News & Updates - Page 378 of 460 - Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film

Up (2009)

Diane says: “Latest Pixar is bedeviled by a MacGuffin chase that makes it generic. It’s the first half hour of the film, the beautifully moving story of a couple passing from youth to old age and relinquished dreams, that makes

Read the review...

(Untitled) (2009)

Jason says: “It is easy to make fun of the art world, especially those on the edge (or fringe, depending on how you feel about it). It’s a little harder to do it well; just because something is mockable doesn’t

Read the review...

Unmistaken Child (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Nati Baratz

Jason says: “UNMISTAKEN CHILD is an example of my favorite sort of documentary, the fly-on-the-wall film that looks and feels like a narrative feature. It tells its story by marshaling extraordinary access and patience, rather than cutting cutting away to

Read the review...

Tyson (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: James Toback

Barbara says: “Watching TYSON and LAGERFELD CONFIDENTIAL within a day of each other was an interesting experience. The one attribute that the two subjects seem to share is self awareness although Tyson came by his after just about ruining his

Read the review...

Two Lovers (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: James Gray
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow | Joaquin Phoenix | Vinessa Shaw

Peg says: “This odd, often bleak little film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow stumbles as it starts but eventually settles into an absorbing character driven drama. Not quite a love story, this is more a narrative of surviving a

Read the review...

Twentieth Century Boys: Chapter One (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Starring: Etsushi Toyokawa | Takako Tokiwa | Teruyuki Kagawa | Toshiaki Karasawa

Jason says: “I considered skipping the 20TH CENTURY BOYS double feature at Fantasia, not out of disinterest or fear that it wouldn’t be any good, but because the weeks that translations of Naoki Urusawa’s manga are released are the ones

Read the review...

Tulpan (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy
Starring: Askhat Kuchencherekov | Bereke Turganbayev | Ondas Besikbasov | Samal Esljamova | Tolepbergen Baisakalov

Jeff says: “A young Kazakh man returns to the steppe after serving as a diver in the Russian navy, dreaming of his own yurt, a pretty wife, and a prosperous flock of sheep under a starry sky. Alas, the only

Read the review...

True Adolescents (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Craig Johnson
Starring: Bret Loehr | Carr Thompson | Mark Duplass | Melissa Leo

Jason says: “TRUE ADOLESCENTS is a small-budgeted independent film that’s just a swift kick or two from the mainstream. Yes, the execution is mostly what one would expect from the recent wave of chatty, self-examining indie filmmakers, but the basic

Read the review...

Trucker (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: James Mottern
Starring: Benjamin Bratt | Jimmy Bennett | Joey Lauren Adams | Michelle Monaghan | Nathan Fillion

Jason says: “TRUCKER is a working-class drama, and that may be a factor in why it didn’t get released on more screens. Dig into it a little, and it’s similar to Up in the Air – a story about a

Read the review...

Trimpin: The Sound of Invention (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Peter Esmonde

Jason says: “As much as I enjoyed South by Southwest, I must admit that I wish I had seen more of Austin. I bought a guidebook but never cracked it open, and thus my experience with the city is more

Read the review...

Treeless Mountain (2009)

Diane says: “TREELESS MOUNTAIN is a Korean film about two little girls whose mother dumps them with relatives. The seven- and five-year-old leads (no acting experience) are just extraordinary, as is American director So Yong Kim for bringing out these

Read the review...

A Town Called Panic (2009)

Jason says: “A TOWN CALLED PANIC hit me just right tonight; it might not have on another day. It is, you see, an extraordinarily silly animated film, and sometimes one just doesn’t feel like silliness. Of course, those times may

Read the review...

Tokyo Onlypic 2008 (2009)

Jason says: “Anthology films like TOKYO ONLYPIC should probably not be graded on how good they are as a whole, but more on how good the best segments are, and how man segments should be in that group. On those

Read the review...

Tokyo! (2008)

Jason says: “Typically, anthology films like TOKYO! will focus on looking at a subject, whether that be an idea or (as in recent projects like PARIS, JE T’AIME) a city from multiple angles to see it as a whole, generally

Read the review...

Toad’s Oil (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Kôji Yakusho
Starring: Eita | Kaoru Yachigusa | Koji Yakusho | Satomi Kabayoshi | Tôru Masuoka

Thom says: “Everyone will be familiar with Yakusho from his handsome, athletic, lead performance in the great Japanese film SHALL WE DANCE. Here, in his first try as a director & script writer, he more than ably directs himself and

Read the review...

Timecrimes (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Nacho Vigalondo
Starring: Bárbara Goenaga | Candela Fernández | Juan Inciarte | Karra Elejalde | Nacho Vigalondo

Diane says: “This Spanish pic (Nacho Vigalondo, director), still rumored to be up for a remake by David Cronenberg, is a low-budget horror/time-travel puzzle. Set-up got my interest, midpoint I was thinking, ‘This is a pretty silly movie,’ but last

Read the review...

Three Blind Mice (2009)

Jason says: “One night is just enough time. It’s enough time to fall in love (or out of it), enough time to get into trouble, and enough time to come to a decision. A lot can change in one night,

Read the review...

Thirst (2009)

Jason says: “I wish I could take credit for this line, but it was the lady in the next seat over who turned to me after the Fantasia screening of THIRST and said ‘isn’t it cool to see a vampire

Read the review...

Theater of War (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: John W. Walter

Michael says: “Who would have thought that a documentary on the life of Bertold Brecht, politics, and the rehearsals and staging of ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ in Central Park starring Meryl Streep would make such compelling theater? Well we

Read the review...

Tetro (2009)

By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich | Carmen Maura | Klaus Maria Brandauer | Maribel Verdú | Vincent Gallo

Diane says: “A hodgepodge from Coppola deals with creative genius and fraternal rivalry. The unevenness shows in the personnel: one character is wonderfully warm and realistic; a few are absurd; another is full of bombast, signifying nothing. Lead Vince Gallo

Read the review...