Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Alfred Molina | Greg Kinnear | Michael Barbieri | Paulina Garcia | Rachel Ehle | Talia Balsam | Theo Taplitz
TC says: “I adored this film when we saw it at IFFB this year – and we are actively pushing its two young stars Theo Taplitz and Michael Barbieri, who just charmed the socks off of us in this beautiful
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Emma Stone | J.K. Simmons | John Legend | Rosemarie DeWitt | Ryan Gosling | Tom Everett Scott
Thom says: “LA LA LAND is a pleasant film that will probably be ever remembered as the movie that won a Best Film Oscar only to be announced seconds later that it hadn’t received the prize statuette, but rather the
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Director: Travis Knight
Starring: Art Parkinson | Brenda Vaccaro | Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa | Charlize Theron | George Takei | Ralph Fiennes
TC says: “I know it’s not eligible for the Trudys, but it’s a masterpiece all the same… don’t want to say much because you need to see it, but it’s going to give the very good but not perfect FINDING
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Director: Jing Wong
Starring: Andy Lau | Jacky Cheung Hok-yau | Kimmy Tong Fei | Nick CheungKa-fai | Shawn Yue Man-lok
Chris says: “Winner of the John Cassavetes award at this year’s Independent Spirits, this low-budget indie reminds me a little of Jane Campion’s early work (particularly SWEETIE) in that it’s about familial relations and everything seems just a little off
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Shakun Batra
Starring: Alia Bhatt | Fawad Khan | Kapoor | Rajat Kapoor | RatnaPathak | Sidharth Malhotra
Jason says: “Like a lot of movies where the filmmakers want to both celebrate family and build a story about what kind of stresses it can place on people, KAPOOR AND SONS can swing from one to the other fast
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Prakash Jha
Starring: Kiran Karmarkar | Manav Kaul | Ninad Kamat | Prakash Jha | Priyanka Chopra
Jason says: “I’m not sure how much of a coincidence it is that Priyanka Chopra’s most recent Bollywood film is getting is global release on a weekend when she has a fairly high profile in the United States – she
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Janet Grillo
Starring: AnnSophia Robb | Famke Jansen | Israel Broussard | Sophia Anne Caruso | Taylor Richardson
Jason says: “I don’t know much about raising kids or autism, let alone the combination of the two, but I probably know just enough to find JACK OF THE RED HEARTS a bit more alarming than it was perhaps meant
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Wilson Yip
Starring: Donnie Yen | John Zhang Jin | Lynn HungDoi-lam | Mike Tyson | Sarut Khanwilai | Shi Wang-Yan
Jason says: “The previews for the American release of IP MAN 3 have been playing it up as Donnie Yen versus Mike Tyson, and that’s probably good marketing even if the former heavyweight champ is credited with a ‘special appearance’
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Philippe Garrel
Starring: Antoinette Moya | Clotilde Courau | Jean Pommier | Lena Paugam | Stanislas Merhar | Vimala Pons
Bruce says: “Filmed in black and white reminiscent of the 1960s, Philippe Garrel’s IN THE SHADOW OF WOMEN follows the dissolution of a marriage. Both husband and wife are having extra-marital affairs although they are happily married and deeply in
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Ali Suliman | Ashraf Barhom | Eyad Hourani | Nadine Labaki | Tawfeek Barhom
Bruce says: “Hany Abu-hassad would seem an unlikely director of a biopic. His earlier films, RANA’S WEDDING, PARADISE NOW, and OMAR have documented the effects of Israeli enforced apartheid on the Palestinian community. While THE IDOL has many of those
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: Julian Dennison | Rachel House | Rima Te Wiata | Sam Neill | Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne
Jeff says: “Actually, I will be nominating Rima Te Wiata for Best Supporting Actress in the role of Bella, a big-hearted, back-to-the-land farmer and forager who brings a misunderstood child out of his shell. This is a fish-out-of water story
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jonathan Helpert
Starring: David Atrakchi | Esther Comar | Jochen Hägele | Julie Judd | LauraBoujenah | Maxime Dambrin
Jason says: “Ambiguity is a powerful tool for filmmakers and other storytellers if they can handle the challenges of using the same material to build two opposing narratives at once, and not just because pulling it off is an impressive
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Randall Wright
Bruce says: “David Hockney as a subject is fascinating, complicated and ever so broad. In the contemporary art world, he is nearly without peer, when one considers the breadth and consistent quality of his work. No documentary could truly do
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Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Elisabeth Moss | James Purefoy | Jeremy Irons | Keeley Hawes | Luke Evans | Sienna Miller | Tom Hiddleston
Jason says: “HIGH-RISE carries so many illustrious pedigrees, such as the novel by science fiction author J.G. Ballard, and a committed performance by star Tom Hiddleston, and its press notes are filled with so many adjectives such as ‘ambitious’ and
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ethan Coen | Joel Coen
Starring: Frances McDormand | George Clooney | Josh Brolin | RalphFiennes | Scarlett Johansson | Tilda Swinton
Thom says: “The Coen Brothers have had a long, steady run of super-loved films that they have directed and they very rarely fail to hit my highest rating so that this palpably fun film didn’t achieve that fantastic distinction is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Anton Yelchin | Callum Turner | David W.Thompson | Joe Cole | Mark Webber
Jeff says: “The next movie from director Jeremy Saulnier, responsible for 2013’s BLUE RUIN, GREEN ROOM once again throws a bunch of regular guys into horrific circumstances (heroin-manufacturing Nazi skinheads, homicidal dogs), and lets them improvise a way out (as
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Rating: 1.75
Director: Jing Wong
Starring: Andy Lau | Jacky Cheung Hok-yau | Kimmy Tong Fei | Nick Cheung Ka-fai | Shawn Yue Man-lok
Jason says: “When I saw the first FROM VEGAS TO MACAU at a festival a couple years ago, I figured that I was just a victim of bad expectations, not prepared for something so silly, especially thinking of Chow Yun-fat
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Director: Jake Mahaffy
Starring: David Harewood | Edwina Findley Dickerson | Kathy Smith | Rajay Chandler
Chris says: “Not sure if this will get any kind of distribution, but this IFFBoston title blew me away with its intensity, neorealism, and nuanced approach to its subject matter. It concerns a storefront Pentecostal church in Memphis and a
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
Starring: Benjamin Utzerath | Louis-Do de Lencquesaing | Vincent Nemeth
Bruce says “As he did with the Hermitage in RUSSIAN ARK, Sokurov takes on the Louvre mixing art, history and folklore. In spite of meandering – as a Sokurov film is wont to do – the focus ultimately settles on
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jonathan Hock
Jason says: “The professional sports industry churns out a tremendous amount of non-fiction films every year, and the number is probably only going up with the sheer number of cable sports channels with time to fill, especially during the off-season.
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