Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Josh Radnor
Starring: Allison Janney | Elizabeth Olsen | Elizabeth Reaser | Josh Radnor | Kate Burton | Richard Jenkins
Michael says: “Written, directed, and starring Josh Radnor (of TV’s ‘How I Met Your Mother’) offers a film revolved around nostalgia, and looking back at your college days as they high point of your life. Jesse (Radnor) is living an
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hiroyuki Okiura
Starring: Cho | Ikuko Tani | Karen Miyama | Takeo Ogawa | Toshiyuki Nishida | Yoshisada Sakaguchi
Jason says: “You can do a movie like A LETTER TO MOMO with live-action nowadays, and it’s increasingly common, but animation of the traditional variety still seems the best medium for this sort of fantastical but relaxed family entertainment: It
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Starring: Catherine Keener | Christopher Walken | Imogen Poots | Mark Ivanir | Phillip Seymour Hoffman | Wallace Shawn
Jason says: “A LATE QUARTET starts out with a fair amount of promise: It’s got a cast full of fine character actors, a somewhat unusual setting in the world of classical music, and a premise that is easy to grasp
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Eric Hayden
Starring: Alec Gillis | Brian Baumgartner | James Madio | Khary Payton | Lance Henriksen
Jason says: “THE LAST PUSH is a movie by space nuts but for a larger audience, and I very much hope that it will find one on the festival circuit. The filmmakers give themselves the opportunity to do a lot
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: David Thewlis | Jonathan Raggett | Jonathan Woodhouse | Michelle Yeoh | Susan Wooldridge
Jason says: “In addition to directing his own films, Luc Besson has spent the past decade or two writing and producing action movies tailored to their stars; Michelle Yeoh was arguably the biggest female action star in the world during
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
Starring: Casper Christensen | Frank Hvam | Iben Hjejle | Marcuz Jess Petersen | Mia Lyhne | Niels Weyde
Thom says: “I might have passed on this Danish uproarious comedy that is not without a cruel, macabre streak, had it not been a free viewing and I was delightfully suprised. This was adapted from the smash Danish television series
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Yeong Sang-ho
Starring: Ben Van den Heuvel | Eva van der Gucht | Mickey | Noor Ben Taoeut | Thomas Coumans
Jason says: “Animation fans will spend a great deal of time telling the rest of the world that the medium is good for more than children’s entertainment, and will point to movies with either violent content or mature themes to
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Emile Hirsch | Gina Gershon | Juno Temple | Matthew McConaughey | Thomas Haden Church
Jason says: “It happens to nearly every writer, musician, or film director who doesn’t die young: Because they never really retire, they’ll eventually have an unimpressive period that runs longer than even a long run of success. Take William Friedkin,
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Rating: 4.6
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Emma Fryer | Harry Simpson | Michael Smiley | MyAnna Buring | Neil Maskell | Struan Rodger
Thom says: “This is the final TIFF 2011 film that I review, excepting others I will most likely see after this date. Quite a few are already playing in theaters including LE HAVRE, THE DESCENDANTS, MONEY PIT, & others. Wheatley
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne | Luc Dardenne
Starring: Cécile de France | Egon Di Mateo | Fabrizio Rongione | Jérémie Renier | Thomas Doret
Bruce says: “The Dardennes are back with another tale of disillusioned youth. This time the subject child is Cyril (Thomas Doret) a child who has been dumped in an orphanage after his father Guy (Jérémie Renier) abandons him. Cyril’s first
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Starring: Cho Jae-hyun | Kim Kyung-suk | Lee Kwan-hun | Na Tae-joo | Petchtai Wongkamiao | Ye Ji-won
Jason says: “THE KICK is frickin’ truth in advertising, living up to its title in every way it can. Not only does it feature more or less non-stop martial arts action, but it’s a kick – light, pure fun that
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Guy Maddin
Starring: Brooke Palsson | David Wontner | Isabella Rossellini | Jason Patric | Louis Negin | Udo Kier
Jason says: “Winnipeg-based director Guy Maddin has never been anything less than unconventional, but some of his more recent efforts have met the mainstream halfway; they were peculiar films but the audience didn’t have to take up residence in Maddin’s
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Ira Sachs
Starring: Julianne Nicholson | Paprika Steen | Souleymane SySavane | Thure Lindhardt | Zachary Booth
Chris says: “A fictional work based on a filmmaker’s own personal events risks a failure to resonate with or even translate to an audience. That’s exactly the problem with the latest from FORTY SHADES OF BLUE director Ira Sachs, which
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Gabriel Rojas Vera
Starring: Angela Carrizosa | Angelica Sanchez | Diego Galindo | Diego Pelaez | Juan Manuel Diaz Oroztegui
Thom says: “Another recent winner from the enterprising Film Movement group this one emerges from Columbia, a rare treat. Karen, who’s married to a slimy businessman of no uncertain power decides to leave after ten years of an icy, reproachful,
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Rating: 3.6
Director: Alejandro Brugués
Starring: Alexis Díaz de Villegas | Andrea Duro | Andros Perugorría | Jazz Vilá | Jorge Molina
Bruce says: “I’m probably not the right person to review a zombie film and I certainly would not do so had I disliked JUAN OF THE DEAD. But like LET THE RIGHT ONE IN which I loved, a film that
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Matthew Mishory
Starring: Clare Grant | Dalilah Rain | Dan Glenn | Edward Singletary | Erin Daniels | James Preston | Rafael Morais
Thom says: “While the audience at the LGBT Film Festival went wild after the showing of this colorful representation of the early adult life of the legendary James Dean I felt like sneaking away in embarrassment. I’ve seen so many
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Karen Thorsen | Tracie Holder
Bruce says: “Credibility is hard to come by with a title JOE PAPP IN FIVE ACTS, knowing that a major portion of Joe Papp’s life, an act unto itself, was edited out of the film. Or worse, perhaps the filmmakers
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: David Gelb
Jason says: “I can’t say I’m a particular fan of sushi; in fact, I’m quite the culinary coward. But you don’t have to like a particular food to admire fine craftsmanship and dedication, and those are things that Jiro Ono
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jay Duplass | Mark Duplass
Starring: Ed Helms | Evan Ross | Jason Segel | Judy Greer | Rae Dawn Chong | Steve Zissis | Susan Sarandon
Thom says: “The Duplass brothers continue to improve as filmmakers; from THE PUFFY CHAIR to BAGHEAD to CYRUS they’ve improved. This is a mostly successful independent comedy that has a good attitude and a lot of laughs. Jeff (Segel, also
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Magnus Martens
Starring: Andreas Cappelen | Arthur Berning | Henrik Mestad | Kyrre Hellum | Mads Ousdal | Marie Blokhus
Jason says: “So, it looks like I’m going to have to start putting Jo Nesbø stuff in my Amazon basket, as any guy who comes up with the raw material for both this and HEADHUNTERS is my kind of darkly
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