Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Basel Owies
Kyle says: “THE BARBER is another tiresome entry in the ‘All hope abandon, ye who enter here’ genre, save possibly for those who pursue pointless female degradation for research purposes. This one seems to be about a serial killer who
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jody Lee Lipes
Kyle says: “The title BALLET 422 references its creation as the 422nd new ballet for New York City Ballet, that number seeming to overwhelm choreographer Justin Peck’s youth, experience, and amount of time allotted to create said ballet. The brilliance
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Benjamin Gilani | Deepika Padukone | Irrfan Khan | Priyanka Chopra | Ranveer Singh | Tanvi Azmi
Jason says: “I guess it’s an improvement that somewhere during the second half of BAJIRAO MASTANI I backed off thinking of it as being a historical romance where nearly everybody is a terrible person, instead considering it one where people
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Andres Torres
Jason says: “There are times when it almost seems as if BAG BOY LOVER BOY is making an argument against its own existence – that weird and difficult art is dangerous in the wrong hands, and not just in the
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Zhang Yibai
Jason says: “It can be kind of interesting to watch a movie like BACK IN TIME (CONG CONG NA NIAN’ in the original Mandarin, translated onscreen as FLEET OF TIME) which comes from another culture, though often kind of puzzling:
Read the review...Ava’s Possessions (USA; 83 min.) directed by: Jordan Gallandstarring: Louisa Krause; Wass Stevens; Annabelle Dexter-Jones; William Sadler; Deborah Rush Jason says: “Three years ago, I raved about Jordan Galland’s superhero comedy ALTER EGOS in part out of surprise; it worked
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Jason says: “The two ATTACK ON TITAN live-action films, released just months apart in Japan weeks apart in the United States, total just under three hours between them, which makes me suspect that they really should have been a single
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.8 cats
Director: Choi Dong-hoon
Starring: Choi Duk-moon | Gianna Jun Ji-hyun | Ha Jung-woo | Lee Jung-jae | Lee Kyoung-young | Oh Dai-su
Jason says: “During the first half-hour or so of ASSASSINATION it is not unreasonable to think that the movie could and should be streamlined a bit; there is an awful lot introduced early on that seems needlessly complicated at the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Jason says: “Confession: Going into this movie, I thought it was going to be a bit different than it was, not because I expected an all-out action extravaganza, but because I had director Hou Hsiao-hsien mixed up with an even
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Huang Wen-Chang
Jason says: “To say one doesn’t see many movies like THE ARTI may understate the case; there is one family in Taiwan not only carrying on a tradition of glove puppetry but using it to make fantastic adventure films like
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Yang Xiao
Starring: Cici Wang | Dong Zijian | Li Jiaqi | Sun Hongle | Wang Yuexin | Zhou Dongyu
Jason says: “The likely-studio-supplied boilerplate that has shown up in a lot of listings about THE ARK OF MR. CHOW describes it as a satirical look at the Chinese ‘Youth Class’ system, and if it’s what passes for satire in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Miguel Gomes
Jason says: “Volume 1 of Miguel Gomes’s ARABIAN NIGHTS trilogy impressed me, although not quite enough to justify the scale of the thing on its own. This second volume, released a month after the first in their native Portugal but
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Miguel Gomes
Starring: Adriano Luz | Carloto Cotta | Crista Alfaiate | Dinarte Branco | Miguel Gomes | Rogério Samora
Jason says: “The best way to review Miguel Gomes’s three-part ARABIAN NIGHTS anthology is probably all at once, rather than writing about the first film before watching the second. I am currently trying that anyway, not knowing if characters will
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Starring: Anh Dong | Arian Moayed | Desiree Akhavan | Halley Feiffer | Hooman Majd | Rebecca Henderson | Scott Adsit
Jason says: “Movies like APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR are good checks for figuring out just to what degree you are becoming a grumpy old person. Do you find the main character whiny and irritating from the start? Do you get over it?
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jennifer Prediger | Jess Weixler
Jason says: “Screen acting can be such a volatile way of making a living that what is probably the signature absurdity in APARTMENT TROUBLES – that a pair of roommates can both be so broke as to face eviction from
Read the review...Antarctic Edge: 70° South (USA; 72 min.) directed by: Dana Seideldocumentary Kyle says: “’May 2014. Scientists declare West Antarctic ice sheet melt unstoppable.’ As you attempt to digest the word ‘unstoppable’, the typeface changes from black to red. This outstanding
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Charlie Kaufman | Duke Johnson
Starring: David Thewlis | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Tom Noonan
Jason says: “When I spent more time around various types of animation fandom, the use of actors for whom voice work was just a sideline was a big issue (and that was before DreamWorks had arrived on the scene!). I
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sonny Mallhi
Starring: Amberley Gridley | Annika Marks | Cliff Chamberlain | Karina Logue | Ryan O’Nan | Ryan Simpkins
Jason says: “ANGUISH lives up to its title and spreads it around, doing an impressive job of mixing jump shocks and genuine human discomfort. Despite placing that sort of emotion front and center, though, it has a much broader range
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Lauren Shaw
Jason says: “It’s a weird thing to admit, but having seen a documentary or two about the Khmer Rouge a couple months back, and not regularly hearing much about Cambodia as it is now compared to those horror stories, it’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Asif Kapadia
Diane says: “AMY will see a best doc nom from me. Stills and lousy video footage are used to relate the unremittingly bleak chronology of Amy Winehouse’s life in show biz. Director has interviews–or perhaps borrowed sound–from a good range
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