Netflix and Beyond

  1630, New England; a banished family, forced by the Church to move to an unincorporated area, bordering on a bewitched, sinister forest, (a landscape worthy of a Constable canvas).  Writer/director Robert Eggers’s copious research on 17th-century mysticism results in a horrifying psychological tale, guaranteed to haunt one’s dreams interminably. Superbly acted, especially by Anna Taylor-Joy, the eldest of five …

Michael Moore travels the globe searching for utopian solutions to America’s numerous anomalies. His one man, flag-toting  invasion of overwhelmingly homogeneous countries lacks the pungency of his previous endeavors; aiming to convert the masses to “Moorian” socialistic ideology he stumbles by taking a gentler, less traveled philosophical path.  A road, regardless of whom he encounters, is emblazoned, dominated by his …

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 …

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 …

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 …