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A week ago I reviewed the brilliant Hungarian film “Son of Saul”. I realized that the Holocaust attraction/repulsion is still very much alive in the twenty-first century; filmmakers and viewers alike are still trying to make sense of a modern culture bent on the extermination of one of the oldest, most sterling and profound religions/race ever manufactured. Here are a …

To enter: 1)   You must be a subscriber to Peneflix.com 2)   You may only enter once. 3)   ALL  ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, MIDNIGHT. $150.00 TO THE WINNER. HAVE TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY. Best Supporting Actress: PENEFLIX PICK: ROONEY MARA “CAROL” Best Supporting Actor: PENEFLIX PICK: TOM HARDY “THE REVENANT” Best Actress: PENEFLIX PICK: BRIE …

Animation, even as a child, failed to titillate my imagination, and it is with trepidation that I venture into the genre, unless compelled by the hype, critics raves or piqued curiosity; in this case the “hat trick” ignited my plunge into the  American-Chinese, computer –animated adventure of “Po”, a likeable, naive panda, partially skilled in martial arts. Another irritant is …

Emotionally pulverizing, even after the third viewing, “Son of Saul” Hungary’s nominee in the Best Foreign Film Category, is my selection for the Academy Award; thirty-eight-year-old Director Laszlo Nemes, shooting on 35 millimeter film, drags viewers through the stench-filled, suffocating, filthy, claustrophobic corridors of dehumanization… Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Listening to the sounds of savagery, wreckage,  howls of the innocent, wracks …

Not a “perfect storm” but one that should be seen, especially in 3-D; never has man appeared so negligible, nature’s puppet, plummeted by Thor and his buddies. Based on a U.S. Coast Guard rescue mission that took place in February, 1952, off the coast of Cape Cod. Knowing the outcome does nothing to diminish the harrowing expedition. Chris Pine, trying …

 “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Winston Churchill. Akshay Kumar (in his prime role to date) stars as brash businessman “Ranjit Katyal” who orchestrated the evacuation of  170,000 thousand Indians from Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion in 1990 (first Gulf War); historians and neophytes alike should be required to …

“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” (1969) is a lifetime favorite, its themes, as universal and compelling today, as almost a half century ago; Maggie Smith brought impeccable royalty to the role of an avant- garde art and music teacher in a private girls’ school; “Miss Brodie” was a free thinker, fearless, flawed but tangibly prescient in her logic; “give …

To enter: 1)   You must be a subscriber to Peneflix.com 2)   You may only enter once. 3)   ALL  ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, MIDNIGHT. $150.00 TO THE WINNER. HAVE TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY. Best Supporting Actress: PENEFLIX PICK: ROONEY MARA “CAROL” Best Supporting Actor: PENEFLIX PICK: TOM HARDY “THE REVENANT” Best Actress: PENEFLIX PICK: BRIE …

Strange, eerie Lilliputian-like puppets depict a lugubrious, despondent “slice of life”, pervasive and experienced in the real world, simply “Michael Stone” (voice of David Thewlis) a self-help maven, is suffering from a catastrophic mid-life crisis. His perilous condition leads him to seek out an old flame, cultivate a new one, “Anoma”Lisa” (voice of Jennifer Jason Leigh); she is an anomaly, …

Excellent pairing of two Bollywood superstars makes for a substantially entertaining film: Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar star as wounded men, victims of a palatably evil politician (masterfully malicious Neil Nitin Mukesh); both have lost daughters, whose demise may be traced to this egregious character. Bachchan, “Pandit” is a crippled, chess Grandmaster, his survival revolves around teaching the game to …