Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jim Mickle
Starring: Bonnie Dennison | Connor Paolo | Danielle Harris | Kelly McGillis | Michael Cerveris
Jason says:v”Jim Mickle’s first feature (also with co-writer/star Nick Damici), MULBERRY STREET, was a low-budget and do-it-yourself as you’re going to see, and pretty impressive even when not grading on that sort of curve. STAKE LAND doesn’t quite represent a
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Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal | Jeffrey Wright | Michael Arden | Michelle Monaghan | Vera Farmiga
Diane says: “Oops! Why did I think this would be good?” Jason responds: “Well, because of Duncan Jones, I imagine. And because Jake Gyllenhaal is pretty good at this sort of action/adventure movie, and there’s a nice supporting cast
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jennilyn Merten | Tyler Measom
Jason says: “Most of the time, when the modern westerner encounters or hears of polygamy, it’s an individual case, and thus he or she thinks about the individual psychology involved. Make it more commonplace, though, and a numbers issue emerges:
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Khavn | Michael Noer
Jason says: “Did Khavn de la Cruz and Michael Noer stumble upon a potentially fascinating movie by pure chance while walking around the streets of Manila? Or did they know about the subject and gracefully insinuate themselves? Or were things
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Starring: Bjørn Floberg | Bjørn Sundquist | Gard B.Eidsvold | Jorunn Kjellsby | Stellan Skarsgård
Jason says: “The phrase ‘returning to the scene of the crime’ is generally used during the investigation of a mystery, but if you take a broader view of what the ‘scene’ is, almost every criminal does it eventually. It’s just
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Ed Gass-Donnelly
Starring: Aaron Poole | Jill Hennessy | Martha Plimpton | Peter Stormare | Stephen Eric McIntyre
Michael says: “Peter Stormare gives a remarkably restrained performance as a small-town cop trying desperately not to give in to a violent past while investigating a local murder that touches close to home. Echoes of FARGO abound, in this economically
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Rating: 4.4
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Antonio Banderas | Eduard Fernández | Elena Anaya | Jan Cornet | Marisa Paredes | Roberto Álamo
Bruce says: “THE SKIN I LIVE IN is an adaptation of the French novel Mygale by Thierry Jonquet. Judging from what I have read about the novel, Almodóvar’s adaptation is a very loose one. For a decade I have wished
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Dick Maas
Starring: Caro Lenssen | Egbert Jan Weeber | Escha Tanihatu | Huub Stapel | Kees Boot | Madelief Blanken
Jason says: “Believe it or not, two movies came out in Europe where the real Santa Claus was a murderous supernatural monster. Finland’s RARE EXPORTS zipped through the festival circuit and appeared in the U.S. at the same time it
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Aleksei Fedorchenko
Starring: Igor Sergeev | Yuliya Aug | Yurly Tsurilo
Jason says: “SILENT SOULS is an art-house movie, more obviously filled with more symbol than story; it’s deliberately oblique at times. In many cases, movies like that want more from their audiences than they’re willing to give, but this one
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Benny Chan
Starring: Andy Lau | Bing Bai | Bingbing Fan | Jackie Chan | Nicholas Tse | Yu Xing
Jason says: “Benny Chan’s SHAOLIN is not a remake of any of the Shaw Brothers films that focused on that legendary temple and its monks (though only fifty-odd years gone at the time, Gordon Liu-starring movies like THE 36TH CHAMBER
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Alex Manette | Carey Mulligan | James Badge Dale | Michael Fassbender | Nicole Beharie
Michael says: “Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a successful businessman who lacks any meaningful relationships due to his sexual addiction. His carefully constructed life is thrown into turmoil when his sister Sissy (Mulligan) returns. Despite some high profile awards and some
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Rating: 3.6
Director: Michael Tully
Starring: Jim Willingham | Michael Tully | Onur Tukel | Rachel Korine | Robert Longstreet
Julie says: “Crazy good, darkish ? homegrown southern curio of a film. Interesting unfolding of events, several humorous moments, several bizarre moments, several poignant moments…in the end, sadly, I was left somewhat unsatisfied as if a piece or two to
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Rating: 4.6
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Starring: Ali-Asghar Shahbazi | Babak Karimi | Kimia Hosseini | Leila Hatami | Merila Zare'i | Payman Maadi | Sareh Bayat | Sarina Farhadi | Shahab Hosseini | Shirin Yazdanbakhsh | Sohibanoo Zolqadr
Ibad says: “I’m fully aware that when someone like myself has been really hyping up a certain picture for a while…and they finally see it…and it turns out, surprise!, they’re in love with it, it almost seems forced if not
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Asif Kapadia
Diane says: “SENNA, a doc about Brazilian race car driver Ayrton Senna, is well-paced and has some pathos, but it isn’t very deep. One thing that makes it enjoyable is that Senna is awfully handsome. He was the pride of
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Rating: 2.125 cats
Director: Tommy Stovall
Starring: Beth Grant | Christopher Atkins | Frances Fisher | Matthew J. Williamson | Seth Peterson
Michael says: “Some strong performances and a naturally mystical setting can’t quite rise above a screenplay that is a little too new agey and coincidental to fully work as a film. Tammy (Fisher) is on her way to Phoenix to
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: James Felix McKenney
Starring: Angus Scrimm | Christine Spencer | Don Wood | Larry Fessenden | Reggie Bannister
Jason says: “I must admit – I’ve completely lost the ability to tell genuine evangelical Christianity from satire of the same. I say this not to disparage the people who find comfort and strength in their faith, just to point
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Quentin Depieux
Starring: Jack Plotnick | Roxane Mesquida | Stephen Spinella | Wings Hauser
Jason says: “It’s natural to be a little wary of RUBBER. It’s a movie made by a French musician that takes place in America, with a gonzo concept and an experimental execution; just looking at the description, the odds of
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Gus Van Zant
Starring: Henry Hopper | Lusia Strus | Mia Wasikowska | Ryo Kase | Schuyler Fisk
Thom says: “Gus Van Sant has long been one of my favorite directors with his only real flop being EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES which he reportedly made during his period of being totally distraught after the tragic death of
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Andrew Traucki
Starring: Adrienne Pickering | Damian Walshe-Howling | Gyton Grantley | Kieran Darcy-Smith | Zoe Naylor
Jason says: “Early on in THE REEF, a character looking at a wall full of sharks’ jaws is told not to worry, because one is far more likely to die of a bee sting than a shark attack. A part
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Starring: Alex Descas | André Marcon | Anne Consigny | Françoise Fabian | Michel Voïta | Yvan Attal
Michael says: “I was excited to get the opportunity to see RAPT, the latest directorial effort from Chlotrudis Award winner (and past guest) Lucas Belvaux at the Boston French Film Festival this past weekend. RAPT is a political thriller starring
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