Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Starring: Fernando Tejero | Guillermo Toldeo | Luis Varela | Mónica Cervera
Bruce says: “This silly farce is successful because of the brilliant comedic performances of the two leads, Guillermo Toledo and Mónica Cervera. Toledo plays Rafael Gonzalez, ambitious manager of the women’s department of a leading Madrid department store; retail is
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Bradley Beersley
Chadd says: “To begin our spate of ‘Rockumentaries’ in 2005, we have this film centered around the Flaming Lips. Though the film presents many good stories about the band, its members, and its members’ exploits, it ultimately is not a
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Alain Corneau
Starring: Kaori Tsuji | Sylvie Testud | Taro Suwa
Bruce says: “Social satire is tricky business and I, more often than not, find it distasteful. Not so in the case of FEAR AND TREMBLING a wonderful satire of the clash between Japanese corporate culture and the shocking ‘western’ behavior
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tim Story
Starring: Chris Evans | Ioan Gruffudd | Jessica Alba | Julian McMahon | Kerry Washington | Michael Chiklis
Michael says: “As a longtime Fantastic Four fan I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It wasn’t what it could have been, but for me, it was much better than most of the critics make it out to be. I
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Louise Archambault
Starring: Juliette Gosselin | Macha Grenon | Sylvie Moreau
Bruce says: “The human body contains 50 million cells and each one of those cells contains the genetic code of our heritage. It is certain that DNA determines things like hair color and the size of the foot. FAMILIA wonders
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Liev Schreiber
Starring: Eugene Hutz; Elijah Wood; Boris Leskin | Jonathan Safran Foer | Zuzana Hodkova
Chris says: “First-time director Liev Schreiber probably couldn’t picked a more difficult book to adapt than Jonathan Safran Foer’s eccentric first novel. Cutting out most of the book’s flashbacks and folk tales, Schreiber sticks to the main, linear narrative where
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alex Gibney
Michael says: “This one was billed as possibly the next big doc to crossover, with a lively trailer that promised laughs, shocks and excitement. ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM certainly shocked me and got me angry, but it
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Director: Giovanni Sanseviero
Starring: Giovanni Sanseviero | Michael Maldonado | Tony Ryan
Michael says: “After pursuing an acting career on the stage, and while trolling the audition circuit in New York City, Giovanni Sanseviero found a mostly abandoned building in Hell’s Kitchen and thus was born the idea for his first film.
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michael Almereyda
Bruce says: “Born in Oxford, Mississippi, William Eggleston settled in Memphis where he has lived most of his adult life. WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD begins as Bill Eggleston and his son traipse around Mayfield, Kentucky on a photo
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hans Weingartner
Starring: Daniel Brühl | Julia Jentsch | Stipe Erceg
Bruce says: “***SPOILERS*** “Buoyed by top notch acting and a wickedly comic, insightful script, Hans Weingartner’s THE EDUKATORS keeps us in the edge of our seats while it teaches us some valuable lessons about human nature, politics, ethics and integrity.
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Craig Lucas
Starring: Campbell Scott | Patricia Clarkson | Peter Saarsgard
Michael says: ” Craig Lucas would have been better served with a skilled director handling this adaptation of his stage play. Each character in THE DYING GAUL commits acts of kindness and cruelty, sometimes one under the guise of the
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Alexandra Maria Lara | Bruno Ganz | Corinna Harfouch | Juliane Köhler | Ulrish Matthes
Bruce says: “For many years Bruno Ganz has given some of the my favorite performances in films such as THE AMERICAN FRIEND, A KNIFE IN THE HEAD, CIRCLE OF DECEIT, WINGS OF DESIRE and ETERNITY AND A DAY. A consistently
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Amanda Micheli
Bruce says: “DOUBLE DARE is the story of two stunt women at different points in their career. Jeannie Epper at the age of 62 is the doyenne of Hollywood stuntwomen. Everyone knows and respects her. She has paid her dues
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Matthew Parkhill
Starring: Gael García Bernal | James D'Arcy | Natalia Verbeke
Hilary says: “I’m terming this one Gael Garcia Bernal’s DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS. Please avoid the Hollywood Normative route your Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN costar has taken, GGB! “This flick has an enjoyably sick twist but no substance, so isn’t
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sergio Castellitto
Starring: Claudia Gerini | Penélope Cruz | Sergio Castellitto
Bruce says: “Timoteo is the small boy looking down into the courtyard watching an inexcusable act of cruelty, neighborhood boys beating a small frog to death. After the assailants leave, Timoteo runs down to the courtyard, finds the frog and
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima | Miho Kanno | Tatsuya Mihashi
Chris says: “Made before THE BLIND SWORDSMAN: ZATOICHI, this is surely one of Takeshi Kitano’s unlikeliest features. Taking a cue from the Japanese tradition of Bunraku puppet plays, the film presents three intertwined love stories based on them. The first
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Beto Brant
Starring: Felipe Ehrenberg | Lilian Taublib | Marco Ricca
Bruce says: “An effete intellectual theatre critic finds that his written words are powerful enough to seduce women. The smart set – those in Brazilian artistic circles – all know who he is, an unusual position for a writer. One
Read the review...Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romania; 154 min.) directed by: Cristi Puiustarring: Ion Fiscuteanu, Monica Barladeanu, Doru Ana Bruce says: “Dante Remus Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) wakes up one morning with a splitting headache and severe nausea. A widower for ten
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shona Auerbach
Starring: Emily Mortimer | Gerard Butler | Jack McElhone | Mary Riggans
Bruce says: “Pulling your heartstrings from every conceivable direction, DEAR FRANKIE is unabashedly sentimental. Just when you think that one more heartbreaking moment will be absolutely unbearable the film takes some turns that give pause to wonder why you had
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hubert Sauper
Bruce says: “DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE is an atypical political documentary. It understates its case. About fifty years ago a lone fisherman introduced Nile perch into Lake Victoria. Until that time Lake Victoria was a source of food for much of Tanzania.
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