MACHINE is one of those godawful little indie thrillers that forgets the thrills and instead just has a bunch of characters assembling in a single location and reciting trite dialogue, as if that in any way represents a real movie. This one headlines a slumming-it Michael Madsen on autopilot while James Russo and Neal McDonough also show up briefly and should know better. With the exception of just two or three scenes, the whole thing is set in a bar where the actors do their very best not to appear bored.

The plot is like one of those mouse mazes where you know you will get to the end, but you aren't sure how many turns it will take to get there, or if there will be any cheese on the way out. Others comment on the grain of the film...um. yea. who cares? Its the plot that counts, and I think this had a straight forward plot with enough subplots to make it that maze that keeps us interested. Well, it worked for me anyways. I definitely have to disagree with the rating it has, as there are terrible movies with at least a 4 rating and this one should be a 6 at least! If you like murder and criminals all wrapped up in a plot that twists like a ball of yarn the cat played with, well this is worth a watch.

IMDb needs a "0" (zero) rating for movies like this. Better yet -- how about a NEGATIVE rating (this should be about a "minus 9")?Neal McDonough is a pretty good actor (I liked him in Guardian, Flags of Our Fathers, even Hitcher) -- what the hell is he doing in this piece of crap? Well, the answer is "not much" (same is true for the prominently billed -- but mostly absent -- Michael Madsen, although he hasn't been in a good movie since Reservoir Dogs).I don't know much about the other so-called "actors" in this waste of time, except that they should at least have better judgment about the kind of projects they get involved in. And "star" Michael Lazar (also "writer," "producer," and "director" Michael Lazar)? FOUR strikes and he should be out!Don't waste your money on this sorry excuse for "entertainment." Hell, even if you can get it as a free rental at your video store, don't waste your TIME!

If you like action or crime drama, you probably saw something on MACHINE, maybe the cover, and thought 'hey this could be cool. So what if it's direct-to-video, it's probably just the usual indie budget issues.' That's what I thought too. I was SO wrong.This is from the school of post-RESERVOIR DOGS filmmakers that believe all you need for a modern crime drama are some cool looking people shooting other people down with cool looking guns, all the while maintaining their cool. Now I'm not a big fan of RESERVOIR DOGS, but Tarantino at least had clever dialog, good blocking, gritty lighting, some nice camera moves, Harvey Keitel, and most of all, a story to tell - he knew guys looking cool and shooting off guns doesn't make a movie. So yeah, Michael Madsen was in DOGS; now he's been in this one, a real dog.It is difficult for me to describe a film this bad. My viewing experience of MACHINE was something like this: 'Wow, that's the worst camera-work I've ever seen...ever... it's really grainy, like that digital grain Michael Mann got for COLLATERAL with all those cool night scenes with Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise...except those guys aren't in this one, and this just looks BAD. Oh, there's Neil McDonough, wow he's great as ever...wait, is that all we get of him?' You get the idea.The really astonishing thing was that Madsen and McDonough STILL knocked out good performances (the only reason there's a star in my rating) - a credit to their professionalism. But when they're not on screen (and that's most of the time), then it's just a painful exercise in what not to do when making your own movie. Your uncle probably frames up a better shot with his little hand-held at family get-togethers, than what these guys did here. This DVD is not what you want to watch; it's what you use when you run out of coasters for your drinks.