Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.8 cats
Director: Maggie Greenwald
Starring: Aidan Quinn | Emmy Rossum | Jane Adams | Janet McTeer | Pat Carroll
Diane says: “This story of an early twentieth-century musicologist (Janet McTeer) experiencing music that speaks to her heart instead of her mind–in the North Carolina mountains–was just as hackneyed as the trailer threatened. Sets and blocking (and how often do
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ann Hu
Starring: Jared Harris | Liu Peiqui | Xia Yu | Xing Yufei
Jeffrey says: “I was a little distracted at the beginning of the movie by the transition from what appeared to be historical footage to what appeared to be artificially aged contemporary footage. I thought it should have been either one
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Amanda Redman | Ben Kingsley | Cavan Kendall | Ian McShane | Julianne White | Ray Winstone
Michael says: “I found this film to be lots of fun, with some really terrific performances and visuals. Basically a caper film with Gal (a terrific Ray Winstone) retired from the business and enjoying the life of leisure in Spain
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Rating: 2.75
Director: Brad Anderson
Starring: Brendan Sexton III | David Caruso | Peter Mullan | Stephen Gevedon
Diane says: “What has happened to Brad Anderson? NEXT STOP, WONDERLAND was such a lovely and original film. Now we get his hackneyed attempt at horror in SESSION 9, and Stephen B. (sorry to steal your lines) reports that his
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Rating: 3.25
Director: Dan Minahan
Starring: Brooke Smith | Glenn Fitzgerald | Maylouise Burke | Merrit Wever | Tom Gilroy
Michael says: “Director Dan Minahan creates a wonderfully accurate movie version of a reality TV show taken to extremes. In ‘The Contenders,’ contestants picked at random play against each other… kill or be killed. Dawn (Brooke Smith from VANYA ON
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats | 4.6
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Sun Honglei | Zhang Ziyi | Zhao Yeulin | Zheng Hao
Diane says: “I really didn’t like this movie. I thought I had a good handle on the Chinese way of seeing things, but I found this meaningless. Maybe what wasn’t there was meant to be more meaningful than what was:
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Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Jacques Rivette
Starring: Jeanne Balibar | Marianne Basler | Sergio Castellitto
Diane says: “VA SAVOIR is a lowkey (and long!) romantic comedy about an Italian troupe performing Pirandello in Paris. Camille is strong on stage but falling apart offstage, looking for her former lover who lives in Paris. “The interplay between
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: Tsai Ming-liang
Starring: Ann Hui | Chao-jung Chen | Kang-sheng Lee | Shiang-chyi Chen | Tien Miao | Yi-ching Lu
Bruce says: “A college-aged boy is on the up escalator going to a big department store when he is spotted by a girl he hasn’t seen in two years who is on the adjacent down escalator. They begin talking and
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Rating: 3 cats
Director: Éva Gárdos
Starring: Nastassja Kinski | Scarlett Johansson | Tony Goldwyn
Hilary says: “I am continually impressed by Scarlett Johansson’s performances. GHOST WORLD is definitely on my Top Ten for the year and MANNY & LO is still a favorite, many years later. “Here, however, I just felt sorry for her.
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Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Shapiro | Laurie Shapiro
Diane says: “Here are two problems I have with this film: The impetus for what happens in this docu comes from the filmmakers, as opposed to, say STARTUP.COM and SOUND AND FURY. Schneebaum says ‘I’m really mad at the film
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