Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Stacie Passon
Starring: Funda Duval | Janet Moloney | Johnathan Tchaikovsky | Julie Fain Lawrence | Robin Weigert
Michael says: “No one has mentioned CONCUSSION in all this, and I have to say, I was quite surprised when Brian pitched it so hard at the Nominating Committee meeting, and even more surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Kim Dae-Seung
Starring: Jo Yeo-Jeong | Kim Dong-Wook | Kim Min-Joon | Park Ji-Young
Kyle says: “THE CONCUBINE received its North American Premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival. Fans of the hit HBO television series GAME OF THRONES will feel right at home, although I am not sure that is the proper
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Anja Daelemans | Nicholas Bonner
Starring: Gwang Hun Kim | Han Jong-Sim
Kyle says: “COMRADE KIM GOES FLYING received its New York Premiere and was hailed by ‘Film Comment’ Editor Gavin Smith as the first North Korean film ever presented at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The occasion was greeted with
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Andrew Bujalski
Starring: Gerald Peary | Gordon Kindlmann | Myles Paige | Patrick Riester | Robin Schwarts | Wiley Wiggins
Jason says: “I think I’m done with Andrew Bujalski. I’ve seen three of his four films, and even the one I kind of liked didn’t really impress me. And while I can see some merit in the ones like COMPUTER
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Hideo Nakata
Starring: Atsuko Maeda | Hiroki Narimiya | Masanobu Katsumara | Naomi Nishida | Satomi Tezuka | Sosei Tanaka
Jason says: “Hideo Nakata’s new one seems to start out with such promise – creepy visuals, a likable lead, the possibility of a whole apartment complex haunted with ghosts, and a knack for building tension out of small, real things
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Anna Kendrick | Brendan Gleeson | Brit Marling | Chris Cooper | Julie Christie | Nick Nolte | Richard Jenkins | Robert Redford | Sam Elliott | Shia LaBeouf | Stanley Tucci | Stephen Root | Susan Sarandon | Terrence Howard
Jason says: “THE COMPANY YOU KEEP can play a bit like a brute-force attack at times – sure, it’s kind of slow at times and eventually the audience winds up a couple steps ahead of the protagonist, but every ten
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Emil Christov
Starring: Lilia Abadjieva | Mihail Bilalov | Rousy Chanev | Ruscen Vidinliev
Thom says: “Batko becomes the master in his creation of an invisible web of informants by a group of revolutionaries that end up spying on each other. He controls his own secret fount of information. After the fall of communism,
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Longman Leung | Sunny Luk
Starring: Aaron Kwok | Alex Tsui Ka-kit | Andy Lau | Charlie Young | Chin Kar-lok | Tony Leung Ka-fai
Kyle says: “THE GREAT WAR, DRUG WAR, COLD WAR, lots of movies about wars ancient, modern, political and imaginary: After dozens of these at the New York Asian Film Festival, it is a little confusing to remember which war is
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Starring: Dale Dickey | Dean Stockwell | Denis O'Hare | Jonathan Groff | Troian Bellisario
Chris says: “I’ve waited years for someone to make a film out of one of David Sedaris’ autobiographical essays, knowing that any attempt could go either way (see Ryan Murphy’s meh version of Augusten Burroughs’ RUNNING WITH SCISSORS). Fortunately, this
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: John Crowley
Starring: Ciarán Hinds | Denis Moschitto | Eric Bana | Jim Broadbent | Julia Stiles | Rebecca Hall | Riz Ahmed
Jason says: “It says something about humanity, the world we live in, or perhaps just me personally, that I’m bored by the brand of paranoia that keeps CLOSED CIRCUIT running. Is that in spite of how visible abuse of power
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jackie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan | Kwon Sang-woo | Liao Fan | Linda Weissbecker | Oliver Platt | Vincent Sze | Yao Xingtong | Zhang Lan-xin
Jason says: “It’s not just one thing that has brought Jackie Chan to the point where his latest movie is something of a loud, sloppy mess, but everything working together: Age takes a toll on a performer this physical. Hollywood
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Starring: Cecilia Guitierrez | Erasmo Rodriguez | Manuel Ramos | Maria de Jesus Canales Ramirez | Monica Guzman
Jason says: “Yes, LOS CHIDOS goes there. Fill whatever twisted thing you want in for ‘there’, and that statement is likely to be true, although in actuality it’s not even in answer to a question – it’s doing something jaw-droppingly
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Rohit Shetty
Starring: Deepika Padukone | Nikitin Dheer | Priyamani | Satyaraj | Shah Rukh Khan
Jason says: “I’m not sure quite how far we are into CHENNAI EXPRESS when the indicator of where the intermission would be comes up (the movie just kept going in Boston but likely paused in India), but the realization that
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: E.L. Katz
Starring: Amanda Fuller | David Koechner | Ethan Embry | Pat Healy | Sara Paxton
Jason says: “Given the fairly impressive cast, decent behind-the-scenes talent, and loudly proclaimed praise for CHEAP THRILLS coming out of its festival appearances, I expected more from the movie. What I got was an acceptable gross-out movie with a nugget
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Tom Donahue
Bruce says: “For most film buffs CASTING BY is essential fare. The film’s primary focus is the amazing, serendipitous casting career of Marion Dougherty and the vast influence she has had in the film industry both on the east coast
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Barkhad Abdi | Barkhad Abdirahman | Faysal Ahmed | Mahet M. Ali | Tom Hanks
Kyle says: “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is loud, fast, furious, vulgar and jingoistic. It will be a big hit and probably garner yet another Oscar nomination for Tom Hanks. You must take off your hat to the style, pace and command of
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Takanori Tsujimoto
Starring: Kazuki Tsujimoto | Kensuke Sonomura | Mitsuki Kog | Naohiro Kawamoto | Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi
Jason says: “I didn’t see BUSHIDO MAN quite at the midway point of the festival, but far enough in that it was clear some things were missing: Martial arts seemed to be in relatively short supply, for instance, as were
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Ujicha
Starring: Chisako Hara | Mitsuko Hoshi | Moeka Haruhi | Nao Hanai | Shunsuke Hirai
Jason says: “THE BURNING BUDDHA MAN is almost certainly unlike any feature film that will show up this year, animated or not. In fact, the style of this movie is so singular that it might be the rare movie that
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Lonesome Solo
Starring: Abdoul Karim Konaté | Adelaïde Ouattara | Mamadou Diomandé | Mohamed Bamba
Kyle says: “BURN IT UP DJASSA is set in the ghetto of Wassakara, Ivory Coast. Tony and his sister Ange attempt a meager survival with him selling cigarettes and her selling her body. A public confrontation leads to a sudden
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lo Chi-leung
Starring: Boran Jing | Lau Ching-wan | Liu Kai-chi | Nicholas Tse | Wu Gang | Yang Mi
Kyle says: “About twenty years ago, I was complaining to a friend how formulaic and uninteresting most new American movies were, and he asked me if I was familiar with Hong Kong cinema. I said no, asking if he meant
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