Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Noam Murro
Starring: Ellen Page | ennis Quaid | Sarah Jessica Parker | Thomas Haden Church
Michael says: “Surprisingly, after the tepid reviews, I rather enjoyed SMART PEOPLE. While there were a couple of schmaltzy moments, I thought the acting was outstanding. Of course, Ellen Page was super, but Dennis Quaid and Thomas Haden Church were
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Danny Boyle | Loveleen Tanden
Starring: Anil Kapoor | DevPatel | Freida Pinto | Saurabh Shukla
Gil and Amanda say: “Winner of the Cadillac People’s Choice Award! A young Indian man, who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, becomes a finalist on the TV show, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.’ Due to his background
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Starring: Chiaki Kuriyama | inko Kikuchi | Shosuke Tanihara
Beth says: “Japanese anime, based on a novel about a war that’s been wholly privatized by two companies who are at endless war, and the Kildren, genetically mutated humans who cannot age. Yuichi is a new pilot at one of
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne | Luc Dardenne
Starring: ArtaDobroshi | Fabrizio Rongione | Jérémie Renier
Beth says: “Directed by the Dardennes brothers, we follow Lorna, a naturalized Albanian using her Belgian status in a scheme that marries her to others immigrating from Eastern Europe. Imagine if 4 MONTHS 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS had followed the
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Daryl Wein
Jason says: “In another recent documentary about a man preaching the gospel of safe sex (DARLING!), there’s a line about how condoms are a matter of simple hygiene. It seems like a simple and obvious thing to say now, but
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Claude Miller
Starring: Cécile de France | Julie Depardieu | Ludivine Sagnier | Mathieu Amalric | Patrick Bruel | Quentin Dubois | Valentin Vigourt
Bruce says: “Set during the Nazi occupation of France during WWII, A SECRET is a war film, a love story, a coming-of-age tale and a mystery all wrapped into one very neat package. Its main asset, among many, is the
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Tom Kalin
Starring: Eddie Redmayne | Julianne Moore | Stephen Dillane
Michael says: “Director Tom Kalin’s last feature film was SWOON, released in 1992. Sixteen years later, Kalin finally has another film about to open in theatres, and the fact that both films share the based on a true story subject
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Starring: Eri Ishida | Ken Mitsuishi | Kengo Kora | Tadanobu Asano | Yuka Itaya | Yusuke Kawazu
Michael says: “Despite an intriguing, adept cast, and some skillful camerawork, Shinji Aoyama’s SAD VACATION has a little too much plot to be entirely successful. In fact, more than once I wondered if this film was a sequel and I
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Francesco Munzi
Starring: Aurélian Recoing | Constantin Lupescu | Giovanni Morina | Laura Vasiliu | Sandra Ceccarelli | Stefano Cassetti | Veronica Besa | Victor Cosma
Bruce says: “THE REST OF THE NIGHT begins with Silvana (Sandra Ceccarelli) being attacked by gypsies. Visibly distraught she later behaves strangely during dinner with her husband and daughter when out of the blue she accuses the Eastern European maid,
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Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Joachim Trier
Starring: Anders Danielsen Lie | Espen Klouman-Høiner | Henrik Elvestad | Viktoria Winge
Bruce says: “Two young men, Philip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (Espen Klouman Høiner), graduate from university with a shared dream of becoming famous writers, and shortly thereafter they send their manuscripts off to publishers.. Friends since childhood, they have
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Larry Charles
Gil & Amanda say: “Bill Maher looks into the beliefs and practices of a number of different organized religions. Shot in a comedic style that is similar to the Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore, this documentary is entertaining yet seems
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: David Mamet
Starring: Alice Braga | Chiwelet Ejiofor | David Paymer | Emily Mortimer | Joe Mantegna | Rebecca Pidgeon | Ricky Jay | Rodrigo Santoro | Tim Allen
Jason says: “REDBELT isn’t quite a blender movie, where a filmmaker puts two generally unrelated genres together to see what happens. It is a nifty combination of David Mamet mystery and martial arts action, and it delivers on that DNA’s
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lucky McKee | Trygve Allister Diesen
Starring: Brian Cox | Kyle Gallner | Noel Fisher | Tom Sizemore
Jason says: “One of the few things I miss about living in the suburbs versus the city is that it’s difficult for me to keep a dog. My family had them while I was growing up, and I envy my
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Rating: 3.3 cats
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anna Deavere Smith | Anne Hathaway | Bill Irwin | Debra Winger | Mather Zickel | Rosemarie DeWitt
Michael says: “Jonathan Demme is a little too self-indulgent for my tastes for his dogmaesque attempt in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Ann Hathaway plays Kym, a young woman taking a break from rehab to attend her sister’s wedding. She will be
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Antonio Luigi Grimaldi
Starring: Alessandro Gassman | Blu Di Martino | Isabella Ferrari | Nanni Moretti | Roman Polanski | Valeria Golino
Bruce says: “As QUIET CHAOS begins, Pietro (Nanni Moretti) and Carlo (Alessandro Gassman) Paladini, brothers from Rome’s privileged class, are playing paddleball towards summer’s end at a beachside resort. Suddenly there are screams from the ocean. Two women have gone
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Aaron Katz
Starring: Cris Lankenau | Erin Fisher | Sarah Hellman
Michael says: “Since it didn’t win the John Cassavetes Award at the Indie Spirits, but I did get to see director Aaron Katz, who I got to chat with, on TV, I thought I should review the film QUIET CITY
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jessica Yu
Starring: Elizabeth Sung | Jim Lau | Jimmy Tsai | Roger Fan | Shelley Malil
Michael says: “Who would have thought that the first feature narrative by filmmaker Jessica Yu, the brilliant documentarian responsible for IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL and PROTAGONIST, would be a wacky comedy in the vein of THE BAD NEWS
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Beth says: “Paul Gross wrote, directed, co-produced and co-starred in a movie inspired by stories told to him by his grandfather about serving in the Canadian army during WWI and experiencing the horrors of trench warfare and the battle at
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Daniel Liu | Gabe Nevins | Jake Miller | Taylor Momsen
Michael says: “I guess I’ve kind of given up on Gus Van Sant. I enjoyed his early work including MALA NOCHE, DRUGSTORE COWBOY and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO. For me he peaked as he started eyeing Hollywood with TO DIE
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Gabriel Medina
Starring: Daniel Hendler | Jazmin Stuart | Walter Jakob
Beth says: “About a sadsack of an Argentinian writer with writer’s block who finds out that, thanks to a longtime ‘friend’, he is famous in Spain as the quirky leading character in a hit TV show called The Paranoids…a character
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