Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Jeff Chang
Starring: Chen Bo-lin | Chiu Yang-Shiang | Kuo Xue-fu | Masuyama Yuki | Owodog | Vivian Hsu
Jason says: “This movie seems like it has no business being as good as it is – it’s a sweet, goofy thing that makes occasional ventures into crude adult territory, and the world of sentai action it’s set in demands
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Rating: 3.8 cats
Director: Jeffrey Friedman | Rob Epstein
Starring: Amanda Seyfried | Bobby Cannavale | Chris Noth | Hank Azaria | James Franco | Peter Sarsgaard | Sharon Stone | Wes Bentley
Chris says: “Linda Lovelace, star of the seminal mainstream porno DEEP THROAT, had a life story seemingly tailor-made for a biopic: plucked from obscurity, she became an instant, infamous celebrity, but paid dearly for it. LOVELACE revels in that dichotomy,
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Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Troy McGatlin
Starring: Adair Jameson | Chuma Gault | David Pevsner | Jan Van Sickle | Patrick John Hurley | Robin DeMarco
Jason says: “There are times when I watch movies and it’s not the obviously bad science itself that bothers me so much as the ignorance about the people and processes involved. It’s not the only discipline filmmakers seem to not
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Macky Alston
Bruce says: “LOVE FREE OR DIE begins with scenes at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade get together for Anglican Bishops, a by-invitation-only event engineered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. One of the Bishops noticeably uninvited is Gene
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Xu Zheng
Starring: Huang Bo | Tao Hong | Wang Baoqiang | Xu Zheng
Jason says: “Comedies are tough imports; wordplay gets lost in translation and different cultures find different things odd enough to be considered funny. So, it’s the big, unmistakable gags that cross borders best, but they’re not usually in the best
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: André Frid | Hans-Jochen Wagner | Mika Seidel | Nele Trebs | Saskia Rosendahl | Ursina Lardi
Jason says: “Set LORE in almost any other time and place, and it’s an impressive adventure story of a certain type, with fine young actors playing kids who must make an impossible-seeming journey against incredible odds. But it’s not set
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Dheeraj Akolkar
Bruce says: “A love affair that evolved into a friendship spanning five decades is the best way to describe the relationship between Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann. They met during the filming of Bergman’s PERSONA on
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Bille August
Starring: August Diehl | Bruno Ganz | Jack Huston | Jeremy Irons | Lena Olin | Martina Gedeck | Mélanie Laurent | Tom Courtenay
Jason says: “Sometimes, there are things that the written word can do that a film can’t. In NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON, Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) tells how certain sentences in the book at the film’s center had a profound effect
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Denden | Rin Takanashi | Ryo Kase | Ryota Nakanishi | Tadashi Okuno
Bruce says: “Kiarostami’s films have been on serious filmgoers’ lists for a long time now. Interest in his work began when he was strictly an Iranian director documenting the Iranian cultural landscape through his narrative works such as A TASTE
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Shinsuke Sato
Starring: Chiaki Kuriyama | Jun Hashimoto | Junichi Okada | Koji Ishaizaka | Nana Eikura | Soto Fukushi
Jason says: “Not having read any of the books in Hiro Arikawa’s Toshokan Sensô series, I readily admit that this film adaptation of the first may give its fans exactly what they want (the manga adaptation looks as ‘shojo’ as
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