Teaching audiences to view films actively
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
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Greg Berlanti
Starring: Alexandra Shipp | Jennifer Garner | Josh Duhamel | Katherine Langford | Keiynan Lonsdale | Logan Miller | Nick Robinson
Thom says: “This got a big publicity push earlier this year and was a minor success. A coming-of-age story about a gay teen boy just coming out is as sweet as all-get-out. Simon is an adorable boy with terrific parents,
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 Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Anh Doung | Callum Turner | Cynthia Nixon | Debi Mazar | Jeff Bridges | Kate Beckinsale | Kiersey Clemons | Pierce Brosnan | Tate Donovan | Wallace Shawn
Thom says: “I had high expectations from this film as director Webb was responsible for one of the better indie films of 2009 in (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, & the film has an outstanding cast but the mediocre script &
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Paolo Virzi
Starring: Ahmed Lucan | Christian McKay | Dana Ivey | Dick Gregory | Donald Sutherland | Helen Mirren | Janel Moloney
Thom says: “This shows me to be the old curmudgeon buzz-killer but I found this sappy love story to be pure hokum. Helen Mirren & Donald Sutherland are both highly trained and professional actors and she especially embraces her part to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Brian Taylor
Starring: Anne Winters | Lance Henriksen | Nicholas Cage | Olivia Crocicchia | Robert T. Cunningham | Samantha Lemole | Selma Blair | Zackary Arthur
Thom says: “Here’s another director that I’ve seen all of his mediocre films: CRANK, CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE, GAMER, & GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE & yet I still went out on a limb to see this film because it looked
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Starring: Josh Hartnell | Kaho Minami | Koji Yakusho | Megan Mullally | Nick Gracer | Reiko Aylesworth | Shinobu Terajima | Shioli Katsuna
Thom says: “Back in the early days when I first embraced Film Movement when I discovered them while a volunteer worker at the Oakland Public Library, I saw all their releases I could find either at the libraries in Oakland
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
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Anders Danielsen Lie | Kristen Stewart | Lars Eidinger | Nora von Waldstätten | Sigrid Bouaziz | Ty Olwin
Thom says: “French director Olivier Assayas has been something of an in-and-outer director for me but his best films are indeed world class brilliant. I loved CLEAN (2004), SUMMER HOURS (2008), CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (2014), & especially DEMONLOVER, my
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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