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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Machinist

  
  

Page: 12(3)

 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
11:42 / 31.03.05
I-van = get it? "I" and "van"

I don't get it.
 
 
CameronStewart
13:19 / 31.03.05
I don't get it either.

I rather think you see meaning where there is none intended.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
13:29 / 31.03.05
That's ok, Finderwolf has knitted a special pair of mittens for the pair of you; he was so lonely, you see.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
13:37 / 31.03.05
I'm sorry but I don't even understand prime numbers, how on earth could I get 122? What are you talking about? I'm so confused.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
13:44 / 31.03.05
I know, Nina.

That's what happens to your brain when you rot it with nonsense such as feminism.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
14:04 / 31.03.05
Well Reznick, the I in this movie, was driving his van when the accident happened, so I-van therefore clearly represents the aspects of Reznick's personality that he is attempting to externalise by creating an imaginary 'other' on which to offload his feelings of guilt, in the delusional fantasy world which he hav constructed. It's small touches like this that really make The Machinist what it is, I think.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
14:19 / 31.03.05
Bad?
 
 
Tryphena Absent
14:26 / 31.03.05
Aah, yes, driving his van.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
16:37 / 31.03.05
What I'm staggered no-one has noticed is that Trevor is clearly a reference to Trevor in Brookside who got stabbed by his wife after beating up his daughter, then buried under the patio. However because they wrapped him up in bin liners before burying him under the patio, the bin liners degraded and his body rose to the surface. If they'd wrapped him in a carpet, as, whoops, as Trevor, damn, I mean Trevor does here, metaphorically avenging his death at the hands of Mandy Jordache, they wouldn't have had this trouble and could have droped him off at the tip in Sinbad's van. Brookside was devised by Phil Redmond who also created Grange Hill, so the fact there is no scene in The Machinist where Trevor dances with the magical insomnia pixies that keep him awake, is a DIRECT correlation to the scene that doesn't exist in Grange Hill of Gonch and Ziggy getting jiggy with the corpse of Danny Kendall.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
16:57 / 31.03.05
I rather think you see meaning where there is none intended.

Bloody hell, Cameron. It took you long enough.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
18:23 / 31.03.05
"I hope we can bury the hatchet now that I have got one last vitriolic direct insult in." Nice. Maybe the reason you find it strangely difficult to have polite discussions on Barbelith isn't everybody else's fault, eh?

Not at all Thought I might get away with that one but unfortunately for me, your invented quotation sums up my rhetorical strategy exactly.



Actually it was meant to be a joke. Y'know, the bit where I called Breton a top trump. I was laughing at myself. And you.


My misunderstanding, then.


And actually I think you probably could have helped making digs at me but you chose not to. From about the time that you mentioned surrealism in the first place to your last post. You've admitted you think you were facetitious- why would my standards for myself be any higher than yours are for yourself?

I could have edited out those comments and chose not to, you're right. I admit that I have been arguing against you, which sometimes involves a bit of jabbing and ducking. So, yes, on occasion I was trying to score points when I could have tried nobly to rise above your snottier replies and just talk calmly about the film.

But where would discussion boards be without people who liked a bit of debate. I hope, once more, this can be left to lie with a little mutual respect on both sides (from me towards you anyway). If you didn't find arguing fun in some way, I doubt you would do it either.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
19:14 / 31.03.05
Smashing.

Shall I serve pudding?
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
12:55 / 01.04.05
Remember kids! Todays word is 'belittlement.'

Cameron: [It's a movie that (apparently along with some of its audience) thinks it's far more clever and intelligent than it actually is.]

[Can I spoil the end? Please? It's the only way to accurately describe how stupid it is.]

Lady: [I leaned over to the person I went to see the film with as the film started and said "A 'Universal Classic' already? That's a bit presumptious isn't it?" How right I was.]

[You can't argue me into liking a film I did not like, especially by condescension and suggesting that only clever people can see the emperor's clothes.]

Petey Shaftoe: [Problem #1: He says he's not slept for a year, and we're supposed to not realise that he's hallucinating everything?

Problem #2: His imaginary friend is basically Kurtz as played by Marlon Brando, and we're not supposed to be sure that he's not real?]

Nina: [I was soooo booorreeddd- was he dreaming? Was he sitting in his flat everytime he wasn't at work? Does anyone care? Not me.]

[It didn't hang together at all because it was a horribly constructed film that wasn't clever at all, in any way.]

kovacs: [But even if you think the plot twist is hoary, I think the film offers a lot to chew on.]

[You can sense what is coming and still enjoy the development.]

kovacs has stated his case better than I ever could but that won't stop me from trying. OooOOOooh.

It is admirably how vitriolic Cameron, Timelady and Nina have been due to the fact that this movie made them feel like bloated rental Hauses, when, in fact, they have missed the subtleties of the film amidst their superiority. Okay then, this movie elicits two main reactions: Those who think this movie insults their intelligence because they can second guess the twist early on and who think everything else beside the plot is as contrived like the oft-used storyline they now hate. And then there are those who think that the plot is not the focal point, and that the subtleties enhance the central premise (that is still easy to second guess).

You belittle those in the latter category because they do not agree with your main criticism; you are so superior, you know. Why should I feel the need to defend my choice of entertaiment which is one of the far too rare movies that come along once in a while: a movie I can immerse myself in and never tire of. And yet Timelady accuses if not me, then kovacs, of exactly the same: that only clever people who see things they don't can like this movie, and these clever people obviously belittles them.

Shaftoe: >>>All of which would barely matter if there was anything interesting to occupy our time between figuring out that Reznik is nuts and sees shit that isn't there, and finding out why. But there isn't.<<<

Subtlety. A lot of clues that become apparent only on the second, third and fourth time. But which you and the other detractors refuse to recognize. Because they are contrived and stupid, and so forth.

Sigh.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
13:05 / 01.04.05
Whoops. Forgot about this particular brand of quotation. Mods will deliver soon, mehopes.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
14:44 / 01.04.05
But Bambling, we've all got bigger penises than you, even Nina, so we've got a right to feel superior.

Båmbling: Bæutiful Uniqueørn: It is admirably how vitriolic Cameron, Timelady and Nina have been due to the fact that this movie made them feel like bloated rental Hauses, when, in fact, they have missed the subtleties of the film amidst their superiority.

Care to share any of those? I haven't read anything yet that has pointed out subtleties that I missed. Do I need to point out that by saying I didn't like the film because I missed the point you're implying you are suggesting you are more intelligent than me because you did 'get the point', while at the same time complaining about me acting superior?

You belittle those in the latter category because they do not agree with your main criticism; you are so superior, you know.

Umm, no, not really. You said you liked the film, I didn't, when kovacs responded with a reply that I felt was insulting I responded more or less in kind. Rather than me being mean, is it perhaps just that you invested a lot into a film that you decided was worth the effort and feel annoyed that other people don't consider it worth the effort?

Why should I feel the need to defend my choice of entertaiment which is one of the far too rare movies that come along once in a while: a movie I can immerse myself in and never tire of.

Quite how me saying I don't like the film is having such a damaging effect on your enjoying of the film I don't know. You might want to consider becomming a hermit, so you can cut yourself off from the possibility of other people and their opinions which are different to yours.

Subtlety. A lot of clues that become apparent only on the second, third and fourth time. But which you and the other detractors refuse to recognize.

Please, tell me what they are, because I don't have the time to spare going to see that film again, let alone twice or three times in order to enjoy it.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
21:21 / 01.04.05
It is admirably how vitriolic Cameron, Timelady and Nina have been due to the fact that this movie made them feel like bloated rental Hauses

I would just like to make it clear that I am not a bloated rental Haus. I'm not bloated, I'm not up for rent and I'm not a Haus. Good, glad I could sort that out.

Are you just upset because you realised that he was driving the Pontiac Firebird and not the van?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
09:45 / 02.04.05
Ipontiacfirebird would be a great name.
 
 
Tryphena Absent
10:53 / 02.04.05
I used to dream about people burning things and driving around in a Pontiac Firebird. Obviously I've wanted one ever since- perhaps I could change my name to Ipontiacfirebird?
 
 
Sensual Cobra
14:52 / 06.04.05
So The Machinist is awesome, then?
 
 
Tryphena Absent
17:37 / 06.04.05
Not unless they re-edit the film and change I-van's name to Ipontiacfirebird. I thought that had been established?!
 
 
Sensual Cobra
15:11 / 08.04.05
I think I may have been kidding. Maybe we should get out the FinalCut Pro and make it work. I have a lot of Jar Jar Binks footage to splice in.
 
 
ibis the being
21:21 / 28.08.05
I just looked up this thread because I rented The Machinist last night. And, um, holy fucking crap. I had no idea it had brought down the wrath of God in the Film forum. I thought it was an entertaining little rental, a little Hitchcockian (but NOT AS GOOD, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!!!), a little Twilight Zonesque (BUT THAT WAS A TV SHOW, YES NOT A 90 MIN MOVIE, DON'T KILL ME!). I also thought Bale was really captivating (BUT NOT BECAUSE HE WAS SKINNY, AND THIS WAS NOT HIS BEST MOVIE, I'M SORRY, DON'T HATE ME!!).

By the way, given that Trevor was seen reading The Idiot in the film and I think I saw a copy of Crime and Punishment somewhere in there, I'd bet that "Ivan" was a loose Dostoevsky reference of some sort. But let's not get into it, shall we?
 
 
matthew.
02:26 / 29.08.05
Yeah. Overrated. Bale's awesome in it, however, as usual. It's just the whole twist ending is... well... whatever happened to a twist ending being a fucking surprise? This whole movie I just wanted to know the end, because I'd knew there be some lame-ass twist. Ivan is actual a manifestation of his guilt? Shocking. Yeah, right.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
07:07 / 29.08.05
Sorry Ibis, I swore a blood oath to kill anyone who liked The Machinist. You die now!
 
  

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