Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Christopher Denham
Jason says: “Wilderness survival movies don’t get much more basic than PRESERVATION, which takes this budget-friendly premise and builds a passable movie out of it. It’s not going to change the genre, or even necessarily stand out as particularly innovative
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michael Spierig | Peter Spierig
Starring: Christopher Kirby | Ethan Hawkes | Noah Taylor | Sarah Snook
Jason says: “If they have any ambition at all, both good and bad time-travel movies make the viewer’s head hurt a little bit thinking about how the plot fits together; the good ones make the us like it. By that
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Michael Tully
Starring: Amy Sedaris | Emmi Shockley | John Hannah | Joseph McCaughtry | Lea Thompson | Marcelo Conte | Myles Massey | Robert Longtreet | Susan Sarandon
Jason says: “PING PONG SUMMER could probably stand to be cut down to half its length, which is a bit of a problem because it only runs 92 minutes as it is. Maybe the time it spends hanging out with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lee Suk-hoon
Starring: Kim Nam-gil | Kim Tae-woo | Lee Kyoung-young | Son Ye-jin
Jason says: “That they can be given names as generic as PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or, in this case, just THE PIRATES without fear of confusion means just one thing: There are not enough pirate movies being made these days.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Roy Andersson
Starring: Holger Andersson | Lotti Tōmros | Nils Westblom | Viktor Gyllenberg
Chris says: “Roy Andersson makes movies that could come from no other director. I suppose most film buffs can detect plentiful influences on his style: the more overtly comic works of Luis Bunuel and David Lynch, naturally fellow Swede Ingmar
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Eugenio Mira
Starring: Alex Winter | Allen Leach | Don McManus | Elijah Wood | John Cusack | Kerry Bishé | Tamsin Egerton
Jason says: “GRAND PIANO is evidence that, with enough creativity and energy, a clever filmmaker can make an exciting thriller out of what may seem like unlikely activities and situations. In this case, it’s a man playing classical piano before
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Brett Ryan Bonowicz
Starring: Cheryl Nichols | Don McManus | James M. Connor | Kelton John | Whit Hertford
Jason says: “Science fiction on film often tends to be action-oriented, even when the filmmakers would really like to be focusing on an idea, if only because an hour and a half of someone spewing jargon is not a natural
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Mark Levinson
Jason says: “Lots of sci-fi movies will have scenes of scientists frantically scribbling on chalkboards, with the directors at a loss for how to make this exciting. I don’t envy them their task; it’s usually being done by a new
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Gia Coppola
Starring: Chris Messina | Emma Roberts | Jack Kilmer | James Franco | Nat Wolff | Val Kilmer
Jason says: “That James Franco always seems to have more ambition than one would think should have stopped surprising me a few of his less mainstream projects ago, but it hasn’t. It should no longer shock to see another member
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Takashi Miike
Jason says: “In addition to his film work, Takashi Miike has directed a few stage productions, experience that he likely dipped into for OVER YOUR DEAD BODY (KUIME in Japanese). At times, I kind of wish that was where the
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