Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sarah Adina Smith
Jason says: “Sarah Adina Smith’s THE MIDNIGHT SWIM is one sort of movie in the sometimes ill-fitting skin of another, and I wonder if shedding that skin would allow it to be seen more clearly as a sharp tale of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Brian O'Malley
Jason says: “After seeing this, a festival buddy suggested that part of the reason this fell flat for her was that we’d just seen another over-the-top revenge piece in PUZZLE. I didn’t have quite the same reaction; where she was
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Robert May
Jason says: “‘Kids For Cash!’ makes a great tabloid headline – heck, it looks good on a broadsheet when something akin to the scandal that this movie documents is discovered. It may not be the best title for this particular
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Brian Knappenberger
Jason says: “It’s a horribly clinical thing to say, but building a movie around someone who committed suicide requires even more care than other documentaries. It distorts the audience’s perceptions and makes the filmmaker walk on eggshells, and in the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: John Slattery
Starring: Caleb Landry Jones | Christina Hendricks | Eddie Marsan | John Turturro | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Richard Jenkins
Jason says: “There are moments, especially toward the end of GOD’S POCKET, when I wonder if John Slattery has made a Trojan Horse of a movie, giving an audience expecting an honest-but-affectionate story about earthy folks in a tough neighborhood
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Jeremy Leven
Starring: Louise Monot | Nora Tschirner | Paddy Considine | Stephane Debac | Vincenzo Amato
Kyle says: “I would love to recommend GIRL ON A BICYCLE to fans of quirky European-flavored romantic comedies, but my heart would not be in it. This kind of cute is killing to my soul. “Paolo (Vincenzo Amato) is a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Isabella Rossellini | Jake Gyllenhaal | Mélanie Laurent | Sarah Gadon
Diane says: “Alas, waste of time! Jake Gyllenhaal meets his doppelganger, but I didn’t find the two very different, despite one Jake wearing a tweed jacket and the other, leather. ENEMY opens with the tweedie already tired and depressed. Unfortunately,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Tze Chun
Starring: Alice Eve | Bryan Cranston | Erin Cummings | Logan Marshall-Green | Robin Taylor | Ursula Parker
Jason says: “There are a number of paths to directing major motion pictures, and I suspect that the one Tze Chun is on is fairly common: Do some shorts, make a truly independent film that’s close to your heart for
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Diega Luna
Starring: America Ferrara | Jacob Vargas | John Malkovich | John Ortiz; Wes Bentley | Michael Peña | Rosario Dawson
Bruce says: “Films like CESAR CHAVEZ deserve an audience because they retell important moments in American history. Most Americans probably don’t know much about Chavez because they are too young or have forgotten most of the details of what happened
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sebastian del Amo
Starring: Barbara Mori | Julian Sedgwick | llse Salas | Luis Gerardo Méndez | Michael Imperi | Óscar Jaenada
Jason says: “It might be interesting to watch CANTINFLAS while making tick marks to see just how much is in Spanish with English subtitles and how much is in English with Spanish subtitles. It’s probably not 50/50, or even that
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