Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Rowan Athale
Starring: Gerard Kearns | Iwan Rheon | Luke Treadway | Neil Maskell | Timothy Spall | Vanessa Kirby
Jason says: “What, exactly, is the difference be ween a crime movie and a caper movie? Scale? The intricacy of the plan? Do the characters being a notch more charming or less working-class change the classification? Or is this just
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Starring: Adèle Exarchopoulos | Aurélien Recoing | Catherine Salée | Léa Seydoux | Salim Kechiche
Diane says: “Or, by its more appropriate international title ADELE: CHAPTERS 1 AND 2. A.k.a. the three-hour lesbian sex movie. “I had expected a happy movie: girl discovers her sexuality, finds a thrilling blue-haired partner who opens her eyes to
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Joe Pearson
Starring: Adrian Paul | Beau Billingslea | Elizabeth Gracen | Jim Byrries | Peter Wingfield | Tony Eusoff
Jason says: “There’s a lot of reasons to recommend staying away from WAR OF THE WORLDS: GOLIATH: Inconsistent animation, a weak script, bland voice acting, etc. On the other hand, it’s got Teddy Roosevelt killing Martians, and while that doesn’t
Read the review...Viola (Argentina/USA; 65 min.) directed by: Matías Piñeirostarring: CMaria Villar; Romina Paula; Agustina Muñoz; Elisa Carricajo; Gabriela Saidón; Laura Paredes; Julia Martinez Rubio; Esteban Gagliardi; Julián Tello; Alessio Rigo de Righi; Pablo Sigal; Alberto Ajaka Kyle says: “VIOLA inspired as
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Adam Wingard | Eduardo Sánchez | Gareth Huw Evans | Gregg Hale | Jason Eisner | Simon Barrett | Timo Tjahjanto
Starring: Adam Wingard | Hannah Hughes | Kelsey Abbot | Lawrence Michael Levine | Mindy Robinson
Jason says: “To call last year’s V/H/S uneven would be generous; while it managed ‘pretty good’ in a couple of segments, it was awful in more. Still, the good thing about commercially successful anthology films is that sequels need not
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Adam Ciancio
Starring: Christopher Bunworth | Georgina Naidu | Justin Hosking | Mark Diaco | Mike McEvoy | Ursula Mills
Jason says: “Is there a name for the genre that includes films like HAPPY ENDINGS, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED, and now Australian independent VESSEL yet? There should be, as ‘maybe science fiction, maybe mental illness’ is rather unwieldy. This one does
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Roh Deok
Starring: Ha Yeon-Soo | Kim Min-hee | Lee Min-ki
Kyle says: “According to the New York Asian Film Festival program booklet, VERY ORDINARY COUPLE, seen in its North American Premiere screening, out-grossed both A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD and GI JOE 2 at the Korean box office. Relief
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Maiken Baird | Michelle Major
Bruce says: “Disclaimer: I am a huge tennis fan and, more specifically, a great fan of the Williams sisters. With that in mind, I hope that I am objective in reviewing VENUS AND SERENA, a documentary about the two women.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kristina Buozyte
Starring: Jurga Jutaite | Marius Jampolskis | Martina Jablonskyte | Rudolfas Jansonas | Vytautas Kaniusonis
Jason says: “I suspect that every film director would like to make a film that takes place inside dreams at some point – it’s free reign to create imaginative visuals, dig right into a character’s subconscious, and make the occasional
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Moriro Miyamoto
Starring: Kiki Hanaka | Masaki Kitahara | Shinji Wada | Shishimaru Ozawa
Jason says: “There are any number of different types of weird movies, from the merely offbeat to eccentric to bizarre and beyond. UZUMASA JACOPETTI certainly tends toward the stranger end of the spectrum, and like a lot of movies there,
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Shane Carruth
Starring: Amy Seimetz | Andrew Sensenig | Kathy Carruth | Meredith Burke | Shane Carruth | Thiago Martin
Jason says: “For all that the interconnectedness of today’s world can make it harder for something to truly take one by surprise – there’s non-stop casting news, coverage, previews, and analysis of it commercial and artistic outlook to the point
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Juan Solanas
Starring: Holly Uloth | James Kidnie | Jim Sturgess | Kirsten Dunst | Timothy Spall
Jason says: “I admit, you can’t honestly look at Juan Solanas’s UPSIDE DOWN and call the writing much other than a mess – there really isn’t one thing in this movie that makes sense. But, on the other hand, I
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Kyle says: “AT BERKELEY and THE LAST OF THE UNJUST share little in common aside from both being Main Slate screenings of the 51st New York Film Festival, both having very long running times, and both being sharply revealing contemporary
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Rating: 1.75
Director: Will Slocombe
Starring: Amy Ferguson | Ashton Holmes | Cheryl Hines | Peter Bogdanovich | Ross Partridge | Sonya Walger
Jason says: “Folks from other continents much watch movies taking place on Thanksgiving and wonder why Americans have given themselves and extra week end of annoying travel to share a relatively bland meal and unresolved issues with family – even
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Rating: 2.3
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Danny Sapani | James McAvoy | Matt Cross | RosarioDawson | Vincent Cassell | Wahab Sheikh
Chris says: “Danny Boyle peaked early and spectacularly with TRAINSPOTTING; since then he’s mostly made one bummer after another (at this point, I’d watch only 28 DAYS LATER and maybe 127 HOURS again). What sinks most of his post-Ewan McGregor
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shannon Plumb
Starring: Alexandra Hennrikson | Cody Cianfrance | Derek Cianfrance | Jason Quarle | Lora Lee Gayer | Shannon Plumb | Walker Cianfrance
Bruce says: “New York filmmaker Shannon Plumb draws on her own experiences of motherhood for the vignettes in TOWHEADS. In the film her name is Penelope and her real live husband, Derek Cianfrance (THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES and BLUE
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Alison Janney | Ellen Page | Josh Pais | Rosemarie DeWitt | Scott McNairy | Shannon Kipp
Michael says: “Lynn Shelton’s latest film, TOUCHY FEELY, didn’t get very good reviews on rottentomatoes.com, but I actually quite liked it. Rosemarie DeWitt plays Abby, a massage therapist one day finds she has developed an aversion so skin and to
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Zhangke Jia
Starring: Wu Jiang; Lanshan Luo; Li Meng; Baoqiang Wang; Jia-yi Zhang; Tao
Jason says: “Considering the tales that have been told about China’s film censorship bureau and the way that most of the films exported from tend to be set in a prosperous Beijing, the existence of something like A TOUCH OF
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Starring: Hikari Mitsushima | Momoko Tanabe | Takeru Shibuya | Tamaki Ogawa | Teruyuki Kagawa
Jason says: “TORMENTED is not a bad title for this particular Takashi Shimizu movie – it’s generic, sure, but it does reflect some of what’s going on. I must admit to favoring its original title, RABBIT HORROR 3D. I like
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura
Starring: Gaku Hamada | Haru | Kana Kurashina | Kei Tanaka | Kento Nagayama | Naomi Ortega | Nene Otsuko
Jason says: “I feel vaguely like we’ve been taking Yoshihiro Nakamura for granted. Though he got his start writing horror movies for the likes of Hideo Nakata, he’s spent the last few years on a string of off-beat but surprisingly
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