Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Rick McKay
Michael says: “How delightful it was to take a break from the political docs of recent weeks to take a look at a bit of arts history. BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN YEARS is an entertaining look at the 40’s & 50’s
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ross McAlwee
Chris says: “If you’re familiar with documentarian Ross McElwee’s earlier films (SHERMAN’S MARCH, TIME INDEFINITE), watching this one is like fondly catching up with an old friend. The latest, long-awaited chapter in his series of autobiographical cinematic memoirs, BRIGHT LEAVES
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Stephen Fry
Starring: Emily Mortimer | Imelda Staunton | Jim Broadbent | Peter O'Toole | Richard E. Grant | Stephen Campbell Moore | Stockard Channing
Janet says: “Stephen Fry draws on his experience as Wodehouse’s Jeeves in adapting this busy story of male and female Bertie Woosters. Lots of fun to watch, with some superb acting (Fenella Woolgar is a millefeuille pastry of irony layered
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Paul Greengrass
Bruce says: “ATTENTION, SPOILERS. “Jason Bourne is a wanted man. Trained by the CIA to be a hit man, he can’t escape his past. Although he remembers very little about his one and only CIA assignment, his dreams are offering
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Jean Paul Rappeneau
Starring: Gerard Depardieu | Isabelle Adjani | Virginie Ledoyen
Bruce says: “BON VOYAGE is a French bedroom farce without a bedroom…well not totally, bedrooms do figure into the plot here and there. It’s just that the German invasion of Paris, secrets about the atom bomb and a nasty corpse
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: John Furse
Starring: Ian Hart | Linus Roache
Bruce says: “BLIND FIGHT is based on a true story about an Irish teacher, Brian Keenan, and a British journalist, John McCarthy, who were captured by Lebanese terrorists. They lived together in various cells and makeshift prisons for four and
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Jang Li
Starring: Baoqiang Wang | Qiang Li | Shuangbao Wang
Michael says: “After winning several awards at recent film festivals, including Berlin and Tribeca, this powerful film explores the dark and the light of humanity as embodied by mine workers in China. Song and Tang work the mines, but they
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ken Harder | Scott Milam | Todd Pottinger
Chris says: “A Seattle fixture for decades, Richard Peterson is a mentally challenged, musically gifted savant obsessed with Johnny Mathis and orchestral cues from the ’50s TV show ‘Sea Hunt.’ Initially, I feared that the filmmakers were crudely exploiting Peterson
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Leander Haussmann
Starring: Christien Ulmen | Detliev Buck | Katja Danowski
Bruce says: “Christien Ulmen got his start in show business as a German MTV host. This is his second feature film and he could become a major star. He has the charm and intelligence of Paul Rudd (I happen to
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: István Szabó
Starring: Annette Bening | Bruce Greenwood | Jeremy Irons | Michael Gambon | Miriam Margoyles | Shaun Evans
Hilary says: “Annette Bening moves to the top of my growing Best Actress nominations list playing Julia Lambert, a stage actress of a certain age, in 1930s London. It is refreshing to see a woman over 30 who both acts
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ethan Hawke | Julie Delpy
Chris says: “When I first heard that Richard Linklater was making a sequel to BEFORE SUNRISE, I thought, ‘What a terrible idea.’ I remember finding the first film pleasant, but not particularly wanting to sit through it again (whereas I
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Carol Bausch | José María Doménech
Barbara says: “What I found interesting about this documentary was that it was so neutral politically. I thought it would be a big anti-Castro film focusing on the perils faced by the Cuban refugees who try to escape by homemade
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Fele Martínez | Gabriel García Bernal | Lluís Homar | Pedro Almodóvar
Bruce says: “Because Pedro Almodóvar is so proficient and so accomplished I tend to perhaps expect too much from him. In BAD EDUCATION we see Almodóvar fine-tuning his craft once again, this time turning to suspense and a bit of
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Paul Hough
Rick says: “While this fascinating documentary is no longer playing at the Coolidge, it is available on DVD. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes documentaries and has an interest in youth subcultures or sociology. But not for those
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Starring: David Alan Grier | Joy Bryant | Mario Van Peebles | Nia Long | Ossie Davis | T.K. Carter | Terry Crews
Hilary says: “BAADASSSSS! is Mario Van Peebles’ biopic of his father Melvin’s attempt to make his groundbreaking film SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAAD ASSSSS SONG (1971), the first of the ‘blaxploitation’ genre. “There are some interesting elements to the story as it
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Gonzalo Justiniano
Starring: Eduardo Barril | Juan Falcón | Manuela Martelli | Ricardo Fernandez | Sergio Hernández
Bruce says: “Kathy (Manuela Martelli) is fourteen. Her father (Eduardo Barril) is in prison, her mother (Lorene Prieto) is giving in to the sexual demands of her employer to keep her job and make ends meet, and her brother (Felipe
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Adam Scott | Alan Alda | Alec Baldwin | Cate Blanchett | Danny Huston | France Conroy | Gwen Stefani | Ian Holm | John C. Reilly | Jude Law | Kate Beckinsale | Leonardo DiCaprio
Bruce says: “Similar to the childhood flashbacks in RAY, THE AVIATOR attempts to explain away Howard Hughes’ drive and craziness by presenting a telltale scene from his childhood. Scorsese has chosen a moment in 1927 where Howard’s mother is washing
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Starring: Ai Kobayashi | Jûrôta Kosugi | Yuki Matsuoka
Michael says: “APPLESEED is a action-packed anime film in the science fiction genre. Based on the comic by Masamune Shirow (GHOST IN THE SHELL), APPLESEED takes place on earth, far in the future, where much of the planet is involved
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Director: Jerzy Stuhr
Starring: Anna Dymna | Dominika Bednarczyk | Jerzy Stuhr
Ivy says: “I don’t know how many of you love Kristof Kieslowski but this weekend at the Brattle we are premiering a film based on one of his unproduced scripts – BIG ANIMAL. It is directed by one of his
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Al Pacino | Ben Shenkman | Emma Thompson | Jeffrey Wright | Justin Kirk | Mary Louise Parker | Meryl Streep
Michael says: “Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning play was adapted into a 6-hour HBO miniseries a couple years ago, with stunning results. Kudos to Mike Nichols and Kushner for doing a splendid job adapting the stage play to the screen. “I
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