The Machinist (2004)
Title: 'The Machinist'
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 8/10
This movie won't dissapoint you. It's like a mash-up of 'Lost Highway' (1997) and 'Memento' (2000). Only grittier. Christian Bale cuts loose in this movie. He plays a guy who works in a factory that produces mostly sparks so far as I can tell. Oh, and his character, Trevor Reznik (apparently someone was a NIN fan), weighs 120 pounds. For reals.
There's a 'making of' feature on the DVD that includes a sitdown with Mr. Bale, whom I haven't seen in anything but 'Empire of the Sun' (1987), 'American Psycho' (2000) and the new 'Batman Begins' (2005) film. He's awesome in all of those. 'Specially in 'American Psycho' where he delivers a parlance on the compendium of work by 'Huey Lewis and the News' before wedgeing an axe into his co-workers melon, blade in face, game over.
Patrick Bateman: Do you like Huey Lewis and the news?
Paul Allen: They're OK.
Patrick Bateman: "Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consimante professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour...."
Truly awesome. Like smoking a cigarette in the rain.
Anyway, in this 'sitdown', Christian explains that after reading the 'Machinist' screenplay, he felt it was a movie he would want to see, so he stopped eating. For Months. The script describes his character as a walking skeleton, and blow my lips off, he is a walking skeleton. I used to be skinny, but this guy is Dachau skinny. Bale explained that in order to get that thin, he stopped eating. Period. Full stop. Seriously, take a look at the following period. <- That's the part where you pause to take it all in.
This guy must've dropped at lest 60 pounds. Then he gained it all back again in about 4 months to start shooting Batman. People aren't supposed to do that, that's not right. I thought De Niro was hardcore, but look at this guy. This guy would hang from his arms for a year so he could play John McCain in some election movie. This guy would have a pillow surgically inserted into his neck so he could play George Lucus. Don't fuck around with this guy. You can keep your pride, we all understand, but just walk away. Christian Bale is crazier than Daffy Duck, and Daffy Duck is a flippin' cartoon! Throw this mofo in some more movies. He's almost a Crispin Glover, for the luv'a pete!
So, like I said, good movie. The clavicles alone are worth the price of admission. Take 'Lost Highway' and 'Memento', squeeze 'em together like a red and white gummi bear. Real hard, so when you chew it's like you just invented magic. And that's about what you get with 'The Machinist'. Also, rent 'American Psycho' if you still haven't seen it.
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 8/10
This movie won't dissapoint you. It's like a mash-up of 'Lost Highway' (1997) and 'Memento' (2000). Only grittier. Christian Bale cuts loose in this movie. He plays a guy who works in a factory that produces mostly sparks so far as I can tell. Oh, and his character, Trevor Reznik (apparently someone was a NIN fan), weighs 120 pounds. For reals.
There's a 'making of' feature on the DVD that includes a sitdown with Mr. Bale, whom I haven't seen in anything but 'Empire of the Sun' (1987), 'American Psycho' (2000) and the new 'Batman Begins' (2005) film. He's awesome in all of those. 'Specially in 'American Psycho' where he delivers a parlance on the compendium of work by 'Huey Lewis and the News' before wedgeing an axe into his co-workers melon, blade in face, game over.
Patrick Bateman: Do you like Huey Lewis and the news?
Paul Allen: They're OK.
Patrick Bateman: "Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consimante professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour...."
Truly awesome. Like smoking a cigarette in the rain.
Anyway, in this 'sitdown', Christian explains that after reading the 'Machinist' screenplay, he felt it was a movie he would want to see, so he stopped eating. For Months. The script describes his character as a walking skeleton, and blow my lips off, he is a walking skeleton. I used to be skinny, but this guy is Dachau skinny. Bale explained that in order to get that thin, he stopped eating. Period. Full stop. Seriously, take a look at the following period. <- That's the part where you pause to take it all in.
This guy must've dropped at lest 60 pounds. Then he gained it all back again in about 4 months to start shooting Batman. People aren't supposed to do that, that's not right. I thought De Niro was hardcore, but look at this guy. This guy would hang from his arms for a year so he could play John McCain in some election movie. This guy would have a pillow surgically inserted into his neck so he could play George Lucus. Don't fuck around with this guy. You can keep your pride, we all understand, but just walk away. Christian Bale is crazier than Daffy Duck, and Daffy Duck is a flippin' cartoon! Throw this mofo in some more movies. He's almost a Crispin Glover, for the luv'a pete!
So, like I said, good movie. The clavicles alone are worth the price of admission. Take 'Lost Highway' and 'Memento', squeeze 'em together like a red and white gummi bear. Real hard, so when you chew it's like you just invented magic. And that's about what you get with 'The Machinist'. Also, rent 'American Psycho' if you still haven't seen it.
posted by Kong at
2:38 PM
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