Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Luís Galvão Teles
Starring: Isabel Abreu | João Tempera | Marco Delgado | Maria Adánez
Bruce says: “Bearing a vague similarity to the 1959 Doris Day film IT HAPPENED TO JANE, DOT.COM is a David and Goliath tale about a town that takes on both a government and a huge multinational corporation when the townspeople
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Toa Fraser
Starring: Bryan Brown | Jeremy Northam | Judy Parfitt | Peter O'Toole | Sam Neill
Beth Curran says: “This charmer of a film showcases the sublime skills of Jeremy Northam, Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill. Set in 1900s England, a man (Northam) decides to liven up his regular Thursday visits to his eccentric set in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Hie-jin Choi | Rain | u-jeong Lim
Jason says: “Even with the recent success of Bong Joon-ha’s THE HOST and popularity of Kim Ji-woon’s THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD on the festival circuit, Park Chan-Wook is likely still the best-known Korean filmmaker outside his native
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Starring: August Diehl | Devid Striesow | Karl Markovics
Philip says: “Austria’s first Oscar win for Best Foreign Language Film, DIE FÄLSCHER (THE COUNTERFEITERS) proves to be a complicated exercise on prisoner ethics in the midst of the Holocaust horror. All kinds of questions arise in this film regarding
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Cheick Fantamady Camara
Starring: Alex Ogou | Moussa Keita | Tella Kpomahou
Bruce says: “Many films from Africa today are focusing on the heavy weight an average African must bear – the combined weight of tradition, politics and religion. CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY is a superb black comedy about the cultural complexities engulfing
Read the review...The Class (France; 128 min.) directed by: Laurent Cantetstarring: François Bégaudeau, Esmèralda Ouertani, Louise Grinberg, Boubacar Touré, Carl Nanor, Wei Huang, Rachel Régulier, Franck Keita Bruce says: “Laurent Cantet burst on the scene with the admirable first effort, HUMAN
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephen Chow
Starring: Kitty Zhang Yugi | Lei Huang | Stephen Chow
Julie says: “I thought CJ7 was a lovely movie. I highly recommend it. I believe it was mentioned during the nominations committee. Has Chlotrudis ever had a category for comedy? This along with PING PONG PLAYA would have been great
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Bradley Beesley | George Salisbury | Wayne Coyne
Starring: Steve Burns | Steven Drozd | Wayne Coyne
Jeff says: “My son described it as a cross between DARK STAR and ERASERHEAD. “The first human colony on Mars seems doomed. The capacitor on the main oxygen generating unit has burned out, all the spares are gone, and the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Guido Santi | Tina Mascara
Michael says: “This was the film that Chlotrudis co-presented at Ptown, and I was very pleased by the nearly packed house at the Crown & Anchor. CHRIS & DON: A LOVE STORY beautifully tells the story of the thirty-year relationship
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Starring: Ahmad Razvi | Alejandro Palanco | Carlos Zapata | Isamar Gonzales
Tony says: “This is a nice movie about cars. Actually more about parts of cars. I don’t really know anything about cars, but it’s more about this kid and his sister. It all seems to take place near Shea Stadium,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Clark Gregg
Starring: Anjelica Houston | Brad William Henke | Kelly Macdonald | Sam Rockwell
Michael says: “I’m not sure why, but I had high hopes for CHOKE, Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel. Victor Mancini is a sex addict attending, but not really involved with, other than physically, a recovery program. His mother
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Starring: Chow Yun-fat | Guang Li | Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Michelle Yeoh | Radha Mitchell
Julie says: “On another note I just saw THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI based on the true life story of George Hogg. The movie went into development of character relationships a bit more thoroughly than SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE… and deserved better
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Joel Hopkins
Starring: Dustin Hoffman | Eileen Atkins | Emma Thompson | Kathy Baker; | Liane Balaban
Jason says: “Looking at the seven-year gap in Joel Hopkins’s filmography makes me glad that, as much as I like movies, I’m not trying to make them. After all, JUMP TOMORROW had to have been considered something of a success
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Colin Farrell | Ewan McGregor | Hayley Atwell | Peter-Hugo Daly | Philip Davis | Sally Hawkins | Tom Wilkinson
Jason says: “Woody Allen is a bitter old man, and has been for a while. As a young man, he looked at the world around him and laughed at the absurdity, but for the past decade or two his movies
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Nadine Labaki
Michael says: “We saw this French/Lebanese co-production a couple months ago as part of the Sunday Eye Opener, but as it’s opening next weekend, I thought I’d mention it now. Billed as a bit of a STEEL MAGNOLIAS in Beirut,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sarah Gavron
Starring: Christopher Simpson | Satish Kaushik | Tannishtha Chatterjee
Michael says: “Based on an internationally best-selling novel, BRICK LANE explores a plethora of theme including the nature of love, the Muslim community in Britain after 9/11, the empowerment of Indian women, and much more. Sarah Gavron, whose little seen
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Laurie Lynd
Starring: Ben Shenkman | Noah Bennett | Sheila McCarthy | Thomas Cavanaugh
Michael says: “BREAKFAST WITH SCOT was adapted from a lovely novel by Michael Downing that I read several years ago, and despite the fact that it features my husband’s name (correct spelling included) in the title, I had forgotten that
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Stefan Forbes
Bruce says: “In many minds Lee Atwater remains one of the more despicable characters on the political landscape within the past several decades. Many think Atwater was Machiavellian. While that may sound damning to most people, one man claimed at
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alex Orr
Starring: Ana Chlumsky | Katie Rowlett | Marla Malcolm | Matt Hutchinson | Mike Brune
Jason says: “BLOOD CAR has an idea that has loads of potential, introduces it in witty fashion, and an ending that is just gleefully over the top. It’s also got a half hour or forty-five minutes (out of seventy-five) between
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Starring: Alice Braga | Don McKellar | Gael García Bernal | Julianne Moore | Mark Ruffalo | Yoshino Kimura | Yusuke Iseya
Beth Curran says: “Okay, I first must talk about the spectacle first – the film’s premiere was at the Elgin, and it was beyond zooey. Seating took forever, and it was unbelievable how large the reserved section was. While looking
Read the review...