740. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Running Time: 103 minutes
Directed By: Woody Allen
Written By: Woody Allen
Main Cast: Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Dianne Wiest, Michael Caine, Woody Allen

WOODY ALLEN WEEK: ACT FIVE

Winding down "Woody Allen Week", we come to "Hannah and Her Sisters", a film that didn't "WOW" me years ago when I first saw it, but one that has grown on me with the passing of time.
This go around, we're actually dealing with two plots, that are connected by Hannah and, not only her sisters, but the people close to her. The film starts out during a Thanksgiving party that Hannah and her family are throwing. Over the course of the party we meet Hannah (Farrow), her sisters, Lee (Hershey) and Holly (Wiest) and her husband Elliot (Caine). We find out that Elliot has a crush on Lee, which we find out by the use of voice overs, which take us into the characters' thoughts. Lee is living with and intimate with Frederick (Max Von Sydow), a man who treats her more like a pupil than a lover. Hannah's ex-husband is Mickey (Allen), who upholds a good relationship with her and their two children, which they got by means of artificial insemination, due to Mickey's infertility. We jump back and forth between the two plots, as Elliot pursues an affair with Lee and Mickey visits doctor after doctor, chasing down the origins of a hearing loss, which he's convinced is due to a brain tumor.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

The "1001" book describes "Hannah and Her Sisters" as a Bergman-esque film, which I could'nt disagree with more. To me Bergman has a much darker perspective to his movies, while I consider this one to be one of Allen's more upbeat pictures. Anybody who follows Woody Allen knows that he is an atheist, yet in "Hannah and Her Sisters" he (and his character) seem to be questioning the existence of God and I'll be damned if Woody himself doesn't make a case for his existence. I mean, think about it, Woody's character in the film experiences a "near death" situation, only to survive and question his religion and the existence of God and Jesus Christ. Eventually he comes to the conclusion that you only go around once, so you might as well enjoy it while you got the chance. But then the film ends and Woody's character, a previously infertile man, is deemed fertile again, as we learn that his new wife is pregnant. Come on, what more proof do you need Mickey? Maybe, I'm just reading into it too much, as I highly doubt that the underlying message of "Hannah and Her Sisters" is...there is a God, but I'm just saying.

The cast is brilliant, but you really don't need me to tell you that. I especially enjoyed Michael Caine and Barbara Hershey, who was quite the eye candy for me in this movie. The only cast related complaint I'll make is...What was the deal with Sam Waterston? I mean, don't get me wrong, who doesn't love Sam Waterston, but why the hell was he in there? It was almost as if he showed up on set one day and Woody was like "Hey, you wanna' be in the movie" and he was like "Okay, I got a half hour to kill." His character never developed at all and the story with him and April (Carrie Fisher) just kind of disappeared and we never heard from them again. Carrie Fisher's part was kind of useless too, come to think of it, but I digress. My only other complaint, and it's as minor as minor can be, is the musical intros, as we flipped back and forth between plot lines. In a way it worked for me and in a way it just seemed out of place and I could've done without it. Although, speaking of music, this film definitely turned me on to Bach and his Concerto in F Minor: 2nd Movement. What a beautiful piece of music.

RATING: 9/10 Hey it's Woody in his prime, dealing with relationships in the Big Apple...and he's in it...Doesn't get much better than that for this movie watcher.

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MOVIES WATCHED: 212
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 789

February 11, 2011 11:15pm

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495. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: George Roy Hill
Written By: William Goldman
Main Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross

ON MY JOURNEY I MET MEN NAMED NEWMAN AND REDFORD

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" departs the streaming section of Netflix tomorrow, so with some time to kill tonight, waiting for my wife to get off work, I decided to watch it for the second time in my life. I liked it MUCH more this time around.

Butch Cassidy (Newman) and The Sundance Kid (Redford) are two outlaws who are the heads of the "Hole in the Wall Gang", a group of men who rob banks and trains looking for loot and usually making out like bandits. The film starts by getting us acquainted with the gang, mainly Butch and Sundance, with a great scene of Sundance playing poker, where we learn that he is the fastest draw in the west to another great scene where Harvey Logan challenges Butch for control of the gang...he fails. From there we meet Etta (Ross), Sundance's love interest and a good friend to Butch. After that the gang gets back together to pull another job, but are halted by posse that has formed, seemingly to take them down. The hunt for Butch and Sundance by the posse takes up a big chunk of the movie, but, trust me, I'm not complaining, as the entire chase through the hills is quite gripping and just as frustrating for the viewer as it is for the characters. Eventually Butch and Sundance outsmart the posse and get back to Etta, where they offer her a chance to go with them to Bolivia, a place where Butch thinks they'll find a lot of success. The trio head to Bolivia and find nothing but pigs and dirt, so decide to start another gang, this time, with just the trio. They rob banks throughout Bolivia, but before that they must receive Spanish lessons from Etta, who is also a teacher.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

As I write this, I have "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" playing, because it's such a soothing song and such a great scene in the movie (that I was forced to rewind and rewatch) when Newman rides his new bicycle around with Etta. This scene was also so sad for me to watch, and realize that Newman is no longer with us. What a great movie this is, that I for the life of me cannot remember why I didn't like the first time around. I mean, what's not to like? It's probably the most funny, different type of Western there is and if someone were to come to me and say "Recommend me a Western...I've never see one and want to see one", this is the one I'd give them, because it seems like it would be a good Western for beginners.

I mentioned above how frustrating the big chase scene is, and it really is, not just for the characters, but also for the viewer. We never see the chasers up close and not until the chase is completely over do we find out their identities. The entire time Butch and Sundance are asking themselves and each other..."Who ARE Those Guys?" and we're right there with them, asking the same question and we're frustrated right along with them, when you think they've got the right idea on how to lose these guys and the guys just keep on coming.

Newman and Redford were wonderful together, but surprisingly I think I enjoyed Redford just a hair more than Newman. Don't get me wrong, Newman was fabulous here, but Redford, who I wasn't expecting too much out of, really surprised me, by making the character of Sundance his own and working that character in just the right ways. To me, Sundance was the more likable character...such a cool, quiet character, the kind of guy you really love to root for.

RATING: 9/10 Great, great movie and don't be surprised to see "The Sting" show up on the blog sometime in the next week.

MOVIES WATCHED: 211
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 790

February 10, 2011 9:20pm

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Coming Soon: The Foreseeable Future

Back in October or so, I started doing weekly "Coming Soon" posts so that readers of the blog would know what I was planning on watching next for the "1001" book. Instead of doing those again, I figured I'd just pop in here and let you know what's on tap for the foreseeable future.

Basically, as of right now, all that I'll be watching is stuff that I currently have at my disposal...which, trust me, is quite a bit. Here's what I have:

*My DVD Shelf - I'd like to sparse these out, but I own approximately 75 movies that I still need to watch from the book. The reason for the sparsing is because I figure if I hit a rough spot where I see a lot of stuff I don't like, then I'll have movies that I know I like to smooth things out.

*Turner Classic Movies - I've taped the following out of print titles off of TCM: Dr. Zhivago, The Big Sky, The Phenix City Story, The African Queen, Johnny Guitar, Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Sins of Lola Montes, The Magnificent Ambersons, Man of the West and Gaslight.

*Netflix Streaming - We have a Netflix ready device hooked to our TV and thus have downgraded our Netflix plan to the "Streaming Only" plan, this is my main focus right now, to get a lot of stuff off of my Instant Queue. Here's what they currently have, that I still need to watch for the "1001" book, as of 02/10/2011: La vie en rose, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Meet the Parents, The Snake Pit, A Fish Called Wanda, Enter the Dragon, All That Heaven Allows, The Naked Spur, Winchester '73, Meet Me in St. Louis, Carmen Jones, Performance, Network, Poltergeist, Naked Lunch, The Asphalt Jungle, Giant, Rio Bravo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blazing Saddles, Diner, JFK, Withnail and I, The Night of the Shooting Stars, The Shining, The Killing Fields, Top Gun, Jaws, The Sting, Batman, Natural Born Killers, Salt of the Earth, Man of Iron, The Right Stuff, Kes, Hour of the Wolf, All That Jazz, Oldboy, Mondo Cane, Happy Together, 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, An American Werewolf In London, The Kingdom, Last Tango In Paris, The Host, Paradise Now, Head-On, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Distant, Amelie, In the Mood for Love, The Gleaners and I, Trust, Audition, The Thin Red Line, The Sweet Hereafter, Dilwale dulhania le jayenge, Hoop Dreams, Man Bites Dog, Aileen Wuornos: Selling of a Serial Killer, Slacker, Delicatessen, Boyz N the Hood, Europa Europa, The Heartbreak Kid, Children of a Lesser God, 1900, Don't Look Now, Persona, Blade Runner, Sans Soleil, When Harry Met Sally, Alice, Die Hard, The Thin Blue Line, Au revoir les enfants, Full Metal Jacket, Sherman's March, A Room With a View, Aliens, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, The Official Story, Fanny and Alexander, Body Heat, The Sorrow and the Pity, Mad Max, The Jerk, Breaking Away, My Brilliant Career, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Suspiria, Eraserhead, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jeanne Dielman..., A Woman Under the Influence, The Spirit of the Beehive, Solaris, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Murmur of the Heart, Walkabout, Five Easy Pieces, Playtime, Closely Watched Trains, The Red and the White, The Cow, Peeping Tom, Shoot the Piano Player, One Eyed Jacks, Jules and Jim, Vidas Secas, Onibaba, The Battle of Algiers, Faces, Beat the Devil, Umberto D., Ugetsu, Ikiru, Diabolique, Wild Strawberries, Seven Samurai, Smiles of a Summer Night, Black Orpheus, Mon Oncle, Breathless, The Wages of Fear, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Day the Earth Stood Still, Rashomon, The Lady from Shanghai, Black Narcissus, Beauty and the Beast, I Know Where I'm Going!, Children of Paradise, Ivan the Terrible, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Pierrot le Fou, Hombre, L'Avventura, Cleo from 5 to 7, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Pickpocket, Shadows, The 400 Blows, M. Hulot's Holiday, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Tokyo Story, The Palm Beach Story, Laura, The Stranger, Gilda, Odd Man Out, The Bicycle Thief, The Red Shoes, The Third Man, The Elephant Man, Henry V, Amadeus, All About Eve, On the Waterfront and From Here to Eternity

Whew...So that's what I have immediately available to me and something up there is what you'll be seeing in the coming weeks here on the blog.

February 10, 2011 5:01pm

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726. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Running Time: 84 minutes
Directed By: Woody Allen
Written By: Woody Allen
Main Cast: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Edward Herrmann, Diane Wiest

WOODY ALLEN WEEK: ACT FOUR

With such a short runtime, I decided to slip in one more movie for today and move my Woody Allen Week festivities ahead a little further. This time around it was "The Purple Rose of Cairo", which is not one of my favorite Woody Allen films, but still a good enough movie.

Mia Farrow stars as Cecilia, a depression era wife, married to Monk (Aiello), who finds solace at the movie theatre...a place where she can forget her sorrows and escape into arms of a waiting picture. The new movie in town is The Purple Rose of Cairo and as always Cecilia must see it. She sees it, falls in love with the picture and ends up seeing it four more times. During her fifth viewing, one of the main characters of the film, Tom Baxter (Daniels) notices her and literally walks right out of the screen to meet her. He tells her that he's seen her there before and confesses his attraction to her. They run off together and Tom woos Cecilia with charming lines that only a character from a movie could come up with. However, back at the movie house, chaos ensues, as the rest of the cast are forced to halt their performances due to Tom's departure. The producers of the film are called and eventually fly into the small New Jersey town to see for themselves what's going on. They bring Gil Sheppard (Daniels, in a dual role) with them, the man who plays Tom in the movie, to help them sort the mess out. Gil eventually meets Cecilia and the two of them fall in love. Ultimately Cecilia is forced to choose between her husband, the real man Gil or the imaginary man Tom.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Allen has stated before that "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is his favorite amongst all of the films that he has made. Another quote I found from Allen, regarding this movie is that the whole reason he made "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is for the ending and I can definitely see why, as that was my favorite part too. I guess when you take into account the whole premise and the metaphors that I believe this movie is trying to get across, then I guess the whole concept of the picture is pretty clever. Cecilia is forced to choose between someone who genuinely loves her, but is imaginary or someone who doesn't genuinely love her (although she doesn't know this) but is a real man. Now that's a pretty interesting concept. I guess the most interesting part is how the imaginary man, who knows only what his character knows, and thus could not possibly know what love is, is the one who seems to really love Cecilia, while the real man, who knows of love, doesn't love her and really only seems to love himself. The entire concept is very intriguing...

...However, it just doesn't work for me. For me, Allen is at his best when he's dealing with modern time people who are fussing over their relationships. Throw in some comedy and that, for me, is when you have recipes for really fantastic Allen scripts. "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is Allen's most far fetched film post-Annie Hall, by far and when I watch Woody Allen I want to see real people and plausible events. To me "The Purple Rose of Cairo" just seemed silly for the most part and not something that Allen would normally do. To me, someone suggesting a movie where a movie character comes off the screen and proposes love to a real girl is just not Woody Allen type ideas. Now, granted, I realize that Woody was trying to make some points about true love and fake love and the escapism we can find in a good movie, and those points were made and well taken, but the plot to me is just too silly and thus effected my enjoyment.

RATING: 5.5/10 Not terrible or anything, just not my favorite Allen film by far and as far as the book goes, it's the worst of the four I've watched.

MOVIES WATCHED: 210
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 791

February 9, 2011 10:27pm

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491. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Running Time: 96 minutes
Directed By: George A. Romero
Written By: George A. Romero, John A. Russo
Main Cast: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne

"THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU BARBARA"

Working my way through the Netflix streaming catalog of movies that I need to watch, I decided to check out "Night of the Living Dead", on this very cold, dreary, February day in southwestern PA...where, as a matter of fact, this film is set and filmed.

Barbara (O'Dea) and her brother Johnny have decided to spend their Sunday (unwillingly) driving 200 miles to the cemetery where their father is buried to place a wreath on his grave. While in the cemetery, a man approaches them and begins to attack. Barbara gets away, but Johnny gets into a tussle with the "man" and is knocked unconscious when his head hits a grave marker. The man, who it later turns out is actually a zombie, turns his attention to Barbara, but she manages to escape to a nearby farmhouse. Soon after, night falls and she is joined by Ben (Jones), another human seeking refuge from the monsters that lurk outdoors. Ben is the voice of reason, as Barbara is in shock and out of her mind. Ben realizes that the doors and windows need to be boarded up and without questioning the origin of the monsters, does what he has to do to survive. Later, Ben and Barbara are joined by Harry (Hardman) & Helen (Eastman) and Tom (Wayne) & Judy, who have been holed up in the cellar the entire time. Harry and Helen are married with a hurt child who is also on board and Tom and Judy seem to be a newlywed couple. Harry and Ben clash, as they try to think of the best way to survive and last the longest. Do they stay upstairs, where they'll hear help arrive (if it arrives) or do they lock themselves in the cellar, where they'll be more secure?

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Believe it or not, this is actually the first time that I ever saw the original "Night of the Living Dead", even more surprising due to the fact that it was filmed very near to where I live and grew up, which you think would've peaked my interest. I've always loved movies that take a group of people, put them in a small setting and give them a problem and the tension is even more relevant, considering the size of this groups problem. Not only a horror movie, but "Night of the Living Dead" is also a very well put together character study, as we see different types of people forced to be enclosed with one another and conflict arises. You have the family man, with the fatherly instincts, who thinks he is always right. You have Ben, who worked to board the old farmhouse up and get it secure so that he and Barbara could survive and who is also the voice of reason when hot heads prevail. You have Barbara, who is totally off her rocker, and so the characters are forced to deal with her and ultimately are forced to band together as a group and think of a strategy that will help them live.

I liked the movie, and with a little research found that the budget was a mere $114,000, which makes me admire it even more. Of course it's not the greatest looking of all films, but the worn out picture quality fit in well with the fictional crisis and actually enhanced the experience for me. I also loved the ending, despite the fact that it was tragic. Too many times do we see cliche's, where everything just ends up working out for the best. It was a breath of fresh air to see Romero go in the opposite direction of the cliche ending, in a time before it was even a cliche. Another great thing to see, that kind of goes hand in hand with the small budget, was the relative no name cast that Romero assembled and how terrific of a job they all did. You can actually tell that everyone on board wanted the film to be a success, as it comes out in their performances. A success it was, as now it's (apparently) one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

RATING: 7/10 I'll have to check out Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead and all of the other dead Romero films when I get some free time.

MOVIES WATCHED: 209
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 792

February 9, 2011 6:30pm

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656. MANHATTAN (1979)

Running Time: 96 minutes
Directed By: Woody Allen
Written By: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Main Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep

WOODY ALLEN WEEK: ACT THREE

Let me start out with one simple sentence...I love this film. Last night, I was able to give it another watch, for "1001" purposes and when I finished I had a thousand and one thoughts swirling through my head, regarding this movie. I only hope I can get it all straight and lay it down for you here.

This time around Woody Allen is Isaac Davis, an aspiring book writer, who is currently "wasting his life" writing, what his best friend calls "crap", for a comedic television show. He's involved in a relationship with Tracy (Hemingway), a girl twenty-five years his junior and his best friend is Yale (Murphy), whom he shares everything with. During a night out at dinner, Yale confesses to Isaac that he has been seeing someone else, a woman named Mary (Keaton), whom he claims to be very serious about. A few days later, while at an art gallery with Tracy, Isaac runs into Yale and Mary and after meeting Mary, decides that he despises her, mainly because she seems to have entirely different interests than him and because she mispronounces Vincent Von Gogh's name. Later in the film, they meet again and this time hit it off, walking through the streets of New York until the sun comes up and commencing underneath the 59th Street Bridge to watch the sunrise. Now Issac is in love with Mary, still has Tracy, whom he admittedly has a great time with, just feels guilty for even being with a seventeen year old and has a best friend who is also in love with the woman he's in love with. It's probably Allen's most serious film and one of my all-time favorites.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

This film has, maybe, one of my favorite opening sequences of any film ever. The film starts with Isaac reading chapter one of his book. He keeps re-starting finding something wrong with the previous recital. He eventually finds the words he's looking for and fireworks explode over Manhattan as George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue blares in the background. Then we get into the meat and potatoes of the film and to me this is the most serious film Allen has ever done. There is comedy strung in there, but it's never used as the focal point of a scene and is the type of everyday humor that you would hear in day to day conversation. Speaking of day to day conversations, I love the dialogue here and here more than any other film, you can really pick up on Allen's knack for writing dialogue. It flows so naturally out of the mouths of these uptown New York intellectuals, that I felt like I was peering in on the lives of these people. When I watch "Manhattan" I feel like I shouldn't be getting this movie, like it's out of my league and these people are having such intelligent conversations, that I should be scratching my head. But, despite the fact that some of the references are lost on me, I do get the film for the most part and Allen makes me, so much, want to live in New York City, so that I can interact with people like this, even though they're not the most balanced people in the world.

I love how Allen examines relationships here, especially Isaac's. We see Isaac having such a great time with Tracy, a girl who is seventeen years old. They lie in bed together and eat Chinese food while watching old movies. They go for horse drawn carriage rides through Central Park and Isaac romances her, telling her that she's "God's answer to Job". But, despite all that, Isaac just can't comfortably commit to a girl twenty-five years younger than him, and thus pushes her away and breaks her heart. Instead, he decides to commit to Mary, a woman he met because she was his best friend's mistress and a woman he hated when he first met. He ultimately gets his heart stomped on by Mary and goes back to the woman who's heart he stomped in Tracy. And speaking of that, what a heartbreaking scene, when Isaac and Tracy break-up. I think Tracy was the character in the film that I could identify most with because I've been 17 years old and I know how attached you get to things at that age, especially in relationships. I nearly cried when Tracy started crying, because in a way, I could feel her pain.

I love that Allen went the black & white route with this film, as it gives us an old time feel in a very modern world and I honestly can't imagine this film being in color. The shots of New York City are sublime and watching this film makes me feel like I've visited NYC and been back to tell about it. Woody really takes you right into the heart of the city and busts open the psyche of some of it's characters, for us to muse at and be entertained by. Love this movie!

RATING: 10/10 Believe it or not folks, this isn't even my favorite Woody Allen film...but it is a damn good one and one that I recommend to anyone...even though I'm sure it won't be for everyone.

MOVIES WATCHED: 208
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 793

February 9, 2011 12:54pm

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922. Funny Games (1997)

Running Time: 108 minutes
Directed By: Michael Haneke
Written By: Michael Haneke
Main Cast: Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Muhe, Arno Frisch, Frank Giering, Stefan Clapczynski

FUNNY...OR RATHER...NOT SO FUNNY GAMES

So this evening I decided to take a break from the Woody Allen Week project and take another look at a movie I saw a few years ago, "Funny Games". For those interested, it is currently streaming on Netflix and is actually a really good film, which Haneke liked so much, he developed a shot for shot remake of in 2008.

The film opens on a very pleasant, happy looking family, consisting of father Georg (Muhe), mother Anna (Lothar) and son Georgie (Clapczynski), driving to their lake house to enjoy a vacation. As they drive along, Anna and Georg play a game, forcing each other to guess the classical music piece blaring from the radio. They eventually arrive at their lake house and as they begin to settle in they hear a knock at the door. At this point, Anna is alone in the house, while her husband and son prepare the boat down on the lake. The knock at the door belongs to Peter, a young man who claims to be a friend of the neighbors. Anna doesn't doubt this, because as they were driving up they did see two young men with the neighbors, whom they themselves did not recognize. She invites him in and he asks to borrow some eggs. Once the eggs are given, they are broke and four more eggs are given, only to be broken as well. When Peter's friend, Paul, joins him, the boys remain calm and very polite, but insist on more eggs. Georg eventually finds his way back to the house, only to find his wife distraught, wanting the young men to leave her home immediately. Georg can't make heads or tails of it, but sides with his wife in asking the gentlemen to leave. The men put up a bit of a fuss and in the process break Georg's leg with a golf club...and that's just the beginning of their 12 hour reign of terror over the family.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!

Let's start with the good, shall we? First of all, I love the subtlety of this film. Nothing is ever over the top and all the emotions and pain that we're witnessing is very real and very heartbreaking. Haneke reminds us that crooks and criminals aren't always stupid and shows us the horror that these two young men, possessing mass amounts of cunningness, can inflict. Haneke also reminds us, in the midst of our horror, that we love watching it unfold, as Paul breaks the fourth wall, giving us eerie winks and talking directly to us. In fact, one of Paul's lines is something to the effect of "we wouldn't want to disappoint our audience", in reference to the criminals leaving and ending their hostage situation with the family. As far as the cast goes, everyone does a superb job. I was especially fond of Paul, who tended to remind me of Alex from "A Clockwork Orange", as he was dressed in white and definitely resembling a "droog". Anna and Georg were great too, spilling out their emotions at the appropriate times and going full throttle and making me wince at times at the sheer horror and pain in their voices.

Now, the bad...shall we? When discussing the bad parts of "Funny Games", there's really only one part to discuss and I'm sure if you've seen the film, you know where I'm headed. Near the end, Anna manages to grab a rifle and shoot Peter, causing Paul to scream "Where's the remote!" and rewind the film to the point just before Anna shoots Peter. Paul gets back to where he wants to be, stops Anna from grabbing the gun and finishes his job on the family.

Now I really have to question why Haneke did this, because for the life of me, I can't justify it whatsoever. I'm just not sure why, when you have such a fantastic movie going, when all of your players are nailing it and you're telling a hell of a story, why you'd want to stop the momentum of your own movie and do such a silly thing. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that just because I can't justify Haneke's decision, doesn't mean that there is no justification for it, but I just don't get it...I'm sure there's a reason, but I just don't get it and even if I did, doubt that I would agree with it. The move totally took me out of the movie, and while I still enjoyed myself, definitely lessened the enjoyment overall for me. Going back in time a bit, I'll point to one other spot where there may have been able to be improvement and that's the spot right after Georgie is killed, where for minutes there is nothing going on. Now I'm not calling this bad, because after all, their son was just murdered in front of them, so the reaction is justifiable. But it also took me out of the movie for a bit...not as much as the remote scene, but just a bit.

RATING: 7.5/10 Despite that one scene that I mentioned, this film really is great, with powerful performances and heartbreaking, raw emotion and a great plot. I definitely need to add some more Haneke films to my watch list, as this is the only one in the "1001" book.

MOVIES WATCHED: 207
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 794

February 8, 2011 10:36pm

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