Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX

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 »

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 »

“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 »

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 »

From its erotic, titillating commencement throughout its seesaw scenario the viewer voyeuristically vacillates between the past and present; the blue of the hotel room to a similar hue in the courtroom; lovers reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock genre, fatally attracted to each other, describing their relationship in “Rashomon” style. Succinctly acted and directed by Mathieu Amalric (“The Diving Bell and ... Read More »

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 »

Director/choreographer Farah Khan (“Om Shanti Om”) serves her revenge Masala style, hot and spicy; “Happy New Year” is a Bollywood romp reminiscent of “Ocean’s Eleven”, “Italian Job” and a plagiarized version of Hollywood’s 1987 “Happy New Year”, starring Peter Falk and Charles Durning; Shah Rukh Khan is at his “abs”olute best as “Charlie”, seeking revenge for the false imprisonment of ... Read More »

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 »

For 50 years (the oldest competitive film festival in the United States) one man has reigned, commanded with prescience, inimitable courage and foresight at the helm; channeling its vision universally, fifty-two countries displayed their features in this year’s festival; fearlessly, a parameter-destroyer, a man whose indefatigable initiative has never waned, gifting viewers a perpetual avalanche of entertainment. Michael Kutza is ... Read More »

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 »