Christianity. Also white people weren't particularly popular in China when this all takes place. I'm not claiming this is a good or bad thing. It just seems suspect to me that the identifiable attributes of the character are that he's both white and a christian.

Dude...that's quite a stretch since we don't know what is the plot.

No yeah, I know it's a stretch. But Zhang Yi Mou did make a film the moral of which is "it's OK to kill lots of your own people for the greater purpose of a dominant China". There's also a literary tradition of describing current events with analogies to the past, and it appears that Zhang Yi Mou is fully aware of this. I'm not saying this is what it will be about this, but there's enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that it may be the case.

Anyway, yeah I was too harsh in my response, but i took offence to the notion that there is a universal double standard to Japan and Germany during WW2.

 

[harSon]

Bale has a metric FUCK-TON of range of characters that he can play. He's a damn good actor, somebody who really engages himself with the texts that he works with. In fact, I would say that, out of all of the actors that are working today, he's one of the best at creating distinct characterizations from film to film. I especially find it funny that somebody who is such a big champion of LEO of all people is calling somebody out as having no range (like Leo, but good lord is his range of characters limited; talk about BROODING, Jesus Christ, have you seen his eyebrows in a movie recently?).

Also, outside of the on-set explosion, Bale is known by pretty much everybody in the industry as a great guy to work with, INCLUDING the guy who he was yelling at in said explosion. The mother-sister thing turned out to be a bunch of bullshit that they instigated, and he has no real other questionable incidents as far as I'm aware. The idea that he's some douchebag in real life is not really supported by anything other than Solo's seemingly arbitrary dislike of Christian Bale.

(Also, I would say that Bale > Jackman in The Prestige but is about = Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma, and The Machinist is way better than "good," both as a film and as a performance from Bale.)

Edit: and he wasn't worse than any other aspect of Terminator: Salvation, which is just a terrible shitfest that nobody involved escaped from. In fact, I somewhat enjoyed him in the movie, and I definitely believed that he could be John Connor.

I haven't been able to take your opinions on anything seriously since you referred to Michael Cera as a comedic genius

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I haven't been able to take your opinions on anything seriously since you referred to Michael Cera as a comedic genius

Bah to ya. Though I don't think I said that he was a "comedic genius," just that he had pretty pitch-perfect comedic timing, which he does, like him or not. If I DID use the phrase "comedic genius," it was hyperbolic.

Random thread to bring it out in, though.

 

[RustyNails]

Odd since he's sucked lately

 

[Wanace]

There's been plenty of films about the Nanjing massacre coming out of mainland China lately, not sure why Zhang Yimou wants to make one about it also. I enjoy Zhang Yimou's films but this one I can't be excited about at all.

 

[Solo]

Bale is practically like Craig. Both are fit for certain roles, and they pull it off, but other than that, they're mediocre actors. Also, their co-stars always outshines them.

Bait failed worse than Matt Damon trying to act like a tough guy

or

Bait failed worse than Green Zone at the box office

 

[DMczaf]

....is this a softcore porn?

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

What a "ha-rumph" face.

 

[bengraven]

Oh god, Yimou is like crack to me.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

Holy shit, are they serious with that shot of Bale? :lol:

Anyway, been excited for this for a long time now. Day one.

 

[TheKaeptain]

I hope this is more like Zhang Yimou early movies.

 

[G-Fex]

Pfft didn't even realize this was old

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

That's a "not sure if want" face if I've ever seen one.