Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Miguel Gomes
Starring: Ana Moreira | Carloto Cotta | Enrique Espirito Santo | Laura Soveral | Teresa Madruga
Chris says: “From Portugal, this little, whimsical black-and-white film should carry an instant appeal for anyone bored by the more commercial axis of indie crossover cinema simply because it’s so quirky and weird—almost like a more feminine Jim Jarmusch mixed
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Logan Miller
Starring: Amy Madigan | Ed Harris | Eduardo Noriega | January Jones | Jason Isaacs | Stephen Root
Jason says: “Ed Harris. Western. There, that should have sold everyone… Oh, you need more? Fine. SWEETWATER (also known as SWEET VENGEANCE) is a dark, bloody Western that is both fairly traditional and over-the-top crazy, with a fairly great cast.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lu Chuan
Starring: Chang Chen | Cuckoo He | Daniel Wu | Huo Siyan | Li Qi | Liu Ye | Nie Yuan | Qin Lan | Sha Yi | Tao Zeru
Kyle says: “THE LAST SUPPER screened in its U.S. Premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival. According to various reports, the SARFT (State Administration for Radio, Film and Television), otherwise known as the Chinese censors, worked themselves into a
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Brian Dannelly
Starring: Allison Janney | Chris Colfer | Christina Hendricks | Dermot Mulroney | Polly Bergen | Sarah Hyland
Bruce says: “The biggest problem with STRUCK BY LIGHTNING is the protagonist. He is not very likable. In the opening frames we learn that Carson Phillips (Chris Colfer of GLEE fame) is the lightning victim. Carson is also the victim
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Rating: 4.6
Director: Sarah Polley
Bruce says: “Sarah Polley first dazzled film lovers with wonderful performances in THE SWEET HEREAFTER, EXOTICA, THE HANGING GARDEN, LAST NIGHT, and MY LIFE WITHOUT ME. Then she turned to directing and dazzled once again with the narrative features AWAY
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Rating: 4.4
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: David Alford | Laruen E. Roman | Matthew Goode | Mia Wasikowska | Nicole Kidman | Peg Allen
Jason says: “With any luck, a fair number of the people seeing STOKER will do so without already being fans of director Park Chan-wook, drawn in by the nifty cast and striking previews. They’re in for a treat, because Park
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Michael McGowan
Starring: Barbara Gordon | Campbell Scott | Geneviève Bujold | George R. Robertson | James Cromwell | Jonathan Potts | Julie Stewart | Rick Roberts
Jason says: “It’s funny what gets to a person during this type of movie. I was doing okay through most of STILL MINE (which played festivals as STILL, and may have kept that name in some places), and then I
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Alex Gibney
Jason says: “Toward the end of WE STEAL SECRETS, one of the interview subjects calls back to an early online handle of Julian Assange’s, ‘Mendax’, an abbreviation of ‘noble liar’. That is, however, not the first (possible) online alias of
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ken Scott
Starring: Antoine Bertrand | Dominic Philie | Julie LeBreton | Marc Bélanger | Patrick Huard
Jason says: “No matter how bound and determined a viewer is to just sit back and enjoy STARBUCK for the light comedy that it is, there are going to be moments when he or she can’t help but think it’s
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Jason says: “THE SQUARE doesn’t necessarily look like much as it starts; just some people who happened to have a camera in the right place at the right time. Make no mistake; that is an incredibly useful thing for a
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Harmony Korine
Starring: Ashley Benson | Gucci Mane | Heather Morris | James Franco | Selena Gomez | Vanessa Hudgens
Thom says: “WOW, probably my favorite TIFF 2012 film all the more surprising seeing director Korine’s insane track record, plus his past relationship with film goddess Chloe Sevigny. I loved his first film GUMMO (1997) but was then quite disappointed
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: James Ponsoldt
Starring: Brie Larson | Dayo Okeniyi | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Kyle Chandler | Miles Teller | Shailene Woodley
Jason says: “It’s hard enough to try to review the first films to play a festival, writing a paragraph at a time between other screenings, but something like THE SPECTACULAR NOW makes it even more difficult. It’s does almost nothing
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Armen Evrensel
Starring: Amanda Tapping | Amy Matysio | Billy Boyd | George Takei | Kristin Kreuk | Robin Dunne
Jason says: “As of this writing, SPACE MILKSHAKE hasn’t actually been purchased by SyFy (or its Canadian equivalent Space) to run as a Saturday night original movie, but that’s what it is: A low-budget sci-fi movie just long enough that
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jodi Whillle | Maria Demopoulos
Chris says: “A popular health food restaurant on the Sunset Strip… an experiment in spiritual communal living at the dawn of the 1970s… a cult overseen by Father Yod, a charismatic, excessively-bearded ex-Marine who eventually proclaimed he was God Himself…
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Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Carol Combes | Clément Métayer | Felix Armand | Hugo Conzelmann | Lola Créton
Thom says: “I was to learn before the screening that Assayas had won the best script at the Venice Film Festival. If truly that is the case I’d hate to know what the other choices were as this autobiographical film
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Daisy von Sherler Mayer
Starring: Adam Brody | Emily Watson | Jennifer Morrison | Kristen Bell | Mia Maestro | Zoe Kazan
Jason says: “Based upon Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s film version, SOME GIRL (S) is a play with a rather tortured premise, and I suspect that actors who like a challenge are drawn to it for that. Sure, Neil LaBute gives
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Nathan Silver
Starring: Carl Kranz | Ed Ryan | Melanie J. Sheiner | Moshe Kessler | Sheila Etxeberria | Theodore Bouloukos
Jason says: “I don’t feel bad about not particularly liking SOFT IN THE HEAD, but one of the reasons I don’t like it bugs me. I look down on its characters, which means I probably look down on their real-life
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jonathan Gurfinkel
Starring: Eviatar Mor | Roy Nik | Sivan Levy
Bruce says: “This disturbing Israeli film S#X ACTS examines the effects of sexual bullying, a most disquieting albeit extremely important issue among teenagers. Gili (Sivan Levy) has switched schools midway through high school. Her mother is a single parent and
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: John Sayles
Starring: Edward James Olmos | Harold Perrineau | Hector Elizondo | Isaiah Washington | LisaGay Hamilton | Mahershala Ali | Yolanda Ross
Jason says: “John Sayles is perhaps the most notable independent filmmaker who falls through the cracks despite being quite accessible. Why is that? After all, he’s got LONE STAR and EIGHT MEN OUT to his name! There are a number
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: David M. Rosenthal
Starring: Jason Isaacs | Jeffrey Wright | Joe Anderson | Kelly Reilly | Sam Rockwell | Ted Levine | William H. Macy
Jason says: “There are two general ways a ‘bag of money’ movie can go: Navigating the intricate set-up that is revealed through a constant series of revelations and double-crosses that the anti-hero must navigate in order to keep the cash
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