So. I'm watching Hellboy again and The machine at the beginning that Kroenen made to open the portal to the Ogdru Jahad (sp?) is ...AWESOME!

So I'm sitting there thinking of the design and fabrication of this prop and thought "I wonder what other people have been so impressed by other machines in other movies.".

So...

(scurries back to Hellboy)

The correct answer is:

HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey

Oh man where do I begin...

Dune: Space folding Highliners(similar ship in Event Horizon)
Star Wars: Walking vehicles of all types.
Japanese Kaiju films: The "Maser Cannon", Mecha-Godzilla(recent versions)

Mecha-Godzilla

I'm on board with your decision.

I forgot about your user name! Damn! I knew you guys wouldn't let me down. What a Pandora's box.

I wanted to add a screencap of Magneto's mutator machine from X-men, but you wouldn't believe how hard it to get a clean shot of that thing. There are no static frames. It is a very motion attuned sequence. That being said, I loved the Jack Kirby-ness of that machine.

but I need the Mr. Fusion conversion kit to agree.

The answer is... UNICRON!

The Mangler

...kidding.

Does The Lament Configuration count?

I was wondering the same thing.

The Excessive Machine?

Agent Smith

I agree. I'm an Iain Banks fan and as such harbor optimism for the singularity. I love the questions and paradox situations that these creatures must endure and I hope they will work them out in our favor. We'd make good pets.

The Orgazmatron from Eight Days a Week...




JK

Oh, come ON! CLEARLY the ultimate machine is the supercomputer thingy in Superman 3!

I was going to capture a shot of it...but I can't find the disk! The only one in the whole set that's missing! No idea where it is damn it! See? The computer is so damn bad it can reach out of the movie!

Wasn't that from Sleeper? And I am with you one hundred percent on your spoiler. That machine had my favorite line in movie history.

or

Nice. What I had in mind when I first posted was the actual prop. I like that it has opened up to a more conceptual realm, though. In fact, now that I think of it, I'm not sure how much of the Kroenen Portal Machine was CGI. I still love it based on graphic design principles alone.

Agreed! Hell, the Flux Capacitor alone would get my vote.

I'll also throw out:

Star Wars: X-Wing Fighter
ID4: Alien fighters (those little bitches could maneuver)

I was thinking more along the lines of the breakfast machine in Pee Wee's Big Adventure than robots or vehicles.