Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Ye Lou
Starring: Hua Zhongkai | Jia Hongshen | Zhou Xun
Laura says: “SUZHOU RIVER questions identity and reality within the confines of a harsh environment. It’s tough, edgy, jaded and romantic. Lou Ye’s accomplished a lot with very little.” 3 1/2 cats For Laura’s complete review: “http://www.reelingreviews.com/suzhouriver.htm” Michael says:
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Rating: 1.75
Director: Allison Anders
Starring: Don Cheadle | Gabriel Mann | Kim Dickens | Rosanna Arquette
Michael says: “I’m going to have to file this latest film by Allison Anders (SUGARTOWN; GAS, FOOD, LODGING) under intriguing disappointment. I’m a big fan of Anders’ films, but this one just didn’t work. Sherry (Kim Dickens) is a burgeoning
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Chris Hegedus | Jehane Noujaim
Ellen says: “I enjoyed this documentary and thought the filmmakers did a great job of showing the story of two high school friends who start an internet company. The filmmakers probably had to film a lot of events over a
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Tom Gilroy
Starring: Campbell Scott | Liev Schreiber | Ned Beatty | Peri Gilpin
Laura says: “Gilroy’s playwright background is stamped all over his film debut to its detriment, however. Gilroy’s decision to film over the course of a year was a plus for the actors, allowing them to form their bond gradually. Yet,
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Rating: 2.8 cats
Director: Maggie Greenwald
Starring: Aidan Quinn | Emmy Rossum | Jane Adams | Janet McTeer | Pat Carroll
Diane says: “This story of an early twentieth-century musicologist (Janet McTeer) experiencing music that speaks to her heart instead of her mind–in the North Carolina mountains–was just as hackneyed as the trailer threatened. Sets and blocking (and how often do
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ann Hu
Starring: Jared Harris | Liu Peiqui | Xia Yu | Xing Yufei
Jeffrey says: “I was a little distracted at the beginning of the movie by the transition from what appeared to be historical footage to what appeared to be artificially aged contemporary footage. I thought it should have been either one
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Amanda Redman | Ben Kingsley | Cavan Kendall | Ian McShane | Julianne White | Ray Winstone
Michael says: “I found this film to be lots of fun, with some really terrific performances and visuals. Basically a caper film with Gal (a terrific Ray Winstone) retired from the business and enjoying the life of leisure in Spain
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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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