Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Sara Sugarman
Starring: Ioan Gruffud | Jonathan Pryce | Matthew Rhys | Rachel Griffiths
Michael says: “The first film we caught at the High Falls Film Festival was a British entry, the recipient of The Sundance Film Maker’s Award for Best International Script for Sara Sugarman’s VERY ANNIE-MARY. Rachel Griffiths and Jonathan Pryce star
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Director: Shunji Iwai
Starring: Ayumi Ito | Hayato Ichihara | Shûgo Oshinari | Takao Osawa
Peg says: “Based on his interactive on-line novel, filmmaker Shunji Iwais bleak glimpse into the solipsistic world of Japanese teenagers is a visually stunning étude full of pensive slow takes, heart-stopping tableaux, and frenetic high-def DVD color. What may challenge
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Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Cara Seymour | Chris Cooper | Meryl Streep | Nicholas Cage | Tilda Swinton
Mary W. says: “ADAPTATION had a lot of laughs but definitely all in the flip meandering mode so that after a time the one-note characters- ‘Charlie Kaufman’ (Nicholas Cage) and ‘Susan Orlean’ (Meryl Steep) begin to wear thin. I never
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Chris Weitz | Paul Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant | Natalia Tena | Nicholas Hoult | Rachel Weisz | Sharon Small | Toni Collette | Victoria Smurfit
Laura says: “ABOUT A BOY establishes Will and Marcus by intercutting between their lives until it brings them together. Young Nicholas Hoult immediately gains our sympathy. He’s terrified of being abandoned by his mother, which makes him brave enough to
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Rating: 2 cats
Director: Seth Kearsley
Starring: Adam Sandler | Austin Stout | Jackie Titone | Tyra Banks
Laura says: “Adam Sandler grows increasingly frustrating combining his odd mixture of true heart and sweetness with juvenile vulgarity that may even put off his target audience in this, his first animation. For every laugh or smile Sandler genuinely earns
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Starring: Charlotte Rampling | Ian Hart | Lena Heady | Stellan Skarsgaard
Bob says: “ABERDEEN is a film I’ve never heard of, by Hans Petter Moland, a Norwegian director I’ve never heard of, but the blurb looked interesting enough, and the cast included Stellan Skarsgard and Charlotte Rampling, who’s my frontrunner for
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Catherine Deneuve | Danielle Darrieux | Emmanuelle Béart | Isabelle Huppert
Michael says: “This colorful, riotous musical is quite a romp, starring some of France’s most glamorous and notable actresses, including Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, and Fanny Ardant. “Eight women, extended family, are trapped in an estate during a
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Rating: 4.25 cats
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: John Thomson | Lennie James | Mark Windows | Paddy Considine | Paul Popplewell | Shirley Henderson | Steve Coogan
Michael says: “Michael Winterbottom’s 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE follows the career of British journalist, Tony Wilson as he takes part in the rise of punk and new wave in Manchester, England in the early 80’s. Wilson, a British television reporter
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Anna Paquin | Barry Pepper | Brian Cox | Edward Norton | Levani | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Rosario Dawson | Tony Siragusa
Phred says: “I just saw the 25TH HOUR, and read a bunch of reviews. Opinions are extremely mixed, with some people loving and others hating it. I loved it. It has many many faults. The dialog is sometimes embarrassing, the
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Rating: 4.75 cats
Director: Edward Yang
Starring: Elaine Jin | Issey Ogata | Jonathan Chang | Kelly Lee | Wu Nien Jen
Diane says: YI YI by Edward Yang is a Taiwanese AMERICAN BEAUTY. Members of a middle-class family go through changes, in isolation from each other (startlingly oblivious to each other’s crises, just like in this year’s novel The Bee Season).
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