Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joanna Newsom | Joaquin Phoenix | Josh Brolin | Katherine Waterston | Owen Wilson | Reese Witherspoon
Thom says: “Other than BOOGIE NIGHTS, which I loathed, I’ve been a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson films, although, truth-to-tell I’ve only given my highest rating to THERE WILL BE BLOOD. And there were really great parts of MAGNOLIA, PUNCH-DRUNK
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Jason says: “Where is the exact line between a movie being a darkly funny revenge story and a full-on, pitch-black dark comedy? In the case of IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, I think it is crossed early on in a gag
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Anthony Chen
Starring: Angeli Bayani | Koh Jia Ler | Tian Wen Chen | Yann Yann Yep
Jason says: “You can finish ILO ILO and come away feeling like you’ve seen something more uplifting than it really is, and it would not shock me if a fair amount of people identified with the parents of a problem
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: James Gray
Starring: Angela Sarafyan | Dagmara Dominczyk | Jeremy Renner | Joaquin Phoenix | Marion Cotillard
Jason says: “The first shot of THE IMMIGRANT- the Statue of Liberty seen from behind, through a brownish fog – is certainly the sort that let the audience know just what the next two hours have in store. Director James
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Pawel Pawlikoski
Starring: Adam Szyszkowski | Agata Kulesza | Agata Trzebuchowska | Dawid Ogrodnik | Jerzy Trela
Jason says: “Roughly three scenes into IDA, I figured that a good way to review this movie might be to simply list every scene – nay, every shot – and say why I loved it. Eighty minutes later, I was
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Anders Morgenthaler
Starring: Anouk Fischer | Jordan Prentice | Kim Basinger | Peter Stormare | Sebastian Schipper
Jason says: “I AM HERE is heart-and-gut-wrenching in its first act, taking horrific events and making them hurt more with things that would at first glance have the opposite effect. It’s not quite so sure-handed when it starts to actually
Read the review...The Hypnotist (Sweden; 122 min.) directed by: Lasse Hallströmstarring: Tobias Zilliacus; Mikael Persbrandt; Lena Olin; Jonatan Bökman; Oscar Pettersson; Anna Azcárate Bruce says: “Lasse Hallström has had a remarkable career albeit an unusual one. In 1985, twelve years into his
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jang Joon-hwan
Jason says: “A little over ten years ago, director Jang Joon-hwan made a good-sized splash with a film by the name of SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, but after that, barely a peep. He certainly seems to have come back to
Read the review...The Hundred Foot Journey (India/United Arab Emirates/USA; 122 min.) directed by: Lasse Hallström starring: Helen Mirren; Om Puri; Manish Dayal; Charlotte Le Bon; Amit Shah; Farzana Dua Elahe; Dillon Mitra Thom says: “Director Hallström was responsible for ONCE AROUND (1991)
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: David Dencik | Grace Gummer | Hailee Steinfeld | Hilary Swank | James Spader | John Lithgow | Meryl Streep | Miranda Otto | Sonja Richter | Tommy Lee Jones | William Ficthner
Jason says: “I can’t recall Tommy Lee Jones ever working with Werner Herzog at any point, and that’s probably for the best. THE HOMESMAN suggest they may be too much on the same page about how the untamed wilderness not
Read the review...