Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Brian Knappenberger
Jason says: “It’s a horribly clinical thing to say, but building a movie around someone who committed suicide requires even more care than other documentaries. It distorts the audience’s perceptions and makes the filmmaker walk on eggshells, and in the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: James Franco | Travis Mathews
Starring: Brenden Gregory | Christian Patrick | James Franco | Travis Mathews | Val Lauren
Bruce says: “Years ago there was a New Yorker cartoon with two old women on a bus. One was saying to the other, ‘the way I understand it is: if everyone in the world were stoned except for us, then
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Albert Shin
Starring: Anh Ji Hye | Chang-hwan Kim | Hae-yeon Kil | Kyung-Ik Kim | Yoon Da-Kyung
Bruce says: “Films from other countries often are less appreciated than they should be due to the gap in understanding of those countries mores and taboos. In the case of IN HER PLACE, knowing about the South Korean taboo of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joanna Newsom | Joaquin Phoenix | Josh Brolin | Katherine Waterston | Owen Wilson | Reese Witherspoon
Thom says: “Other than BOOGIE NIGHTS, which I loathed, I’ve been a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson films, although, truth-to-tell I’ve only given my highest rating to THERE WILL BE BLOOD. And there were really great parts of MAGNOLIA, PUNCH-DRUNK
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Jason says: “Where is the exact line between a movie being a darkly funny revenge story and a full-on, pitch-black dark comedy? In the case of IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, I think it is crossed early on in a gag
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: James Gray
Starring: Angela Sarafyan | Dagmara Dominczyk | Jeremy Renner | Joaquin Phoenix | Marion Cotillard
Jason says: “The first shot of THE IMMIGRANT- the Statue of Liberty seen from behind, through a brownish fog – is certainly the sort that let the audience know just what the next two hours have in store. Director James
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Anthony Chen
Starring: Angeli Bayani | Koh Jia Ler | Tian Wen Chen | Yann Yann Yep
Jason says: “You can finish ILO ILO and come away feeling like you’ve seen something more uplifting than it really is, and it would not shock me if a fair amount of people identified with the parents of a problem
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Pawel Pawlikoski
Starring: Adam Szyszkowski | Agata Kulesza | Agata Trzebuchowska | Dawid Ogrodnik | Jerzy Trela
Jason says: “Roughly three scenes into IDA, I figured that a good way to review this movie might be to simply list every scene – nay, every shot – and say why I loved it. Eighty minutes later, I was
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Anders Morgenthaler
Starring: Anouk Fischer | Jordan Prentice | Kim Basinger | Peter Stormare | Sebastian Schipper
Jason says: “I AM HERE is heart-and-gut-wrenching in its first act, taking horrific events and making them hurt more with things that would at first glance have the opposite effect. It’s not quite so sure-handed when it starts to actually
Read the review...The Hypnotist (Sweden; 122 min.) directed by: Lasse Hallströmstarring: Tobias Zilliacus; Mikael Persbrandt; Lena Olin; Jonatan Bökman; Oscar Pettersson; Anna Azcárate Bruce says: “Lasse Hallström has had a remarkable career albeit an unusual one. In 1985, twelve years into his
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jang Joon-hwan
Jason says: “A little over ten years ago, director Jang Joon-hwan made a good-sized splash with a film by the name of SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, but after that, barely a peep. He certainly seems to have come back to
Read the review...The Hundred Foot Journey (India/United Arab Emirates/USA; 122 min.) directed by: Lasse Hallström starring: Helen Mirren; Om Puri; Manish Dayal; Charlotte Le Bon; Amit Shah; Farzana Dua Elahe; Dillon Mitra Thom says: “Director Hallström was responsible for ONCE AROUND (1991)
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nabil Ayouch
Starring: Abdelhakim Rachi | Abdelilah Rachid | Ahmed El Idrissi Amrani | Hamza Souidek
Lorraine says: “Keep an eye out for HORSES OF GOD. Beautifully made examination of fictional young men based on events leading up to the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca. Beautifully shot. Strong performances. Sure handed directing that does not take
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: David Dencik | Grace Gummer | Hailee Steinfeld | Hilary Swank | James Spader | John Lithgow | Meryl Streep | Miranda Otto | Sonja Richter | Tommy Lee Jones | William Ficthner
Jason says: “I can’t recall Tommy Lee Jones ever working with Werner Herzog at any point, and that’s probably for the best. THE HOMESMAN suggest they may be too much on the same page about how the untamed wilderness not
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: A.R. Murugadoss
Jason says: “I like to think I’m pretty generous to movies that aren’t very good, trying to be encouraging of what they do well and not allowing a bad two hours ofmake-believe to bring about real anger. I think I’ve
Read the review...History of Fear (Argentina/France/Germany/Uruguay/Qatar; 79 min) directed by: Benjamin Naishtatstarring: Jonathan Da Rosa; Tatiana Giménez; Mirella Pascual; Claudia Cantero; Francisco, Lumerman Kyle says: “HISTORY OF FEAR is a misleading title, as director Benjamin Naishtat pointed out before the screening commenced.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Daniel Patrick Carbone
Starring: Chris Kies | Christina Starbuck | Colm O'Leary | Nathan Varnson | Ryan Jones | Thomas Cruz
Jason says: “Dead things appear early on in HIDE YOUR SMILING FACES, as three kids poking around an abandoned building find a dead bird and do not exactly treat it with respect. It’s a good starting point for writer/director Daniel
Read the review...Heaven is for Real (USA; 99 min.) directed by: Randall Wallace starring: Greg Kinnear; Kelly Reilly; Thomas Hayden Church; Margo Martindale; Connor Corum; Thom says: “I probably will be damned as a terrible cynic for my reaction to this film.
Read the review...Hardkor Disco (Poland; 85 min.) directed by: Krzysztof Skonieczny starring: Marcin Kowalczyk; Jasmina Polak; Janusz Chabior; Angieszka Wosinska Jason says: “Krzysztof Skonieczny seems to want the audience to assume the worst in HARDKOR DISCO, although he and co-writer Robert Bolesto
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.9 cats
Director: Farah Khan
Starring: Angeli Bayani | Koh Jia Ler | Tian Wen Chen | Yann Yann Yep
Jason says: “If you’ve read my reviews of Bollywood movies over the past couple of years, you’ll find a couple of patterns: Just because I enjoy them as a change of pace from the usual Hollywood fare doesn’t necessarily mean
Read the review...