I still don’t think i’ve read any reports of why Haneke has chosen to remake his own film but in english, but I won’t label it as a good or bad thing until I see the film, but of course the cynic in me says it’s for money. I saw the original when it came out back in 1997/98 and loved it, it’s the classic Haneke mix of humour, drama, and horror with a consistent undertone of fear and dread that most of the people you see on screen are going to be badly hurt in some way or another.

Funny Games is playing at the London Film Festival so i’ll hopefully have a review up sometime in early October.

Honestly though it didn’t need to be remade, and it’s not like Haneke’s put a new spin on it, or it’s some kind of Evil Dead 1/Evil Dead 2 type situation.. as far as I can tell this is an absolute shot-for-shot remake… they’ve even cut the trailer to be exactly the same as the original.

You can check out the trailer for the remake which stars Tim Roth (nice to see him back on the screen), Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt over at msn in crappy straming windows format here, or you can download it as a wmv here and then check out the trailer for the original (1997) film below…

I just got back from the London Film Festival press launch. There’s a lot of really great looking films playing this year and as soon as the press screenings kick in at the beginning of October I hope to be covering as much of it as I can….

I’ll comment more later on the films that are playing.. meanwhile here’s the press release from the LFF:

Opening the Festival on Thursday 17 October is the UK premiere of David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES with Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, whilst Wes Anderson closes the Festival on November 1 with the UK premiere of THE DARJEELING LIMITED, starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody.

Hosting 7 World, 29 European and 128 UK premieres, the Festival welcomes both familiar faces and newcomers, showcasing established and emerging talent throughout the 16 day cinematic celebration. The programme includes the latest work from Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion winner Ang Lee (LUST, CAUTION), Alexander Sokurov (ALEXANDRA), Abdellatif Kechiche (THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN), Jan Svĕrák (EMPTIES), François Ozon (ANGEL), Sean Penn (INTO THE WILD), Ermanno Olmi (ONE HUNDRED NAILS), Michael Haneke (FUNNY GAMES), Adoor Gopalakrishnan (FOUR WOMEN), Takeshi Kitano (GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER!), Andrew Dominik (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), Todd Haynes (I’M NOT THERE) and Nobuhiro Yamashita (THE MATSUGANE POTSHOT AFFAIR). Audiences will also discover debut feature directors including: Céline Sciamma (WATER LILIES), Rodrigo Plá (LA ZONA), Shivajee Chandrabhushan (FROZEN) and Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (PERSEPOLIS).

British filmmaking talent is strongly represented by Penny Woolcock (EXODUS), Garth Jennings (SON OF RAMBOW: A HOME MOVIE), Nick Broomfield (BATTLE FOR HADITHA), Asif Kapadia (FAR NORTH), Richard Attenborough (CLOSING THE RING) as well as by newcomers Simon Welsford (JETSAM) and Joanna Hogg (UNRELATED), and a selection of documentaries and shorts.

Cinema-goers will also be transported around the globe with films from 43 countries including Israel, Lebanon, China and Korea, and with a special event ROMANIAN CINEMA: THE NEXT NEW WAVE?, exemplified by Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS and Cristian Nemescu’s CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ (ENDLESS). Spain’s Iciar Bollain directs MATAHARIS while Hungary’s ISKA’S JOURNEY is directed by Csaba Bollók and Austrian IMPORT EXPORT comes from Ulrich Seidl. Argentinian double-bill: COPACABANA by Martín Rejtman with STARS by directing duo Federico León & Marcos Martínez, sits alongside a strong Japanese presence including Masayuki Suo’s I JUST DIDN’T DO IT and Cannes Grand Prix winner THE MOURNING FOREST by Naomi Kawase while Jia Zhangke’s WU YONG (USELESS) hails from China.

The French Revolutions strand offers 14 of the country’s latest exports including Samuel Benchetrit’s I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER and CAPTAIN AHAB from Philippe Ramos, and French co-productions with Israel and Lebanon respectively bring Eran Kolirin’s THE BAND’S VISIT and Nadine Labaki’s CARAMEL. A brilliantly eclectic slate from the US includes Terry George’s RESERVATION ROAD, Kevin Lima’s ENCHANTED, SHOTGUN STORIES from Jeff Nichols and Kasi Lemmons’ TALK TO ME.

Documentary fans have a wealth of choice including Kim Longinotto’s HOLD ME TIGHT LET ME GO, Nicolas Philibert’s BACK TO NORMANDY, Helena Trestikova’s MARCELA from the Czech Republic, ZOO by Robinson Devor, WE WANT ROSES TOO by Alina Marazzi and Israeli Nadav Schirman’s THE CHAMPAGNE SPY. Marc Evans directs IN PRISON MY WHOLE LIFE and DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD? comes from Mike Mills.

Celebrating restorations from archives around the world, Treasures from the Archives showcases features and shorts including: the magnificent ENAMORADA, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and extraordinary, neglected classic KILLER OF SHEEP. The big screen will also come to Trafalgar Square for two nights, ablaze with archive films that celebrate London as one of the world’s great cinematic cities, including Alfred Hitchcock’s BLACKMAIL. …cont//

Taking to the stage to discuss their careers and work will be Wes Anderson, Laura Linney, Steve Buscemi, Harmony Korine, Robert Rodriguez and Paul Greengrass, while David Lynch and Donovan will be ‘Catching the Big Fish’ together. Other expected guests include David Cronenberg, Naomi Watts, Cristian Mungiu, Sienna Miller, Andrew Dominik, Tang Wei, Ang Lee, Jason Schwartzman, Julian Schnabel, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Jan Svĕrák, Michael Moore, Asif Kapadia, Halle Berry, Susanne Bier, Sean Penn, Michael Pitt, Todd Haynes, Casey Affleck, Tamara Jenkins, Carlos Reygadas, Esther Robinson, Amy Adams, James Marsden, Jason Reitman and Kevin Lima.

Following the same style as the posters that have already been released (a similar style to the books) there’s three new ‘character posters’. Everything about this film looks so stylised from the poster art to the look of the film, I can’t freaking wait to see it. I really love the books, so i’m trying not to overhype the film to myself incase i’m disapointed, but I have real faith in David Slade. Josh Hartnet may be the weak link in the chain, but with support from actors like Ben ‘Shark eyes’ Foster playing ‘The Stranger’ I think we might be alright….

Speaking of Ben Fosters character; I’ve read the books so understand the part he plays, but found this great description of his character over at the imdb message boards…

“He is the harbinger of the vampires. Well really a scout who was sent into the town because he can be out during the day. He is tantively known as a “bug-eater”, not a vampire but something akin to a ghoul. They find him snooping around town and trespassing so they arrest him. “

Check out the trailer here if you still haven’t seen it.

The posters are originally from shocktillyoudrop.com, but they seem to put massive watermarks all over them and ruin them, so you can check out the untainted versions here

Don’t get too excited there’s no shots of any of the characters yet, just some possible sets and a couple of background players in costume. The little kid pictured is from the scene where Dr Manhattan meets JFK. The photos are minimal but after so many false starts in the past with ‘Watchmen’ i’m just glad it’s up and running. Fingers crossed Snyder brings it all to fruition, and who knows maybe Moore will even like this one? nahh probably not

Check out a bunch of other spy photos, including some possible pics for the shooting location of Adrian Veidt’s Antarctic retreat here at watchmencomicmovie.com

Via IESB

I believe this was just some make-up tests from Rick Baker (woot! Rick Baker Monster Maker… awesome). Still it’s awesome.

via AICN through firstshowing

I’ve been talking up ‘Transsiberian’ for a long time, but the info about the film has been slim. Brad Anderson’s still not fully on the map, which is a shame as he makes really interesting films; ‘Happy Accidents’, ‘Session 9′, and ‘The Machinist’ have all been, if not perfect… interesting to watch. Here’s the plot synopsis for ‘Transsiberian’ although I think you’ll be able to gather most of it from the trailer:

“When an American couple (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) traveling from China to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway meets an outwardly friendly couple (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara) traveling the same route, deception soon gives way to murder in The Machinist director Brad Anderson’s tense tale of international intrigue. Ben Kingsley and Thomas Kretschmann co-star as a pair of Russian police officers striving to solve the case and stop the rising body count”

Via cinempire and horrormovies.ca

It was the VMA’s last night, and i’m guessing this played in the ad break, as 90% of the other news this morning is in someway connected with that vacuous awards night. It’s all stuff that was in the comicon trailer but it’s nice to finally see some crisp and clear stuff (ish) that wasn’t filmed on a camera phone.

So also at the VMA’s Shia LaBeouf ‘let slip’ (**roll eyes** .. please..) that the title for new Indy movie will be ‘INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL’, not the supposedly confirmed ‘City of the Gods’. Cool.. fine.. whatever.. just make the film good.

I’m sure the PR people at paramount don’t mean to be arseholes, but we’ve been fed so much dissinformation and bullshit about the indy movie even before it was properly in production that i’m tired of talking up speculation around it. I’m of course hoping it will be awesome… but people need to start straight talking or i’m gonna crack some skulls.

I think I need some sleep.

The Indy news was confirmed over at the official site, where there’s also a bunch of new video diaries.

Iron man trailer for the trailer via comingsoon, Indy news via Joblo