Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Yokna Hasegawa
Starring: Aki Morita | Chieko Misaka | Norma Aratani | Ryubun Saitou | Tomomi Mabuchi
Jason says: “I initially started this review by writing about how wonderfully weird Japanese science fiction is, no matter what the medium, but the truth is, DUAL CITY isn’t that strange, at least not by those standards. It’s mainly just
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Starring: Bruce Davison | Christopher Backus | Courtney Hope | Karan Oberoi | Sarah Douglas | Susan Blakely
Jason says: “Short-term time travel is the trickiest sort of science fiction to create; it doesn’t necessarily have to be a perfect Moebius strip structurally, but any shortcomings in that department must be more than made up in other ways.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Cheng Sicheng
Starring: “Michael” Chen He | Liu Haoran | QinFeng | Tong Liya | Wang Baoqiang | Xiao Shengyang | Xiao Yang
Jason says: “DETECTIVE CHINATOWN inevitably runs head-on into the biggest problem screwball mysteries face – it is extremely difficult to take both your slapstick comedy and murder investigation seriously in the same story – but manages to be impressively entertaining
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Attila Szász
Starring: Dorka Gryllus | János Kulka | Laura Döbrösi | Patrícia Kovács
Lorraine says: “In January 1914, a horrible murder shook up the city of Budapest. One of the most high-profile courtesans in town, Elza Mágnás, was strangled and her body was thrown into the icy water of the Danube. DEMIMONDE chronicles
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Benjamin Dickinson
Starring: Alexia Rasmussen | Benjamin Dickinson | Dan Gill | Nora Zehetner | Reggie Watts
Jason says: “There’s a plot to CREATIVE CONTROL to go with its speculative elements, but truth be told, it’s not at its strongest when either of those are front and center. Instead, it sings when the filmmakers find nifty little
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Thomas Bidegain
Starring: Agathe Dronne | Djemel Barek | Ellora Torchia | Finnegan Oldfield | François Damiens | John C.Reilly
Bruce says: “Having written the screenplays for RUST AND BONE, DHEEPAN, and SAINT LAURENT Thomas Bidegain is no outsider dabbling in film. He directs his first film with the hand of a master. The acting, editing, cinematography and use of
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Bob Nelson
Starring: Clive Owen | Jaeden Lieberher | Maria Bello | Matthew Modine | Patton Oswalt | Stephen Tobolowsky
Jason says: “The title of THE CONFIRMATION doesn’t do it a lot of favors, unless the misadventures that its characters go through parallel that particular Catholic ritual in ways that aren’t particularly obvious to those of us who don’t share
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Pablo Larraín
Starring: Alejandro Goic | Alfredo Castro | Antonia Zegers | Jaime Vadell | Marcelo Alonso | Roberto Farías
Bruce says: “Although I have not yet seen SPOTLIGHT, I’m sure there is a comparison to be made. Both films deal with priests and abuse cover-ups. Pablo Larrain (TONY MANERO, NO) takes us to a house in a remote Chilean
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Pablo Trap
Starring: Franco Masini | Gastón Cocchiarale | Giselle Motta | Guillermo Francella | Lili Popovich | Peter Lanzani
Bruce says: “Director Trapero (White Elephant) strikes all the right notes in this truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale about the Puccio clan. Guillermo Francella is sensational as Arquimedes Puccio, a vigilante who kidnapped and killed several people from prominent families in protest of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Yang Qing
Starring: Bai Baihe | Chen Kun | Qin Hao | Yu Entai
Jason says: “There are bits of CHONGQING HOT POT that are clever, nifty, and well-executed enough that one almost wishes that filmmaker Yang Qing had a little bit more room to maneuver than he has in a contemporary Chinese crime
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: James Le Gros | Jared Harris | Kristen Stewart | Laura Dern | LilyGladstone | Michelle Williams
Michael says: “I haven’t seen all of Kelly Reichardt’s films, but CERTAIN WOMEN is the fourth, and the most fully realized in a string of strong films including OLD JOY, WENDY & LUCY, and MEEKS’ CUTOFF. Based on a collection
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Starring: Banlop Lomnoi | Jarinpattra Rueangram | Jenjira Pongpas | PetcharatChaiburi
Thom says: “I’ve been quite a fan of Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul for some 15 years now since and his brilliant return to form here is as exciting as films get if your aura takes a cerebral nature. He’s been
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Susan Johnson
Starring: Andy Bustillos | Bel Powley | Desmin Borges | Gabriel Byrne | Vanessa Bayer
Brett says: “If anyone hasn’t gotten the memo, Bel Powley is an extremely captivating performer on screen. In the coming-of-age film CARRIE PILBY, Powley sets the tone from the very first shot with casual, subdued mannerisms that make all the
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Starring: Aoi Miyazaki | Kazuhiro Yamaji | Koji Yakusho | Suzu Hirose
Jason says: “I’ve been wrong about these things on a fairly regular basis, so I’m not going to question the American release of Mamoru Hosada’s THE BOY AND THE BEAST on the same day that the Walt Disney Company puts
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Aaron Nee | Adam Nee
Starring: Adam Knee | Beth Grant | Hannibal Buress | Johnny Pemberton | Kyle Gallner | Lee Garlington | Matthew Gary Gubler | Melissa Benoist | Stephen Lang
Jason says: “Truth be told, I’m kind of surprised we haven’t seen more things like BAND OF ROBBERS since various Sherlock Holmes projects showed that audiences would go for beloved nineteenth-century characters reinvented for the modern age, if only because
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jesse O'Brien
Starring: Aleisha Rose | Christopher Kirby | Dan Mor | Mark Redpath | Shaun Micalief (voice)
Jason says: “Though all independent films have to deal with the realities of building something that can potentially make its investment back, it’s a little more obvious for genre films, especially science fiction. Not only does every bit of visual
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Christian Desmares | Franck Ekinci
Starring: Jean Rochefort | Macha Grenon | Marc-André Grondin | Marion Cotillard | Olivier Gourmet | Philippe Katerin
Jason says: “The French title of this film, AVRIL ET LE MONDE TRUQUÉ, actually translates to ‘April in the Twisted World’, which may be more fitting, because as much as it is extraordinary and a delight to watch, it’s a
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Emily Ting
Starring: Bryan Greenburg | Jamie Chung | Richard Ng
Jason says: “Sometimes, I feel like I’m an easy mark for movies like ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG – they are basically two people flirting for an hour or two while walking around a foreign city, allowing the viewer to
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Bruce says: “A prerequisite to seeing this film is knowledge of Tsai Ming-laing’s films and his muse and leading man in all of his films, Lee Kang-sheng. The two men are lovers, spiritually and emotionally. They work together and live
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jordan Rubin
Starring: Chad Anderson | Cortney Palm | Hutch Dano | Jake Weary | Lexi Atkins | Peter Gilroy | Rachel Melvin
Jason says: “ZOMBEAVERS gives the audience what they want from a movie with that title, pretty much the way they want it, and that way involves puppets. Puppets and blood. “Director Jordan Rubin and co-writers Al & Jon Kaplan are
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