Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.75
Director: Philip Cox
Jason says: “Often, a good documentary will seem like the result of as much good fortune as anything; after all, it’s entirely possible to have a compelling topic, an interesting subject to follow around, and a good crew, but that’s
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Constance Marks
Jason says: “I don’t have kids of my own, but I have a four-year-old niece, and Elmo sort of drove her parents up the wall, at least for a while. Something about the high voice, the talking in the third
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Wai-keuing Lau
Starring: Anthony Wong Chau-sang | Danying Feng | Liang Tian | Qi Shu | Ye Liu
Jason says: “You’ve got to sort of admire a movie like A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. It’s filled with characters that could easily be defined by how they are handicapped or burdensome, and yet it’s not a pity-baiting exercise. Well, not more
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Christopher Plummer | Ewan McGregor | Goran Visnjic | Kai Lennox | Mélanie Laurent
Chris says: “BEGINNERS puts a novel twist on the coming out narrative: this time, it’s the father, 75-year-old Hal (Christopher Plummer) who tells his son Oliver (Ewan McGregor) that he’s gay. Neither played for farce nor melodrama, the relatively painless
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Starring: Bruce Greenwood | Minnie Driver | Paul Giamatti | Rachelle LaFevre | Rosamund Pike | Scott Speedman
Thom says: “Adapted from the Mordechai Richler (who sadly passed before this film was released) novel this film does have loads of charm that tried very hard to overcome the basically obnoxious protagonist. Barney Panofsky is a very successful Canadian
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Starring: Alev Uçarer | Ayse Altay | Bora Altas | Erdal Besikçioglu | Tülin Özen
Ibad says: “The Turkish film BAL in English, HONEY is infused with a quiet power. The film’s rich and hauntingly soulful imagery makes it nearly impossible to do the material justice in a single review. BAL is the third film
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Joe Cornish
Starring: Alex Esmail | Franz Drameh | Jodie Whittaker | John Boyega | Leeon Jones | Luke Treadaway | Simon Howard
Jason says: “ATTACK THE BLOCK got ridiculously high praise from genre fans at festival showings this year, and it’s not quite that good. Then, in between its US opening and its expansion to Boston, the London riots started, and talk
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Starring: Bérénice Bejo | Beth Grant | James Cromwell | Jean Dujardin | John Goodman | Penelope Ann Miller
Thom says: “This delightful black & white silent film is an out-and-out winner. Silent film superstar George Valentin (Dujardin, Best Actor at Cannes 2011) is worried that with the advent of talkies he will lose his stardom. His marriage is
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Richard Griffin
Starring: Alexander Lewis | Alexandra Cipolla | Brandon Luis Aponte | Colin Carlton | Daniel Lee White | David Lavallee Jr. | Michael Reed | Ruth Sullivan | Sarah Nicklin
Jason says: “It’s fair to look at a movie like ATOMIC BRAIN INVASION and sigh. Another one of these things? After all, to put it bluntly, the people with legitimate first-hand nostalgia for 1950s sci-fi flicks are dying off, and
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Clio Barnard
Chris says: “Outside of England and perhaps a few modern drama departments, playwright Andrea Dunbar remains obscure, a status this unusual documentary hopes to obliterate. Raised on a notoriously tough council estate, she wrote a play (which gives this film
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