Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Bengt Ekerot | Bibi Andersson | Gunnar Björnstrand | Inga Gill | Max von Sydow | Nils Poppe
Michael says: “It was the 17th film Bergman directed, but it was his breakout. Based on his play, ‘Transitions’ THE SEVENTH SEAL follows a knight, Antonious Block, returning from the Crusades with his squire, to find his homeland ravaged by
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Juraj Herz
Starring: Eduard Kohout | Helena Anýzová | Ilja Prachar | Jirí Lír | Jirí Menzel | Míla Myslíková | Milos Vognic | Rudolf Hrusínský | Václav Stekl | Vladimír Mensík | Vlasta Chramostová
Thom says: “Out-of-hand I see all Criterion releases that come out if previously not watched by me. Most of their releases are anywhere from good to extraordinary (although very occasionally they are poor) and this one is an outright masterpiece.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: E. G. Marshall | Ed Begley | Edward Binns | George Voskovec | Henry Fonda | Jack Klugman | Jack Warden | John Fiedler | Joseph Sweeney | Lee J. Cobb | Martin Balsam | Robert Webber
Chris says: “I don’t know why it took me so long to watch this. Sure, you can adequately summarize it in one or two sentences, but how it gets from point A to point B conveys Sidney Lumet’s mastery of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Starring: Ben Johnson | Cloris Leachman | Clu Gulager | Cybill Shepherd | Eileen Brennan | Ellen Burstyn | Jeff Bridges | Sam Bottoms | Timothy Bottoms
Michael says: “Based on a novel by Larry McMurtry, and adapted by the author and director Peter Bogdanovich, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is a sad, and nostalgic look at a dying Texas town in 1951. The film follows best friends,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Hal Holbrook | Jane Fonda | Jason Robards | Maximilian Schell | Meryl Streep | Rosemary Murphy | Vanessa Redgrave
Philip says: “There exist a handful of films I watch so many times with such intensity I imagine the next scene a moment before it arrives on the screen. Such is my experience with JULIA, the 1977 adaptation of the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Basil Dearden
Starring: Anthony Nicholls | Dennis Price | Dirk Bogarde | Norman Bird | Peter Copley | Peter McEnery | Sylvia Syms
Philip says: “In 1961, U.K. director Basil Dearden did something remarkable. He made a big budget film starring Dirk Bogarde and Sylvia Sims about homosexuality. The title of the film was VICTIM. Ironically instead of portraying the lead character as
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: George Stevens
Starring: Anne Revere | Elizabeth Taylor | Fred Clark | Keefe Brasselle | Montgomery Clift | Raymond Burr | Shelley Winters
Philip says: “George Stevens’ adaptation of An American Tragedy became the 1951 Oscar winning film, A PLACE IN THE SUN. Starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, Stevens’ film follows the modest rise and fall of a nephew to a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: C. Aubrey Smith | George Sanders | Joan Fontaine | Judith Anderson | Laurence Olivier | Nigel Bruce | Reginald Denny
Philip says: “REBECCA is a classic on so many levels. It was Hitch’s first American film made in 1940 for David O. Selznick. Second, it was an eerie Gothic thriller based on the famous Daphne du Maurier novel. Third it stars
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Penny Marshall
Starring: Ann Cusack | Anne Ramsay | Bitty Schram | Geena Davis | Lori Petty | Madonna | Megan Cavanagh | Rosie O’Donnell | Tom Hanks | Tracy Reiner
Philip says: “Penny Marshall’s love letter to women’s baseball, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN holds up beautifully nearly 30 years after its initial release. Weaving an all-American story wrapping feminism in the blanket of America’s favorite pastime proved box office
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Robert Luketic
Starring: Ali Larter | Holland Taylor | Jennifer Coolidge | Luke Wilson | Matthew Davis | Reese Witherspoon | Selma Blair | Victor Garber
Philip says: “LEGALLY BLONDE is my pass. It’s my one ridiculously pulpy Hollywood comedy I get to swoon over without any flack from friends or family. We all deserve one pass and LEGALLY BLONDE is mine. What starts out as
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