Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Katie Aselton
Starring: Anslem Richardson | Jay Paulson | Kate Bosworth | Katie Aselton | Lake Bell | Will Bouvier
Jason says: “When building a survival-in-the-wild thriller, most writers start with something like BLACK ROCK and then add stuff – elaborate kills, extra plot twists, maybe some sort of weird backdrop. That’s the usual path, but the makers of this
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Michael Polish
Starring: Anthony Edwards | Balthazar Getty | Jean-Marc Barr | Josh Lucas | Kate Bosworth | Radha Mitchell
Jason says: “Mock me for my lack of appreciation for great literature, but my interest in BIG SUR didn’t come from it being an adaptation of a Jack Kerouac work. Instead, it was Michael Polish’s presence as screenwriter and director
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mike Mendez
Starring: Clare Kramer | Greg Grunberg | Lombardo Boyar | Patrick Bauchau | Ray Wise
Jason says: “Well, there’s certainly no denying that BIG ASS SPIDER! delivers what it promises – that is certainly one big-ass spider menacing Los Angeles from the very start. For those that want maybe a little more to their movies,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Starring: Cosima Stratan | Cristina Flutur | Dana Tapalaga | Ionut Ghinea | Valeriu Andriuta
Bruce says: “Director Christian Mungiu is on the record for stating BEYOND THE HILLS is about extremism and the harm it does to society. That is an answer to those who think the film is only about religion. His acclaimed
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shannah Laumeister
Chris says: “Bert Stern’s contributions to the art of photography are major enough to justify a feature-length documentary about them: for starters, look to his truly innovative Smirnoff Vodka ads that transformed Madison Avenue advertising in the 1950s, his portraits
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Frederick Wiseman
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: 2.9 cats
Director: Peter Strickland
Starring: Cosimo Fusco | Layla Amir | Susanna Cappellaro | Toby Jones | Tonia Sotiropoulou
Jason says: “BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO brought a film called AMER to mind, even though the two are spectacularly different in the way they pay tribute to Italian giallo movies. What they have in common is a deep affection for the
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Charlotte Prior | Ethan Hawke | Jennifer Prior | Julie Delpy | Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Chris says: “*Minor spoilers ahead* “Though not a flawless film, Richard Linklater’s BEFORE SUNRISE concluded almost perfectly: its open-endedness exuded a lovely power as it revisited all the spaces its two leads Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) inhabited
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Philippe Béziat
Kyle says: “BECOMING TRAVIATA, or in its much better French title TRAVIATA ET NOUS, is a documentary on preparations and rehearsals for a production of Giuseppe Verdi’s beloved 1853 opera ‘La Traviata’ at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, starring charismatic soprano Natalie
Read the review...The Great Beauty (Italy/France; 142 min.) directed by: Paolo Sorrentino starring: Toni Servillo; Sabrina Ferilli; Carlo Buccirosso; Georgio Pasotti; Massimo Popolizio Peter says: “This is a film loaded with Fellini style imagery, characters, and abrupt scene transitions that make its
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jeremy Gardner
Starring: Adam Cronheim | Alana O'Brien | Jamie Pantanella | Jeremy Gardner | Larry Fessenden | Niels Bolle
Jason says: “There’s a case to be made for THE BATTERY although it involves an premise that I’m not hugely fond of – that the filmmakers aren’t really making a zombie movie, but exploring the bond and antagonism that form
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jeff Howlett | Mark Christopher Covino
Jason says: “You can say what you want about Detroit – that its main industry needs propping up, that its population is collapsing, that arson seems to be the most popular local activity – but you have to admit, hope
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Starring: Kota Mori | Kunifumi Yoshida | Sion Sono | Takeshi Itô | Tokyo GAGAGA | Yoshihiro Nishimura
Jason says: “The question has probably been answered in some interview or festival Q&A with Sion Sono, but if he had been able to spend the time and money to edit this movie and get it released back in 1995,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Jacob Vaughn
Starring: Gillian Jacobs | Ken Marino | Kumail Nanjiani | Mary Kay Place | Patrick Warburton | Peter Stormare | Toby Huss
Jason says: “You see enough horror movies, and eventually ‘ridiculous puppet monster ‘ can seem like a genre. You can break it down further and make the distinction between whether it’s a movie based upon puppets being creepy or one
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lynn-Maree Milburn | Richard Lowenstein
Jason says: “I strongly suspect that I have complained about documentaries that seem to argue that someone wrecking his life and those of the people around him is more tragic because he could play the guitar enough for it to
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ziad Doueiri
Starring: Ali Suliman | Evgenia Dodena | Karim Saleh | Ramsi Makdessi | Reymond Amsalem | Uri Gavriel
Jason says: “There have been a fair number of movies, books, and the like about terrorism over the years, but many, in their perfectly reasonable attempt to illuminate the phenomenon, ignore a simple truth: Most people just can’t understand. This
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Alex Gibney
Jason says: “Five years ago, Alex Gibney set out to make THE ROAD BACK, a documentary that followed Lance Armstrong’s comeback, hopefully to culminate in an eighth Tour de France victory. That didn’t happen, but a whole lot of other
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Olivia Silver
Starring: John Hawkes | Kendall Toole | Mary Pat Gleason | Ryan Simpkins | Ty Simpkins
Thom says: “Rarely does Film Movement introduce a film with a major actor like John Hawkes but the film did win the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and certainly deserves a wider audience. This one is a
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Cody Calahan
Starring: Adam Christie | Ana Alic | Cody Thompson | Michelle Mylett | Romaine Waite
Jason says: “ANTISOCIAL is an impressive little horror movie that distinguishes itself by showing how it’s not necessarily what a movie does that matters, but how it pulls it off. Sure, the initial plot is built on a foundation of
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Marçal Forés
Starring: Augustus Prew | Dimitri Leonidas | Javier Beltrán | Maria Rodríguez | Oriol Pla | Roser Tapias
Jason says: “ANIMALS is a coming-of-age story that perches right on the border between an impressive level of ambition and complexity on the one side and trying to do too much on the other. There’s a whole movie just in
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