Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: J. J. Abrams
Starring: Bruce Greenwood | Chris Pine | Eric Bana | Karl Urban | Leonard Nimoy | Zachary Quinto | Zoe Saldana
Diane says: “Awesome. I grew up with STAR TREK and found this film very satisfying. Impressed with art director’s restraint in keeping the futuristic look developed in the 1960s, and with the graphics of the black holes. Nice touch to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Dia Sokol
Starring: Andrew Bujalski | Donovan Baddley | Ia Hernandez | Kenya Miles | Wiley Wiggins
Jason says: “The ‘mumblecore’ generation is, perhaps, starting to get interesting. Digital video is both good and cheap enough that these movies no longer default to looking like a muddy mess. More importantly, the characters are starting to feel much
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Brant Sersen
Starring: Christopher McDonald | Dean Winters | Lea Thompson | Rachael Taylor | Thomas Middleditch
Jason says: “Apparently ‘splinterheads’ are a subset of what I’ve always thought of as ‘carnies,’ but that’s apparently like calling a sailor, Marine, or airman a ‘soldier’ – outsiders may think it’s close enough, but in actuality it’s not. Carnies
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.6
Director: Majid Majidi
Starring: Hamid Aghazi | Kamran Dehgha | Maryam Akbari | Mohammad Amir Naji | Neshat Nazari | Schabnam Akhlaghi
Diane says: “I love many of Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s films (CHILDREN OF HEAVEN, BARAN, WILLOW TREE, COLOR OF PARADISE) for their gentle recognition of the beauty inherent in life. SONG OF SPARROWS, however, is so driven by its morality
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Elisa Lasowski | Ireneusz Czop | Kate Dickie | Perry Benson | Piotr Jagiello | Thomas Turgoose
Michael says: “Beautifully shot in black & white, Shane Meadows’ (THIS IS ENGLAND) latest film SOMERS TOWN is a sly look at two teenagers who become friends in working class London. Marek has recently arrived from Easter Europe and spends
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Starring: Haruka Igawa | Inowaki Kai | Kanji Tsuda | Kyôko Koizumi | Teruyuki Kagawa | Yû Koyanagi
Jason says: “There have been many sequences in movies where someone loses his or her job, but few have been so callously cruel as the one that opens TOKYO SONATA: A pretty girl walks through an office, drawing all eyes.
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Michael J. Bassett
Starring: James Purefoy | Jason Flemyng | Max von Sydow | Pete Postlethwaite | Rachel Hurd-Wood | Samuel Roukin
Thom says: “This is one of those big-budget extravaganza & fantasy creation that is beautifully done with lovely images of creatures from lost worlds. The time is the 1500s and our hero Kane has to fight pure evil to overcome
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.125 cats
Director: Alex Rivera
Starring: Giovanna Zacarías | Jacob Vargas | Leonor Varela | Luis Fernando Peña
Jason says: “Science fiction on film is tricky. The money to do spectacle generally comes with strings attached, but without it, a filmmaker runs the risk of having their world look unconvincing or settling for using their big ideas to
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Lee Demarbre
Starring: David Hess | Jesse Buck | Michael Berryman | Ray Sager | Sasha Grey
Jason says: “The appeal of the deliberately shoddy homage continues to elude me, even when I find something to enjoy in one, as I did with SMASH CUT. Wouldn’t it be a finer tribute to take what you learned from,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Kevin Heffernan
Starring: April Bowlby | Cobie Smulders | Kevin Heffernan | Michael Clarke Duncan | Steve Lemme
Jason says: “I have more or less ignored BROKEN LIZARD for what are pretty stupid reasons: The trailers for SUPER TROOPERS didn’t amuse me and it later became a movie much-loved by people who were fans of comedies I disliked.
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