Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.25
Director: Chad Archibald
Starring: Annette Wozniak | Barry Birnberg | Denise Yuen | Elma Begovic | Jordan Gray | Lawrene Denkers
Jason says: “BITE is the sort of horror movie that puts just enough effort into its characters and story that it initially seems like there might be something to it beyond the gross-outs. It’s not quite up to that level
Read the review...Big Match (South Korea; 112 min.) directed by: Choi Hostarring: Lee Jung-jae; Lee Sung-min; Sin Ha-kyun; BoA; Kim Eui-sung; Park Doo-Dik; Ra Mi-ran; Choi Woo-sik Jason says: “BIG MATCH is really a mess, the sort of movie which starts from
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Jalmari Helander
Jason says: “Kids used to ride bikes to the theater to see movies like BIG GAME; as opposed to dialing up a video-on-demand service, and, man, that’s just an indication that most of them wouldn’t be able to handle what
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tim Burton
Thom says: “Tim Burton has had a fascinating career with a diverse number of top-rated films like PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, BEETLEJUICE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, & CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. And yet his PLANET OF THE APES was the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Baek Jong-yeol
Jason says: “I remember hearing about ‘The Beauty Inside’, a short Web series produced by various tech companies with some sort of social or interactive content attached, but forgot about it almost immediately. Apparently it made more of an impression
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Abraham Attah | Anna K. Abebrese | Emmanual Affadzi | Idris Elba | Kobina Amissah-Weddey
Jason says: “Horror is assumed going into a film like BEASTS OF NO NATION; the audience knows about child soldiers and African chaos on a factual level and has perhaps steeled itself for that. Filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga never missteps
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Basel Owies
Kyle says: “THE BARBER is another tiresome entry in the ‘All hope abandon, ye who enter here’ genre, save possibly for those who pursue pointless female degradation for research purposes. This one seems to be about a serial killer who
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jody Lee Lipes
Kyle says: “The title BALLET 422 references its creation as the 422nd new ballet for New York City Ballet, that number seeming to overwhelm choreographer Justin Peck’s youth, experience, and amount of time allotted to create said ballet. The brilliance
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Benjamin Gilani | Deepika Padukone | Irrfan Khan | Priyanka Chopra | Ranveer Singh | Tanvi Azmi
Jason says: “I guess it’s an improvement that somewhere during the second half of BAJIRAO MASTANI I backed off thinking of it as being a historical romance where nearly everybody is a terrible person, instead considering it one where people
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Andres Torres
Jason says: “There are times when it almost seems as if BAG BOY LOVER BOY is making an argument against its own existence – that weird and difficult art is dangerous in the wrong hands, and not just in the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Zhang Yibai
Jason says: “It can be kind of interesting to watch a movie like BACK IN TIME (CONG CONG NA NIAN’ in the original Mandarin, translated onscreen as FLEET OF TIME) which comes from another culture, though often kind of puzzling:
Read the review...Ava’s Possessions (USA; 83 min.) directed by: Jordan Gallandstarring: Louisa Krause; Wass Stevens; Annabelle Dexter-Jones; William Sadler; Deborah Rush Jason says: “Three years ago, I raved about Jordan Galland’s superhero comedy ALTER EGOS in part out of surprise; it worked
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Shinji Higuchi
Jason says: “The two ATTACK ON TITAN live-action films, released just months apart in Japan weeks apart in the United States, total just under three hours between them, which makes me suspect that they really should have been a single
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.8 cats
Director: Choi Dong-hoon
Starring: Choi Duk-moon | Gianna Jun Ji-hyun | Ha Jung-woo | Lee Jung-jae | Lee Kyoung-young | Oh Dai-su
Jason says: “During the first half-hour or so of ASSASSINATION it is not unreasonable to think that the movie could and should be streamlined a bit; there is an awful lot introduced early on that seems needlessly complicated at the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.9
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Jason says: “Confession: Going into this movie, I thought it was going to be a bit different than it was, not because I expected an all-out action extravaganza, but because I had director Hou Hsiao-hsien mixed up with an even
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Huang Wen-Chang
Jason says: “To say one doesn’t see many movies like THE ARTI may understate the case; there is one family in Taiwan not only carrying on a tradition of glove puppetry but using it to make fantastic adventure films like
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Yang Xiao
Starring: Cici Wang | Dong Zijian | Li Jiaqi | Sun Hongle | Wang Yuexin | Zhou Dongyu
Jason says: “The likely-studio-supplied boilerplate that has shown up in a lot of listings about THE ARK OF MR. CHOW describes it as a satirical look at the Chinese ‘Youth Class’ system, and if it’s what passes for satire in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Miguel Gomes
Jason says: “Volume 1 of Miguel Gomes’s ARABIAN NIGHTS trilogy impressed me, although not quite enough to justify the scale of the thing on its own. This second volume, released a month after the first in their native Portugal but
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Miguel Gomes
Starring: Adriano Luz | Carloto Cotta | Crista Alfaiate | Dinarte Branco | Miguel Gomes | Rogério Samora
Jason says: “The best way to review Miguel Gomes’s three-part ARABIAN NIGHTS anthology is probably all at once, rather than writing about the first film before watching the second. I am currently trying that anyway, not knowing if characters will
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Starring: Anh Dong | Arian Moayed | Desiree Akhavan | Halley Feiffer | Hooman Majd | Rebecca Henderson | Scott Adsit
Jason says: “Movies like APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR are good checks for figuring out just to what degree you are becoming a grumpy old person. Do you find the main character whiny and irritating from the start? Do you get over it?
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