Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Brenda Chapman | Mark Andrews | Steve Purcell
Starring: Billy Connolly | Emma Thompson | Julie Walters | Kelly Macdonald | Kevin McKidd | Robbie Coltrane
Peter S. says: “This was my first advance screening of a film, and I had to endure giving up my cell phone, having my bag checked, and then being swept for recording devices. Even worse, I had to deal with
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Rating: 1.25 cats
Director: Aleksandr Dulerayn | Jamie Bradshaw
Jason says: “BRANDED is a movie so bizarre at points that it must be intended as metaphor or satire, except that nothing about this film ever gives the the impression that it’s nearly that clever. It’s a weird example of
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Ektoras Lygizos
Starring: Kharálampos Goyós | Lila Mpaklesi | Vangelis Kommatas | Yiannis Papadapolous
Thom says: “While I was pleased to see that the director was highly influenced by recent Greek Master Giorgos Lanthimos (DOGTOOTH, ALPS) & even a bit of Bresson, this film was much more singular in that it concentrated fully on
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mark Ruskin
Starring: Adam DuPaul | Brian McGrail | Kristin Dougherty | Megan Hart | Nico Stone | Seymour Cassel
Jason says: “BOOSTER doesn’t do a whole lot; it could almost survive with its plot removed. It’s the sort of independent film that comes across as authentic to those from its neighborhood and has a sharp enough read on its
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Victor Vu
Starring: Huynh Dong | Khuong Ngoc | Kim Hien | Mi Du | Minh Thuan | Van Trang
Jason says: “If nothing else, the English title of BLOOD LETTER is a neat play on words, even if it won’t stand out on a DVD shelf of imported action movies. That’s not the best thing about it – it
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Óskar Thór Axelsson
Starring: Damon Younger | Johannes Hakur Johannesson | Maria Birta | Thor Kristjansson | Vignir Rafn Valþórsson
Jason says: “Is it weird to call BLACK’S GAME kind of fun? It is, after all, a movie about gangs and the cocaine trade that doesn’t exactly go the hip black comedy route or make its characters cool through their
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Tom Kingsley | Will Sharpe
Starring: Amanda Hadingue | Anna O'Grady | Chris Langham | Colin Hurley | Simon Angstell | Will Sharpe
Thom says: “This was a wonderful gift from a friend that was chock-full of pluses from some very imaginative filmmakers. The lead actor playing the father of the family Tom Thompson is two-time BAFTA winner Chris Langham. Trust me, this
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Rating: 3.9
Director: John Madden
Starring: Bill Nighy | Hugh Dickson | Judi Dench | Maggie Smith | Patrick Pearson | Penelope Wilton | Tom Wilkinson
Thom says: “Director Madden has had an interesting career without really establishing an auteur following. Certainly SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, HER MAJESTY, MRS. BROWN, PROOF, & ETHAN FROME are all well worth viewing but GOLDEN GATE, KILLSHOT, THE DEBT, & CAPTAIN
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Grant James | Jack Black | Matthew McConaughey | Rick Dial | Shirley MacLaine
Chris says: “This ripped-from-the-headlines tale of a meek funeral director who murders a wealthy, irascible widow is meant to play like ‘Midnight in the garden of small town east Texas’. While Austinite Richard Linklater is the right director for the
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Christophe Honoré
Starring: Catherine Deneuve | Chiara Mastroianni | Louis Garrel | Ludivine Sagnier | Milos Forman | Paul Schneider
Thom says: “This and one other late in the Festival are my lowest rated films. Other than seeing mother and daughter playing mother and daughter in Deneuve & Mastroianni I can’t think of one thing to recommend this turgid musical
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Neil Berkeley
Julie says: “I loved this one. Very engaging from beginning to end, very well put together doc. Some of the art was fantastic and some I was not so crazy about Wayne White is such a character! A true artist.
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Oliver Hermanus
Starring: Albert Maritz | Charlie Keegan | Deon Lotz | Michelle Scott | Roeline Daneel | Sue Diepeveen
Thom says: “This is a very disturbing entry to be included and I think it was rather brave of them to embrace it because the story is so ugly. A 40-something man lives with his Afrikaans-speaking family in Bloemfontein (yes,
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Dwight Henry | Gina Montana | Levy Easterly | Lowell Landes | Pamela Harper | Quvenzhané Wallis
Bruce says: “It took BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, winner of the Grand Jury and cinematography awards at Sundance 2012, about four years to get to the screen. Everyone associated with the film was in agreement – the film would
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Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Andy Stahl | Christopher Denham | Frank Deal | Jane McNeill | Kether Donohue | Kristen Connolly
Thom says: “Oh dear, Barry Levinson (MAN OF THE YEAR, LIBERTY HEIGHTS, BANDITS, GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM, WAG THE DOG, SLEEPERS, DINER, THE NATURAL, & YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES among others) has slipped to directing a horror, sci-fi, thriller about ‘found’ footage
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Christian Petzold
Starring: Jasna Fritzi Bauer | Mark Waschke | Nina Hoss | Rainer Bock | Ronald Zehrfeld
Jason says: “BARBARA starts at an interesting place; others with its basic template will set things up, give the audience a sense of who its characters are before putting them in a new situation. Writer/director Christian Petzold goes a different
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Jean-Marc Mineo
Starring: Aphiradi Phawaphutanon | Caroline Ducey | Jon Foo | Michael Cohen | Pream Busala-Khamvong
Jason says: “Some martial-arts action flicks are all-around great movies, and many are capable, if not exceptional. A distressing number, though, are one trick ponies, with good action scenes being held together by connective tissue that is given so much
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Michael Sladek
Bruce says: “A film such a BAM150 has no right to be in any film festival. It is a vanity project commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) directors Karen Brooks Hopkins and Joseph Melillo, more propaganda than a work
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jonathan Paley | Ross Finkel | Trevor Martin
Jason says: “I’ve already seen and reviewed a couple of movies about Dominican ballplayers trying to make the American major leagues – one fairly lightweight documentary (RUMBO A LAS GRANDES LIGAS) and one feature (the excellent SUGAR) – so I
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Leslye Headland
Starring: Adam Scott; James Marsden | Andrew Rannells | Isla Fisher | Kirsten Dunst | Lizzy Caplan | Paul Corning | Rebel Wilson
Chris says: “This night-before-the-wedding comedy cannot transcend the simple fact that in the end, it’s a mishmash of BRIDESMAIDS and THE HANGOVER, even when you can sense a sincere attempt to be something more. Kirsten Dunst (whose sharp timing is
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kei’ichi Sato
Starring: Kinya Kitaohgi | Masako Nozawa | Megumi Hayashibara | Yoshihiro Ike
Jason says: “These days, there aren’t a whole lot of movies being made using animation because they wouldn’t work any other way; digital capture and effects have come too far, so even ambitious manga are done live-action now. There are
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