Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Graham McTavish | Ian McKellen | James Nesbitt | Ken Stott | Martin Freeman | Richard Armitage
Thom says: “No special reason to review this blockbuster, other than to say I was thrilled while watching it other than the too long beginning when trying to persuade Bilbo Baggins to join the quest of 13 dwarves along with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Sacha Gervasi
Starring: Anthony Hopkins | Danny Huston | Helen Mirren | James D'Arcy | Jessica Biel | Michael Stuhlbarg | Michael Wincott | Scarlett Johansson | Toni Collette
Julie says: “What bad things can you say about a movie with Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins ? Well worth seeing for their acting alone. Scarlet Johansson did a nice job as did the guy who played Anthony Perkins (James
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: P. David Ebersole
Thom says: “I’m hoping for better luck soon at the flickers. This is about the rise and descent of Hole drummer and her final rise from the ashes of a terrible drug addiction. She seem memorable enough with some definite
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Valeriy Todorovskiy
Starring: Anton Shagin | Evgeniya Khirivskaya | Igor Voynarovskiy | Maksim Matveev | Oksana Akinshina
Jason says: “It seems like every time I’ve seen western culture sneaking behind the iron curtain, it’s been about The Beatles. Of course, youth chafing at authority existed well before the Fab Four, and represents more than mere fandom. So
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Asoka Handagama
Starring: Dharshan Dharmraj | Gregory Philip Ferminus | Raja Ganeshan | Subashini Balasubramaniyam
Thom says: “A young, big, burly man returns after a long stint in the army to his village and is either ignored or reproached by his old neighbors and acquaintances. His betrothed has married another man who died on the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Patricio Valladares
Starring: Carolina Escobar | Daniel Antivilio | Jose Hernandez | Serge Francois | Siboney Lo
Jason says: “The original Chilean version of HIDDEN IN THE WOODS (an English-language remake featuring Michael Biehn from the same director is already in pre-production) certainly lives up to its introduction as a nasty, violent piece of work, and filmmaker
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Braden Croft
Starring: Cara Uchida | Kanna Hashimoto; Rento Isobe | Koki Maeda | Ohshirô Maeda | Ryôga Hayashi
Jason says: “We’re probably healthier as a society for not throwing terms like ‘insane’ or ‘crazy’ around quite so much as we used to. It’s not always the case in the movies, where simple homicidal maniacs are often the norm,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Todd Louiso
Starring: Blythe Danner | Christopher Abbott | Dan Futterman | John Rubinstein | Julie White | Melanie Lynskey
Michael says: “Fans of TAKE THIS WALTZ should check out Todd Louiso’s HELLO, I MUST BE GOING, about a young woman, recently divorced, who moves back in with her wealthy parents in suburban Connecticut and finds herself unable to move
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Starring: Apisit Opasaimlikit | Chanakporn Sayoungkul | Kiat Punpiputt | Nopachai Chaiyanam | Sirin Horwang
Bruce says: “***SPOILERS*** “Pen-ek Ratanaurang‘s HEADSHOT, a film about a cop turned hit man, is a huge disappointment. It is well-made and well-acted and the premise is better-than-average; but the script adds little to what is an hour and one
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Aksel Hennie | Elvind Sandler | Julie R. Ølgaard | Nikolaj Coster-Waldau | Synnøve Macody Lund
Jason says: “What makes for a good thriller? There are many recipes, but it’s the results that matter; the audience should spend as much time as possible excited by what’s about to happen, in addition to what’s going on in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Su-yeon Gu
Starring: Atsoro Watabe | Kento Nagayama | Sei Ashina | Shido Nakamura | Sota Matsuda | Tokio Emoto
Jason says: “Su-yeon Gu’s HARD ROMANTICKER is one of those movies that feels like it was cobbled together from a bunch of anecdotes that don’t necessarily add up to a story, but is able to more or less able to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Ebizo Ichikawa | Eita | Hikari Mitsushima | Koji Yakusho | Munetaka Aoki
Jason says: “HARA-KIRI seems like an odd choice for a 3D remake – it features far more sitting around and dueling with subtle turns of phrase than it does swordplay – but with Takashi Miike in the director’s chair, one
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Kat Cliro
Starring: Andrea Savage | Fallon Goodson | Geoff Stults | Jason Biggs | Justin Kirk | Kate Bosworth | Krysten Ritter | Rachel Bilson | Seymour Cassel
Jason says: “Krysten Ritter tends to make everything she’s in better, and as a result she’s been a go-to girl for best friends and sidekicks in romantic comedies and the like. It’s steady work, but if an actress doesn’t take
Read the review...Hannah Arendt (Germany/Luxembourg/France; 113 min.) directed by: Margarethe von Trotta starring: Barbara Sukowa; Axel Milberg; Janet McTeer; Julia Jentsch; Nicholas Woodeson Thom says: “Attended with Bruce, Scott, and Beth. Beth asked a really intriguing question about the use of live
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Amiel Courtin-Wilson
Starring: Daniel P. Jones | Jerome Velinsky | Leanne Letch | Tony Markulin
Jason says: “The word ‘hail’ can mean a number of things, and for some reason I kept thinking of the wrong ones until about halfway through the movie, when some bad weather follows a bad event, and the sound as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Daniel Algrant
Starring: Ben Rosenfield | Frank Wood | Ilana Levine | Imogen Poots | Norbert Leo Butz | Penn Badgley | William Sadler
Bruce says: “Folk rock artist Tim Buckley died in 1975 from an accidental drug overdose. His only child was Jeff Buckley who he saw only twice in his life, as an infant and as a seven year old when Jeff
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Josh Reed
Starring: Damien Freeleagus | Krew Boylan | Lindsay Farris | Rebekah Foord | Wil Traval | Zoe Tuckwell-Smith
Jason says: “I suspect that the script for PRIMAL was, even more than most horror movies, dictated by resources – they could get this location for filming, a little bit of simple CGI, a reasonably straightforward make-up job for every
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Zézé Gamboa
Starring: Adriana Rebello | Hermila Guedes | Joäo Lagarto | Lázaro Ramos | Patricia Bull | Pedro Hossi
Bruce says: “As any good Canadian friend – not to mention those further away from American soil – will tell you, we Americans know little or nothing about world geography. Bet you didn’t know that both Angola and Mozambique were
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ron Morales
Starring: Dido De La Paz | Ella Guevara | Leon Miguel | Marife Necesito | Menggie Cobarrubias | Patricia Gayod
Jason says: “The easiest way to describe GRACELAND- a twistier, less philosophical take on Akira Kurosawa HIGH AND LOW- maybe does it a disservice by making it sound like it is less than its potential. That’s not particularly true; it’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jon Wright
Starring: Bronagh Gallagher | David Pearse | Lalor Roddy | Richard Coyle | Russell Tovey | Ruth Bradley
Jason says: “Even if the name of GRABBERS didn’t make one think of the monsters in TREMORS, the rest of the movie would, in the best possible way. It has the things that this sort of movie needs to succeed
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