MovieChat Forums > The Machine (2014) Discussion > Much more entertaining than Ex Machina

Much more entertaining than Ex Machina

posted 9 years ago by NoRAGRETS
14 replies | jump to latest

I really appreciate how this movie was a lot more entertaining for me than Ex Machina as a movie considering the budget for this movie was only 1.5 mil while Ex Machina's was 15 mil.

For 1.5 mil they seemed to accomplish a lot as far as movies go

I enjoyed both movies, I understand they're trying to accomplish 2 different things and trying to tell two different stories or philosophies.

But if you were to ask me which of the 2 was a more entertaining movie about AI set in the modern day, I'd have to pick The Machine

[–] skittlesa5 9 years ago

Yeah I just finished it and I was thinking the exact same thing. Ex machina is getting all this praise, and while I did like it, I feel this was obviously much better interms of pacing, plot, more characters, and really just overall. They both do tell similar stories, with the Turing testing and technology and everything.

I'm really suprised how low the review score for this is. And meanwhile ex machina is rated so much higher; very weird.

[–] NoRAGRETS 9 years ago

Yeah I was just checking out the imdb board for this movie and there's a topic from sometime last year about a guy complaining The Machine was too boring because it had too much talking, and that was pretty much the consensus on why it wasn't that great

Now it's 2015 and we have Ex Machina and it's so highly praised while it has even more dialogue than The Machine albeit it's portraying a slightly different philosophy you can still compare these two movies.

Just funny how the same consensus that thought The Machine was too boring because of too much dialogue is also now that Ex Machina was amazing even though it had more dialogue. Simply because of more exposure and people telling other people openly how it's a great movie and they need to see it etc, where The Machine didn't really have that opportunity

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Derek117 9 years ago

Yes, I'm still trying to figure out "why" Ex Machina is getting so much love from the critics and public--and The Machine is basically a cult movie. Both are small budget, non-studio, european produced films, that cover basically the same narrative. And, the "machines" even have the same name, Ava. Indeed, I'm surprised that The Machine hasn't filed a copyright complaint against Ex Machina because of the similarity in names & character.

Also, while Caity Lotz has gone on to create the Black (now White) Canary character in the Arrow/Legends of Tomorrow series, Alicia Vikander's career has exploded based on her work in Ex Machina. The bars & restaurants in LA are filled with would-be actors, writers and directors claiming that they had created a movie or character that was later used in another production that propelled people to fame & fortune. Most of those stories are *beep* However, if I ever see Caity Lotz or the director/producers of "The Machine" make that claim, I'd agree with them one thousand percent. They've been robbed!

[–] janus3 9 years ago

not really when you consider the average viewer doesn't form their own opinions but use critics some sort of cognitive dissonance when forming an opinion. i guarntee if more critics saw the machine and voted it high these scores would be up too.

[–] AaronSynn 9 years ago

The average viewer hasn't even heard of 'The Machine', unfortunately.

[–] BrunoAntony 9 years ago

Aside from them both being about killer AI, both are both quite different in terms of pacing and genre aspirations. One is a minimalist psychological thriller, the other is more of contemplative action film.

I like The Machine just because it just flew under the radar, whereas Ex Machine was hotly anticipated because of the Alex Garland connection.

Due to the lack of moderators, trolls can ruin the IMDB message boards. Don't feed them.

[–] janus3 9 years ago

i have to agree. the machine was far superior to ex machina. at least the machine had people that said they were smart and actually were. my problem with ex machina is two "geniuses" were so easily duped.

[–] BulbusBouffant 8 years ago

I enjoyed both movies.

The reason Ex Machina gets more praise is because it tells its story about fleshed-out, opposing characters in a questionable moral gray area, having interesting thoughtful conversations in a unique, slow-burn way.

The Machine tells its story about an obvious greedy bad guy going against the good guy with cliche plot points. They talk about super interesting topics in a very straightforward way.

[–] khandgar 8 years ago

Ex Machina had much much much much better writing and acting. The performances are what made people love it, but the production value is also night and day with this. The sets in the Machine felt so cheap and silly to me. Also, they aren't really the same genre. This movie was edging towards action while Ex Machina was purely a psychological thriller.

[–] Kent_Kainer 8 years ago

Ex Machina was okay, this one is nice.I also thought of Ex Machina while I watched this. And a bit of Chappie.Weird those aren't listed in the similar section. And unbelievable such a movie for just 1,5 mil 😮I mean I could see that it was low budget, but didn't expect it that low.There's no info about the budget on IMDb site. ---Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

[–] redmiatazoomzoom 8 years ago

I also thought The Machine was a superior movie in every way except production value (due to the budget constraints).

~
My list of 1,000+ weird wild movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls053942167/

[–] Milk_Tray_Guy 8 years ago

I thought they were both excellent, but yes I'd pick The Machine over Ex Machina.

All for a box of chocolates...