Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Toni Kalem
Starring: Guy Pearce | Irma P. Hall | John Hawkes | Lili Taylor
Bruce says: “**SPOILERS** “Based on an Anne Tyler novel, A SLIPPING-DOWN LIFE is a weird combination of a traditional love story and a bizarre turn of events for two Southerners who see nothing in their boring lives but a dead
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Mike Hodges
Starring: Clive Owen; Charlotte Rampling; Malcolm McDowell | Jamie Foreman | Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Ken Stott | Sylvia Syms
Bruce says: “Director Mike Hodges and Clive Owen scored critical raves for CROUPIER. I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD fuels the argument that lightening rarely strikes twice in the same place. Owen plays Will Graham who is a ‘retired’ mobster who
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Kerry Conran
Starring: Angelina Jolie | Giovanni Ribisi | Gwyneth Paltrow | Jude Law | Laurence Olivier | Michael Gambon
Janet says: “You’ll notice that this review is a departure from my usual style. It comes from my better and more technical half, Linc Ross.” Lincoln says: “As a film dilettante, I would not normally feel competent to review a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1 cat
Director: John Sayles
Starring: Billy Zane | Chris Cooper | Danny Huston | Daryl Hannah | Kris Kristofferson | Maria Bello | Mary Kay Place | Richard Dreyfuss | Thora Birch | Tim Roth
Diane says: “Didn’t John Sayles’ movies used to be good? Especially after seeing MARIA FULL OF GRACE, this pic dealing with undocumented laborers is bad. It looks bad. The script is bad. Exposition is belabored (even going so far as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sabiha Sumar
Starring: Aamir Malik | Abid Ali | Kiron Kher | Navtej Johar Singh | Shilpa Shukla
Bruce says: “The great power of SILENT WATERS lies in its story. “In 1947, British India was separated into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with two sections West and East) and Hindu India. The transition was not easy or without
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti | Sandra Oh | Thomas Haden Church | Virginia Madsen
Michael says: “Alexander Payne’s look at the male in middle-age crisis if fun, well-written, and winning rave reviews from Chlotrudis members. I liked it, but you won’t be seeing it on any of my top of the year lists. Clearly
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Maurizio Benazzo | Nick Day
Georgette says: “Every 12 years a massive Hindu festival takes place in Prayag, Uttar Pradesh where the Ganges (Ganga) and Yamuna rivers meet. The holiest swamis, gurus, and living saints gather to discuss religious doctrine, sing, and most importantly, bathe
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Siegrid Alnoy
Starring: Carlo Brandt | Catherine Mouchet | Sasha Andres
Bruce says: “ELLE EST DES NOTRES is a very black comedy although it is billed as drama. Christine (Sasha Andres) is an unemployed office worker getting temp jobs wherever she can. To cover up her precarious employment situation she often
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Anthony Mackie | Dania Ramirez | Ellen Barkin | John Turturro | Kerry Washington | Monica Bellucci | Woody Harrelson
Ivy says: “My phrase for this movie is: She Hate It. “Although Kerry Washington’s performance was good, and there were lots of good appearances from some of my other favorite indie actresses I do think that the film was more
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Dylan Moran | Kate Ashfield | Lucy Davis | Nick Frost | Simon Pegg
Beth says: “So last month or so, thanks to Clint’s last minute offer of a free pass to its Boston sneak preview, I went to see SHAUN OF THE DEAD almost 100% clueless about it (an exceedingly rare state for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Stephen Chow
Starring: Man Tat Ng | Stephen Chow | Wei Zhao | Yin Tse
Michael says: “This hilarious spoof on kung fu films blends the art of Shaolin kung fu and soccer! If that sounds wacky, then you’ve got a good idea what SHAOLIN SOCCER will give you. It’s also incredibly sweet, and awfully
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Rodrigo Bellott
Starring: Matt Cavanaugh | Matthew Guida | Ronica V. Reddick
Chris says: “I had mixed feelings about this ambitious but flawed first feature from director Rodrigo Bellott. Beginning in Bolivia and ending up at a prototypical American University, it tracks a cast of young adults undergoing various sexual awakenings, experiences
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.6
Director: Catherine Breillat
Starring: Anne Parillaud | Ashley Wanninger | Bart Binnema | Dominique Colladant | Grégoire Colin | Roxane Mesquida
Michael says: “As a follow-up to the controversial FAT GIRL, Breillat serves up something highly original and self-reflexive. At the core of FAT GIRL’s controversy is a 12 – 20 minutes (depending on how you measure it) seduction/sex scene involving
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Gary Yates
Starring: Jonas Chernick | Kevin Pollack | Liane Balaban
Bruce says: “Just when I think I’m tired of caper films, one comes along that seems to refresh the genre. SEVEN TIMES LUCKY is one of those surprises, not because the double-crosses are better than rival capers but because it
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jean-François Pouliot
Starring: Dominik Michon-Dagenais | Guy-Daniel Tremblay | Nadia Drouin | Raymond Bouchard | Réal Bossé | Rita Lafontaine | Roc LaFortune
Michael says: “This charming, French Canadian film is in the vein of WAKING NED DEVINE and CHOCOLAT, in its sweet, inoffensive, feel-good storyline. These films always make me feel slightly uncomfortable when considered in the independent millieu. Why is it
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Starring: Belén Rueda | Celso Bugallo | Clara Segura | Javier Bardem | Joan Dalmau | Lola Dueñas | Mabel Rivera
Hilary says: “In portraying Ramon Sampedro, a Spanish quadriplegic who fought for the right to die, Javier Bardem is presented with a great acting challenge, as it all must be done using only his face and voice. Bardem is a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.3 cats
Director: Mika Ronkainen
Clinton says: “Back to the docs. I’d venture to call this one ‘cool and crazier,’ which, despite the cheesiness of the pun, is a pretty accurate reflection of the Screaming Men Choir. These Finnish rebels get together once a week
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: James Wan
Starring: Cary Elwes | Danny Glover | Dina Meyer | Ken Leung | Leigh Whannell | Mike Butters
Chadd says: “‘SAW has had a fairly good marketing campaign because of its distribution. One of the tag-lines to this marketing was the favorable comparison to the David Fincher film SEVEN. SEVEN happens to encapsulate all that I enjoy about
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Brian Dannelly
Starring: Eva Murri | Jena Malone | Macauly Culkin | Mandy Moore | Martin Donovan | Mary Louise Parker | Patrick Fugit
Diane says: “I was horrified that this was at an indie festival–and a packed house! Starts as a sophomoric satire of born-again Christians, ends spouting a platitudinous Christian message. This was at Sundance?! The Slant reviewer wrote: ‘An early contender
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Guy Maddin
Bruce says: “This film is wildly innovative and original, a stunning success creatively speaking. It is unique. Filmed in fuzzy sepia and silver tones for the most part, the film lapses into moments of strange color, the returns to the
Read the review...