Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Yoav Shamir
Bruce says: “Too often a documentary does not present an equitable view of its subject. Filmmaker Yoav Shamir seems to have gone out of his way to present a balanced view of anti-Semitism in DEFAMATION. Nonetheless, his efforts seem to
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Gadi Harel | Marcel Sarmiento
Starring: Andrew DiPalma | Candice Accola | Eric Podnar | Michael Bowen | Noah Segan | Shiloh Fernandez
Jason says: “The zombie film, when you get right down to it, is really not that malleable a form. The plots are more or less the same, just differing in setting, detail, and tone. So it’s not exactly surprising that
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Charlotte Frogner | Evy Kasseth Røsten | Lasse Valdal | Stig Frode Henriksen | Vegar Hoel
Jason says: “DEAD SNOW doesn’t need a whole lot of reviewing. It’s the movie with the zombie Nazis, and if the mention of the phrase ‘zombie Nazis’ makes a person say ‘tell me more,’ what he really means is ‘tell
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Beth Caldwell says: “LA DANSE is a beautiful, beautiful film. Frankly this is what the category ‘best cinematography’ was made to represent. I’m particularly impressed that the cinematography was so rich and diverse in a place where the camera needed
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jae-young Kwak
Starring: Haruka Ayase | Keisuke Koide | Ken'ichi Endô | Risa Ai | Yoshikau Ebishu
Jason says: “I’m more than a bit curious how CYBORG SHE was marketed in Japan. The festival plugged it as the new film by Kwak Jaw-young, and of a piece with his with his other whimsical romantic comedies with a
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Danny Kuchuck | John Weiner
Starring: Allen Alvarado | Jadin Gould | Julie Carson | Nicole Cannon | Steve Bannos
Jason says: “I like to tell people, when recommending sci-fi stories in any medium, that if you don’t find your head hurting a little during a time-travel story, or at least see the potential for that headache, then it’s probably
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kyoung-mi Lee
Starring: Eun-jin Bang | Hyo-jin Kong | Jong-hyeok Lee | Seong-woo Bae | Woo Seo | Woo-seul-hye Hwang
Jason says: “There’s a lesson to be learned from CRUSH AND BLUSH, perhaps several. The first is that if you had a rough time in high school, it might not be a great idea to go back there unless you
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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,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
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,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
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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