Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dennie Gordon
Starring: Ruby Lin Xin-ru | Wang Lee-Hom | Yao Chen | Zhang Ziyi
Jason says: “I’ve said before that making sequels to romantic comedies is a tempting but dangerous idea, but MY LUCKY STAR (FEICHANG XINGYUN in Mandarin) may just have hit upon the best way to follow up such a hit: It’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Jacob Lofland | Matthew McConaughey | Michael Shannon | Reese Witherspoon | Sam Shepard | Sarah Paulson | Tye Sheridan
Chris says: “As a follow-up to TAKE SHELTER, a film with shifting ambiguities and an awesome performance from Michael Shannon, Jeff Nichol’s MUD can’t help but almost feel a bit of a letdown. The titular figure, an on-the-run hobo of
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jem Cohen
Starring: Bobby Sommer | Ela Piplits | Mary Margaret O’Hara
Chris says: “Art is a tricky subject for a movie. Most filmmakers take the artist biopic route (and many of them end up feeling stuffy and hermetic) while others utilize a more experimental approach (RUSSIAN ARK and its feature-length tracking
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Alexis Denisoff | Amy Acker | Clark Gregg | Fran Kanz | Jillian Morgese | Nathan Fillion | Tom Lenk
Thom says: “This adaptation of the Divine William Shakespeare comedy masterpiece fully deserved the accolades it received at TIFF as this modern reading in gorgeous black & white photography was spectacularly successful. Many rehearsals must have been scheduled for the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Don Thacker
Starring: Adrian DiGiovanni | Danielle Doetsch | Jeffrey Combs | Ken Brown | Pete Giovangnoli
Jason says: “MOTIVATIONAL GROWTH ran twice at the festival, with overlapping crowds but different results: Once as a spotlight presentation with the director doing Q&A that was reasonably well received, and once as the 4am leg of a noon-to-noon marathon
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Andrew Dosunmu
Starring: Anthony Okungbowa | Bukky Ajayi | Danai Gurira | Isaach De Bankolé | Klarissa Jackson | Yaya Alafia
Chris says: “At her wedding, Adenike (Danai Gurira), a Nigerian recently transplanted to Brooklyn is asked by her mother-in-law to bear a child named George. In her culture, this is not a request, but a command, her duty. After a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Alan Polsky | Gabe Polsky
Starring: Dalota Fanning | Emile Hirsch | Kris Kristofferson | Stephen Dorff
Jason says: “THE MOTEL LIFE isn’t quite a lot of filler packed around one great moment – it is, really, a watchable indie drama, so when the scene the audience will remember comes, they aren’t likely to weigh that bit
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Markus Imhoof
Jason says: “Many potential audience members will see a preview for Markus Imhoof’s documentary MORE THAN HONEY and perhaps wonder if it has anything particularly new to tell them; we learn about bees and their symbiotic relationship with the local
Read the review...By Chris Kriofske
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Whoopi Goldberg
Chris says: “A half-forgotten pop culture figure you probably never thought the world needed a documentary feature about, mid-century black comedienne Moms Mabley actually proves ideal for the format. Her career trajectory (playing to mostly black audiences until finding mainstream
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Anthony DiBlasi
Starring: Connor Christie | Dawn Olivieri | J LaRose | Jordan Woods-Robinson | Kip Pardue | Mitch Ryan | Randy Molnar
Jason says: “Put its Mormon trappings aside, and MISSIONARY is the sort of basic ‘woman with a stalker’ movie that hits all its marks well enough that the audience doesn’t necessarily care that it’s working from a standard list. It
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