Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Brett Ryan Bonowicz
Starring: Cheryl Nichols | Don McManus | James M. Connor | Kelton John | Whit Hertford
Jason says: “Science fiction on film often tends to be action-oriented, even when the filmmakers would really like to be focusing on an idea, if only because an hour and a half of someone spewing jargon is not a natural
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Mark Levinson
Jason says: “Lots of sci-fi movies will have scenes of scientists frantically scribbling on chalkboards, with the directors at a loss for how to make this exciting. I don’t envy them their task; it’s usually being done by a new
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Gia Coppola
Starring: Chris Messina | Emma Roberts | Jack Kilmer | James Franco | Nat Wolff | Val Kilmer
Jason says: “That James Franco always seems to have more ambition than one would think should have stopped surprising me a few of his less mainstream projects ago, but it hasn’t. It should no longer shock to see another member
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Jessie Moss
Jason says: “THE OVERNIGHTERS starts with economics on-screen and probably could have the same sort of genesis as a project: The fracking-based oil boom in North Dakota brings people there in search of jobs that pay well, but a lack
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Takashi Miike
Jason says: “In addition to his film work, Takashi Miike has directed a few stage productions, experience that he likely dipped into for OVER YOUR DEAD BODY (KUIME in Japanese). At times, I kind of wish that was where the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sang-soo Hong
Bruce says: “Critics, fans and detractors alike, have compared Hong Sang-soo to Yasujiro Ozu largely because he is perceived as making the same film over and over OUR SUNHI clearly has broken that mold if for no other reason than
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Aik Karapetian
Starring: Anita Aizupe | Aris Rozentals | Maxim Lazarev
Jason says: “Why, Fantasia (and other) programmers, do you insist on scheduling nearly wordless movies for 10pm (or later)? I get that they’re often enough of an acquired taste to keep out of prime time, but it can be rough
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Anton Yelchin | Jeffrey Wright | John Hurt | Mia Wasikowska | Tilda Swinton | Tom Hiddleston
Diane says: “Jim Jarmusch gives us another lovely, delicately realized, witty film. Thanks, Kyle, for your writing on the soundtrack. “I always wish that Tilda Swinton could be more chameleonic–that is, not be so obviously Tilda Swinton–but I have to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Charlie McDowell
Starring: Elizabeth Moss | Mark Duplass | Marlee Matlin | Mary Steenburgen | Ted Danson
Jason says: “There are filmmakers that like to explain all the details of how their plot devices work, there are those who like to keep a little mystery, and then there are the makers of THE ONE I LOVE, who
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Alexandra Roach | Colm Meaney | James Corden | Julie Walters | MacKenzie Crook | Trystan Gravelle
Jason says: “Once upon a time, the Weinstein brothers might have been able to make the pleasant-enough ONE CHANCE a sleeper hit, if not necessarily an awards contender; today they are barely able to get it noticed. And that’s not
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ching-Po Wong
Jason says: “Is Philip Ng the next big martial-arts action star to come out of China? It seems like we’ve been waiting for the generation that comes after Jet Li and Donnie Yen to show up for a while, and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Emmanuelle Bercot
Starring: Camille | Catherine Deneuve | Claude Gensac | Gérard Garouste | Nemo Schiffman
Jason says: “At one point in ON MY WAY, Catherine Deneuve’s Bettie looks at the kid singing some English-language song in the passenger seat, then at the freeway outside the window, and grumbles that she feels like she’s in America.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Starring: Adam Bakri | Iyad Hooran | Leem Labany | Samer Bisherat | Waleed Zuaiter
Jason says: “OMAR starts with its title character scaling a wall to travel between two Palestinian areas of Jerusalem, and while I don’t know the exact rationale for that arrangement, a spy movie can do a heck of a lot
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Kyle says: “OF HORSES AND MEN marks an impressive feature film debut by Icelandic stage director Benedikt Erlingsson, as well as film debuts by many of his theater actor colleagues. Beautifully conceived and observed, with the exquisite but forbidding landscapes
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Starring: David Cross | Gabe Liedman | Gaby Hoffmann | Jake Lacy | Jenny Slate | Polly Draper | Richard Kind
Kyle says: “OBVIOUS CHILD is the title of a song by the great Paul Simon, with its pointed lyric ‘Why deny the obvious child?’ Why indeed? Donna (Jenny Slate) is a rising standup comic whose specialty is talking dirty and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg | Christian Slater | Jamie Bell | Jean-Marc Barr | Mia Goth | Shia LaBeouf | Sophie Kennedy Clark | Stacy Martin | Stellan Skarsgård | Udo Kier | Uma Thurman | Willem Dafoe
Kyle says: “NYMPHOMANIAC Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 are recent works by the most provocative director on the current international cinema scene. Lars von Trier has been thrice recognized by Chlotrudis with nominations for Original Screenplay for DOGVILLE (2003), and for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jay Craven
Starring: Bruce Dern | Geneviève Bujold | Jacqueline Hennessey | Jessica Hecht | Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Jason says: “Having lived in New England my entire life, I’m mildly curious as to whether Jay Craven’s ‘Northern Kingdom’ films were ever particularly visible outside the region. They’re local and low budget, but fairly well made, and usually have
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Starring: Alexander Wraith | Brian Tee | Dana Lee | Jang Dong-gun | Kim Joon-sung | Kim Min-hee
Jason says: “Lee Jeong-beom’s last film as director was THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, an action thriller spectacular enough that I’ve spotted people who usually don’t like their movies with subtitles telling other folks that they’ve got to see it. Lee
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Dakota Fanning | Jesse Eisenberg | Katherine Waterston | Peter Sarsgaard
Chris says: “One phrase my professors repeated throughout film school was ‘show, don’t tell.’ Seems like a pretty obvious tenet until you consider how many filmmakers do exactly the opposite, from Hollywood hacks to indie auteurs. Watching this film, I
Read the review...Next Goal Wins (UK; 97 min.) directed by: Mike Brett and Steve Jamison documentary Jason says: “NEXT GOAL WINS is an inspirational sports story that follows a familiar enough template that if it were fictional, we might be tempted to
Read the review...