Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon
Starring: Aisling O'Sullivan | Amy Huberman | Dylan Moran | Keith Allen | Mark Doherty
Jason says: “As much as I (and most critics, I imagine) am happy to shred a movie that relies too heavily on coincidence and seemingly random events. After all, at some point, the characters should succeed based on their own
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Keith Maitland
Jason says: “My first reaction to THE EYES OF ME was ‘okay, for a movie whose natural home is local public television.’ That’s at least a bit unfair – there’s really nothing in it that would limit its appeal to
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mike Judge
Starring: Ben Affleck | Clifton Collins Jr. | J.K. Simmons | Jason Batemani | Kristin Wiig | Mila Kunis
Toni says: “I have a keen taste personally in comedies and personally prefer the dark. I am a fan of Mike Judge’s work from his work as an animator on THE ANIMATION SHOW and the TV series, ‘The King of
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sion Sono
Starring: Atsuro Watabe | Hikari Mitsushima | Makiko Watanabe | Sakura Andô | Takahiro Nishijima
Jason says: “I recommend LOVE EXPOSURE, rather highly, in fact, but be warned: Maverick Japanese director Sion Sono has a rather singular vision, and his previous feature, the more or less mainstream horror-comedy Hair Extensions, only gives audiences a glimpse
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Astra Taylor
Bruce says: “Inspired by Plato’s statement ‘The unexamined life is not worth living…,’ Astra Taylor has made an intellectually challenging film that is a joy while at the same time not completely satisfying. Through the course of EXAMINED LIFE she
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Adam Del Deo | James D. Stern
Bruce says: “Anyone who loves the theatre will probably like this enjoyable, yet not altogether satisfactory, film. EVERY LITTLE STEP follows the audition and casting process for a 2006 Broadway revival of ‘A Chorus Line.’ When the producers decided to
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Hideaki Anno | Kazuya Tsurumaki | Masayuki
Starring: Akira Ishida | Kotono Mitsuishi | Megumi Hayashibara | Megumi Ogata | Yuriko Yamaguchi
Thom says: “This Japanese anime freebie from the good folks at Chlotrudis was a shocking disappointment. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest fan of anime but this was hopelessly derivative. Adapted from the Japanese television success “Shin seiki evangerion” I can’t
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: Brian Cox | Damian Lewis | Dominic Cooper | Joseph Fiennes | Liam Cunningham | Seu Jorge
Jason says: “It’s a terrible pun with which to lead off a review of a jailbreak movie, but in this case it is literally true: THE ESCAPIST hits the ground running. “The movie kicks off with the sound of alarms
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Richard Laxton
Starring: Cynthia Nixon | Denis O’Hare | John Hurt | Jonathan Tucker | Swoozie Kurtz
Bruce says: “Reprising his role of Quentin Crisp from THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT, John Hurt appears so comfortable in Crisp’s shoes at times it is difficult to remember this film is not a documentary. Hurt plays Crisp as though he
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Geoffrey Smith
Michael says: “Geoffrey Smith’s documentary THE ENGLISH SURGEON is a surprisingly powerful and effective film offering a glimpse into the life of English neurosurgeon Henry Marsh who travels to the Ukraine to help his colleague Igor Kurilets struggling to help
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Arnaud Larrieu | Jean-Marie Larriue
Starring: Catherine Frot | Clotilde Hesme | Karin Viard | Mathieu Amalric | Sergi Lopez
Thom says: “It’s such a dreadful shame that my last two films at TIFF were not worth seeing. This was another apocalyptic film about a virus that’s killing the entire world population. It’s a road film about a married man
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Alfred Molina | Cara Seymour | Carey Mulligan | Dominic Cooper | Emma Thompson | Olivia Williams | Peter Sarsgaard | Rosamund Pike
Michael says: “Danish director Lone Scherfig’s latest film (after scoring big with Chlotrudis with ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS and WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF), is an adaptation of a British memoir about a young girl preparing for University at a private
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Neil Burns
Starring: Aiden Drummond | Ben Cotton | Brian Drummond | Gokul | Jay Brazeau | Powers Boothe
Jason says: “For a movie about a great inventor, EDISON AND LEO is curiously lacking in spark. There are moments of quirky inspiration, but they’re quickly followed by fairly uninspired bits of meanness, ultimately wasting some fine animation. “George T.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Costa-Gravas
Starring: Juliane Köhler | Odysseas Papaspiliopoulos | Riccardo Scamarcio | Ulrich Tukur
Bruce says: “Costsa-Gavras’s reputation as a master filmmaker was made in 1969 with the dazzling Z, a film about totalitarian rule in Greece. His stance on fascist rule was amplified with STATE OF SIEGE and MISSING, the two politically charged
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephan Elliott
Starring: Ben Barnes | Colin Firth | Jessica Biel | Katherine Parkinson | Kimberley Nixon | Kris Marshall | Kristin Scott Thomas
Bruce says: “Noel Coward’s magnificent plays have been source material for the screen since films were silent. In fact, the only other English speaking version of EASY VIRTUE was made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 (a Spanish version appeared on
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Starring: Ji-a Park | Jô Odagiri | Mi-hie Jang | Na-yeong Lee | Tae-hyeon Kim
Jason says: “Although reasonable people may disagree on just what constitutes ‘good freaky’ versus ‘bad freaky,’ they will most likely acknowledge that there is a difference. Many of those familiar with the work of Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk will further
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Starring: Anna Bonaiuto | Carlo Buccirosso | Flavio Bucci | Giulio Bosetti | Toni Servillo
Diane says: “IL DIVO is difficult for Americans to understand. One has to know the Italian political scene to appreciate who the actors are and the machinations. Reading subtitles for the Italian dialogue doesn’t leave time to catch the original
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Luis Ortega
Starring: Alejandro Urdapilleta | Luis Ortega | Martina Juncadella
Thom says: “This is an unusual film of power, rage, and grace. It’s an apocalyptic vision of a bleak & deserted world. A couple is wandering through a dreary landscape ostensibly looking for a way to a river that if
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Christian Molina
Starring: Belén Fabra | Geraldine Chaplin | Leonardo Sbaraglia | Llum Barrera
Jason says: “DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC is a bit of an anti-romance. In most movies, the main character is led along the path which shows that sex without True Love is ultimately empty, whereas in this one, pretty much every
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Yôjirô Takita
Starring: Kazuko Yoshiyuki | Kimiko Yo | Masahiro Motoki | Ryoko Hirosue | Tsutomu Yamazaki
Jason says: “DEPARTURES feels like the sort of film that wins the Academy Award for best foreign language feature. It’s a good movie, just Japan-specific enough that the voters can feel like they’re awarding another culture, but accessible and mainstream
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