Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Starring: Hamish Linklater | James Earl Jones | Melissa Leo | Mila Kunis | Peter Dinklage | Robin Williams
Thom says: “After having some knowledge of Phil Alden Robinson’s work after seeing FIELD OF DREAMS, SNEAKERS, & THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, I still wasn’t certain what to expect. Certainly Robin Williams’s participation edged it into rental territory, so
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Aram Garrig
Jason says: “As one of the many interviewees in this documentary notes, developed countries worldwide have generally seen a rise in the standard of living reflected by a decrease in strong religious faith, with the United States of America as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Chris Sivertson | Lucky McKee
Starring: Brooke Butler | Caitlin Stasey | Felisha Cooper | Reanin Johannik | Sianoa Smit-McPhee | Tom Williamson
Jason says: “ALL CHEERLEADERS DIE is a notably sub-par exploitation movie, but I will probably end up discussing it more than many of the better films that played the festival because the way it goes about being disappointing is just
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Declan Lowney
Starring: Colm Meaney | Karl Theobold | Monica Dolan | Nigel Lindsay | Steve Coogan | Tim Key
Jason says: “Based on the original British name for this movie (‘ALAN PARTRIDGE: ALPHA PAPA’), I expected it to be doing more – for instance, for there to be some sort of subplot about Partridge and his kids. Fortunately, that’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Andreas Johnsen
Jason says: “Though the two are unrelated outside of their subject and subject matter – they are made by different directors for different producers with visual styles that are fairly divergent as documentaries shot in the same places go –
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nancy Buirski
Bruce says: “Some legends are more obscure than others: obscure to the public eye, that is. Tanaquil Le Clercq is a case in point. Hardly a household name among those who do not follow dance all that closely, Le Clercq
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: John Huddles
Starring: Bonnie Wright | Daryl Sabara | Freddie Stroma | James D'Arcy | Rhys Wakefield | Sophia Lowe
Kyle says: “A class of philosophy students in a privileged high school in Djakarta on the final day of class is challenged by the teacher to consider issues confronting them on different doomsday scenarios, in which only ten of the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: Jonathan Newman
Starring: Aneurin Barnard | Ioan Gruffudd | Keeley Hawes | Lena Headey | Michael Sheen | Sam Neill
Kyle says: “The most interesting mystery in this unfortunate waste of time and money is its title. It went straight to video as THE ADVENTURER: THE CURSE OF THE MIDAS BOX, but if you last until the end titles, you
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kim Han-min
Starring: Cho Jin-woong | Choi Min-sik | Jin Goo | Kim Myung-gon | Lee Jung-hyun | Seung-ryong Ryu
Jason says: “Let’s be honest about THE ADMIRAL: ROARING CURRENTS (‘Myeongryang – Huiori Bada’ in the original Korean, and apparently sometimes only either half of the English title is used): Roughly 95% of why people buy a ticket is for
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Catherine Breillat
Starring: Christophe Sermet | Fred Lebelge | Isabelle Huppert | Kool Shen | Laurence Ursino | Ronald Leclerq
Michael says: “The latest from Catherine Breillat is once again a fascinating fictional version of Breillat’s actual life. As in SEX IS COMEDY, where Breillat recreated the filming of a particular scene from FAT GIRL, ABUSE OF WEAKNESS stars Isabelle
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
Jason says: “I swear I’ve heard of the Department Q books from somewhere, even though I haven’t really been keeping up on detective fiction as much as I’d like. If they’re going to keep cranking out movies this good in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ho-Cheung Pang
Starring: Carrie Ng | Eric Tsang | Gigi Leung | Louis Koo | Man-Tat Eng | Miriam Chin Wah Yeung
Jason says: “Is there a term for when directors like Pang Ho-cheung who have thrived, maybe not on the edge, but certainly in a part of the film industry where things are less polished and more open to eccentricity, do
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alex Orr
Starring: Alex Orr | Dan Triandiflou | John Curran | Juduth Beasly | Katie Rowlett
Jason says: “Someday, Alex & Katie Orr’s first-born child is going to see this movie, and in my head it’s running fifty-fifty on whether they’ll have some explaining to do our whether they’ll just be the sort of weird parents
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ursula Long
Jason says: “9-MAN was the second film at the festival built around Chinese-American themes and it turns out to be an excellent pairing with THE SEARCH FOR GENERAL TSO: Where TSO mainly concerned itself with history and adaptation, this movie
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Juan Carlos Maneglia | Tana Schembori
Starring: Celso Franco | Lali Gonzalez | Nico Garcia | Paletita | Victor Sosa
Julie says: “This one should have been nominated for buried treasure! I loved this! “Have there been any other Paraguayan movies that our group has seen? There are not a lot of them out there. “The film had some brilliant
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Joe Swanberg
Starring: Adam Wingard | Caroline White | Helen Rogers | Mike Brune | Simon Barrett | Sophia Takal
Jason says: “How prolific is independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg? His latest movie (as a director) started showing up on the festival circuit before his prior one hit theaters, and DRINKING BUDDIES wasn’t nearly as slow in moving through the system
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Iain Forsyth | Jane Pollard
Kyle says: “The closing night screening of the 43rd New Directors/New Films fittingly offered the feature film debut of British directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard — a documentary on Australian musician/composer/screenwriter/novelist/actor Nick Cave. Many fans admire him for his
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Felix Herngren
Jason says: “Sometimes you see a movie and don’t realize what it was missing until decades later, when someone else tries something similar but with an added extra ingredient. Such is the case with THE 100 YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Jérôme Salle
Starring: Conrad Kemp | Forest Whitaker | Orlando Bloom | Tinarie van Wyk Loots
Jason says: “That ZULU Is basically a mismatched-cop movie is not something that should be held against it; that’s a field-tested template which could prove a little more interesting than usual given this film’s South African setting. There’s usually something
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Andrew Matthews | Katie Graham
Starring: Anne Gee Byrd | Brock England | Cyndi Williams | Garrett Graham | Sam Eidson | Vincent James Prendergast
Jason says: “If I were the type of person to walk out of movies (and could have done it without disturbing the rest of the audience), I would have bolted ZERO CHARISMA. That’s not to say it’s a terrible movie;
Read the review...