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THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

It is refreshingly restorative watching a man withering physically, soaring intellectually. Eddie Redmayne (“Les Miserables”), gives a tour de force performance as Stephen Hawking (“A Brief History of Time”) who quested to discover “one single unified equation that explains everything in the universe”; diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 1963 (twenty-one- years old); glum prognosis, two years to live; he ... Read More »

ROSEWATER

Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”) depicts a remarkable, somewhat fictionalized, tale of one man’s “red badge of courage”; in 2009 Maziar Bahari (“Then They Came for Me”) was arrested and incarcerated for filming the riots in Teheran, Iran after the election; Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal soars as “Bahari” an Iranian-born, London-based journalist working for Newsweek; Western confidence and ebullience ... Read More »

FOXCATCHER

In the profoundly silent first moments of the film we watch a solitary wrestler in a balletic performance with an  anthropomorphic partner; Mark Schultz, Olympic Gold medalist, practices his quintessential wrestling techniques; Channing Tatum gives the greatest performance of his career as this lost, isolated athlete, living in the shadow of his older brother (17 months), Dave, also an Olympic ... Read More »

MOCKINGJAY PART 1

Knowing that audiences were to be served only a portion of the third book in Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy; leaving partially satiated appetites, unanswered dilemmas, lacking the magnetism of previous “Game” movies; light on energy, heavy on angst; difficult to be invested in the half-baked. The commencement is ploddingly slow: “Katniss Evergreen” (abundantly talented Jennifer Lawrence) must psychologically accept ... Read More »

PENEFLIX ON VACATION (RETURNING NOVEMBER 17TH; WITH A REVIEW ON THE 20TH)

In the meantime here are a few previously not reviewed, but worth a watch in the theatres or On Demand: “1,000 TIMES GOOD NIGHT”, Juliette Binoche is stunning as a war photographer, torn asunder by her profession and family. FOUR STARS!!!! “JOHN WICK”, Keanu Reeves has carved the quintessential niche as the avenger, slayer of the nefarious; the body count ... Read More »

NIGHTCRAWLER

“Lou Bloom” is one creepy, amoral, conscienceless character and Jake Gyllenhaal is stratospheric in his depiction of this man of the night, chasing gory, sensational, bloody accidents, filming the scene, its victims and selling them to a Los Angeles TV station. From the moment we meet “Lou”, excessively polite, verbose with Keane-like eyes and gaunt frame we know something is ... Read More »

ST.VINCENT

Manipulative, melodramatic, simultaneously marvelous; a film that delivers warm, fuzzy, chuckling, satisfying fun; Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Jaeden Lieberher, Naomi Watts give performances worthy of writer/director Ted Melfi’s semi-autobiographical story. “Vince” (Murray) a broke, curmudgeonly boozer is hired by his new neighbor “Maggie” (McCarthy) to babysit (for 11 dollars an hour) her twelve-year-old son “Oliver” (enchanting characterization by Lieberher); Vince ... Read More »

BIRDMAN (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

Ignorance would have been blissfully indulgent if only I had not willingly subjected myself to this quixotic, sophistic expose on the cons of action films and their heroes; the bane of vindictive critics; ageing actors on a downward spiral into moral turpitude, and their drug-addicted progeny. “Unexpected’ trouble bamboozled the viewer in the initial scene: “Riggan Thompson” aka “Birdman” , ... Read More »

WHIPLASH

Rarely does a film come along that is in perfect alignment: flawlessly acted, magnificently  written/ directed, rhythmically stunning, an electrifying story that clings to the conscience long after experiencing; “Whiplash” is an experience not to be missed. Miles Teller sinks his sensational skills into the role of “Andrew Neyman”; a portrait of a young man’s obscene obsession, a maniacal drive ... Read More »

ON BEAUTY (HIGHLIGHTED DOCUMENTARY AT THE CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL)

Director Joanna Rudnick’s remarkable iconoclastic commentary on traditional, expected norms of beauty: thin, waif-like, gauntly-chiseled countenances, leggy models who grace the covers of fashion magazines are replaced, shattered by the inimitable photographer Rick Guidotti who sees beyond the facade and unearths, brings forth the gorgeousness of those with physical aberrations; “disfigured” by Albinism, hypo –pigmentation, Sturge-Weber syndrome and chromosome 18 ... Read More »

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