Sicko

3 out of 5 Stars
This documentary made me want to move to Paris and have the government pay for someone to do my laundry after I give birth to kids. But before my ultimate move to Paris it solidified my vote for Hilary in 2008.

Pirates of the Carribean - At World's End

0.5 out of 5 Stars
I fell asleep during 30 minutes of this film. Even with the ongoing Depp action.

Hostel 2

3 out of 5 Stars
I think Eli Roth has the potential to be one of the great horror directors of our time. Look at the poster for this one. Plus Roger Bart as psycho guy. This film was much better than the first. Way to let the women take charge, Eli!

August Rush

1.5 out of 5 Stars
This movie greatly annoyed me. Okay, rockstar has one night stand with classical cello player -- movie could have ended there -- but *no*, dude gets all crazy about the girl and girl's dad is all judgemental. Even that could have been a (not very believable) story. But it gets worse -- girl gets hit by car and dad lies to her about losing her one night stand baby. And eventhough the dude is wealthy, baby ends up in some 'Oliver' or 'Annie' or 'Cider House Rules' type orphanage. Riiight. Oh, and because his parents are musical he's a prodigy. Then crazy Robin Williams appears and pimps the kid out. For his musical talents, of course. No, nothing sexual or anything. Because we're supposed to believe this is a fairy tale film. I'm sorry, this was all too much suspension of disbelief for me.

Amityville Horror (2005)

3 out of 5 Stars
I can honestly say that I liked this better than the original -- shirtless Ryan Reynolds, creepy children, great digital effects -- thumbs up from me!

Awake

1 out of 5 Stars
I kind of knew that this movie would be stupid but I thought perhaps Terrance Howard and the subject of anesthesia awareness (which, in theory, should make a pretty interesting film plot) might make this film worth checking out. I was wrong. This film is just incredibly stupid. The plot twists were extremely obviously to the point that, unless the viewer is extremely dense, can hardly even be considered twists. And Hayden Christensen lurking around while his body is in a coma trying to convince the other characters of what to do was laughable. SKIP IT!

Funny Games (2008)

3.5 out of 5 Stars
I have a feeling that many people will loathe this film and say that it is 'Hostel-esque' gore. Yes, it's brutal and shameless and makes absolutely no apologies for itself. But unlike gore films where (for the most part, Eli Roth aside) the director's main purpose is usually to depict computer generated gore and half naked girls, I think Haneke goes a step further and approaches the topic with a more intellectual, satirical, meta theatrical and post modern approach. I'm biased, of course, having been disturbed yet riveted by Haneke's films from the 90s. Someday I'll post my review of 'Benny's Video' (which while obscenely disturbing is actually a very astute commentary on the Third Reich and the treatment of Bosnians. And the original 1997 'Funny Games' continues with the same underlying political statements.
So, why remake this as an 'American' film and set it in East Hampton? Simply because American audiences (when viewing films centered on murder and torture) are aching for the final redemption. As mentioned in the 'Scream' films, there is always one 'good guy' left alive to tell the next story. Or in the case of the more 'home invasion type suspense films', usually the family is left mostly intact and the bad guy (s) are killed. But we've got a Haneke film on our hands and cause and effect rarely go hand in hand. While the torture scenes in this film are hard to watch, the confidence of the family that they *will* survive only serves to act as a cruel (though quite clever) joke on the expectations of those who choose to see this film. It opened in public distribution, which I also found to be a rather interesting choice. Audiences will no doubt write loathing and scathing reviews or walk out of theater. Which is what Haneke would want!
And if you read my review and think this film sounds pretentious, or that it will suck, all I can say is that I could watch Michael Pitt read the phone book on screen and still be entertained. His piercing eyes, his sociopathic apathy -- amazing.
But all that aside, I can't say that I 'liked' this movie. I appreciated it, but some of the torture scenes were very drawn out and hard to watch. I had seen the original so I knew not to get attached to the characters, and even so, it's cold, calculating and...yes, I'll say it...very well done. The joke is on the audience.