Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Gorman Bechard
Starring: Alex Brown | Anne Petersen | Jake Alexander | Lynn Mancinelli | Margaret Laney
Jason says: “A funny thing happened while I sat in the theater, watching the BUFF screening of FRIENDS (WITH BENEFITS): I realized that it was, all told, a pretty conventional romantic comedy – which is probably the last thing I
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Katie Aselton
Starring: Joshua Leonard | Katie Aselton | Ken Kennedy | Leonora Gershman | Sean Nelson
Jason says: “THE FREEBIE is one of those DIY-style movies (it’s too well-spoken and clean-looking to be referred to as ‘mumblecore’) where no writing credits appears; the cast is working from producer/director/star Katie Aselton’s outline. Everyone’s got their own process,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alex Gibney | Eugene Jarecki | Heidi Ewing | Morgan Spurlock | Rachel Grady | Seth Gordon
TC says: “FREAKONOMICS is based on the best-selling book of the same name by economist Steven Levitt and writer Stephen Dubner. It basically looks at how random chance, or causality, affects various parts of the everyday economy. “Having been fan
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Director: Christopher Morris
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch | Craig Parkinson | Kayvan Novak | Nigel Lindsay | Preeya Kalidas | Riz Ahmed
Jason says: “Before getting upset at the very existence of terrorist comedy FOUR LIONS, remember one thing: Most criminals are idiots. If they were smart, they’d likely be putting their talents to use doing something much more lucrative with much
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Adam Kane
Starring: James Van Der Beek | John Heard | Tzi Ma | Wendy Crewson | Will Tiao
Jason says: “(There’s movies where you want your opinion known, movies that you want people made aware of, and shameless attempts to make sure that the limited-release film you saw counts toward your films-seen tally at the end of the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ha Yu
Starring: In-seong Jo | Ji-hyo Song | Jin-mo Ju
Jason says: “How things change; before THE KING AND THE CLOWN, which was very careful about what it showed of its title characters’ relationship, I don’t think you ever saw gay characters in Korean cinema, and Park Chan-wook’s THIRST wound
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Starring: Annika Hallin | Lena Endre | Michael Nyqvist | Michalis Koutsogiannakis | Noomi Rapace | Peter Andersson
Jason says: “It’s not really important that the first ‘Millennium’ novel (and film adaptation) is called Men Who Hate Women in Sweden, becoming The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in English-speaking countries for the purpose of having the entire trilogy
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: James Ivory
Starring: Anthony Hopkins | Charlotte Gainsbourg | Hiroyuki Sanada | Laura Linney | Omar Metwally
Michael says: “I am a huge fan of Peter Cameron’s novel The City of Your Final Destination, so I was looking forward to James Ivory’s adaptation of the same name. The main story follows the journey of a young man
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yael Hersonski
TC says: “I can’t describe what an amazing, powerful movie this is. The film focuses on four reels of film shot in 1942 in the Warsaw ghetto by Nazi filmmakers who were making a propaganda film. But for some reason,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Brooke Smith | David Andrews | Naomi Watts | Norbert Leo Butz | Sean Penn
Jason says: “FAIR GAME is a good movie that is going to have a target on its back for all the wrong reasons. If the story were relocated and names were changed, both its issues and its strengths would be
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Robert Pulcini | Shari Springer Berman
Starring: Alicia Goranson | Dan Hedaya | John C. Reilly | Katie Holmes | Kevin Kline | Paul Dano
Jason says: “In general, it’s a bad sign when the main character of a movie isn’t the first name you see in the credits. That’s not a rule you can really rely on, since that sort of thing is often
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Banksy
Chris says: “It’s rare for one film to fully capture how an artistic movement evolves from inception to irrelevance, but that’s just what this ingenuously constructed, gleefully entertaining documentary does for graffiti-inspired guerrilla street art—as it’s all happening, no less.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jin Ho Choi
Starring: Chang-ju Lee | Cho Hyun-jae | Geon Kim | Kye Sang Yoon | Su-jeong Jo | Su-yeon Cha | Tae-hee Heo
Jason says: “It’s not hard for a prison movie to get off to a decent start. There is, after all, always a new guy coming in who needs to be shown the ropes and taught the rules. That the new
Read the review...Everyone Else (USA; 108 min.) directed by: Maren Ade starring: Birgit Minichmayr; Lars Eidinger; Hans-Jochen Wagner; Nicole Marischka; Mira Partecke Scot says: “Just watched the German film EVERYONE ELSE, which I quite enjoyed. My concise summary of the film is
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Renzo Martens
Diane says: “Looking for a new perspective on global poverty? You’ll enjoy Dutch artist Renzo Martens’ provocative forays into World Bank meetings, UNHCR camps (asking a camp director, ‘If someone wants a shelter, does it -have- to have a logo
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: S. Shankar
Starring: Aishwarya Rai | Danny Denzongpa | Delhi Kumar | Karunas | Rajnikanth | Santhanam
Jason says: “ENDHIRAN is long, uneven, and like many films that attempt to be all things to all people, frequently comes off as a muddled, drawn-out mess. However, the thing about the Indian style of filmmaking – which seems to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Conor McPherson
Starring: Aiden Quinn | Cirián Hinds | Iben Hjejle | Jim Norton
Bruce says: “Were it not for a career-defining performance by Cirián Hinds THE ECLIPSE might not find much of an audience. While it is a ghost story and it is scary at times, it is lacking in cult potential largely
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alex Law
Starring: Aarif Lee | Buzz Chung | Evelyn Choi | Paul Chun | Sandra Ng Kwan Yue | Simon Yam
Jason says: “Many filmmakers produce a movie like ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW at some point in their careers. It’s an autobiographical story set in the place and time of the writer/director’s youth, and though I’m not sure whether it’s actually
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Amanda Bynes | Dan Byrd | Emma Stone | Patricia Clarkson | Penn Badgley | Thomas Haden Church
Thom says: “I’m a fan of the teen genre but, let’s face it, can anything be done to make it fresh and new? Heaven knows this isn’t that movie. It most resembles MEAN GIRLS, but it’s nowhere as good. There
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: David Schaal | Julia Deakin | Kerry Peacock | Robert Hill | Robin Hill | Tony Way
Jason says: “A lot of gangster movies want you to know that they aren’t just about crime, but about family. You can’t miss it, they’re so formal and insistent that it becomes overbearing. DOWN TERRACE, while it has other flaws,
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