Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Anne-Marie Duff | Christopher Plummer | Helen Mirren | James McAvoy | Kerry Condon | Paul Giamatti
Jason says: “THE LAST STATION is a perfectly adequate sort of historical drama. Nice cast in Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti, and Helen Mirren. Nice production values. Interesting subjects. You may learn something while watching it, whether in terms of history,
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Lixin Fan
Jason says: “LAST TRAIN HOME starts by presenting the audience with large numbers – the 130 million Chinese workers who return home for the New Year’s holiday annually (the world’s largest human migration), and the 2100 kilometers that separate the
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Casey Affleck | Elias Koteas | Jessica Alba | Kate Hudson | Ned Beatty | Tom Bower
Jason says: “THE KILLER INSIDE ME is getting a certain amount of notice for its violence, which is a little surprising to me, in a strict ‘well, I’ve seen worse’ sense. But I suspect the filmmakers will be fine with
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Starring: Annika Hallin | Jacob Ericksson | Lena Endre | Michael Nyqvist | Noomi Rapace | Sofia Ledarp
Jason says: “It’s somewhat apt that, in giving the novels and films in the Millennium trilogy similar titles in English-speaking parts of the world, the names given second and third wound up being phrases that essentially mean the same thing.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Starring: Annette Bening | Josh Hutcherson | Julianne Moore | Mark Ruffalo | Mia Wasikowska | Yaya DaCosta
Michael says: “Lisa Cholodenko’s fourth feature (following HIGH ART, LAUREL CANYON and CAVEDWELLER) THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, is getting a tremendous amount of critical acclaim, and even early Oscar buzz. I was very excited to see this film after
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Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Anne Sundberg | Ricki Stern
Beth Caldwell says: “This was a very interesting documentary. When I went into the film I had heard it was a good documentary, but I was less than enthused because I don’t really like Joan Rivers. I didn’t think she’d
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Tamra Davis
Jason says: “In the last review I wrote (for the delightful MARWENCOL), I said that documentaries about art and artists were frequently disappointing, in part because filmmakers have a hard time translating the brilliance they see into something a non-artist
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Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Anna Boden | Ryan Fleck
Starring: Emma Roberts | Jeremy Davies | Keir Gilchrist | Lauren Graham | Viola Davis | Zach Galifianakis
Jason says: “The title of IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY is its own review. It’s just a matter of where you want to put the emphasis. It’s got enough jokes and amusing moments to qualify as a funny story,
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Starring: Amy Ryan | Daphne Rubin-Vega | John Ortiz | Philip Seymour Hoffman
Michael says: “Hats off to Philip Seymour Hoffman! Not only is his directorial debut a warm, funny, brilliantly acted, gorgeously written romance, it’s also the most adept depiction of the internal lives of people I’ve seen on screen. It’s a
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Wilson Yip
Starring: Donnie Yen | Lynn Hung | Sammo Hung Kam-Bo | Simon Yam | Sui-Wong Fa | Xiaoming Huang
Jason says: “When I reviewed IP MAN last year, I was enthusiastic, comparing it to classic Shaw Brothers and ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA. As I said then, that’s pretty good company for a martial arts epic to be
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