Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jason Bateman
Starring: Christopher Walken | Jason Bateman | Kathryn Hahn | Nicole Kidman
Michael says: “Just watched a pretty accomplished film called THE FAMILY FANG, starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman, directed by Bateman. This offbeat tale looks at the Fang family, led by a pair of performance artists who put their two
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Aaron Paul | Aisha Takow | Alan Rickman | Armaan Haggio | Barkhad Abdi | Helen Mirren | Phoebe Fox
Jason says: “What one often reads about Unmanned Aerial Vehicle strikes may lead such a person to believe that the way concern about collateral damage drives EYE IN THE SKY marks it as a fantasy, as does the stark, immediate
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Claire Carré
Starring: Greta Fernandez | Iva Gocheva | Jason Ritter | Roberto Cots | Silvan Friedman | Tucker Smallwood
Jason says: “The shots of present-day ruins that open EMBERS are a reminder of sorts that worlds end all the time, on the scale of individual hopes and dreams, though those tiny apocalypses are often part of a greater calamity.
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Director: Peter Greenaway
Starring: Cristina Velasco Lozano | Elmer Bäck | Jakob Öhrman | José Montini | Luis Alberti | Rasmus Slätis
Jeff says: “If Peter Greenaway is your cup of tea, you’ll rank this right up there with his best. As usual his painterly eye makes for some gorgeous visuals, and Elmer Bäck creates a wonderfully louche Eisenstein.” Bruce says:
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Philip T. Johnson
Starring: Aaron Graham | Brad Norman | Kenneth Hughes | Kirby O’Connell
Jason says: “There’s an atom-thin line between movies that separate themselves from the pack by being prepared with irreverence, eccentric characters, and black comedy and the ones that fail horribly because injecting that sort of thing into something that wants
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Peter Flynn
Jason says: “A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the projectionist at my neighborhood theater by name when talking to a co-worker, and he took the fact that I knew him by name as a sign that maybe I spent
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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.
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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
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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
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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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