Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Alison Klayman
Jason says: “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is an odd duck, even by installation-artist standards. That it’s often an affable, upbeat eccentricity may help explain why a government not known for free expression let the outspoken Ai be for so long
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Alex Shaffer | Amy Ryan | Bobby Cannavale | Jeffrey Tambor | Melanie Lynskey | Paul Giamatti
Michael says: “Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, an attorney in a New Jersey town who is struggling to make ends meet. When an opportunity presents itself for him to become the guardian of one of his elderly clients and make
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Larysa Kondracki
Starring: David Strathairn | Monica Bellucci | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Rachel Weisz | Vanessa Redgrave
Jason says: “THE WHISTLEBLOWER has a good cast and a topic that provokes a strong emotional reaction, and when a project starts with that, making a memorable film can often come down to not screwing up. Co-writer/director Larysa Kondracki doesn’t
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Benny Chan
Starring: Andy Lau | Bing Bai | Bingbing Fan | Jackie Chan | Nicholas Tse | Yu Xing
Jason says: “Benny Chan’s SHAOLIN is not a remake of any of the Shaw Brothers films that focused on that legendary temple and its monks (though only fifty-odd years gone at the time, Gordon Liu-starring movies like THE 36TH CHAMBER
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Catherine Deneuve | Fabrice Luchini | Gerard Depardieu | Judith Godrèche | Karin Viard
Thom says: “Earlier on in the beginning of his career Ozun showed he might well be on the way to become one of the great French directors but lately he seems to have lost his way. I was fascinated, while
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Starring: Jun Kunimura | Kippei Shiina | Ryo Kase | Takeshi Kitano | Tomokazu Miura
Jason says: “Takeshi Kitano has apparently been doing unusual stuff lately, with GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER and TAKEHSHIS apparently being considered weird for even Japan. Those projects haven’t been doing quite so well, so Kitano has gone back to the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Takashi Miike
Starring: Hiroki Matsukata | Mikijiro Hiro | Naoko Takenaka | Shido Nakamura | Susumu Terajima
Jason says: “For the last few years, I’ve had this recurring joke about how hiring TakashivMiike to direct family movies is the Japanese equivalent of Warner Brothers getting the rights to Harry Potter and deciding that the right man for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Drake Doremus
Starring: AlexKingston | Anton Yelchin | Charlie Bewley | Felicity Jones | Jennifer Lawrence | Oliver Muirhead
Jason says: “First love can burn very bright but not be that complicated, and since that’s what LIKE CRAZY is about, it makes a bit of sense for it to have a certain shallowness about it as well. The question
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Alice da Cunha | Iain Glen | Jim Broadbent | Meryl Streep | Phoebe Waller-Bridge | Susan Brown
Diane says: “IRON LADY has been disparaged for giving an uncritical view of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government. True, true! But we already have that down. I went to see IRON LADY for a portrayal of a woman with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Xavier Dolan
Starring: Anne Dorval | Monia Chokri | Niels Schneider | Xavier Dolan
Michael says: “Caught up with HEARTBEATS, Xavier Dolan’s follow-up to the Chlotrudis multiple-nominee, I KILLED MY MOTHER. Once again, Dolan writes, directs and stars, this time tackling the mysteries of love, particularly in the more modern age of fluid sexuality.
Read the review...