|
|
List Price: $27.98Amazon.com's Price: $19.99 You Save: $7.99 (29%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Now!
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0085391176299
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
Manufacturer: Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Running Time: 107 minutes
Sales Rank: 3818
Studio: Warner Independent Pictures (WIP)
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In 1997 writer-director Michael Haneke (CACHE) made the controversial Austrian thriller FUNNY GAMES about two young men who terrorize a family on vacation. A decade later Haneke was convinced by producer Chris Coen to bring the story to America filming a nearly word-for-word shot-for-shot English-language version even re-creating the locations and sets as obsessively as possible. Shortly after Ann (Naomi Watts) George (Tim Roth) and Georgie (Devon Gearhart) arrive in their country home Peter (Brady Corbet) an eerily polite young man dressed all in white including odd white gloves appears on the doorstep asking Ann if he can borrow some eggs for their neighbor. Peter is joined by Paul (Michael Pitt) and the Leopold-and-Loeb-like duo are soon doing horrible things to Ann George and Georgie torturing them both physically and psychologically (nearly all the violence occurs off-screen) for no apparent reason other than they can referring to the whole thing as a game. And the biggest game of all is whether the family will be alive at the end. FUNNY GAMES is an intense experience driven by Haneke's careful manipulation of both the film itself and the audience. He's trying to shake up the viewer even having Paul address the audience directly several times with Paul fully aware of what he is doing and how the audience is most likely responding. And in one unforgettable scene Haneke pulls the cathartic rug right out from under the viewer playing with the actual medium of cinema in an infuriating and ingenious way. Roth and Watts give outstanding performances as the victims matched by Pitt and Corbet's deeply unsettling creepiness. Just as Peter and Paul (who also call themselves Tom and Jerry and Beavis and Butt-Head) alternate between calm and violent the soundtrack alternates between classical music by Handel Mozart and others and hardcore punk from John Zorn and Naked City. Though difficult to watch FUNNY GAMES is ultimately a rewarding and illuminating fi
Amazon.com:
Michael Haneke is a modern master, which his spellbinding films Cache and The Piano Teacher proved to an international audience. When it came time for a Hollywood remake of his ultra-disturbing 1997 picture Funny Games, who better than Haneke himself to helm the new version? And indeed, the second Funny Games bears the impeccable sense of control and technique that the Austrian version had: it is a horrifyingly precise account of a family terrorized by two psychopathic young thugs at a vacation home. For anyone who's already seen the '97 film, this new one--a nearly shot-by-shot transcription of the original--will seem superfluous, no matter how impressive the performances of Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are. (Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet are suitably creepy as their menacers, too.) For newbies, the movie might be as infuriating and thought-provoking as Haneke intends it to be. That's because Funny Games is an intellectual game itself, a direct rebuke to the audience that gobbles up gratuitous violence and cynical manipulation. Haneke sets up our expectations, and then refuses to provide the conventional catharsis… or the conventional anything. All of this was pretty bracing in the first go-round, but feels like gamesmanship in the remake. Even if you dig what Haneke's up to, this is a brutal movie-watching experience. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - NOT FOR EVERYONE'S TASTES
Funny Games was a difficult film to review. On one hand there are numerous outstanding elements to this horror/psychological thriller. On the other hand, the Director tries to be a bit too cute and threatens to drag the entire film down the drain. Funny Games is a shot-for-shot remake of the original Austrian film (also directed by Michael Haneke) that came out in 1997. Haneke remade the film in order to reach a broader U.S. audience who typically eschews foreign movies.
Naomi Watts ... Read More
Rating:  - ******DONT RENT NOR BUY THIS MOVIE*************
this movie is so horrible to watch; its a torture. At first you are like ok this movie is just starting it will get better. Ok they cannot stay in this scene any longer. Like the other revier said, "I do not know if I should keep watching it to see if it becomes better." Trust me it did not get better. Its so boring and so lame. The ending is the worst part. It ends where it begins with another family. Typical ending.
Rating: - Psuedo anything you want to call it....
Attempting to criticize this movie for its structure or theme or whatever is pointless. This isn't a film, it isn't even any kind of credible story. It is a psuedo intellectual exercise that becomes increasingly annoying as it progresses. Ooooh, we, the bad audience, really want to see a revenge picture, where the terrorized family strikes back, which I, Michael Haneke, will not give you the satisfaction of seeing. I likewise will not give my characters any sensible reactions to what is happening ... Read More
Rating: - Tension builder
I thought this was an awesome movie. I mean, not in terms of any plot or character development or any crap like that. But Michael Haneke's directing and the freaky acting, especially from Michael Pitt, were stellar. Michael Pitt and this creepy gay guy play two ultra-polite serial killers who are going around this vacation community offing people. They come to Tim Roth's character's house, playing some "funny games" with them. The main game lies in a bet, Michael Pitt's character bets Tim Roth's ... Read More
Rating: - not good
I am a big fan of horror, thrillers and slashers. This did not deliver for me. It was more about artistic cinematography, long shots, sparse and contrived dialogue and an unconventional film style, not in a good way. I am a big Tim Roth and Naomi Watts fan but they don't even have roles that take advantage of their skills. I did not like the opening credits, there was not a stitch of character development (although that was part of the point of the movie), and I wish it had fewer stars so I had avoided ... Read More
|
|
