Thermae Romae II (Japan; 112 min.) directed by: Hideki Takeuchi starring: Hiroshi Abe; Aya Ueto; Masachika Ichimura; Kazuki Kitamura; Ivan Kostadinov Jason says: “2012’s THERMAE ROMAE adapted a manga with a delightfully high-concept premise – an architect of Roman bath
Read the review...The Theory of Everything (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: James Marsh
Starring: Charlie Cox | David Thewlis | Eddie Redmayne | Felicity Jones | Maxine Peake
Jason says: “Stephen Hawking’s life story is extraordinary, but not necessarily cinematic – its milestones are often losing the ability to do things, and his accomplishments can be difficult for laymen to understand. So what do you do? In this
Read the review...That Demon Within (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.8 cats
Director: Dante Lam
Starring: Christie Chen Si-xuan | Daniel Wu Yin-cho | Dominc Lam Ka-wah | Fung So-po | Nick Cheung Ka-fai
Jason says: “You can tell from the opening moments of THAT DEMON WITHIN that it’s not going to be your standard cops ‘n robbers movie, and it’s sure not going to stand out for how grounded and realistic it is.
Read the review...Ten (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.75
Director: Michael J. Epstein | Sophia Cacciola
Jason says: “By the time TEN is over, it has maybe managed to beat its story into making some kind of sense, or at least into the kind of nonsense that the audience can sort of work with. That’s probably
Read the review...The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Isao Takahata
Starring: Aki Asakura | Hikaru Ijûin | Nobuko Miyamoto | Takei Chii | Yukiji Asaoka
Jason says: “Though Hayao Miyazaki’s retirement from directing animated features with THE WIND RISES deserved all the attention it got last year, there is somewhat less noise being made about Isao Takahata’s swan song, THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA, though
Read the review...To Be Takei (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Jennifer M. Kroot
Jason says: “For a while, I found George Takei’s twenty-first century career little more than tacky, an old man who was one a minor part of a pop culture phenomenon becoming a parody of himself in an effort to hang
Read the review...Summer in February (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Christopher Menaul
Starring: Dan Stevens | Daphne Neville | Dominic Cooper | Jane Cussons
Jason says: “SUMMER IN FEBRUARY takes place in 1913 Cornwall, which had become an artists’ colony, and in some ways that community is more interesting than any of the people in it. There’s nothing wrong with the story the filmmakers
Read the review...Suck It Up Buttercup ()
Suck it Up Buttercup (USA; 87 min.) directed by: Malindi Ficklestarring: Robyn Ross; Gregory Konow; Lacy Marie Meyer; Alex Raymond; Brian Stuart Boyd; Steven Durgarn Lorraine says: “SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP premiered at the Bare Bones International Film and Music
Read the review...Suburban Gothic (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Richard Bates Jr
Jason says: “According to the post-movie Q&A, writer/director Richard Bates Jr. initially couldn’t get any projects off the ground after EXCISION, in part because that movie, despite garnering many positive reviews and festival awards, was just absurdly dark. So for
Read the review...#Stuck (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Stuart Acher
Starring: Abraham Benrubi | Joel David Moore | Madeline Zima
Jason says: “Given that its name is a hashtag, one might expect #STUCK to have social media play some sort of central part of the story, and maybe cringe at the inevitable mishandling. Fortunately, filmmaker Stuart Acher doesn’t choose to
Read the review...Stranger by the Lake (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Christophe Paou | Jean-Christophe Deladonchamps | Jérôme Chappatte | Patrick d'Assumçao
Kyle says: “New York Film Festival Selection Committee member Dennis Lim tells the audience: ‘I’ve been waiting to see this on a big screen ever since the Cannes Film Festival!’ His words promise size as well as artiness. The program
Read the review...The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Bruno Forzani | Hélène Cattet
Starring: Anna D'Annunzio | Birgit Yew | Hans de Munter | Joe Koener | Klaus Tange | Ursula Bedena
Kyle says: “A terrible title that will be shunned by all except artsy foreign film junkies, THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS is a deconstruction of the giallo genre. The word refers to the color yellow, which apparently was
Read the review...The Strange Little Cat (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ramon Zürcher
Starring: Gustav Körner | Lea Draeger | Leon Alan Beiersdorf | Matthias Dittmer | Mia Kasalo | Monika Hetterle
Kyle says: “THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT is the assured feature film debut of writer/director Ramon Zürcher. The title is somewhat misleading, because the German DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTZCHEN also means ‘remarkable’ or ‘noteworthy’ little cat, not our word ‘strange’ that usually
Read the review...Story of My Death (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Albert Serra
Kyle says: “STORY OF MY DEATH is the work of a true provocateur, and it is much easier to quote what Albert Serra says than to describe what he does. He gleefully quotes a friend saying that ‘this is a
Read the review...Stop the Pounding Heart (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Roberto Minervini
Starring: Colby Trichell | Grace Carlson | Katarina Carlson | LeeAnne Carlson | Sara Carlson | Tim Carlson
Kyle says: “I quote the first sentence of the New Directors/New Films program notes: ‘Sara (Sara Carlson, playing herself) is part of a devout Christian goat-farming family with 12 children, all home-schooled and raised with strict moral guidance from the
Read the review...Steel Cold Winter (2013)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jin-sung Choi
Starring: Chang-gil Moon | King Kwab-sub | Oh Hee-Joon | Shi-hoo Kim | So-dam Park | Yun-hea Kim
Jason says: “Apparently the literal translation of this movie’s Korean title (‘SONYEO’) is simply ‘Girl’. Fair enough, and evocative in its own way; maybe in some ways a little better than the English-language title it’s been given for the festival
Read the review...Stay (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Wiebke von Carolsfeld
Starring: Aidan Quinn | Barry Keoghan | Brian Gleeson | Carrie Crowley | Michael Ironside | Nika McGuigan | Taylor Schilling
Michael says: “STAY is the long-awaited second narrative feature from Chlotrudis winner and friend, Wiebke von Carolsfeld. It comes ten years after her powerful debut, MARION BRIDGE, and while STAY may not pack the emotional or dramatic punch as the
Read the review...Starry Eyes ()
Starry Eyes (USA; 98 min.) directed by: Dennis Widmyer & Kevin Kölsch starring: DAlex Essoe; Amanda Fuller; Noah Segan; Fabianne Therese; Shane Coffey; Pat Healy Jason says: “I am going to guess that the makers of STARRY EYES have not
Read the review...Stalingrad (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Fedor Bondarchuk
Starring: Aleksey Barabash | Andrey Smolyakov | Mariya Smoinikova | Thomas Kretschmann | Yanina Studilina
Jason says: “Columbia Pictures is releasing Russian blockbuster STALINGRAD almost entirely in 3D on Imax screens, and I only include that ‘almost’ just to cover all bases. This is not a bad strategy, as this is the sort of film
Read the review...A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (2014)
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Ben Rivers | Ben Russell
Kyle says: “A SPELL TO WARD OFF THE DARKNESS is an experimental documentary that centers on musician Robert A.A. Lowe of ‘Lichens’ and ‘Om’ but investigates in a three-part structure the idea of humanity’s search for utopia. The first section
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