We rented the movie “The Strangers” this past weekend, and were surprised at how much it absorbed us from the beginning.  The movie stars Liv Tyler (who I’m not usually a huge fan of) and Scott Speedman.  The beginning is a bit confusing, as far as how these characters are related to one another since there was apparently an awkwardness between them, but it soon is revealed that there was a botched proposal attempt by Speedman to Tyler, who wasn’t ready to take the plunge yet.

They drive home from the wedding reception in silence, and the viewer knows only that something awkward has happened.  The scenes that follow are interesting namely because of the house that the movie was filmed in.  It is a seventies style house that looks like the house any one of us could have grown up in.  It’s cozy and cute, and looks extremely non threatening. 

The films two protaganists are soon terrorized by a group of three people wearing masks (whom by the way we never see their faces in true light for the the whole movie, which adds to the eeriness of the idea) who start off antagonizing Tyler’s character while her boyfriend has gone and gotten her cigarettes, and then terrorize the both of them when he gets back with them to find a terrified Tyler.

Notice I don’t remember the character’s names.  It’s not a totally memorable film, but it’s decent enough to hold your attention.  The payoff just isn’t there in the end, and in fact, they don’t build up enough sympathy for the characters for you to actually really cheer for them to make it out of this alive.  If the characters were made more likable and we had some inkling of a motive for these people to be terrorizing the two, this movie would have been a lot better. 

I have to admit, when I first saw the HBO previews for the new series they have for this season called “True Blood” I thought it looked kind of corny and definitely sex-filled and ridiculous.  However, this is one of my favorite new shows that’s on tv (well, cable).  Anna Paquin, the actress who won an Oscar at the tender young age of ten or eleven (can’t remember which), is the starring role and the rest of the cast is pretty much no names, but they are great, as is on par with other HBO shows from the past.

Anna’s character is Sookie Stackhouse, a small town southern waitress.  Her brother is Jason Stackhouse, who is an arrogant, sex crazed punk who keeps getting himself into trouble.  But that’s of course not the main premise fo the story.  The show is about the fictional “mainstreaming” of vampires.  In the show, vampires come out into normal human culture, and are shunned by some humans and idolized and feared by others.

Sookie’s life is changed when a vampire (the first in her hometown as she cheerfully announces to the vamp when she waits on him), wanders into her restaurant.  His name is Bill (she later says in the first episode that she never thought a vampire’s name would be Bill, just one of the many humorous parts of an otherwise dark plot), and soon he and Sookie form a bond through something that I can’t tell you without ruining some of the story for you.

Sookie is actually has telepathic abilities, and the townsfolk know that there is something different about her, but most suspect that she is a mind reader.  She has tried to learn to screen out the voices because it has become such a distraction in her life, but we get to see a few scenes with her getting in on some people’s thoughts.

This show is not only excellently acted, but it also is original and addictive.  I’m hoping it has legs, because we really enjoy watching it and can’t wait for the next episode on Sundays every week we watch it.  Oh, and the cliffhangers are great, they really make you crave the next episode. 

I rented the movie Funny Games, with Tim Roth and Naomi Watts, two actors that I really respect and always enjoy watching, but this movie was the exception, although everyone turned in a good performance, the teen boys who are the villains of this story are the true breakout performances because they’re just so darn creepy. 

Relative newcomers Brady Corbett and Michael Pitt (who I actually saw in the movie Bully) are the ones who make the movie disturbing, but I have to say the relative disconnect that is portrayed by Naomi Watts as the wife and Tim Roth as the husband is what brings this film down a few levels and makes it not “great”, but just “ok”.

There seemed to be no passion or true connection between the couple portrayed by Watts and Roth, and I think that’s why the imminence of the violence threatened but never actually inflicted until the last moment by the menacing Corbett and Pitt doesn’t come off as immediately terrifying.  Watts and Roth have a child, a son, and he is equally disengaging as a character, simply because he overacts a bit, which a lot of child actors do - it’s hard to find ones that do it just right.

The story is basically about a couple who gets away for the weekend to a summer home somewhere that seems to be where priveleged people hang out for weeks at a time, go boating and golfing, and go to parties.  It’s a quiet community, which makes the duo of Pitt and Corbett all that much more menacing of an idea, and the opening is very effective with the questions about their true intentions hanging in the air, we’re not quite sure if these boys are just weird or if they mean true harm.

They end up taking the family as a hostage, and well, let’s just say this film is anything but uplifting or redeeming as far as the characters go.  You know that this movie can’t end too well, you just feel compelled to see it through to the end, to see if they beat the bad guys or not. 

Funny Games is a good idea, it just needed more feeling, more emotional attachment to the characters and better character development.  It was hard to really feel for the couple, although of course you did at times, somehow they seemed weak, jaded or just spineless, especially Roth’s character who seemed to not even put up much of a fight.  Maybe it bothers me because when I think of myself in this situation I think I’d be fighting tooth and nail for my life and dignity, but I guess that reality is a lot different.