Monday, October 16, 2017

The Machinist

The Machinist is a 2004 psychological thriller film directed by Brad Anderson and starring Christian Bale. It's painful to see Bale so thin -he's almost unrecognizable- and his character's pain and confusion throughout is hard to watch. But even though it's disturbing to watch, it's a film I'm glad I've seen.

trailer:



The New York Times has a mixed review and calls it "an expertly manipulated exercise in psychological horror". Rolling Stone says, "Director Brad Anderson tightens the screws of suspense, but it's Bale's gripping, beyond-the-call-of-duty performance that holds you in thrall."

Empire Online concludes, "It looks and feels the business, both in Bale's bone-bag of a body and the morphine-dosed-Kubrick vibe, but it's more a tightly wrought slither through pastures old than fresh investigation into the claws of madness." Roger Ebert gives it 3 stars and says, "The director Brad Anderson, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar, wants to convey a state of mind, and he and Bale do that with disturbing effectiveness." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics rating of 77%.

8 comments:

  1. I've been looking through your latest "horror" posts. I get shivers just reading the reviews. I don't think horror films are meant for me. Call me chicken, LOL!

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    1. I avoided horror movies my whole life (except for the old monster movies), but my older son suggested a few for me to try since he was a huge fan. I've grown to appreciate the genre. I still won't watch the ones that focus on torture, and I have a preference for eerie ghost stories like the original The Haunting and Carnival of Souls and the Japanese and Korean horror films. I do _not_ like ones that depend on scaring you with "jump" scenes.

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  2. I have no idea who Christian Bale is, but I'm with Darla. Most of these old horror stories keep me up at night. Even coffee doesn't put me to sleep if I watch them too late at night.

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    1. Most people know Bale best from his Batman movies. This is more psychological thriller, not so much horror. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Bale

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  3. Christian Bale was the reason I watched this one when it came on Netflix. Wow! Yes--unrecognizable. I do like the psychological thrillers, as I have said, and this one was a doozy! Glad I watched it. :)

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  4. I am a machinist and it was awful hard to go to work after watching the scene where his co workers arm gets torn up.







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