I finished watching Eastern Promises. I don't see what the big deal is. The plot twist was so cliche I laughed out loud. OK yeah naked Viggo Mortenson but other than that it seemed like a run-of-the-mill crime drama to me.

Someone was talking up Eastern Promises to me tonight. Mostly on the grounds of naked Viggo and tattoos. Though possibly that's just all I retained.

Tattoos take up a lot of the story and the naked fight is a turning point in the film. If you have or ever had a thang for Viggo this is a must see. If you're squicky about graphic bloody violence stay away.

Better and better.

If you're squicky about graphic bloody violence stay away.

We saw a preview the other night for Funny Games, and even the preview was enough to make me damn sure that I'd rather have root canal surgery than see that movie, due to all the violence (much of which actually occurs off-screen, and yes, I'm aware that the violence is the POINT of the movie, as it's a self-indulgent masturbatory move on the director's part to send a message to American audiences about their love for violent torture-porn movies).

I actually agree about Funny Games, which was a deeply unpleasant experience in the original, but I hope it doesn't turn you off Haneke completely. Cache, for instance, was just utterly brilliant, an exercise in Hitchcockian paranoia and existential dread.

I actually agree about Funny Games, which was a deeply unpleasant experience in the original, but I hope it doesn't turn you off Haneke completely. Cache, for instance, was just utterly brilliant, an exercise in Hitchcockian paranoia and existential dread.

I suspect Hitchcock would have appreciated FUNNY GAMES a lot, since in its deeply unpleasant way it is brilliantly directed. What you don't see is far far worse than if you had seen it, I think. I admire the movie a lot, but only from a completely academic point of view. It has zero value as entertainment. That said, I hope the new version draws in some of the folks who are making the HOSTELs and SAWs such big box office (though from what I've read the most recent sequels haven't done as well) because it's an unpleasure they deserve. I may have to see it simply for comparison reasons.

And honestly, as unpleasant as it was, it was nowhere near as unpleasant as IRREVERSIBLE or TROUBLE EVERY DAY.

I really need to see CACHE' and TIME OF THE WOLF.

I'd been kind of interested in seeing Trouble Every day before my Vincent Gallo loathing rocketed into the stratosphere. Is it entirely bereft of entertainment value?

I'd been kind of interested in seeing Trouble Every day before my Vincent Gallo loathing rocketed into the stratosphere. Is it entirely bereft of entertainment value?

Of the three, it's the one I'd be interested in ever seeing again (apart from the FUNNY GAMES remake), but Vincent Gallo was so miscast it wasn't even funny. I mean, he has the psycho part down, but it needed somebody who looked like they took an occasional shower and shave for it to work (James Spader would have rocked). Beatrice Dalle was scary in the extreme; I mean that as a complement. Also, as far as I know, it's still not available on domestic DVD, so seeing it may be a moot point (I caught it at a Cambridge repatory theater). I absolutely ADORE the soundtrack album, even though certain songs bring to mind seriously unpleasant images.

Cache, for instance, was just utterly brilliant, an exercise in Hitchcockian paranoia and existential dread.

Oh, is that the same guy? I have it on my DVR.