The short version is: no, Michael Haneke’s new version of Funny Games does not need to exist. Regardless of its inherent quality or lack thereof, it serves essentially no useful purpose. As to the useless purposes it serves, well, that’s the long version. In 1997, the German director made his first major international splash with […]

I am here to inform these modern times of the grammatical era’s end and the beginning of flamboyance especially in cinema. -Joseph Balsamo (Daniel Pommereulle) Fin de conte Fin de cinema -Closing title card It feels more than a little bit facile to write about Week End, which like all of Jean-Luc Godard’s films is […]

Joking is all well and good, but the surprisingly virulent controversy around Hostel, Part II perhaps deserves some consideration. So check this bit of nastiness out: If we follow the official narrative, you had one of two reactions to that poster: you thought it was depraved, immoral, sickening trash; or you thought it was compelling […]