Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Michael Colford
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Chloe Moretz | Clark Gregg | Geoffrey Arend | Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Zooey Deschanel
Michael says: “It’s nice to see a movie not about two people falling in love and living happily ever after, but two people embarking on a relationship that doesn’t work leaving on with a broken heart. That is the premise
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Alex Descas | GrégoireColin | Mati Diop | Nicole Dogue
Beth Curran says: “Michael will be very happy. So far (end of Day 4) this is my favorite film of the festival. It’s a character study, a few days or so in the lives of a father and adult daughter
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jia Zhangke
Starring: Jianbin Chen | Joan Chen | Liping Lu | Tao Zhao
Bruce says: “Years from now there is no doubt in my mind that Jia ZhangKe will be considered one of the great documentarians of the great Chinese migration from a planned economy to a market-driven economy. 24 CITY is a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tim McCanlies
Starring: Cody Kasch | Devin Ratray | Leonardo Nam | Mika Boorem | Tyler Francavilla
Jason says: “Writer/Director Tim McCanlies described THE 2 BOBS as his attempt to do a Kevin Smith movie, which is funny since Smith most recently released his attempt at a Judd Apatow movie. Depending how you define that, he’s either
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Martin Gero
Starring: Aaron Abrams | Carly Pope | Diora Bair | Josh Cooke | Josh Dean | Kristin Booth | Sonja Bennett
Michael says: “The Canadian film YOUNG PEOPLE FUCKING (which Netflix has so coyly renamed YPF) won the award for Best First Feature at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. While it raised some eyebrows with its storyline of 4 couples
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephen Walker
Carolyn says: “I don’t recall if there was a motive behind teaching these older people to sing fun songs. But it was enjoyable to see them struggle with new songs and then hear them perform when they have mastered the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Cao Hamburger
Starring: Caio Blat | Daniela Piepszyk | Eduardo Moreira | Germano Haiut | Michel Joelsas | Simone Spoladore
Bruce says: “Three ideas for a story converge in THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION: the 1970 World Cup Games in which Pele led his country to their third world championship; the insularity of the Jewish community in Sao
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Lucia Puenzo
Starring: Carolina Pelleritti | Germán Palacios | Inés Efron | Martín Piroyansky | Ricardo Darín | Valeria Bertuccelli
Bruce says: “In film, difficult subject matter is always a favorite domain of mine providing it is in good hands. With XXY, director Lucia Puenzo – daughter of Luis Puenxo whose THE OFFICIAL STORY is perhaps the most famous film
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood | Marisa Tomei | Mark Margolis | Mickey Rourke | Todd Barry
Gil & Amanda say: “Comeback of the year! Mickey Rourke is Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, a washed-up professional wrestler whose glory days are long-gone. Instead of playing to sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, Robinson must now settle for wrestling
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Aditya Assarat
Starring: Anchalee Saisoontorn | Supphasit Kansen
Bruce says: “**SPOILERS** “WONDERFUL TOWN is a good example of a film well-executed but ill-conceived. I may be partially at fault for not properly managing my expectations but WONDERFUL TOWN takes an unforeseen turn that I find unforgiving. “Ton is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Guy Maddin
Starring: Ann Savage | Cory Cassidy | Darcy Fehr | Louis Negin
Michael says: “What a delightful evening in the Wintergarden theatre spent enjoying the world premiere of Guy Maddin’s pseudo-documentary MY WINNIPEG. Maddin was challenged by the Documentary channel to make a doc on his hometown of Winnipeg, and Maddin being
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Celia Maysles
Bruce says: “Albert and David Maysles were trailblazers in documentary filmmaking. Their cinema verité style has been adopted by countless filmmakers laboring in their wake. GREY GARDENS, voted as the #1 Documentary Film among Chlotrudis members, is one of the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Balthasar Kormákur
Starring: Hilmir Snær Guðnason | Laufey Elíasdóttir | Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir | Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
Bruce says: “WHITE NIGHT WEDDING is loosely based on Chekhov’s little-known, first full length play, Ivanov. Jon (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) is a local professor who bought a house on Flatey Island, Iceland’s northernmost island, when his wife Anna was still
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Rodger Grossman
Starring: Ashton Holmes | Bijou Phillips | Noah Segan | Rick Gonzalez | Shane West | Tina Majorino
Jason says: “Music doesn’t interest me nearly as much as movies do, and I grew up on the East Coast besides, so it’s not exactly surprising that I’d never heard of short-lived (but apparently influential) Los Angeles punk band The
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Thomas Gustafson
Starring: Judy McLane | Nathaniel David Becker | Tanner Cohen | Wendy Robie
Michael says: “Based on the short film FAIRIES (which was entered into the Chlotrudis Short Film Festival a few years ago) WERE THE WORLD MINE focuses on Timothy a young gay high school student who, after winning the role of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Michelle Williams | Wally Dalton | Will Patton
Bruce says: “Kelly Reichardt from the looks of things is the modern chronicler of quiet desperation. WENDY AND LUCY is similar in many ways to her critically acclaimed earlier work, OLD JOY. The story is sparse, almost non-existent. There are
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Céline Sciamma
Starring: Adele Haenel | Louise Blachère | Pauline Acquart
Michael says: “This lovely French film dives deep into the world of adolescent girls and budding sexuality. Marie watches from the outside, while her friend Floriane, and the object of her desire, Anne, perform and compete in the world of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Joshua Seftel
Starring: Dan Ackroyd | Hilary Duff | Joan Cusack | John Cusack | Marisa Tomei
Jason says: “Not really close to the thematic sequel to GROSSE POINTE BLANK that some are trying to paint it as, despite sharing John Cusack as a hitman and Joan Cusack and Dan Aykroyd in supporting roles. It’s an angrier
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Ari Folman
Michael says: “Just because a film’s subject matter is powerful doesn’t mean it will be well-executed. That was the situation I found with WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman’s acclaimed, animated documentary that details the director’s quest to uncover his repressed
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Elizabeth Banks | Ellen Burstyn | James Cromwell | Jeffrey Wright | Josh Brolin | Richard Dreyfuss | Scott Glenn
Bruce says: “W. works as a conversation piece; were the film hilarious, educational or consciousness raising in any way, it would have redeeming qualities. There is no apparent reason to make such a film and no reason to see it.
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