I like cold and ugly, so I'm going to rent it (finally) this weekend.  It should make a nice counterpoint to The Prestige...

Memento

Second time around, and I'm surprised how much I missed the first time.

Brick

I'd heard almost nothing about this prior to the Gazette recommendations.  Thanks guys, I really enjoyed this one.  Great dialogue.

I ended up with 24 Hour Party People instead.  Having recommended Tristram Shandy so highly, I felt quite at home with this movie.  The actors they found for Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, and Shaun Ryder were especially good, and I like Steve Coogan more every time I see his work.  I may be entering a Michael Winterbottom phase.

Let me state for the record that I found The Machinist to be neither boring nor crappy.

Just thought I'd offer another view. 

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

Logic Hat, your re-review of The Machinist has totally changed my original opinion!

Seriously though, I know there are those here on the Gazette who like this film which is why I rented it in the first place.  I've gotten so many good recommendations here of films I'd never have known about otherwise.  So I thought about those Machinist fans while I was wincing my way through it.  I could be wrong since this type of film would NEVER appeal to me, so tell me what you think. It just seems like a requirement for 'enjoying' or 'appreciating' this film would have to be a general... oh, I don't know... I don't want to say unhappiness exactly, but maybe a darker world view. More melancholy.

I read the director's comments about what he had in mind. He was going for a Kafka-Dostoyevsky thing. So I thought about why I LOVE Dostoyevsky, LIKE Kafka, but HATE this film. All I've come up with so far is that the previous two were novelists where the reader supplies the imagery. Maybe if I had READ this movie instead of watching it, I'd have liked it more. Then I asked myself if there's ever been a Dostoyevsky or a Kafka film adaptation that I liked and realized there hasn't.

That's all I have come up with. I realize it's personal whether you will like The Machinist or not. But I wonder how one's general ratio of postive-to-negative outlook in life factors into the formula. I might be convinced otherwise on 'Why People Like The Machinist' such as it successfully achieving what the director set out to do. But I don't think I could ever be persuaded that it's a great film.

Whaddaya think?

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

I didn't find myself depressed by the film, and despite the fact that it is pretty oppressive to look at, I don't think it suggests an overly pessimistic worldview at all. While it certaintly contains its fair share of mangled limbs and dead children, the fact remains that the main character, Trevor Reznik (from the band Ine Ninch Ails), does face up to his "transgression" (just to play it safe spoiler-wise) and seek redemption by the end.

As for the opinion that it's boring, well, if the main plot doesn't catch your fancy, then obviously there's nothing to do about that. Personally I was interested throughout, just like Memento and Lost Highway, two other favorites that I could compare endlessly to this one.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

QUOTE: Go rent Playtime, and you can diss a movie I like. If you don't like it, that is.

This one?

Sounds fair.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

Yeah, that hangman note was kind of a not-so-secret secret plot twist.

By the way, I'm glad we both understand that reference now.

Logic Hat Online- logichat.org

First off, say what you want about Leo Decaprio, but he was excellent in The Departed and believed me I know plenty of Leo-haters here in Chicago without having to come here to the good 'ol TPG to find them and they were ALL impressed with his performance in Scorcese's latest, so nyahh! (of course I meant that in the most heartfelt way, Susan, love ya...sorry you didn't like The Machinist...but...

The Prestige - I am so happy that Chris Nolan fit this in between the two Batman's. Mesmerizing film with a Christian Bale performance everyone should love and Hugh Jackman played his part very well. The personalities of the two characters offset beautifully. Great job casting Michael Caine, who steals every scene he's in with his usual brilliance and David Bowie fans rejoice, his supporting role is sheer delight. Throw in some Scarlett Johannasen-eye candy and a great script by Chris and his brother, cinematogrpahy fantastic, And the pay-off...fuc* yeah!! All I can say is go see this film and pay attention!!

I'll be going to see Kate Winslet in Little Children this week...oh yeah and it just happens to be the latest film by Todd "In The Bedroom" Field and looking forward to it.     

Now that I got all that out in the open I'm going to chill out and watch Gangs of New York. Hehehe...

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Man on the Moon

Loved it. Milos Foreman is such an amazing director, and Jim Carrey is incredible in it. I can honestly say Carrey is one of my favourite actors now, not just a conmedian.

JFK 

One of the best films Ive watched in a while. Im lookinf forward to watching it through again. 

Regarding The Machinist, I rank it along with The Jacket, released around the same time, oddly also featuring JJL, and trying and failing at the same kind of story and tone. Not terrible, but they could have been more interesting or engaging somehow. I'd almost rather watch a more conventional story well-executed than a "weird" story done so-so.

I watched a Japanese film from the 60's called Jigoku, which is sort of similar, a "journey to Hell/Purgatory/Spiritual Punishment". It's slow going at first, but maintains a pace and atmosphere I think Lynch fans would appreciate. Vehicular manslaughter, revenge, adultery and rancid fish lead up to the payoff, a phantasmagorical Hell sequence, it's like the 2001 "stargate sequence" meets Bosch meets Hokusai. It's a bit cheesy, with lots of dry ice, colored gels and papier mache skeletons, but the overall effect is quite haunting.

Actually, that's a perfect way to look at it, which I had not considered before.  (As a fan of the film.) 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

I don't want to waste my money, but I want to see The Prestige and Marie Antoinette. Someone encourage me to see them.

On an unrelated topic, they're screening Mulholland Drive here, and this will be my first ever theater Lynch experience! 

The Prestige will not be a waste of your money. I would see it a second time and since I have freinds who haven't seen it yet, that might happen. Gonna start watching Carnivale from the beginning in like five minutes

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

"Top of the world, Ma!"  (as opposed to "King of the World!") -- Jimmy Cagney.  He is modernity, as Noah Tannenbaum once expressed to Tony Soprano when discussing the class he shared with Meadow -- Images of Hyper-Capitalistic Self Advancement in the Era of the Studio System. 

White Heat.   1948 set in and around Los Angeles.  Wow!  The scenery and familar streets back in the day.  What brutality!!!  Virginia Mayo was a peach of a gal and deserved what she got.  Ma was a good gal and loved her sonny boy.

A classic!

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin