Netflix and Beyond

“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 …

Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay give subtle,  profound performances as a retired couple on the verge of their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. Directed by Andrew Haigh, based on a 10-page story by David Constantine, this quietly brilliant psychological scenario will haunt one long after its initial viewing. After two screenings I am still unsettled, pondering, contemplating the conclusion. “Geoff” (Courtenay) receives …

Watching this remarkable, perfect film by Director/Co-Writer Deniz Gamze Erguven, Richard Lovelace’s “stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage” pungently informed my viewing experience; five ebullient sisters, running to the beach (Northern Turkey) with some of their male classmates, uniformed, they plunge fully-clothed into the water and engage in joyous, fun-loving, innocent high jinks; it …

Knowing the outcome of this disastrous debacle in no way diminishes the intensity of Michael Bay’s film based on the book (“13 Hours: the Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi”) by Mitchell Zuckoff; sensationalized depiction of the days leading up to September 11, 2012, in little-known Benghazi, Libya. Driving through the circuitous, dusty streets the soldiers are met …

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, …

In life (if one lives long enough)  negative epiphanies must be dealt with; “never again” to suffer the indignities and remorse of over-eating, smoking, drinking or in this case enduring 180 minutes of inane and foolish repartee by supposedly talented individuals. From commencement to conclusion beer-swilling host, Ricky Gervais, did not disappoint with his iconoclastic slurs, humorless barbs, toothy guffaws; …

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 …

“Man is not himself only, he is all that he sees; all that flows to him from a thousand sources. He is the land, the lift of its mountain lines, the reach of its valleys.” Mary Austin Director Alejandro G. Inarritu and actor Leonardo DiCaprio lionize legendary Hugh Glass, a trapper and frontiersman, a man who in the early 19th …

Quentin Tarantino never fails to titillate, traumatize and massively entertain; probing the depths of his horrifically fantastic, fertile imagination he gifts audiences his best yet; a MUST in 70mm, (a rarity in the film world: “Ben Hur”, “Mutiny on the Bounty”, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”, “Battle of the Bulge”, “Khartoum”) worth every dime of the extra fee, …