Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Arliss Howard
Starring: Arliss Howard | Debra Winger | Paul Le Mat | Rosanna Arquette
Robin says: “BIG BAD LOVE is definitely an interesting character study of a man on a downward spiral in his life. The self-destruction is, sometimes, painful to watch but the final note of redemption cushions Leon’s long fall, giving the
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang
Starring: Lin Cui | Shuan Li | Xun Zhou | Yuanyuan Gao
Michael says: “Here was a startling film that begins as a charming, warm-hearted tale of a country boy struggling to cope with life in the big city of Beijing, and ends as a cynical, pointed look at today’s society, and
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Henry Bean
Starring: Billy Zane | Ryan Gosling | Summer Phoenix | Theresa Russell
Laura says: “Ryan Gosling gives a breakout perf in this film about a conflicted Jew who’s become a Nazi skinhead. Henry Bean’s screenplay is of note as well.” 4 cats For Laura’s complete review: “http://www.reelingreviews.com/thebeliever.htm” Robin says: “This is
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Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Starring: Aki Maeda | Masanobu Andô | Takeshi Kitano | Taro Yamamoto | Tatsuya Fujiwara
Ivy says: “I dont know how many of you know about this film, or have already watched it, but I just watched the tape of BATTLE ROYALE (copied from a Japanese DVD) that was given to us months ago by
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Majid Majidi
Starring: Hossein Abedini | Mohammad Amir Naji | Zahra Bahrami
Diane says: “Another gem from Majid Majidi, director of my fave THE COLOR OF PARADISE. “Lateef, a clownish young Iranian construction worker, changes his ways when he discovers who his nemesis–an Afghani boy who took his job–really is. Lateef jeopardizes
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Greg Kinnear | Maria Bello | Rita Wilson | Ron Leibman | Willem Dafoe
Laura says: “Michael Gerbosi’s adaptation of the Robert Graysmith book The Murder of Bob Crane by Robert Graysmith suggests that Carpie wanted more than companionship from Crane and fed the man and ever increasing stream of women to maintain the
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Atom Egoyan
Starring: Arsinée Khanjian | Christopher Plummer | David Alpay
Michael says: “I had no idea what to expect with Atom Egoyan’s new film ARARAT. It has received many negative reviews and scant few good ones. As a big Egoyan fan, I was worried. Would this be the first of
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sara Sugarman
Starring: Ioan Gruffud | Jonathan Pryce | Matthew Rhys | Rachel Griffiths
Michael says: “The first film we caught at the High Falls Film Festival was a British entry, the recipient of The Sundance Film Maker’s Award for Best International Script for Sara Sugarman’s VERY ANNIE-MARY. Rachel Griffiths and Jonathan Pryce star
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Director: Shunji Iwai
Starring: Ayumi Ito | Hayato Ichihara | Shûgo Oshinari | Takao Osawa
Peg says: “Based on his interactive on-line novel, filmmaker Shunji Iwais bleak glimpse into the solipsistic world of Japanese teenagers is a visually stunning étude full of pensive slow takes, heart-stopping tableaux, and frenetic high-def DVD color. What may challenge
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Cara Seymour | Chris Cooper | Meryl Streep | Nicholas Cage | Tilda Swinton
Mary W. says: “ADAPTATION had a lot of laughs but definitely all in the flip meandering mode so that after a time the one-note characters- ‘Charlie Kaufman’ (Nicholas Cage) and ‘Susan Orlean’ (Meryl Steep) begin to wear thin. I never
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Seth Kearsley
Starring: Adam Sandler | Austin Stout | Jackie Titone | Tyra Banks
Laura says: “Adam Sandler grows increasingly frustrating combining his odd mixture of true heart and sweetness with juvenile vulgarity that may even put off his target audience in this, his first animation. For every laugh or smile Sandler genuinely earns
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Chris Weitz | Paul Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant | Natalia Tena | Nicholas Hoult | Rachel Weisz | Sharon Small | Toni Collette | Victoria Smurfit
Laura says: “ABOUT A BOY establishes Will and Marcus by intercutting between their lives until it brings them together. Young Nicholas Hoult immediately gains our sympathy. He’s terrified of being abandoned by his mother, which makes him brave enough to
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Starring: Charlotte Rampling | Ian Hart | Lena Heady | Stellan Skarsgaard
Bob says: “ABERDEEN is a film I’ve never heard of, by Hans Petter Moland, a Norwegian director I’ve never heard of, but the blurb looked interesting enough, and the cast included Stellan Skarsgard and Charlotte Rampling, who’s my frontrunner for
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Catherine Deneuve | Danielle Darrieux | Emmanuelle Béart | Isabelle Huppert
Michael says: “This colorful, riotous musical is quite a romp, starring some of France’s most glamorous and notable actresses, including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, and Fanny Ardant. “Eight women, extended family, are trapped in an estate during a
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Anna Paquin | Barry Pepper | Brian Cox | Edward Norton | Levani | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Rosario Dawson | Tony Siragusa
Phred says: “I just saw the 25TH HOUR, and read a bunch of reviews. Opinions are extremely mixed, with some people loving and others hating it. I loved it. It has many many faults. The dialog is sometimes embarrassing, the
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: John Thomson | Lennie James | Mark Windows | Paddy Considine | Paul Popplewell | Shirley Henderson | Steve Coogan
Michael says: “Michael Winterbottom’s 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE follows the career of British journalist, Tony Wilson as he takes part in the rise of punk and new wave in Manchester, England in the early 80’s. Wilson, a British television reporter
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Edward Yang
Starring: Elaine Jin | Issey Ogata | Jonathan Chang | Kelly Lee | Wu Nien Jen
Diane says: YI YI by Edward Yang is a Taiwanese AMERICAN BEAUTY. Members of a middle-class family go through changes, in isolation from each other (startlingly oblivious to each other’s crises, just like in this year’s novel The Bee Season).
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Marzieh Meshkini
Starring: Fatemeh Cherag Akhar | Hassan Nebhan | Shahr Banou Sisizadeh
Ellen says: “I recommend this film to everyone.vThe film is short so it’s not a major time commitment. It tells three vignettes about women in Iran. The stories are simple yet the message is overwhelming.” 4 cats Diane says:
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Daniel Auteuil | Emir Kusturica | Juliette Binoche
Diane says: “I’m not so sure about this film… I was waiting for the big payoff where we find out the pasts of the Binoche and Auteuil characters. I’d like to see the prequel! “A friend who enjoyed this film
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ethan Hawke | Julie Delpy | Lorelei Linklater | Trevor Jack Brooks | Wiley Wiggins
Diane says: “Janet and I loved WAKING LIFE The effect of digitally painting over film is beautiful. In this movie, a mélange of 50 characters impart wisdom to a dreamer. While one review I read said that WAKING LIFE is
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