Netflix and Beyond

Sarah Silverman’s sterling performance cannot rescue this sophomorically written, unquestionably pointless film. “Laney Brooks” (Silverman) living a lovely life with a worshipful  husband “Bruce” (blandly depicted by Josh Charles) and two spectacular children; celestially- addicted, anorexic, unfaithful; her life is one destructive, masochistic moment after another. Questioning whether something atrocious happened in her primary years, either before or after her …

Before the butchery in San Bernardino, California, Chicago starred in this week’s headlines; the slaughter, thirteen months ago, of an inner city teenager, by a Chicago law officer. Chicago has been at the epicenter of violent slayings of  young and innocent children; staggering statistics keep expanding because of gangs, illegal guns, and an amazing cavalier attitude towards life’s sacredness. Spike …

Tom Hardy is the Sir Lawrence Olivier of the twenty-first century; he is a masterful chameleon, from super hero (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), villain (“The Dark Knight Rises”) to the common man (“Locke”) he stuns with his inimitable ability to methodically transform himself into a myriad of diverse characters. His remarkable reserves expand exponentially as he sinks his flawless aptitudes …

Satisfaction is 100% requited when a movie, not only delivers, but blasts predicted ennui, gifting viewers exactly what is needed from a two -hour respite;  escaping protestors, gruesome headlines, ubiquitous shoppers. “Rocky Balboa” (Sylvester Stallone’s iconic franchise) after forty years, comfortable with his fame, history and age, is now training “Adonis Creed”, the illegitimate son of “Apollo Creed”; Michael B. …

Daniel Craig, in his fourth attempt, has sensationally nailed the role of “James Bond”; not the lothario like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan or even David Niven; directed by Sam Mendes, Craig’s Bond is toughness packaged in a GQ facade, nary a wrinkle appears in his Armani suit after explosives, disintegrating buildings, helicopter headaches test the mettle of the …

If you saw and remember the 2009 Academy Award winning Argentine “The Secret in Their Eyes” you should take a pass on this placid remake; Director Juan Jose Campanella’s taut, stunning thriller still ranks as one of the best psychological studies of vigilante justice ever created. Director Billy Ray’s rendition lacks a spirited scenario, intriguing dialogue and perceptive casting. The …

Superbly written, directed, filmed and performed “Spotlight” focuses on the Pulitzer Prize winning team of the Boston Globe, who in early 2002, splayed across the front page the salacious, egregious history of pedophilia practiced among the Catholic priests in the Boston Archdiocese; a clandestine epidemic of mythic proportions. The “Spotlight” team, all Catholics (Boston, a predominately Catholic city) rose above …

Vacations are exhuberant, transformative; a time to shed the inflexibility of the daily, weekly routine; scrape away  layers of sameness, predictability; unlock the imagination to the wonders of the unknown, allowing oneself to bask in the intricacies of a foreign culture or simply a venue away from the norm; returning refreshed, appreciative of the comforts, even obligations, expected from the …

In the meantime, please take some time to enjoy reviews from the 51st Chicago International Film Festival. Peneflix

Selected by a distinguished international jury, “A Childhood” resonates with greatness on a myriad of levels;  the travails of thirteen-year-old “Jimmy”, whose home- life stagnates in punitive purgatory, a drug-addicted mother and her malicious, miserly, moral-less mate; he cooks, cleans and takes immaculate care of his younger brother; ashamed of his daily existence and its detriments, he refuses to sink …