Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Antonio Garrido | Blanca Portillo | Fernando Tejero | Jose Mota | Juan Luis Galiardo | Salma Hayek
Jason says: “Is Álex de la Iglesia getting a little soft as he ages? Though he’s not credited with the screenplay here (nor is frequent collaborator Jorge Guerricaechevarría), it still seems a bit surprising that de la Iglesia, given material
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Nicholas Jarecki
Starring: Brit Marling | Laetia Casta | Nate Parker | Richard Gere | Stuart Margolin | Susan Sarandon | Tim Roth
Chris says: “When you have a lead character whose actions are as extremely despicable as those of Robert Miller, you need an actor so rakishly charming as to avoid alienating your audience. Aging like fine cheese, silver-haired Richard Gere nearly
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Giddens Ko
Starring: Hao Shao-wen | Ke Zhendong | Michelle Chen | Owodog | Tsai Chang-hsien | Wan Wan | Yen Sheng-yu
Jason says: “After watching YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE, I learned that it was even more autobiographical than most coming-of-age movies; read a rumor that it was among the most elaborate attempts gestures ever made to declare one’s
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Travis Fine
Starring: Alan Cumming | Don Franklin | Frances Fisher | Garret Dillahunt | Gregg Lambert | Issac Leyva
Bruce says: “ANY DAY NOW won the Audience Award for best feature at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Already I have heard snide comments about its deservedness. How does it happen that every film dealing with disabilities is tagged as
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Starring: Caleb Landry Jones | Douglas Smith | Joe Pingue. Nicholas Campbell | Malcolm McDowell | Sarah Gadon
Thom says: “If you can buy into the theme that superfans of media stars would be willing to inject themselves with the same disease that their particular favorite idol has contracted than you might be thrilled at the cool finesse
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson | Alice Vikander | Domhnall Gleeson | Jude Law | Keira Knightly | Kelly Macdonald | Matthew Macfadyen | Olivia Williams
Matt says: “ATONEMENT director Joe Wright’s bold costume drama ANNA KARENINA served as my introduction to Leo Tolstoy’s beloved story of passion and infidelity among aristocrats in 19th century Russia. Despite my lack of familiarity with the novel, Wright’s audacious
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Xan Aranda
Chris says: “If you’ve ever seen Andrew Bird live, you can understand why anyone would want to make a film about him. A singer, songwriter and classically trained multi-instrumentalist (most notably on violin and guitar), Bird has gradually harvested a
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mads Brügger
Jason says: “More than with most documentaries, I find myself in a bind when watching something like THE AMBASSADOR. The part of me that goes to the movies for a good story winds up in conflict with the part that
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jordan Galland
Starring: Brooke Nevin | Christine Evangelista | Danny Masterson | Joey Kern | John Ventimaglia | Kris Lemche
Jason says: “It would have been really easy to make ALTER EGOS little more than a feature-length series of jokes made at the expense of comic book clichés loosely connected by a standard story template. And there’s a lot of
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Rating: 3.6
Director: Giorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Aggeliki Papoulia | Ariane Labed | Aris Servetalis | Johnny Vekris
Thom says: “Lanthimos was the director of my TOP 2010 FILM DOGTOOTH so you can imagine how excited I was to see his latest contribution to world cinema. Thrillingly, I loved the film and even flirted with the idea of
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Sara Johnsen
Starring: David Dencik | Kristoffer Joner | Mads Sjøgård Pettersen | Maria Bonnevie | Maria Heiskanen
Thom says: “This desultory film was much more appreciated by filmgoer Beth but I just didn’t get it. We learn first off that two brothers lie dead in a remote forest with a woman barely alive lying beside them. William
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Daniel Burman
Starring: Gabriel Schultz | Jorge Drexler | Luis Brandoni | Norma Aleandro | Valeria Bertuccelli
Bruce says: “Argentina is famous for taking in what is believed to be hundreds of Nazi war criminals during the Peron years. What many people don’t know is that Buenos Aires has one of the largest Jewish populations outside of
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Rodrigo García
Starring: Aaron Johnson | Brendan Gleeson | Glen Close | Janet McTeer | Mia Wasikowska
Thom says: “There’s already serious Oscar talk for Glenn Close as Best Actress of 2011 & I wouldn’t make a big stink if she won. I’ve always like Glenn Close and she’s quite good here. But the problem with her
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Alison Klayman
Jason says: “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is an odd duck, even by installation-artist standards. That it’s often an affable, upbeat eccentricity may help explain why a government not known for free expression let the outspoken Ai be for so long
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Yousry Nasrallah
Starring: Bassem Samra | Menna Shalabi | Nahed El Sebaï | Salah Abdallah
Bruce says: “Having seen Yousry Nasrallah’s earlier films THE AQUARIUM and SCHEHERAZADE: TELL ME A STORY, I now know what to expect. His films tell multiple stories, usually involving clashes between classes, religious groups and the old and new Egypt.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Akiyoshi Naako | Hiroki Narimiya | Mirei Kiritani | Rei Dan | Ryo Ishibashi | Takumi Saito
Jason says: “I’ve never played the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney video game, but I gather it’s just as deeply silly as Takashi Miike’s adaptation, which I submit must be a good thing. I also suggest that it’s quite possible that
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Fernando Merirelles
Starring: Anthony Hopkins | Ben Foster | Jude Law | Lucia Siposova | Marianne Jean-Baptiste | Rachel Weisz
Thom says: “Director Meirelles has really been on a tear with such successes as CITY OF GOD, THE CONSTANT GARDNER, & BLINDNESS so with the first rate cast here I had high expectations, but maybe I’ve seen one too many
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Pablo Stoll
Starring: Anaclara Ferreyra Palfy | Humberto De Vargas | Sara Bessio
Thom says: “Director Stoll had impressed me with WHISKEY (2004) & I liked this dysfunctional family drama even more. Usually with such a sad sack trio (mother, moved-out dad, & obstreperous teen girl) I’d have lost interest shortly into the
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Julie Delpy
Starring: Albert Delpy | Alexandre Nahon | Alexia Landeau | Chris Rock | Dylan Baker | Julie Delpy | Kate Burton
Jason says: “Sequels to independent films that didn’t really break out are kind of odd things; the audience is as much those who heard the first movie was pretty good as the people who loved it, so even more than
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: John Carney | Kieran Carney
Starring: David Murray | David Pearse | Janice Byrne | Rory Keenan | Simon Delaney
Jason says: “If ZONAD ever started to make a lick of sense for even one second, it probably wouldn’t work. Fortunately, filmmakers John & Kieran Carney are well aware of that, and while they have managed to put something resembling
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