American Psycho (2000)

Of all the horrors on Netflix I hadn't seen, this was the one I'd heard about the most. Partly, I suppose, because it's relatively old. My visiting friend hadn't seen it either, so we chose our viewing quickly.

In 1987, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale, five years before he dropped the E from "Bateman") is a Wall Street investment banker with a luxurious lifestyle, often going to upscale restaurants with co-workers. That doesn't mean he enjoys it; as his first-person narration indicates, he can feel only greed and disgust, even toward ostensible fiancée Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon). At first, the only clear sign of something wrong with him is that he needs little provocation to make gory threats. Then his bloodlust grows beyond his full control, no longer reserved for envied colleagues and homeless people. How long can he hope to get away with murder?

Public Enemies (2009)

This sat on my list for a long time before my friend and I were looking at possibilities. The same friend had rewatched Road to Perdition with me, so I'm not surprised he wanted another gangster flick that briefly includes Frank Nitti (Bill Camp herein).

As the title implies, the story concerns multiple notorious criminals, but they've been pared down quite a bit from the Bryan Burrough novel. Most of the focus is on John Dillinger (Johnny Depp in one of his last normal-looking roles), starting with his 1933 arrival at -- and immediate break from -- Indiana State Prison, so he's already notorious. When he's not committing armed robbery or having standoffs with law enforcement, he's wooing one Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) from the moment he lays eyes on her. The other major focal character is FBI Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), in charge of the pursuit.

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

I took this long to get to this Academy Best Picture nominee because, apart from the DVD wait time, it sounded predictable. Another auto race flick, and judging from respective reputations, I could guess who won by virtue of underdog status. Still, it is nonfiction, however loaded with anachronisms and other errors, and has two highly watchable leads.

In the 1960s, Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) is furious that his company has become something of a laughingstock. Who should answer his demand for a good idea but Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal), who taps former champion racer turned auto company founder Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to design a car that might break Enzo Ferrari's (Remo Girone) winning streak at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Shelby makes controversial, job-threatening decisions in this effort, not least in insisting that the main tester and racer be broke mechanic Ken Miles (Christian Bale, in one of the few times I've heard him act with a British accent), who is excellent on both counts but hard to work with.

The Big Short (2015)

Ah, now I've seen all the Best Picture nominees from last year! I would've waited a while longer, but once again, my dad had made the rental and I decided to seize the opportunity.

Based on a mostly nonfiction Michael Lewis book, the story focuses on a few men in three basic groups that never come together. In 2005, number-minded hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Christian Bale) discovers what a racket the allegedly stable U.S. housing market has going and then does what no one ever did before: a credit default swap that essentially makes a bet with several banks that the housing bubble will burst soon enough for him to profit overall. People who catch wind of the arrangement and decide to get in on the action include trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling); his associate, hedge fun manager Mark Baum (Steve Carrell); and relatively new investing partners Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jaime Shipley (Finn Whitrock), with help from trader Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt). It's no spoiler to say that they win in 2007. For the record, only Burry goes by a real person's name.