Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Joe Berlinger
Thom says: “Berlinger (BROTHERS KEEPER, METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER) does a credible job here on the Ecuadorian land tragedy and the $27 billion lawsuit against Chevron (Texaco) brought by a group of indigenous people from the contaminated region of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Beth Grant | Colin Farrell | Jeff Bridges | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Robert Duvall
Jason says: “There are some fantastic scenes in CRAZY HEART. Pretty much any where you have Jeff Bridges and Robert Duvall together, for instance. Not much of great import happens during those, but you’ve got two great pros who seem
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Buddy Giovinazzo
Starring: Brandon Routh | Carly Pope | Desmond Harrington | Lara Flynn Boyle | Shannyn Sossamon
Jason says: “There’s a line in Buddy Giovinazzo’s adaptation of his 1993 book of short stories that encapsulates the lives of its characters to a tragic extent; it’s a man berating his girlfriend on her priorities: Food, then fix, then
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Louie Psihoyos
Michael says: “Structured like a caper film of international espionage, THE COVE is actually a shocking documentary about a tiny Japanese fishing village that traffics dolphins to the hundreds of sea parks across the world, then slaughters the remaining to
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Starring: Ladislav Sedivý | Marek Daniel | Pavel Liska | Tereza Vorísková | Zuzana Bydzovdká
Bruce says: “**SPOILERS** “THE COUNTRY TEACHER is a lovely film about a young gay teacher who escapes to the countryside to avoid confronting his sexuality. As we all know, relocating usually means packing up one’s problems and carrying them to
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Dilip Mehta
Starring: Don McKellar | Lisa Ray | Maury Chaykin | Seema Biswas | Shirya Saran | Vansh Bhardwaj
Burce says: “The only explanations for this film going so wrong are the fact that it is in the wrong hands, the script is weak and the moral of the story is repugnant. COOKING WITH STELLA looks promising when Michael
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Sophie Barthes
Starring: David Straithairn | Dina Korzun | Emily Watson | Katheryn Winnick | Lauren Ambrose | Paul Giamatti
Michael says: “Okay, I saw a good movie last night. And it was one I knew very little about going in, which is always fun. COLD SOULS stars Paul Giamatti as… well, Paul Giamatti! Paul is rehearsing ‘Uncle Vanya’ and
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Laurent Cantet
Starring: Boubacar Touré | Carl Nanor | Esmèralda Ouertani | Franck Keita | François Bégaudeau | Louise Grinberg | Rachel Régulier | Wei Huang
Bruce says: “Laurent Cantet burst on the scene with the admirable first effort, HUMAN RESOURCES. His next films, TIME OUT and HEADING SOUTH, proved that he is on an upward trajectory. THE CLASS, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes,
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Starring: Ammara Siripong | Hiroshi Abe | JeeJa Yanin | Pongpat Wachirabunjong | Taphon Phopwandee
Jeff says: “Entertaining little Thai martial arts movie with a spunky, autistic (!), teenage heroine who learns all her fighting moves just by watching them on TV and goes to bat for her mom against a bunch of usurous gangsters.
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Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Doris Dörrie
Starring: Aya Irizuki | Elmar Wepper | Hennelore Elsmer | Maximillion Brückner | Nadja Uhl
Julie says: “CHERRY BLOSSOMS was an EXCELLENT pick for Buried Treasure. If more people had seen it it might have been a pick for best movie. “The screenplay was excellent. The cinematography was wonderful. I loved the way certain objects,
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Danièle Thompsoni
Starring: Blanca Li | Christopher Thompson | Danny Boon | Emmanuelle Seigner | Karin Viard | Laurent Stocker | Marina Fois | Marina Hands | Patrick Bruel | Patrick Chesnais | Pierre Arditi
Bruce says: “Like her last film, AVENUE MONTAIGNE (aka ORCHESTRA SEATS), Danièle Thompson’s creates many characters all of whom interact with one another. In CHANGE OF PLANS they all get a chance to come together early on so they can
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Nikhil Advani
Starring: Akshay Kumar | Deepika Padukone | Mithun Chakraborty | Ranvir Shorey
Jason says: “Even though I’ve seen more Bollywood movies than most people I know, I don’t have a particular affinity for them; they’ve basically got to involve something I’m already interested in. Koi… Mil Gaya had spaceships; Krrish was its
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Leslie Cockburn
Bruce says: “AMERICAN CASINO begins with Blossom Dearie singing ‘The Party’s Over’ while a talking head from Bloomberg tells the audience that ‘people didn’t know they were in a casino,’ referring to the mortgage crisis that has forced a $12
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Richard Harrah
Starring: Andrea Marcellus | Christopher Sweeney | Eion Bailey | Wendy Worthington | Will Patton | Yvonne Strahovski
Jason says: “I skipped THE CANYON at a festival this summer; it was only playing once and I figured its cast and story gave it a better chance of hitting American theaters and video than the sort-of-French, sort-of-sci-fi film also
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Alejandro Adams
Starring: Carla Pauli | Eli Kramer | Galen Howard | Jennifer Latch | Larissa Kasian
Jason says: “CANARY is not for everyone. I know this because despite sitting in the fourth row of the auditorium, I saw a dozen or so people in front of me up and leave; I assume there were others behind
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ester Rots
Starring: Chris Borowski | Rifka Lodeizen | Wim Opbrouck
Bruce says: “Ester Rots has accomplished the rarity of making a film that is not altogether likable but strangely satisfying. The conflict lies with her protagonist. Marieke (Rifka Lodeizen) is a woman in crisis. Her long term relationship (whether lover,
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Cristian Nemescu
Starring: Armand Assante | Jamie Elman | Razvan Vasilescu
Bruce says: “At a glance it seems that director Cristian Nemescu was influenced by American pop culture. While that may be true to a certain extent it also appears that Nemescu’s filmmaking owes a larger debt to Emir Kusturica whose
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Mary Stuart Masterson
Starring: Aaron Stanford | Bruce Dern | Elizabeth Ashley | Jayce Bartok | Kristen Stewart | Melissa Leo | Miriam Shor
Jeff says: “Mary Stuart Masterson, in her directorial debut, tells the story of a patriarch (the increasingly crusty Bruce Dern) and his two sons, coming to terms with the death of the family’s mother. Features a pre-Bella Kristen Stewart as
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Rating: 1 cat
Director: Guillermo Arriaga
Starring: Charlize Theron | Jennifer Lawrence | Joaquim de Almeida | José María Yazpik | Kim Basinger | Tessa Ia
Beth C says: “Definitely the worst film I’ve seen all year. Don’t waste your time and money. 1 cat.“
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Anders Østergaard
Thom says: “When this started, not having any prior knowledge of the film, I sort of went Ho Hum, & settled in for a dull political polemic. I am thrilled to tell you that my prognosis was totally wrong. Burma
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