Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Bradley Whitford | Nicole Kidman | Scott McNairy | Sebastian Stan | Tatiana Maslany | Toby Kebbell
Michael says: “Karyn Kusama’s latest film got a bit of a tiny buzz when it was released, around the possibility of Oscar notice because of Nicole Kidman’s strung-out, driven, and totally unglamorous portrayal of Detective Bell, wracked with guilt and
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Keith Behrman
Starring: Darren Mann | Josh Wiggins | Kyle MacLachlan | Maria Bello | Niamh Wilson | Taylor Hickson
Michael says: “Okay, what a surprise “I’m on a mission to get my 25 eligible films in, and I’m just coming down with a cold, so I’m not feeling great. So I wanted a movie that was relatively short and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Starring: Antonio Banderas | Asier Etxeandia | César Vicente | Julieta Serrano | Leonardo Sbaraglia | Nora Navas
Chris says: “Doesn’t contain the giddy highs of Almodovar’s best and feels scattered like much of his post-VOLVER output; however, while definitely a mature work, it’s not boring like JULIETA, and the widespread praise for Antonio Banderas’ affecting, multifaceted performance
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Alejandro Landes
Starring: Julian Geraldo | Julianne Nicholson | Karen Quintero | Laura Castrillón | Sofia Buenaventura
Chris says: “Crazier than FITZCARRALDO. The less one knows going in, the better. Last act meanders a bit, but this is highly recommended for fans of apocalyptic art cinema, Mica Levi scores and Julianne Nicholson. 4 cats“
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Deborah S. Esquenazi
Thom says: “I might be rating this a trifle high but I’m a sucker for these wrongful convictions of innocent people movies ever since the 3rd in the PARADISE LOST series almost was made my FILM-OF-THE-YEAR in 2011 before finally
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Desiree Akhavan
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz | Dalton Harrod | Kerry Butler | McCabe Slye | Quinn Shephard | Sasha Lane | Steven Hauck
Chris says: “APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR is one of the better directorial feature debuts of this decade; for her follow-up, Desiree Akhavan eschews the earlier film’s explicit biographical feel (she also starred in it) for an adaptation of Emily Danforth’s novel about
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Paul McGuigan
Starring: Annette Bening | Jamie Bell | Julie Walters | Kenneth Cranham | Vanessa Redgrave
Thom says: “It’s not often that a non big-budget film stars 4 actors who are must-see and the italicized 4 here are all terrific in their roles. Director McGuigan is surprisingly not well-known by me, and yet, amazingly, I’ve seen
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Awkwafina | Chris Pang | Constance Wu | Gemma Chan | Harry Chum Jr. | Henry Golding | Jimmy O. Yang | Ken Jeong | Lisa Lu | Michelle Yeoh | Sonoya Mizuno
Thom says: “I’ve seen three of director Chu’s previous efforts: STEP UP 2: THE STREETS, STEP UP 3D, & NOW YOU SEE ME 2, nothing particularly memorable in professional talents but maybe he was right for this project. The fun,
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Alex Descas | Gerard Depardieu | Josiane Balasco | Juliette Binoche | Nicolas Duvauchelle | Philippe Katerine | Sandrine Dumas | Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | Xavier Beauvois
Chris says: “Leave it to Claire Denis to open her latest by saddling Juliette Binoche with one heck of a blowhard beau and close it on an extended conversation between Binoche and Gerard Depardieu, decidedly *not* her beau (his actual
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Gaspar Noé
Starring: Claude-Emmanuelle | Gajan-Maull | Kiddy Smile | Romain Guillermic | Sofia Boutella | Souheila Yacoub
Brett says: “CLIMAX is the sensory blasts of horror from Edgar Allan Poe copulating with the maniacal and unrelenting beats of modern dance and music. Just when you think Gaspar Noé surely can’t do it again, you experience the mind
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