Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Debra Granick
Jason says: “You may have heard of director Debra Granik’s previous film, a great backwoods number called WINTER’S BONE that got a bunch of praise and is arguably the foundation for Jennifer Lawrence being as big a star as she
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Richard Glatzer | Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Alec Baldwin | Julianne Moore | Kate Bosworth | Kristen Stewart
Chris says: “Destined to be remembered for its outstanding lead performance and little else, STILL ALICE is a competent literary adaptation about a Columbia University linguistics professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alice Howland is a juicy role
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Aaron Moorhead | Justin Benson
Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci | Nadia Hilker | Shane Brady | Vanessa Bednar
Jason says: “Every once in a while, a movie will be built in such a way to make you forget what sort of film you came in expecting to see, usually so that it can get a jolt out of
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Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Tom McCarthy
Starring: Brian d'Arcy James | JohnSlattery | Liev Schreiber | Mark Ruffalo | Michael Keaton | Rachel McAdams
Jason says: “SPOTLIGHT is not the sort of movie that is generally described as relentless, but what makes it great is that its makers are, in fact, unceasing and focused on their goal of depicting how a group of Boston
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sean McNamara
Starring: Carlos PenaVega | David del Rio | George Lopez | Jamie Lee Curtis | Jose Julian | Oscar Gutierrez
Jason says: “If I believed in guilty pleasures, I might count movies like SPARE PARTS among them, even though there’s not much worth feeling bad about where it’s concerned. Sure, it breaks almost no new ground at all, following its
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: James Franco
Starring: Ahna O'Reilly | Danny McBride | James Franco | Joey King | Loretta Devine | Seth Rogen | Tim Blake Nelson
Thom says: “A year before this film, Franco had directed a brilliant adaptation of William Faulkner’s AS I LAY DYING, putting to rest any doubts that the right talent wouldn’t be able to make a film from Faulkner’s difficult, mesmerizing
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Kate Barker-Froyland
Starring: Anne Hathaway | Ben Rosenfield | Johnny Flynn | Mary Steenburgen | Sharon van Etten
Jason says: “There are times when SONG ONE starts to come across as a simple enough romance that its peculiar start fades into the background, and it’s odd for that to feel like a good thing. The way the two
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lázló Nemes
Starring: Balázs Farkas | Gergö Farkas | Géza Röhrig | Jerzy Walczak | Levente Molnár | Urs Rechn
Brett says: “Not another holocaust film. SON OF SAUL is a look from within a World War II concentration camp, or perhaps better described as a series of passing glances from within. Director Lázló Nemes provides the insight into militant
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Jinglei Xu
Starring: Gordon Alexander | Jinglei Xu | Likun Wang | Yifan Wu
Jason says: “The movie listings this Valentine’s Day are weird: The big studio release is FIFTY SHADES OF GREY and in that spirit, my local theaters are pulling out prints of SECRETARY, bringing THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY back for a
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Starring: Grace Phipps | Lexi Atkins | Maestro Harrell | Ronen Rubinstein | Sierra McCormick | Spencer Breslin
Jason says: “Is it wrong to kind of hope that a pretty great horror movie perhaps stalls out at cult favorite? SOME KIND OF HATE is a strong, smart, bloody example of what the genre can do when its aims
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Hong Seok-Jae
Starring: Byeon Yo-han | Jeon Sin-hwan | Lee Ju-seung | Park Keun-Rok | Yoo-ram Bae
Jason says: “The inciting incident of SOCIALPHOBIA is never shown on-screen, just the social-media reaction to it, and that sort of feels right. It’s easy to get caught up in something online without having been there at the start, or
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: John MacLean
Starring: Andrew Robertt | Ben Mendelsohn | Caren Pistorius | Kodi Smit-McPhee | Michael Fassbender
Jason says: “I am not sure whether John Maclean narrowly misses the tone he’s going for with SLOW WEST or hits it dead-on; even considering that westerns are relatively rare these days, this one feels a little different. I consider
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Leslye Headland
Starring: Adam Scott | Alison Brie | Andrea Savage | Billy Eichner | Jason Mantzoukas | Jason Sudeikis | Jordan Carlos
Jason says: “The romantic comedy genre has felt a little tapped out lately; the big American studios barely produce them anymore and the independent productions like SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE are oddly self-aware. The trick that a filmmaker is trying
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Erika Sawajiri | Gou Ayano | Nobuaki Kaneko | Takayuki Yamada | Yusuke Iseya
Jason says: “Like a lot of movies adapted from long-running manga, SHINJUKU SWAN shows a lot of telltale signs of screenwriters Rikiya Mizushima and OsamuSuzuki trying to cram a lot of storylines and fan-favorite characters into a couple hours. It’s
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Adam Wong
Starring: ‘Neo’ Yau Hawk-sau | Ceilia So | Jan Lamb Hoi-fung | Miriam Yeung Chin-wah | Ng Siu-hin | Ranya Lee
Jason says: “The recent influx of Chinese movies directly into American theaters has been an exciting development, although sometimes the variety has been wanting: Not only have almost all of the movies been Mandarin-language selections from Taiwan and the mainland,
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Kenneth Kainz
Starring: Allan Hyde | Jakob Oftebro | Laura Bro | Maria Bonnevie | Rebecca Emily Sattrup | Søren Malling
Jason says: “The concept behind Lene Kaaberbøl’s Shamer Chronicles book series is an interesting one, positing a woman and her daughter with the ability to look into a person’s soul and pull out what they are ashamed of. What kinds
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Benjamin Carland
Jason says: “There’s a vibe to SHADOWS ON THE WALL that suggests filmmaker Benjamin Carland is trying to make a PRIMER not just something with big ideas but a small cast and budget, but a tactile feel. Something where all
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Susanne Bier
Kyle says: “First name SERENA, married name Pemberton. Serena Pemberton: Is there a more perfect name for a character from 1929 played by Jennifer Lawrence? The man who proposes to her within moments of seeing her for the first time,
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Director: John Madden
Thom says: “Almost everyone saw the delightful, life-affirming THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL & this sequel is more of the same; yet, with a disparaging finale. But the abundant treasures of the film just keep streaming along. Personally, I adore
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Ian Cheney
Kyle says: “Anyone who dines on Chinese cuisine with any regularity has sampled General Tso’s Chicken. In fact, writer/director Ian Cheney of THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO suggests it is the single most popular ethnic cuisine item in America aside
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