Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jorge Torregrossa
Starring: Antonio Garrido | Blanco Romero | Carmen Ruiz | Clara Lago | Daniel Grao | Maribel Verdú | Miquel Fernández
Thom says: “This apocalyptic thriller has a lot going on its behalf like a professional, attractive cast, a lovely well-structured feel, and a riveting plot. A group of college pals have reunion years later with a mysterious secret that needs
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Malgorzata Szumowska
Starring: Anaïs Demoustier | Joanna Kulig | Juliette Binoche | Krystyna Janda | Louis-Do de Lencquesaing
Bruce says: “Few stars are lovelier than the radiant Juliette Binoche. Her appeal is not superficial for she radiates an inner beauty that infuses her characters. As Anne, a reporter for Elle Magazine, Binoche adds another layer. She comes from
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Starring: Aleksey Rozin | Andrey Smirnov | Elena Lyadova | Nadezhda Markina
Jason says: “There’s a certain type of story that appears in magazines devoted to mystery and suspense which doesn’t really present much of either, but instead strips all the plot away and focuses tightly on what the pressures on one
Read the review...Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal (Canda/Denmark; 90 min.) directed by: Boris Rodriguez starring: Thure Lindhardt; Dylan Smith; Stephen McHattie; Alain Goulem; Paul Braunstein;Georgina Reilly Jason says: “We’ve all heard (or used) some variation on ‘my art comes from a dark place’
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Francesco Bruni
Starring: Barbara Bobulova | Fabrizio Bentevoglio | Filippo Scicchitan | Giacomo Ceccarelli | Stefano Brunori
Bruce says: “Winner of three prizes at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, EASY! is a satisfying comedy about parenting and coming of age. Writer director Francesco Bruni, best known for his screenplay for CATERINA IN THE BIG CITY, demonstrates the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Matthew Gordon
Starring: Casey Brown | John Alex Nunner | Joice Baldwin | Patrick Rutherford | William Ruffin
Thom says: “The extraordinary Film Movement series comes through with another winner here and just in time to be included in the Coming-of-Age extravaganza offered by dear Chlotrudis. Anyone seeing this one would be the first to agree. Having already
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Julio Hérnandez Cordón
Starring: Fernanda del Nido | Juan de Dios Larraín | Julio Hernández Cordón | Pamela Guinea
Bruce says: “As in many South and Central American countries war has ravaged the population and the environment. In Guatemala, it was an unfair war in which the poor people of the country suffered immeasurably. After the war ended women
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Ward Roberts
Starring: Aaron Gaffey | Amber Benson | Devin Barry | Jeremiah Birkett | Travis Betz
Jason says: “DUST UP has some very cool opening credits, clever throwbacks to the 1970s exploitation flicks it emulates over a rocking soundtrack; it’s got a couple of nifty posters along those lines, too. Like those movies, the actual product
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Peter Chan Ho-sun
Starring: Donnie Yen | Jimmy Wang Yu | Li Xiao-ran | Takeshi Kaneshiro | Wang Tei
Jason says: “Though Harvey Weinstein has saddled this movie with a generic name for when he finally gets around to releasing it in the USA (the man can’t help himself), the original Chinese name of WU XIA is even more
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Kim Jee-Woon | Yim Pil-Sung
Starring: Bae Doo-na | Jin Ji-hee | Kim Gyu-ri | Kim Kang-woo | Koh Joon-hee | Ryoo Seung-bum | Song Young-chang
Jason says: “Anthology film DOOMSDAY BOOK does not quite end the world in three ways, as one might expect it to do. Even more interesting is that the contemplative middle segment comes from noted action director Kim Jee-woon, whose unusual
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sloane U'ren
Starring: Edward Halsted | Hannah Carson | James Greene | Patrick Godfrey | Sam Harrison | Sean Hart
Jason says: “As much as I found the festival describing DIMENSIONS: A LINE, A LOOP, A TANGLE OF THREADS (to give it its full title) with ‘Imagine a sci-fi film on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre’ to be a bit too glibly
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt | FrédéricTcheng | Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Bruce says: “Diana Vreeland is a foolproof subject for a documentary. Famous for her remark to Norman Parkinson regarding his fashion photos from a photo shoot in India , ‘I adore that pink. It’s the navy blue of India,’ Ms.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Joseph Kahn
Starring: Brooke Haven | Dane Cook | James Black | Josh Hutcherson | Parker Bagley | Spencer Locke
Jason says: “Some things about DETENTION make me think that director Joseph Kahn isn’t just making a movie for young audiences, but taunting ones my age. A movie that asks ‘how hard is it to be cool in 1992?’ (my
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Tony Kaye
Starring: Adrien Brodie | Betty Kaye | Blythe Danner | Christina Hendricks | James Caan | Lucy Liu | Marcia Gay Harden
Bruce says: “When AMERICAN HISTORY X made a big splash nearly fifteen years ago it seemed there might be a new director entering the master ranks. Then along came SNOWBLIND, LOBBY LOBSTER and BLACK WATER TRANSIT. Remember them? Of course
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Penny Vozniak
Jason says: “There are many warning signs, but when the person hired to get electronic press kit/making-of footage for a movie comes to the producer and asks if she can hang around more and keep her footage because she thinks
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Terence Davies
Starring: Ann Mitchell | Jolyon Coy | Karl Johnson | Rachel Weisz | Simon Russell Beale | Tom Hiddleston
Thom says: “I’ve been an assiduous fan of Terence Davies ever since his 1st feature film DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES back in 1988. Since then I found all of his films brilliant: THE LONG DAY CLOSES (1992), THE NEON BIBLE
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jennifer Devoldère
Starring: Claude Perron | Florence Loiret Caille | Guillaume Gouix | Mélanie Laurent | Michel Blanc
Thom says: “Another outstanding winner from the ever-reliable Film Movement. This French eclair has a terrific plot with a romantic flair that often seems like the French have a lock on. Eli (Blanc) is celebrating his 60th birthday when he
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Eva Green | Helena Bonham Carter | Jackie Earle Haley | Johnny Depp | Jonny Lee Miller | Michelle Pfeiffer
Chris says: “Not exactly a return to form for Tim Burton, but easily the best remake/adaptation he’s done since his BATMAN films. Junk culture like a cheesy horror-laced soap opera seems closer to his heart than Lewis Carroll or Roald
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jin-ho Hur
Starring: Cecelia Cheung | Dong-gun Jang | Lisa Lu | Shawn Dou | Ziyi Zhang
Thom says: “This is the 8th version I’ve seen of my ALL-TIME favorite script. In order I’ve seen LE LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (1959, Roger Vadim, 5 CATS), DANGEROUS LIAISONS (1988, Stephen Frears, 5 CATS), VALMONT (1989, Milos Forman, 5 CATS), a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.375
Director: Whit Stillman
Starring: Analeigh Tipton | Carrie MacLemore | Greta Gerwig | Megalyn Echikunwoke | Ryan Metcalf
Thom says: “Here was a humongous surprise, not because I don’t have an enormous respect for director Whit Stillman (I’d given 5 CATS to all his movies: METROPOLITAN [1990], BARCELONA [1994], & THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO [1998], liking each
Read the review...