Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Brendan Sexton III | David Caruso | Peter Mullan | Stephen Gevedon
Diane says: “What has happened to Brad Anderson? NEXT STOP, WONDERLAND was such a lovely and original film. Now we get his hackneyed attempt at horror in SESSION 9, and Stephen B. (sorry to steal your lines) reports that his
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Dan Minahan
Starring: Brooke Smith | Glenn Fitzgerald | Maylouise Burke | Merrit Wever | Tom Gilroy
Michael says: “Director Dan Minahan creates a wonderfully accurate movie version of a reality TV show taken to extremes. In ‘The Contenders,’ contestants picked at random play against each other… kill or be killed. Dawn (Brooke Smith from VANYA ON
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Jeanne Balibar | Marianne Basler | Sergio Castellitto
Diane says: “VA SAVOIR is a lowkey (and long!) romantic comedy about an Italian troupe performing Pirandello in Paris. Camille is strong on stage but falling apart offstage, looking for her former lover who lives in Paris. “The interplay between
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Rating: 4.5 cats | 4.6
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Sun Honglei | Zhang Ziyi | Zhao Yeulin | Zheng Hao
Diane says: “I really didn’t like this movie. I thought I had a good handle on the Chinese way of seeing things, but I found this meaningless. Maybe what wasn’t there was meant to be more meaningful than what was:
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Starring: Ann Hui | Chao-jung Chen | Kang-sheng Lee | Shiang-chyi Chen | Tien Miao | Yi-ching Lu
Bruce says: “A college-aged boy is on the up escalator going to a big department store when he is spotted by a girl he hasn’t seen in two years who is on the adjacent down escalator. They begin talking and
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Shapiro | Laurie Shapiro
Diane says: “Here are two problems I have with this film: The impetus for what happens in this docu comes from the filmmakers, as opposed to, say STARTUP.COM and SOUND AND FURY. Schneebaum says ‘I’m really mad at the film
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Éva Gárdos
Starring: Nastassja Kinski | Scarlett Johansson | Tony Goldwyn
Hilary says: “I am continually impressed by Scarlett Johansson’s performances. GHOST WORLD is definitely on my Top Ten for the year and MANNY & LO is still a favorite, many years later. “Here, however, I just felt sorry for her.
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Paul Pavlikovsky
Starring: Artyom Strelnikov | Dina Korzun | Paddy Considine
Michael says: “Low budget, indie films don’t get much better than LAST RESORT. When a Russian woman and her son must pretend to be political refugees after her fiancee doesn’t show up at the airport to pick her up, they
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Steve Barron
Starring: Andrew Lovern | David Wilmot | Frank Kelly | Imelda Staunton | Kerry Condon | Pete Postlethwaite | Veronica Duffy
Diane says: “Ya gotta love Pete Postlethwaite, but RAT was a disappointment, especially after being billed as ‘Kafkaesque.’ In this Irish comedy about a man who turns into a rat after a trip to the pub one night, members of
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Benno Fürmann | Franka Potenta | Joachim Król
Corinne says: “I loved PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR! I hadn’t read about it so it was a complete surprise. Cinematography and Acting nomination for Potente I think for me- maybe more. I had to laugh at the button/glass slipper symbolism-
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Ed Harris
Starring: Amy Madigan | Ed Harris | Jennifer Connelly | Marcia Gay Harden | Sada Thompson
Diane says: “POLLOCK, directed by and starring Ed Harris, is worthwhile for the educational aspect and the acting. Contrary to reviews that say it does not bend to the cliches of presenting an artist’s life, I’d say it is cliche
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Henry Bromell
Starring: Donald Sutherland | John Ritter | Neve Campbell | William H. Macy
Diane says: “PANIC stars William H. Macy as a hit-man who wants to get out of that line of work. (Hey, I’m reminded that ‘Those the River Keeps’ [prequel to ‘Hurlyburly,’ stage version only] did a grand job with that
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jim McKay
Starring: Anna Simpson | KerryWashington | Melissa Martinez
Esmé says: “What an emotional and hard/tender movie about three young girls in Brooklyn. Packed a punch. In fact, I thought it had striking similarities with THE CIRCLE, in the sense of the limited opportunities, and in fact freedom, for
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Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Starring: Jan Hartl | Jaroslava Kretschmerová | Pavel Novy | Veronika Zilková
Diane says: “I’m wondering should I recommend this to people on the strength of the first 45 minutes… This movie has such wit and brightness. The opening montage of babies laughing and crying is excellent. This is followed by a
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Starring: Alakina Mann | Christopher Eccleston | Elaine Cassidy | Fionnula Flanagan | James Bentley | Nicole Kidman
Howard says: “I LOVE a good ghost story and have been looking forward to seeing this for a few weeks. Thankfully, none of my friends who had seen it gave it away. “I thought the entire cast was terrific especially
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Stephen Soderbergh
Starring: Andy Garcia | Brad Pitt | Carl Reiner | Elliot Gould | George Clooney | Julia Roberts | Matt Damon
Hilary says: “OCEAN’S ELEVEN is a fun diversion. Clearly, Stephen Soderburgh can make great films in his sleep — this one looks great, and the cast includes several actors who’ve appeared in his films previously and had a hell of
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: David Atkins
Starring: Elias Koteas | Helena Bonham-Carter | Laura Dern | Steve Martin
Hilary says: “I wouldn’t quite call NOVOCAINE a neo-noir, but it certainly owed a lot to the genre, much like THE DEEP END (a favorite from earlier this year). Steve Martin’s protagonist, Dr. Frank Sangster, a successful Chicago dentist, reminded
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Rating: 3.6
Director: Cesc Gay
Starring: Esther Nubiola | Fernando Ramallo | Jordi Vilches | Mareta Orozco
Nathaniel says: “It’s basically another gay coming of age at the beach film (hmmmm, a foreign film gay mini-trend?)… this one tells the tale of best friends who discover that they want very different things from each other during the
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Ann Miller | Justin Theroux | Laura Harring | Naomi Watts
Bob says: “I think MULHOLLAND D. brings Lynch back, at least part way, to the dark obsessions of his earlier work: we are affected by (and in return, we affect) forces no one can understand, our hidden fears have real
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Ewan McGregor | Jim Broadbent | Nicole Kidman
Diane says: “I call it a confection. So sue me! I was pulled in by the wonderful color and chaos in the first third, bored by the middle chunk, regained interest when the drama picked up toward the end. I
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