Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mat Whitecross
Starring: Andy Serkis | Bill Milner | Luke Evans | Naomie Harris | Olivia Williams | Ray Winstone | Toby Jones
Bruce says: “Director Mat Whitecross figures that a straightforward biopic could not possibly do Ian Dury justice. His artistic decisions pay off. SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL is a nontraditional take on a very nontraditional subject. In addition
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Nora Twomey | Tom Moore
Starring: Brendan Gleeson | Evan McGuire | Liam Hourican | Michael McGrath | Mick Lally
Toni says: “Tomm Moore and his co-production team in Ireland, France, and Belgium, have created a beautiful and haunting masterpiece based of the famous Irish Book of Kells. It is sort of a mix of darker Miyazaki crossed with a touch
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Hue Rhodes
Starring: John Cho | Peter Dinklage | Romany Malco | Sarah Silverman | Steve Buscemi | Tim Blake Nelson
Jason says: “This one had a short run on the plex’s smallest screen, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a pretty decent movie, with a good cast, but it’s also a weird one, with gambling addict John encountering
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Flora Sigismondi
Starring: Alia Shawkat | Dakota Fanning | Kristen Stewart | Michael Shannon | Scout Taylor-Compton | Stella Maeve
TC says: “If you were around in the late 70s, you know the kind of sexist conditions that girls who wanted to rock out ran into. That’s the ultimate story behind THE RUNAWAYS, the story of the groundbreaking all-girl punk
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Justin Edwards
Starring: Franco Castan | James Jarrett | Lauren Jennings | Liz Kate | Scottie Knollin | Terri James
Jason says: “There are many varieties of ‘edgy,’ but most can fit within two broad categories: Those that make a mainstream viewer say ‘ewwwww!’ and those that make that same mainstream viewer say ‘what the hell?’ There is, as one
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: D. Kerry Prior
Starring: Chris Wylde | David Anders | Jacy King | Louise Griffiths
Jason says: “THE REVENANT is nearly two hours, long for a splatter-comedy, and if I could come up with a good suggestion for trimming it, I would probably offer it. The trouble is, the scenes which could probably survive a
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sebastian Junger | Tim Hertherington
Chris says: “I’ve always struggled with war films (both fictional and docs)—it’s possibly my least favorite genre. But I loved THE HURT LOCKER and if this isn’t exactly its real-life equivalent, that’s fine because it aims for something else. Not
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Director: Anand Tucker
Starring: Chris Walker | David Morrissey | Jim Carter | Lisa Howard | Sean Bean | Shaun Dooley | Warren Clarke
Jason says: “The finale of a series never stands up well on its own, no matter how well-intentioned the production may be. One can argue that it shouldn’t, that by the time we get to the third act, the only
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Director: James Marsh
Starring: David Calder | John Fox | Maxine Peake | Nicholas Woodeson | Paddy Considine | Ron Cook | Warren Clarke
Jason says: “David Peace’s Red Riding novels are described as a quartet, and if you look at the titles to the filmed RED RIDING HOOD TRILOGY, there’s clearly a hole where 1977 should be. For whatever reason, screenwriter Tony Grisoni
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Julian Jarrold
Starring: Andrew Garfield | Anthony Flanagan | David Morrissey | Jennifer Hennessey | John Henshaw | Warren Clarke
Jason says: “The RED RIDING trilogy is a daunting prospect, especially if one is inclined to see it during its brief American theatrical release as opposed to as a video on demand offering or on DVD. I’d recommend it, as
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Simon Rumley
Starring: Amanda Fuller | Jon Michael Davis | Marc Senter | Nick Ashy Holden | Noah Taylor | Patrick Crovo
Jason says: “RED WHITE & BLUE takes its time messing the audience up. Even the big event that pulls everything together takes a few scenes to really sink in, as we connect just what’s been going on with a growing
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jaume Balagueró | Paco Plaza
Starring: Alejandro Casaseca | Ariel Casas | Jonathan Mellor | Manuela Velasco | Óscar Zafra
![[Rec] 2](https://chlotrudis.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/rec2.jpeg "[Rec] 2")
Thom says: “The original [REC] is considered a classic amongst the horror set and it was even remade in the United States as QUARANTINE, starring ‘Dexter’s’ wife. This, then, is the ongoing story. It’s very scary and fabulously entertaining but
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Jorma Tommila | Onni Tommila | Peeter Jakobi | Per Christian Ellefsen | Tommi Korpela
Jason says: “RARE EXPORTS appears to be the third go-round that Finnish director Jalmari Helander and his brother Juuso have had with this basic idea, with the previous iterations apparently being punchline-driven shorts. This one, on the other hand, is
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan | Gul Panag | Mohnish Bahl | Paresh Rawal | Ritesh Deshmukh | Suchitra Krishnamoorthi
Jason says: “Say ‘Bollywood,’ and most American audiences will think of cheerful musicals with weddings and happy endings. That’s not likely to be the entirety of a large country’s film output, of course, and Ram Gopal Varma has built a
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Aaron Eckhart | Dianne Wiest | Miles Teller | Nicole Kidman | Sandra Oh | Tammy Blanchard
Ibad says: “I managed to catch this in theaters the other night before going home for the holidays. I don’t have a full length review or anything, but I figured a few scattered thoughts might be of interest to people
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Adel Bencherif | Hichem Yacoubi | Jean-Philippe Ricci | Niels Arstrup | Reda Kateb | Tahar Rahim
Bruce says: “After scoring big with his last two films, READ MY LIPS and THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, the buzz at Cannes this year was that Jacques Audiard’s A PROPHET would walk away with the top prize; instead
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kimberly Reed
Michael says: “I often go through a brief film malaise in the early part of the year. Between catching up to vote in the Chlotrudis Awards and the general lack of quality films released in the beginning of the year,
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Rebecca Miller
Starring: Alan Arkin | Blake Lively | Julianne Moore | Keanu Reaves | Maria Bello | Robin Weigert | Robin Wright Penn | Winona Ryder
Michael says: “Rebecca Miller’s THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE came and went in theatres with barely a notice, which is unfortunate, because it’s a beautifully crafted film with sharp writing and terrific performances from the likes of Robin Wright
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nicole Holofcener
Starring: Amanda Peet | Ann Morgan Guilbert | Catherine Keener | Lois Smith | Oliver Platt | Rebecca Hall | Sarah Steele
Michael says: “Nicole Holofcener’s films, which explore relationships, most often between women; friends, sisters, mothers and daughters, have yet to let me down. From her spare, hilarious debut, WALKING AND TALKING, to her most recent, just-released PLEASE GIVE, Holofcener and
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Director: David Ledonne
Jason says: “It’s not that I didn’t think much of video games as an art form before seeing PLAYING COLUMBINE; I just tended to think of them as more of an abstract art form. I would respond to complaints from
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