Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Amanda Bynes | Amanda Detmer | Frankie Muniz | Paul Giamatti
Robin says: “BIG FAT LIAR, with its young TV stars, comic bad guy and goofy fun, is aimed squarely at the older kids/younger teen audience. With its plethora of site gags, harmless vengeance and comic antics, it should strike pay
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Rating: 3.9
Director: Dover Koshashvili
Starring: Lior Ashkenazi | Moni Moshonov | Ronit Elkabetz
Nathaniel R. says: “Though Zaza or ‘Dooby’ as his girlfriend calls him, is a grown man who everyone treats like a boy, they’re angry that he doesn’t grow up. His family is maddened by his indifference to the bridal candidates
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Director: Fred Schepisi
Starring: Bob Hoskins | Helen Mirren | Michael Caine | Tom Courtenay
Ellen says: “A group of men go on a road trip to fulfill the final wishes of their deceased friend. Along the way, we are treated to flashbacks that show how the different men are interconnected. The film had excellent
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia | Barbara Hershey | Geoffrey Rush | Kerry Armstrong | Leah Purcell | Rachel Blake
Diane says: “An excruciating round robin of infidelities in Sydney, combined with a murder mystery. For some reason, I was expecting a lighter film, but there’s no respite to be had here. “LANTANA is striking in its manipulation of the
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Stanley Kwan
Starring: Fang Lu | Jun Hu | Li Huatong | Shuang Li
Michael says: “LAN YU is a simple, well-conceived love story that takes place in Hong Kong during the late 80’s, during the time of the Tiananmen Square disaster. Handong is a successful business partner who spends a night with Lan
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Starring: Aamire Kahn | Gracy Singh | Paul Blackthorne | Rachel Shelley
Michael says: “LAGAAN is a 4-hour psuedo-Bollywood epic of legendary proportions, filled with good triumphing over evil and injustice in a most satisfactory way. In fact, LAGAAN is structured very much like a legend, complete with predictable plot, and over-the-top
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Eric Rohmer
Starring: Alain Libolt | Jean-Claude Dreyfus | Léonard Cobiant | Lucy Rusell
Michael says: “THE LADY & THE DUKE is Eric Roehmer’s interesting behind-the-scenes look at the French Revolution. Lucy Russel plays a Scottish aristocrat living in France, Grace Elliott, a royalist and former lover and still good friend of Philippe, the
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Adam Low
Laura says: “This documentary chronicles Kurosawa’s childhood, connecting significant events with images in his later films, as well as his development as a filmmaker, his relationship with actor Toshiro Mifune and his influence on other filmmakers. If you didn’t already
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Starring: Heather Juergensen | Jennifer Westfeldt | Scott Cohen | Tovah Feldshuh
Michael says: “Finally managed to catch up with KISSING JESSICA STEIN the other night, and found it to be perfectly charming if a mite predictable (The very first scene involving Jessica and Josh had me correctly predicting the ending.) Tovah
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Giovanna Mezzogiorno | Stefania Sandrelli | Stefano Accorsi
Laura says: “Carlo (Stefano Accorsi, THE SON’S ROOM) is one of five buddies, all seen celebrating Marco’s last evening of bachelorhood, at the beginning of THE LAST KISS. He must face adulthood and responsibility himself as his live in girlfriend,
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Rating: 0.67 cats
Director: Brett Morgen | Nanette Burstein
Michael says: “Despite the rave reviews I have read/heard about this documentary, I have to say I was pretty unimpressed. THE KIDS STAYS IN THE PICTURE chronicles the career of Robert Evans, young actor turned longtime head of Paramount Pictures,
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Starring: Hassan Tantai | Niloufar Pazira | Sadou Teymouri
Ellen says: “Okay, basically I would not want to be a woman (or a man for that matter) in Afghanistan. This film shows the horrific way of life that these people lead. An interesting slice of life that I never
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alberto Vendemmiati | Fabrizio Lazzaretti
Diane says: “JUNG is a cinema-verité docu about an Italian doctor, British nurse, and Italian journalist working to set up a hospital for war victims in northern Afghanistan. I had the same reaction as I did to NO MAN’S LAND:
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Starring: Anne Heche | Denzel Washington | James Woods | Robert Duvall
Robin says: “There is not a lot new to the original screenplay by James Kearns, which is the weakest aspect of the film. It is often trite, manipulative and derivative of other films, but the craftwork behind the camera and
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Rating: 0 cats
Director: James Isaac
Starring: David Cronenberg | Jeff Geddis | Kane Hodder | Lexa Doig
Howard says: “AWFUL! It wasn’t even laughably bad.” A DEAD cat!
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Anders W. Berthelsen | Anette Stevelbaek | Ann Eleonora Jorgensen | Lars Kaalund | Peter Gantzier
Michael says: “In what is surely the surprise darling of the Toronto Film festival, Scherfig’s ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS proves that the dogme 95 manifesto can be used to stunning effect in a deadpan, romantic comedy. Laughter and tears, sometimes simultaneously, are
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Dylan Haggerty | Kelsy Kemper | Raymond J. Barry | Renee Faia
Laura says: “Unemployed San Bernadino cameraman Ron Kobeleski (Dylan Haggerty) has his life turned around and his family placed in jeopardy by the simple act of meeting retired neighbor Walter Ohlinger (Raymond Barry). The video document Ron’s requested of Walter
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Burr Steers
Starring: Amanda Peet | Bill Pullman | Claire Danes | Jared Harris | Jeff Goldblum | Kieran Culkin | Ryan Phillippe | Susan Sarandon
SPOILERS below Laura says: “Igby (Kieran Culkin) watched his father (Bill Pullman) lose his grip with reality under his mother’s (Susan Sarandon) withering gaze before he reached his teens. He introduces his older brother (Ryan Phillippe) as ‘majoring in
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Gena Rowlands | Jeff Aaron | Juliette Lewis | Uma Thurman
Michael says: “The first film we saw on Saturday was Mira Nair’s latest film, HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS. No psuedo-Bollywood, or Indian weddings here. Based on a play, this film was executive produced by and starred Uma Thurman. Thurman must have seen
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Monteith McCallum
Laura says: “I found HYBRID moving and *loved* some of the stunning black and white imagery. The score combined with the images made it very melancholic. And I never realized what cornsilk was really for!” Michael says: “Thanks to
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