If this is real, it is hilarious…

…and it would make Lou Dobbs cry.

h/t Huffington Post.

Shotgun Stories in the New York Times.

Last year’s AFF winner Shotgun Stories got a nice review today in the New York Times. Congratulations, Jeff!

Whitaker supports Jonze.

Where the Wild Things Are didn’t scare his kids.

Problem? Solved.

Funny Games…

It is hard to state the effect that the English language version of Funny Games had upon me. I’ve seen Haneke’s originally a couple of times, and I am an unabashed fan of his, despite a certain emptiness to much of his provocations. He seems not to have answers, and his questions are not new, but he just has such a masterfully visceral way of telling his stories.

Still though, I could not finish his Benny’s Video- it still creeps me out to this day. Funny Games in its original form was creepy, but didn’t hold such a spell on me. I’m not sure if it is because my prior viewings were on DVD and this was in a cinema but the whole experience was infinitely more beguiling and revolting and powerful this time around. It made me feel sick to my stomache and terrified and confronted and condescended to. It made me angry yet still feel like I was watching something. Something worth seeing I suppose.  Most won’t watch this movie, and those that do will hate it. It inherently is not going to serve Haneke’s stated agitator’s purpose. But still, it is a unique experience.

Face of the day: John Hodgman.

Vaderview.

Clever.

Wes Anderson’s Blank.

So here’s a fun game:

Step 1: find any movie trailer on Youtube

Step 2: play any Kinks song while watching said trailer

The result? A trailer for Wes Anderson’s remake of, well, anything.

This time tomorrow.

More at SXSW.

Here’s Johnny
Forgetting Sarah Marshall

The funny thing about the Apatow factory is that they are incredibly performance driven films. All really have about the same quality of writing (except for the structural problems of Walk Hard) but really live and die based on if the ensemble clicks.