Earlier in the year, Michele Haneke became the 7th director in history to win more than one Palme d’Or at Cannes. The record for most Palme d’Or wins is now a seven-way tie. The writer/director’s work is often enigmatic or experimental, but he’s also crafted stories that plumb the dramatic depths of loving relationships and extensively explored the beauty of music. From The Seventh Continent to Love, he’s made us question our role as viewers, challenged concepts of freedom and security, and did it all by making entertaining films. Some of which involve pig slaughter. So here’s a bit of free film school (for fans and filmmakers alike) from the man who turned Jean-Luc Godard’s most famous quote upside down.

This week, Landon looks at Hunger and asks why we watch movies that are hard to watch.

We continue our jaunt through the world of film in 2008 by taking a turn for the worse — toward the bottom of the barrel. For every great movie there are at least ten bad ones released in a given year, and 2008 was no exception.

Foreign Objects travels the world of international cinema each week to look for films worth visiting. So renew your passport, get your shots, and brush up on the local age of legal consent, this week we’re heading to… the UK!

Brian Gibson loves to buy DVDs. Come with him on his weekly journey into the depths of credit card debt as he tells you what to buy, rent and avoid.

When five copies of Funny Games showed up today at FSR HQ, you made a dash for our box of matches. Then we realized that these weren’t meant to be burnt in our parking lot, they were meant to be given away to all of you…

Brian Gibson loves to buy DVDs. Come with him on his weekly journey into the depths of credit card debt as he tells you what to buy, rent and avoid.

I like a good horror movie, so I am a bit conflicted when it comes to the movie The Strangers.

Just like last year’s No Country for Old Men, Funny Games plays with the conventions of movie violence and asks us “Why” do we accept it? [Grade: A-]

Does watching a hoidy-toidy family of stiff shirts play “Name That Tune” with opera CDs make you wish you could watch them die? If so, Funny Games is a movie for you.

Please, I beg of you. If you dare see this movie, take a case or two of beer with you. Smuggle it under your coat or something. It’s the only way to enjoy yourself.

German Director Michael Haneke talks about the shot-for-shot American remake of his “message free” thriller.

Kevin holds down the fort with David from Bullz-Eye.com while Neil checks in with some special guests from SXSW in Austin.

We’ve scored some awesome merch (some autographed) from the upcoming Warner Independent Pictures release Funny Games!

Michael Haneke’s shot-for-shot remake starts with intensity and rolls on toward stupidity like a breakless freight train.

This week I am in Sundance mode — so we take a look at posters from Sundance releases The Wackness, Funny Games and In Bruges.

I am truly excited for this film, and this age restricted red-band just added the fuel to my fire. I absolutely cannot wait to see this, as demented as that sounds. I guess when Straw Dogs is one of your favorite films, something has to be wrong with you.