REVIEWING AND WRITING ABOUT FILM + TELEVISION SINCE 2014

FICTIONMACHINE

FictionMachine is an ongoing collection of essays. They were initially about science fiction, fantasy and horror cinema, but non-genre films are gaining increased coverage. Each essay takes on an individual film and submits it to closer examination. It explores the making of the film, using quotes by the filmmakers and actors where available. Ultimately it is an appreciation of both a genre and a medium: celebrating the biggest hits while shining a light on under-seen and under-rated gems.

Since February 2017 the site has also published short-form reviews of current and past feature films, as a supplement to the main essays.

The website is primarily written by Grant Watson. Since 2000 Grant has been writing film criticism, beginning with his William Atheling Jr award-winning column in Borderlands and continuing through his podcast Bad Film Diaries and more than 2,000 posts on The Angriest. This is the latest iteration of his critical writing project. He also writes for FilmInk and VCinema. In 2018 he served on the Fipresci Prize jury at the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival.

2 responses to “About”

  1. mark lewis Avatar
    mark lewis

    Great movie review grant watson on “repo man”, I just came across it. Very in depth and accurate. my name is mark lewis and i was there from the beginning , The writer/director alex cox is my friend. happy to answer any questions on the movie if any.. thanks

    Reply
  2. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    What a sad misunderstanding (and misrepresentation) of the movie. The rush to wokescold about The Modern Lens dominates here and for what? To punch down on a 40 year old movie for not somehow being prescient and sensitive against all odds?

    For someone who claims concern about mental illness, the term ‘triggered’ is used awfully casually here and in the worst way, the encouragement to feebleness and fragility at any suggestion of difficult matters. PTSD in particular had a lot of value invested in that term before it was appropriated and gentrified.

    You also present a fallacy about uncritical viewing; anyone who did not see it when it was new or in that decade / the 90s will be bringing a critical eye as a matter of course, whether they realise it or not, because this is a relic of a different time and everything about it makes clear that it’s not going to be a sensitive melodrama about the inner life of a schizohrenic or something. Confusing what it wanted to be and what you think it should be is also an issue here, incidentally. Believability? In an 80s pop culture lowest common denominator comedy?!? You CANNOT be serious. To look at a film like this and criticise it as a flimsy premise made my brain short-circuit.

    I’m guessing you weren’t even born in the 80s and thus have no actual frame of reference nor understanding of the evolution of mental illness in media. I kind of expect to poke around and find a review from you criticising Revenge of the Nerds for unfair portrayals, the meanness of ‘nerd’ and questionable script choices that made you think it was beyond the realms of possibility. Instead of, you know, *literally an entire genre / time capsule* of comedy.

    Please avoid anything from before you were 10 years old. You’ll have a much better time and the world you neither experienced nor understand in any way can be preserved for those of us who were there, who lived through the stereotyping in real life and still loved seeing this. Mentally ill people are the main characters and they’re not psycho killers or trapped in an institutional setting? Great start! It made people laugh and view these characters fondly. It was a stumbling, awkward step towards better things.

    Sorry evolution isn’t perfect and omniscient, I suppose.

    Reply

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