Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Derek Kwok | Stephen Chow
Starring: Chen Bing Qiang | Huang Bo | Show Luo | Shu Qi | Wen Zhang
Kyle says: “JOURNEY TO THE WEST is a wild comedic fantasy based on a 16th century Chinese text that occupies a significant place in Chinese culture and has been adapted many times for many different media. In the New Directors/New
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: JB Sapienza | Phil Healy
Jason says: “I wonder where filmmakers start and wind up, in terms of motivation and attitude, when making something like MY NAME IS JONAH. It seems awfully cynical if the final product is what they envisioned, but if not… Well,
Read the review...Jon Imber’s Left Hand (UK; 57 min.) directed by: Richard Kanestarring: Deborah Wye; Jill Hoy; John Yau; John Stromberg; Jon Imber Jason says: “I can’t claim to have much of a grasp on Join Imber’s place in the world of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Adriene Mishler | Gary Poulter | Nicholas Cage | Ronnie Gene Blevins | Tye Sheridan
Jason says: “Look at JOE and you see a couple of people who haven’t necessarily done their best work for the past few years. Some will say director David Gordon Green’s PRINCE AVALANCHE was a return to form after a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Kieran Turner
Bruce says: “The hype machine is usually associated with success stories. JOBRIATH A. D. is a fascinating documentary about a colossal failure in spite of tremendous hype. Jobriath (rhymes with Goliath) Salisbury was the stage name chosen by Bruce Wayne
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.25 cats
Director: Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad
Starring: Dominic Rains; Serinda Swan; Ray Park; William Atherton; Faran Tahir
Jason says: “This is a terrible little supernatural thriller, one of the more clumsily executed movies I’ve seen at a mainstream multiplex in some time. It’s bad enough that one really doesn’t need to get into how timid it is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Starring: Benicio Del Toro | Gina McKee | Mathieu Amalric | Michelle Thrush | Misty Upham
Jason says: “Early on in JIMMY P., a character apologizes for the way he tells, and it’s a bit of an odd moment, as he’s not the one whose manner of speech is likely to give a modern audience pause.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Ilan Duran Cohen
Starring: Audrey Dana | Aurélien Recoing | Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet | Laurent Lucas | Pascal Greggory
Kyle says: “THE JEWISH CARDINAL disappoints in the way of most fictional accounts of real people and events: The messiness of life must be reduced to the neatness of fiction. This account of the relationship between Jean-Marie Aaron Lustiger, Archbishop
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
Kyle says: “THE JAPANESE DOG is yet another outstanding film from what cineastes refer to as either the Romanian New Wave or the New Romanian Cinema. The title refers to a plastic toy dog that waddles, flashes lights, talks ‘baby
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Trevor White
Starring: James Woods | Mary-Louise Parker | Spencer Lofranco | Taissa Farmiga | Ving Rhames
Kyle says: “‘All I want is a normal life.’ The moment this line is delivered by James (Spencer Lofranco) in the running time of JAMESY BOY is startling, first because every action and character preceding has made sure this is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Riad Sattouf
Jason says: “The fact that the satire in JACKY IN THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN so often seems silly rather than particularly cutting might just be the most damning indictment of entrenched gender roles that there is; the whole thing seems
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Laurent Cantet
Bruce says: “No one can accuse Laurent Cantet of making the same film over and over. Although his first film was not even released in his home country, his auspicious second feature HUMAN RESOURCES (1999) resonated with filmgoers around the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Ralph Fiennes
Starring: Amanda Hale | Felicity Jones | Joanna Scanlan | John Kavanagh | Kristin Scott Thomas | Perdita Weeks | Ralph Fiennes | Tom Hollander
Jason says: “It’s been far too long since I’ve read far too little Dickens, but that actually matters not a whit in appreciating THE INVISIBLE WOMAN; though knowing some details of his work certainly will help, this story of him
Read the review...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
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