FUNNY GAMES (1997)

Funny Games is an Austrian film by Michael Haneke which he remade about 2 years ago in English. In the original version An upper middle class family arrive at their lake house and are soon accosted by two young men who want to play some very sadistic games with them. The film apparently about violence in media and how the audience participates in such violence. Watching the movie you can't help but relate to the family who is being victimised because watching the movie is a lot like being helplessly tortured for almost two hours. I might compare the experience to being repeatedly punched in the face all the while listening to the person doing it making jokes and telling you it is your fault.

However that being said, I am a sadistic person and like it when films repeatedly punch me in the face so I quite enjoyed the film. However I might have enjoyed it more not knowing the outcome beforehand and also not knowing several surprising things that happen throughout the film which were revealed to me in several publications I read about the film beforehand, fuckers. Anyway, this did not detract from my enjoyment of the film, but perhaps enhanced it since I had time to digest some ideas that the movie brings up with are not all that palatable.

This movie is certainly not for everyone, it's much too sadistic for normal people or people who don't have a fetish for Horror films (though it is not necessarily a Horror film.) And it is too intelligent and preachy for fans of Saw and Hostel (both of which this movie is far superior than but about as painful to watch.) So who is this movie for? I would guess intelligent, masochistic, movie snobs, who have over active imaginations. So if that is not you, I would suggest skipping it. But if it is RENT IT!

I saw a couple other movies recently but I'm lazy so I will just give a brief synopsis and out of four star rating.

The Lives of Others****

An amazing film about eastern Germany in (appropriately enough) 1984. A man observes the actions of a writer from the floor above through elaborately concealed wire taps throughout his apartment. It shows how art can move us, show us truth and make us better people. It won the Oscar for best foreign language film and also coincidentally stars the actor who plays the father in Funny Games. RENT IT!
Irreversible ***

A ridiculously graphic movie that travels back in time through a series of events that lead to a wrongful murder for revenge that's catalyst is the rape and beating of a woman. It's good if you have the stomach. RENT AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Oldboy****

Another movie about revenge. A man is imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years with no explanation and seeks revenge and answers once he is free. The answers he finds however turn out to suck balls for him. Really good, but again ultra violent. RENT AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

In Theaters
I've Loved you so Long ****
A super sad movie about a woman who emerges from prison and goes to live with her sister who accepts her with open arms. But she can't escape her past as we slowly find out the truth of what she did. SEE IT!

Happy Go Lucky****
A super happy movie about the life of a woman who is ridiculously optimistic. SEE IT!


Funny Games completely defies an obligatory star rating it could either get no stars or four I would give it neither, I have no idea what I would rate it.

Also, the Oscars were announced today and I was a bit disappointed. There was nothing unexpected And I've seen 3 of the 5 films nominated for best picture (and so far I think Slumdog Millionare should win and it probably will.) The most disappointing category however is best foreign film which will probably go to Waltz With Bashir just like the golden globes, either that or The Class. And why wasn't Waltz With Bashir nominated for best animated film? Surly it's better than Bolt and Kung-Fu panda, they should really change the name of the category to best animated children's film, or better yet the award for the Pixar movie that came out this year because Wall-E will surely win bringing Pixars total number of wins to 4 (this will be the awards 8th year in existence!)

Anyway I'm of too watch Tsotsi! TTFN

THE 10 BEST MOVIES I'VE SEEN IN 2008

I have yet to see every film that I want to this year (I'm still working on it.) But I have seen quite a few and of those here is a collection of my 10 favorites (Actually 11 favorites because I cheat and have 2 number 1's.)

TOP 10 FILMS OF 2008

1 (tie). The Dark Knight
1 (tie). Let the Right One In
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frost/Nixon
4. The Wrestler
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
6. Tropic Thunder
7. W.
8. Wall-E
9. The Fall
10. Doubt

As I said before I still haven't seen some movies which I might end up puting on this list so consider this a work in progress.

Matthew

Blog: An Explination

A while back I started a livejournal page chronicling and reviewing every new film I saw (the word "new" here meaning new to me and not necessarily a new film.) However for some reason I gave up on that blog, probably because I tried to write full length reviews for every movie i saw not an easy task when your a busy student with NextFlix and an affinity for sneaking into movies after the one I paid for has finished. This blog will try to achieve something similar, though it will be much less formal and I will only write as much as I feel necessary, which may only end up being a sentence or two. However I have no doubt that some movies will have me rambling on and on for pages.

Seeing as how any person can, and many people do start movie blogs I do not expect a large audience outside of my friends. However my old blog did attract several readers whom I had never met and I quite frankly don't know how they discovered it. So if I don't know you and you find this blog and read this post, drop me a comment and tell me how you found me! But mainly this blog is for myself to keep track of what I've watched, like, and don't like, and to help with my ever developing writing skills. I will be writing for an audience though and will gladly welcome constructive critisism when it come to my writing.

Well I think that covers most of what I needed to say. In a couple minutes I will post my first blog about some of my favorite movies of 2008. Thanks for reading!

Matthew