Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Eytan Fox
Starring: Assi Cohen | Ohad Knoller | Yehuda Levi
Michael says: “YOSSI AND JAGGER is a film with a deceptively simple story that comments on several issues in just over an hour. Simply put, this film deals with the love story between two male soldiers in the Israeli Defense
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Austin Chick
Starring: Kathleen Robertson | Mark Ruffalo | Maya Stange | Patra Wright
Phred says: “Occasionally when you leave a movie theater, you get a feeling of tremendous satisfaction. That’s the case for me with XX/XY. “The film opens with a young man running into the same beautiful girl twice, the second time
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Alan Cumming | Anna Paquin | Brian Cox | Famke Janssen | Halle Berry | Hugh Jackman | Ian McKellen | James Marsters | Patrick Stewart | Rebecca Romijn
Howard says: “Here we are again at the beginning of another summer season of blockbusters and, to start it all off, Hollywood has delivered unto us X2 (or X-MEN 2 if you prefer). And a little blessing it is. Especially
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Enayatullah | Hiddayatullah | Imran Paracha | Jamal Udin Torabi
Bruce says: “Michael Winterbottom is one of the most versatile and prolific directors around. Although he had done much TV work and some feature films that had not found general release, he garnered a cult following with his BUTTERFLY KISS
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Director: James Cox
Starring: Carrie Fisher | Christina Applegate | Dylan McDermott | Eric Bogosian | Josh Lucas | Kate Bosworth | Lisa Kudrow | Val Kilmer
Hilary says: “This bio-pic of John ‘Johnny Wadd’ Holmes will seem familiar to fans of BOOGIE NIGHTS, as the character of Dirk Diggler was based on Holmes. However, WONDERLAND suffers by comparison. The soundtrack and cinematography are great, the cast
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jacques Cluzaud | Michel Debats
Esmé says: “My second favorite movie of the year was a documentary. After I watched it, I drove to Western Mass in the morning. Every flock of flying birds made me want to be up in the sky with them,
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Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Niki Caro
Starring: Cliff Curtis | Grant Roa | Keisha Castle-Hughes | Rawiri Paratene | Vicky Haughton
Michael says: “This film from New Zealand has been winning awards at film festivals the world over, and it’s much-anticipated release comes to Boston this weekend. I had been looking forward to it since it won the Audience Award in
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Barry Barnes | Brenda Fricker | Cate Blanchett | Ciarán Hinds | Colin Farrell | Don Wycherley | Gerard McSorley
Bruce says: “It was a fluke that I saw VERONICA GUERIN immediately after seeing SHATTERED GLASS – two films about journalism based on true stories. Within a few hours I had a glimpse of two journalistic extremes. Veronica Guerin was
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Len Wiseman
Starring: Bill Nighy | Kate Beckinsale | Michael Sheen | Scott Speedman | Shane Brolly
Howard says: “Did you know there has been a war going on for hundreds of years? And it all started because the upper class and lower class dared to fall in love and have an abomination for a baby? Master
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Laurie Kahn-Leavitt
Diane says: “I expected this to be a campy kind of thing, but it surprised by taking on a personal story with a compelling dramatic arc. Director interviewed 300 Tupperware sales people, and made great choices with the five or
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Rating: 4.8 cats | 4.9
Director: Sylvain Chomet
Starring: Dirk Denoyelle | Jean-Claude Donda | Michel Robin | Monica Viegas
Esmé says: “My favorite movie of the year is a cartoon. I love Granny, Bruno, the Triplets and the music! After I left the theater, every industrial noise, clank or whistle sounded like music to me. (A little grandmother and
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Miles Swain
Starring: Alexis Arquette | Jill St. John | Larry Sullivan | Sirena Irwin | Steve Braun
Laura says: “Springboarding from an urban legend about a gay couple turned away by an airline because one of them was ill, writer/director Miles Swain has crafted an extremely likable gay love story set against the tumultuous times of the
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray | Giovanni Ribisi | Scarlett Johansson
Bob G. says: “With LOST IN TRANSLATION, Sofia Coppola neatly captures the slightly Twilight Zone’ish feeling of being out of touch with everything and everyone around you. Yet she does so with such unassuming ease and good humor that you
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Jean Rochefort | Jean-François Stévenin | Johnny Hallyday
Georgette says: “A man (Johnny Hallyday, French rock star and actor) gets off of the train in a quiet, cold, dark, French village. His headache sends him to the nearest pharmacy for aspirin. As he leaves the pharmacy, he realizes
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Kaige Chen
Starring: Hong Chen | Kaige Chen | Peiqi Liu | Yen Tang | Zhiwen Wang
Laura says: “Young violin prodigy Liu Xiaochun’s (Yun Tang) simple country father Liu Cheng (Peiqi Liu, SHADOW MAGIC) takes him to Beijing to audition for a prestigious school. Cheng overhears Professor Jiang (Zhiwen Wang, THE EMPEROR AND THE ASSASSIN) declare
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Rating: 3.3 cats
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Diane says: “Sentimental docu about the rural French teacher. I fell in love with the young student, JoJo.” 3 cats Georgette says: “I truly enjoyed this quiet little documentary. I liked the way that we only learn about the
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Sarah Gavron
Starring: David Morrissey | Kate Ashfield | Linda Bassett | Peter Mullan
Chris says: “Honest and sad little British film about a couple that give birth to a prematurely born baby. Like LILJA 4-EVER (only gentler), it’s not an easy one to watch, but you will get so caught up in the
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood | Holly Hunter | Jeremy Sisto | Nikki Reed
Bob G. says: “It’s very difficult to view this film as anything but an amped-up AfterSchool Special. The material is unflinching and honest, but director Catherine Hardwicke is so mired in overtly arty camera work and kaleidoscopic color palette changes
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Claire Danes | Kristanna Loken | Nick Stahl
Howard says: “A Terminator movie without James Cameron? How could they? Easily, it seems. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES takes place ten years after TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY. John Connor is in his early teens and has been hiding
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Rating: 3.375
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Amene Moradi | Amin Maher | Kamran Adl | Mania Akbari
Ivy says: “I am slowly picking off the last of the films I need to watch for the Chlotrudis nominations and the latest film I viewed was TEN this afternoon. I truly loved this film. As an Iranian film it
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