Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Starring: Alan Curran | Amy Huberman | Martin Sheen | Stephen Rea
Chris says: “To make a movie about operating a movie theater is a subject close to my heart and usually enough for me to give the filmmaker a free pass. Such a premise adds considerable charm to STELLA DAYS; the
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Tom Lin
Starring: Harlem Yu | Hui Ming Lin | Janei Tsai | Kenneth Tsang | Lunmei Kwai | Rene Liu
Jason says: “Stick around through the end credits of STARRY STARRY NIGHT, which appear to contain images from Jimmy Liao’s original illustrated book. It’s not just that they’re beautiful (they are) or that they imply that this pretty stunning film
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Rating: 1.75
Director: Zal Batmanglij
Starring: Brit Marling | Christopher Denham | Davenia McFadden | Kandice Stroh | Nicole Vicius | Richard Wharton
Thom says: “I feel like an old crab not liking this more but it is becoming abundantly clear that I takes a lot of convincing for me to get into the conscience of the cult. Here, a couple ingratiate themselves
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Rating: 2.8 cats
Director: Ching Siu-Tung
Starring: Charlene Choi | Jet Li | Raymond Lam | Shengyi Huang | Vivian Hsu | Zhang Wen
Jason says: “In the opening segment of THE SORCERER AND THE WHITE SNAKE (aka IT’S LOVE), an ice harpy played by Vivian Hsu throws boulder-sized hailstones at demon-hunting monk Fahai, who is able to dodge and counter-attack three or four
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Jens Lien
Starring: Asmund Hoeg | John Lydon | Sonja Richter | Sven Nordin
Jason says: “SONS OF NORWAY does as good a job as any movie at presenting the perspective of a kid for whom the world doesn’t make sense, and where every attempt at understanding misses the point. It’s got a light
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ashwani Dhir
Starring: Ajay Devgn | Juhi Chawla | Mukul Dev | Sanjay Dutt | Sonakshi Sinha | Vindu Dara Singh
Jason says: “I’ve got to admit, I felt like I had let someone down when it took me until SON OF SARDAAR repeated a fairly specific gag to recognize that it is much more than less an uncredited remake of
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Roberto Faenza
Starring: Ellen Burstyn | Lucy Liu | Marcia Gay Harden | Peter Gallagher | Stephen Lang | Toby Regbo
Bruce says: “Now here’s a film that is testimony to how international filmmaking has become. Directed by an Italian, bankrolled with Italian and US money, this English language film takes place in New York and stars primarily American actors. Based
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Jack Perez
Starring: Ariel Gade | Barry Bostwick | Eric Price | Karen Black | Kevin Corrigan | Leo Fitzpatrick | Lucy Davis
Jason says: “Funnything about the festival circuit; a movie can be there for a while – I missed seeing this at Montreal’s Fantasia Festival last July, catching THE INNKEEPERS instead. I don’t regret seeing that at all, but I was
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Katsuhito Ishii
Starring: Hikari Mitsushima | Masatoshi Nagase | Satoshi Tsumabuki | Yasuko Matsuyuki
Jason says: “Plenty of movies on both sides of the Pacific are based on comics, but while it’s easy enough to take the characters or plot, but capturing the feel of the medium can be a different matter. Katsuhio Ishii’s
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mike Birbiglia | Seth Barrish
Starring: Carol Kane | James Rebhorn | Lauren Ambrose | Mike Birbiglia
Jason says: “SLEEPWALK WITH ME may not have a large built-in audience, but fans of writer/director/star Mike Birbiglia and the National Public Radio segments from which this movie evolved may be the exact right niche for an independent film like
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Frédéric Jardin
Starring: Joey Starr | Julien Boisselier | Laurent Stocker | Lizzie Brochere | Serge Riaboukine | Tomer Sisley
Jason says: “As much as action movies and thrillers will often try to impress by their intricacy and build-up to a spectacular climax, there is something tremendously satisfying to the two-step process that Frédéric Jardin uses for SLEEPLESS NIGHT (NUIT
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Jeremy Power Regimbal
Starring: Alex Ferris | James D'Arcy | Joshua Close | Quinn Lord | Rachel Miner | Selma Blair
Jason says: “It strikes me as extremely unlikely that anybody else will go into REPLICAS with the same expectations I had – not having reached the ‘R’ section of the program, I had somehow got it in my head that
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ursula Meier
Starring: Gillian Anderson | Kacey Mottet Klein | Léa Seydoux | Martin Compston | Yann Trégouët
Diane says: “Franco-Swiss production SISTER underwhelmed me. A young boy who lives near a ski resort steals sports equipment, clothing, food to sell or to feed himself and his older sister. I kept imagining dramatic turns–a suicidal jump from the
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Ann Hui
Starring: Andy Lau | Deannie Ip | Fuli Wang | Hailu Qin
Jason says: “A SIMPLE LIFE opens with a screen of text explaining how these characters got to this point in their lives, but is intriguingly silent on why its two main characters are mostly alone except for each other. That’s
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Bradley Cooper | Jacki Weaver | Jennifer Lawrence | John Ortiz | Julia Stiles | Robert De Niro
Bruce says: “The buzz was great. The director is a favorite. It has heavy backing from The Weinstein Company. Will SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK live up to the hype? Happily the answer is yes. But to get the most out of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Hansal Mehta
Starring: Kay Kay Menon | Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub | Pawan Kumar | Prabhleen Sandhu | Raj Kumar Yadav | Shalini Vatsa | Vinod Rawat | Vipin Sharma | Vivek Ghamande
Bruce says: “The ticket for this film arrived in my Toronto Film Festival packet by mistake. Initially I planned to exchange it then decided to treat it as an omen. SHAHID, one of many films in a special City-to-City series
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Abbie Cornish | Christopher Walken | Colin Farrell | Gabourey Sidibe | Michael Pitt | Michael Stuhlberg | Sam Rockwell | Woody Harrelson
Diane says: “Acting Nom for Christopher Walken, as a gentle psychopath caring for his wife hospitalized with breast cancer. I’ve seen most of director Martin McDonagh’s plays, and his IN BRUGES, and I love his over-the-top combo of sweetness and
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ben Lewin
Starring: Annika Marks | Helen Hunt | John Hawkes | Moon Bloodgood | Robin Weigart | William H. Macy
Bruce says: “So many things could have gone wrong with bringing THE SESSIONS to the screen. The script could have made the story cheap and tawdry. The direction could have taken the story to a sensationalistic plateau. The actors could
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Malik Bendjelloul
Thom says: “Yes, I’d read all the raves but somehow I had my doubts but 10 minutes into this charmer I was hooked. Rodriguez was an early-70s rock/folk singer from Detroit who released two albums that were monumental bombs and
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: John Cairns
Starring: Higarino | Mai Tsujimoto | Max MacKenzie
Jason says: “Believe it or not, SCHOOLGIRL APOCALYPSE is not the third Nobboru Iguchi film on the festival’s program, or a similarly cheery exploitation picture from a filmmaker of like sensibilities. No, it’s an often-impressive bit of stripped-down sci-fi/horror that
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