Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Michael Colford
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ethan Hawke
Chris says: “An unconventional biopic (mostly because it’s about someone you’ve never heard of), it features a trio of notable performances, one expected (Alia Shawkat, more impressive with each role she appears in) and one unexpected (musician Charlie Sexton is pretty
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Starring: Christian Convery | Kaitlyn Dever | Maura Tierney | Oakley Bull | Steve Carrell | Timothée Chalamet
Chris says: “Another great performance from Timothée Chalamet (CALL ME BY YOUR NAME was definitely no fluke) and a good one from Steve Carell (despite him generally being better suited to comedic roles such as BATTLE OF THE SEXES). Along
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Emmanuelle Seignier | Mads Mikkelsen | Mathieu Amalric | Oscar Isaac | Rupert Friend | Willem Dafoe
Chris says: “In theory, Willem Dafoe seems a misguided choice to play Van Gogh, given the age difference, lack of resemblance, etc. Happily, he makes a stunning transformation without resorting to extravagant physical enhancements like Gary Oldman as Churchill–he embodies the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Bart Layton
Starring: Ann Dowd | Barry Keoghan | Blake Jenner | Evan Peters | Jared Abrahamson | Udo Keir
Thom says: “Bart Layton was the director of note on the very good 2012 documentary feature THE IMPOSTER and he brings a lot of nice effects to this “true crime” drama, somewhat, but irresponsibly, played for chuckles at the thieves ineptitude.
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Director: Matthew Miele
Starring: documentary
Thom says: “Here’s a perfectly competent, entertaining film about the iconic, internationally celebrated, fabulous New York destination hotel, the Carlyle. The hotel is the very definition of swanky, with elaborate furnishings, immaculate, refined service, & a staff that is devoted
Read the review...By Jeffrey Pike
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nathan Morlando
Starring: Bill Paxton | Colm Feore | Joe Cobden | Josh Wiggins | Sophie Nélisse
Jeffrey says: “A tidy, well-wrought, low-budget thriller, with some of the spirit of both LET THE RIGHT ONE IN and ANIMAL KINGDOM, it earns its thrills the hard way, by slowly building tension to nearly intolerable levels, rather than spilling
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Adam Driver | Golshifteh Farahani | Method Man | Nellie | Rizwan Manji | TrevParham | William Jackson Harper
Thom says: “Jim Jarmusch has had a long, storied, varied, nearly historic career with few missteps. PERMANENT VACATION (1980) (2 cats), STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984) (4.5 cats), DOWN BY LAW (1986) (5 cats), MYSTERY TRAIN (1989) (5 cats), NIGHT ON
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska
Starring: Andrzej Konopka | Jakub Gierszal | Kinga Preis | Marta Mazurek | Michalina Olszanska
Lorraine says:”I saw THE LURE at the Nashville Film Festival. What a fun and wild ride. A retelling of the mermaid story. On the one hand, it might feel like a lot of everything — it is mermaids and vampires
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Dante Pereira-Olson | Frank Pando | Joaquin Phoenix | John Doman | Judith Roberts | Vinicius Damasceno
Thom says: “The presentation of this film was enticing and over her career director Ramsay has made the impressive RATCATCHER and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, as well as the mediocre MORVERN CALLAR; moreover, the nearly always great performance
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Björn Runge
Starring: Annie Starke | Christian Slater | Elizabeth McGovern | Glenn Close | HarryLloyd | Jonathan Pryce | Max Irons
Chris says: “Glenn Close is terrific here, acting without quite ACTING! and if this is what finally gets her an Academy Award, so be it. As for the rest of the film, the scene where her younger self describes a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Coburn Goss | Jon Bernthal | Liam Neeson | Manuel Garcia-Rulfo | Michelle Rodriguez | Viola Davis
Brett says: “Steadfast in my stance on this film, no one can tell me that this isn’t a film that is the very definition of a ‘try hard.’ I had high expectations for this with all of the heavy-hitter names
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Laurent Cantet
Starring: Florian Beaujean | Julien Souve | Mamadou Doumbia | Marina Fois | Matthieu Lucci | Mélissa Guilbert | Wanda Rammach
Michael says: “Laurent Cantet (THE CLASS)has constructed a fascinating film exploring the desire to kill, racism, and class in THE WORKSHOP. Centered around a racially mixed group of blue-collar students in a summer writing class led by an upper-class, middle-aged,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Arabella Weir | Dominic West | Fiona Shaw | Keira Knightley | Máté Haumann | Robert Pugh | Sloan Thompson
Chris says: “Colette was such a fascinating figure for her time it would take a concerted effort to make a boring film about her. Typically, Keira Knighly is neither miscast nor an exceptional lead; she does what’s required of her,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Andrew Dosunmu
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland | Michelle Pfeiffer | Suzanne Shepherd
Beth Ca says: “Excellent film! It may seem like the film would be a bit slow moving in the first several minutes, but do not be fooled! It’s very suspenseful. Also, the artistic design is spectacular, along with cinematography. Michelle
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lisa Dapolito
Starring: documentary
Chris says: “Gilda Radner may not have been the most original or technically accomplished comedienne, but she was unquestionably one of the most likable–as the cliche goes, she lit up whatever room she entered. Lisa D’Apolito’s sympathetic documentary gets this
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O’Dowd | Ethan Hawke | Kitty O’Beirne | Rose Byrne
Chris says: “This was my favorite Hornby novel since High Fidelity (he’s at his best writing about music), but as film adaptations go, it’s no HIGH FIDELITY. It doesn’t fall flat, exactly—how it could it with such ideal casting as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Pawel Pawilkowski
Starring: Adam Woronowicz | Agata Kulesza | Borys Szyc | Cédric Kahn | Jeanne Balibar | JoannaKulig | Tomasz Kot
Chris says: “Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to IDA is cut from the same fine-polished glass: set in post-war Poland and shot in 1:33 black-and-white by cinematographer Łukasz Żal, it spans a fifteen-year period (leading up to roughly the time of the
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jaron Albertin
Starring: Alessandro Nivola | Eli Haley | Johnny Knoxville | Julianne Nicholson | K. Todd Freeman | Phoebe Young
Michael says: “WEIGHTLESS is notable to me for giving the handsome and talented Alessandro Nivola a challenging leading role as Joel, a troubled man working in a landfill in rural America. There’s reference to mental illness, and an occasional explosion
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Clea DuVall | Cobie Smulders | Jason Ritter | Melanie Lynskey | Natasha Lyonne
Michael says: “THE INTERVENTION also has a summary that might give you pause.Ruby and Peter join three other couples on a holiday weekend at a beautiful family home in the bayou, but discover that their friend Annie has engineered the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
Starring: Evan Rosado | Isaiah Kristian | Josiah Gabriel | Raúl Castillo | SheilaVand
Michael says: “As many of us are viewing films for nomination purposes, which is less than a month away, I’ d like to put in a plug for Jeremiah Zagar’s WE THE ANIMALS, now available on streaming on Amazon., and
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