Big Screen Little Screen

MSN has posted the trailer for the remake of Michael Haneke’s (The Piano Teacher, Caché) brutal home invasion thriller, Funny Games, starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth (via Coming Soon). Haneke, a personal favorite who makes no attempts to adhere to Hollywood norms of filmmaking, has taken on his own remake, reportedly a shot-for-shot mirror of the original (Austria - 1997) which includes sadistic, but implied violence, and one twisted character breaking the fourth wall with the viewers. Producer of the remake, Hamish McAlpine of Tartan Film, promised that the do-over won’t make nice (The Guardian) for American audiences, and the director wouldn’t have it any other way. “What makes Funny Games so special is the way that it plays with all the cliches of the thriller, and then turns them on their head. The minute you sacrifice that irony, you’re sacrificing Michael Haneke’s soul, and the film.” Compare Funny Games 07′ with the original trailer.

Previously, Funny Games and Battle Royale, all over again? Why bother?

– More Tim Roth: IGN has posted a teaser trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s first film since 1997, Youth Without Youth (Filmmaker).

– Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen - the cobbled together footage for the adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical appears to be legit. The authenticity of the trailers: questionable. From Mad About Movies.

– Alfonso Cuarón follows up Children of Men with a short film to accompany author Naomi Klein’s war-mongering, money-trailing expose: The Shock Doctrine (via Scarecrow Video).

– For levity’s sake, something like a mishmash of Enter the Dragon, Boogie Nights, and the Christopher Guest jam of your choice - Justin Lin’s Finishing the Game trailer (Coming Soon).