Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Deb Ellis | Denis Meuller
Beth says: “Next up was the documentary HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN, narrated by Matt Damon (who famously included a reference to Zinn’s A History of the United States in GOOD WILL HUNTING). He’s a
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Rating: 3.6
Director: John W. Walter
Chris says: I’m not sure how subversive HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY actually was, either, but it did justice to its subject, collage artist Ray Johnson (who was inarguably subversive). This is the usual collection of talking head interviews interspersed
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Zhang Yimou
Michael says: “In HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou returns to the high-flying martial arts saga that he scored big with in HERO. After seeing the gorgeous, exciting trailer, I was excited about the film, but ultimately,
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Terry George
Starring: Don Cheadle | Jean Reno | Joaquin Phoenix | Nick Nolte | Sophie Okonedo
Bruce says: “It is important to let the world know exactly what went on in Rwanda ,a nation of two main groups, the Tutsis and the Hutus. The two groups speak the same language and have intermarried extensively over the
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Michael Mayer
Starring: Colin Farrell | Dallas Roberts | Robin Wright Penn | Sissy Spacek
Chris says: “Even though it cuts out a fairly major character and settles for an omniscient point of view (rather than the book’s chapter = character narration), Michael Cunningham mostly captures the essence of his beautiful book in his adapted
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Richard Ledes
Starring: Meatloaf Aday | Michelle Williams | Tim Guinee
Bruce says: “ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST taught us what better topic for black comedy than lobotomy. FRANCES, a tour de force for Jessica Lange, approached the subject in a somber manner. Along comes A HOLE IN ONE, directed
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Director: Oren Rudavsky
Diane says: “This docu by Menachem Daum has something in common with DOGVILLE: the acceptance of a refugee and its impact on both sides. In DOGVILLE, people need to know if the woman on the run is worthy before they
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Jet Li | Maggie Cheung | Tony Leung | Zhang Zhiyi
Chris says: “Zhang Yimou’s long-delayed (in the US, anyway) martial arts epic is stunning, at least technically. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle outdoes himself, the awesome color-coding even more sensual than IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE’s rain-drenched streets and intricate, congested apartments.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Alan Rickman | Daniel Radcliffe | Emma Watson | Rupert Grint
Chris says: “Of course this is the best Harry Potter film by miles, as Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN director Alfonso Cuarón is a virtuoso compared to the execrable Chris Columbus. This is the first Harry Potter book I’ve actually read
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Penny Panayotopoulou
Starring: Ioanna Tsirigouli | Stelios Mainas | Yorgos Karayannis
Diane says: “Writer/director Penny Panayotopoulou’s 2002 debut hasn’t gotten much of a release, but Ellen and I saw it in Newburyport. It’s a negative of THE RETURN: in 1969 Athens, a traveling salesman comes home for a few days to
Read the review...Guerilla: the Taking of Patty Hearst (USA; 90 min.) directed by: Robert Stonedocumentary Michael says: “It’s a fascinating subject, to be sure, and the archival news footage and interviews with two of the surviving members of the Symbionese Liberation
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Takashi Miike
Michael says: “Ah, the rollercoaster ride that is a Takashi Miike film. With his latest American release, GOZU, we have a ride that starts of slowly, if perplexing. Midway through, things have gotten downright freakish, but the pace is still
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ryan Fleck
Starring: Karen Clinton | Matt Kerr | Shareeka Epps
Chris says: “I wish our short film festival received more entries like this somber, subtle, soulful sketch about a 12 year-old girl and one of her teachers. Everything is delicately nuanced and left open; if the filmmakers succeed in expanding
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Rating: 3.6
Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Bruce says: “Ming-liang Tsai’s films are somewhat of an acquired taste, a delicious long-lasting taste once one gets in tune with his style. Not many directors go out of their way to capture the aesthetic of a deserted hallway or
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Chulpan Khamatova | Daniel Brühl | Katrin Saß
Janet says: “In this worthwhile film, a young East German man hides the unification of Germany in order to protect his fragile Socialist mother from dying of shock. Like most films that work the premise of going to any length
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Masaaki Tezuka
Starring: Katsuya Onizuka | Miho Yoshioka | Noboru Kaneko
Michael says: “I am filled with Mothra love! While not quite as strong as the epic GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORAH: ALL-OUT GIANT MONSTER ATTACK!, this penultimate entry into the Godzilla cannon is fun (it even includes the Mothra fairies again,
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Peter Webber
Hilary says: “The film is adapted from the novel by Tracy Chevalier, which creates a backstory for the Vermeer painting, ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring.’ As with most book-to-film adaptation, the timeline is condensed and little of the heroine’s, Griet
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.4
Director: Zach Braff
Starring: Ian Holm | Natalie Portman | Peter Sarsgaard | Zach Braff
Bruce says: “In 1997, Elizabeth Wurtzel grabbed the country’s attention by declaring we were a Prozac Nation. Prozac is just one of many drugs generously distributed by doctors to fight depression. In GARDEN STATE, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), now 26,
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Ian Gabriel
Starring: Arnold Vosloo | Quanita Adams | Zane Meas
Bruce says: “Each year the Toronto International Film Festival has a program which highlights films from a single country – this year that country was South Africa, chosen to celebrate the tenth anniversary of democracy and the end of apartheid.
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Rating: 4.2 cats
Director: Errol Morris
Bob says: “Errol Morris gets up-close-and-personal (in more ways than one) with Robert McNamara. Even if the former Secretary of Defense did not deliver some of the most profound, thought-provoking statements ever uttered here, the film would still be a fascinating
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