SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"Muzné hry" or "Manly Games" is an almost 30-year-old, 14-minute animated short film by Jan Svankmajer, who is considered one of the most successful filmmakers from Czechoslovakia and certainly the number one in terms of animation from that no longer existing country. This one here is his take on the game of football. For me, it is difficult to say if he loved or hated the game, but looking at his style in other short films I have seen and the fact that he generally likes to "deform" animated human characters, he probably loves it. This is not one of his most or least famous works. I personally am not the greatest fan of the the director's style which is easily visible in here once again, so I cannot give this one a thumbs up. But I guess people who enjoy his approach can possibly check it out during the halftime break of a football game.

Jan Svankmajer's stop-motion films are ultra-bizarre and often creepy. Some of them are also pretty funny--and "The Male Game" is also a tad creepy.The film stars the same actor in every role. He plays a guy at home watching a soccer game, the players on the field AND the referee. However, this game ain't normal in any sense! The players often are giant cutouts that move about using stop-motion. And, in closeups, they are clay. Why the closeups? Because the game features a unique way to score--by ripping the opponents' faces apart! Scissors, a child's train, bottles--anything goes as the clay faces are torn to pieces! It's all very surreal as well as a wonderful commentary about the brutality of the sport and the fans. Weird but very enjoyable and the stop-motion was done quite well--as you'd expect from Svankmajer. Not his best, but quite good.

Before I get into some of that "film critics review of film that's full of film criticism" stuff, I thought I'd mention something: this short is extremely fun! Let us not lose track of that.Now on to all of that theory that gets in the way of the simple things in life: as a purveyor of media, I couldn't help thinking that this movie was a great commentary on... media! A man (two men?) sit down to do what men do, drink beer and watch football (the real football, not American football), but the football seems to consist of random moments of decapitation... and the point system based on which side gets decapitated next.The creativity behind the various approaches to the football players' deaths is enough for a giggle, but the way its done with clay characters adds its own level of perverse pleasure. For some reason, despite the fact that the characters are obviously clay and its the fact that they're clay that allows a lot of the actions done onto their visages, it's the very malleability and thickness of the clay that makes the violence seem so realistic and penetrating.The movie itself is very well done, with many different forms of animation mixing together. But the idea of people sitting around and watching this stuff until it so becomes a part of their lives that it enters their apartments gives it a level of commentary beyond its entertainment value. The fact that all the characters look the same helps show how we're all stuck in the same violent passion for entertainment, engorging ourselves in perverse pleasures and dreadful acts, and LOVING IT! Oohhhh are we loving it! Kittens are cute, too.--PolarisDiB

I have been scouring imdb trying to find the three movies I saw of Svankmajer's. They were all perfect. I think this one was the third best of the three I saw, but that's hardly a bad thing since they were all masterpieces. This one, about a man watching soccer and drinking, is really crazy and wonderful. If you can find anything by this animator, rent it or buy it! He's marvelous!