Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Adrien Grenier | Anne Hathaway | Emily Blunt | Meryl Streep | Simon Baker | Stanley Tucci | Tracie Thoms
Bruce says: “THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA is an ugly duckling comedy set in the vacuous milieu of the New York and Paris fashion industries. What makes fashion a great comedic subject is the exaggerated importance and sense of purpose the
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Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Jessica Lange | Sam Shepard | Sarah Polley | Tim Roth
Michael says: “Wim Wenders’ latest film based on a play by Sam Shepard relies a little too much on forced whimsy to be truly successful. When an aging matinee idol discovers that he fathered a child years ago, he returns
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Jack Nicholson | Leonardo DiCaprio | Mark Wahlberg | Martin Sheen | Matt Damon | Ray Winstone | Vera Farmiga
Bruce says: “Adapted from the critically acclaimed Hong Kong film INFERNAL AFFAIRS, THE DEPARTED is fairly faithful to its source. The wonderful, intricate plot remains intact – a mole from the local mobsters has infiltrated the police force and a
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Amy Berg
Michael says: “I’m quite disappointed that Amy Berg’s powerful documentary DELIVER US FROM EVIL received such an abbreviated release this year (in Boston anyway) so that most of us didn’t get to see it. In her first feature film, Berg
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Pat O'Neill
Starring: Kane Crawford | Lilia Barsegian | William Lewis
Bruce says: “THE DECAY OF FICTION is an original. In spirit, it is more akin to GOODBYE, DRAGON INN than any other film that comes to mind; the films of Guy Maddin are closest in style. It is impossible to
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Cristi Puiu
Starring: Doru Ana | Ion Fiscuteanu | Monica Barladeanu
Bruce says: “Dante Remus Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) wakes up one morning with a splitting headache and severe nausea. A widower for ten years, he is now alone since his daughter has left Romania, emigrating to Canada. Living with three cats
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Kevin Willmott
Starring: EvamariiJohnson | Larry J. Peterson | Rupert Pate
Michael says: “Sigh. Mockumentaries that are also satires are very difficult to pull off. Over the years, Christopher Guest has mastered the art, but with CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, director Kevin Willmott tries to have his cake (satiric
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Rating: 5 cats
Director: Hamid Rahmanian
Starring: Hosein Yari | Maryam Amirjallali | Zabi Afshar
Bruce says: “DAY BREAK (DAME SOBH is the film’s Persian title) is the film I most liked at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. Happily, I have noticed that DAY BREAK and FAMILIA (my favorite film from the 2005 Toronto International
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Rating: 2.25
Director: Anthony Cordier
Starring: Jean-Philippe Écoffey | Johan Libéreau | Salomé Stévenin
Michael says: “The best thing I can say about DOUCHES FROIDES, my first film at the Toronto International Film Festival, is that it was all up from there. I was skeptical before I went, just looking at the image from
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hans Canosa
Starring: Aaron Eckhart | Brianna Brown | Erik Eidem | Helena Bonham Carter | Olivia Wilde
Michael says: “Hans Canosa’s second feature film (the first being ALMA MATER, which I had never heard of) is a two-person piece about a formerly married couple who haven’t seen each other in many years, then re-connect at a wedding.
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