Friday, June 10, 2005

TALES FROM NETFLIX: Batman Begins, on DVD?!

Tales From Netflix are DVD reviews, where I tell you if a DVD is worth putting in your Netflix rental queue, moving it to the top, burying it at the bottom, or not even bothering in the first place.

Okay, so it's not Batman Begins, that comes out next week in theatres (and is getting some damn good buzz), it's actually a new DVD release called The Machinist.

The Machinist you see, stars Christian Bale, the new Batman, and is very similar to Memento, the indy suspense thriller that put Christopher Nolan on the map, and he's the director of Batman Begins. Now do you see what I'm saying?

All that aside, the comparison to Memento is not only appropriate, for the style and genre it shares with The Machinist, but both films also happen to be quite excellent. I might even go so far as to say The Machinist is better. Actually, now that I'm actively comparing the two films, I'm starting to think the Machinist is perhaps quite derivative in several ways, but it's such a solid film, I don't care if it is...

Be warned, Christian Bale is known for throwing himself into his roles, and this one is a physically alarming turn. You'd almost wonder if he survived the production. The man is a walking skeleton. But he's also a damn fine actor! I'm looking forward even more to his go at the caped crusader. And if you haven't seen him in American Psycho, you should give that one a look (it's also very disturbing though).

The Machinist is definitely a DVD to put at the top of your queue, it has some great acting, and is suspensefull and dreamlike (very much in the spirit of the late great Hitchcock)!

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