We meet at the Alhambra Cinema Penrith on a Monday afternoon twice a month to see a film of our choice, usually one on general release or the spotlight alternative. We have seen quite a wide range of films since we started in January 2023, as you can see from the reviews below.

After the film we stay at the cinema for a cuppa and an informal discussion.  Sometimes differing views, occasionally an explanation and always friendly chatter. Do come and join us.

Mother’s Pride – Film Review - March 2026

This film, which has been harshly criticised in the national media, was universally well received by the members of the Penrith Cinema Club, who described it as a genuine “feelgood film”. We all left the cinema with a smile on our faces, which is a welcome outcome when attending a film. The film is set in a Somerset village so the scenery throughout is restful, which is a contrast to the tensions that are made evident from the very beginning between a number of the key characters. .(Read Full Review)

13 Jan 2026 8:37 pm 2026

THE CHORAL gives us the usual stereotypes that Mr. Bennett so adeptly skewers.  The local entrepreneur whose money keeps the society on an even financial keel in expectation of the leading tenor role is here, as is the lady who does although in this instance the lady who does is doing the local entrepreneur and any other town worthy who has the means to be done.   In fairness she does turn out to be a tart with a heart. (Read Full Review)

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life – July 2025. (Read Full Review)

I thoroughly enjoyed this amusing French comedy which, in addition to the humour has very poignant moments. The storyline is based loosely on the central plot of the novel, Pride & Prejudice, hence the reference to Jane Austen in the title, with the main character, Agathe, played by Camille Rutherford, the French and English actor. 

The opening scenes are based around Agathe’s work in the famous Parisian bookshop, Shakespeare & Co. We learn that Agathe has had no sexual intimacy in a relationship for three years, has a close friend, Felix (Pablo Pauly), as a colleague at work, and is living with her sister and nephew following the deaths of their parents in a car accident, which makes her very reluctant to travel in a car.

The Complete Unknown (Read Full Review)

The members of the U3A group who went to the Alhambra to watch “The Complete Unknown” appeared to have a universally positive view of the film after the screening. The film recalls the period, the first half of the 1960s, from Bob Dylan first coming to the attention of the American public as a singer songwriter (thanks initially to Pete Seeger, who used his folk music to support his anti-war political protests) to the release in 1965 of the electric, as opposed to the acoustic, album, “Highway 61 Revisited”. The first track on the album is “Like a Rolling Stone”, which includes the expression, from which the title of the film is derived “like a complete unknown” amongst its lyrics. 

NAPOLEON November 23rd 2023 (Read Full Review)

Joaquin Phoenix may not have enhanced his reputation as an actor with this portrayal of NAPOLEON as a Francis Ford Coppola stereotype of the Mafia Don. As a sequel to CHEVALIER this film swaps the contempt of the Bourbon dynasty towards the proletariat for the contempt of the Citizens Committee towards the citizens. One autocrat is much the same as any other. According to the closing frames the egotistical warmonger’s death toll hit three million and that was just the French corpses. 

DANCE FIRST November 13th 2023. (Read Full Review)

Everyone knows that Samuel Beckett was a noted Irish playwright whose most famous work is Waiting for Godot. I have yet to meet anyone who has seen it on stage. Some, like me, have watched the start on television but a Number Eleven bus arrived before Godot so we all got on the bus: just as well because apparently Godot never arrived. Whilst we have all heard about Beckett we knew nowt about him. That has been corrected by this film.

THE GREAT ESCAPER October 23rd 2023. (Read Full Review)

Congratulations to the director of this movie who elicits an acting performance from Michael Caine that we haven’t seen since The Cider House Rules. Caine portrays Bernie ( Bernard Jordan ) who is spending his declining years in a care home on the South coast with his wife Renee ( Irene ) played by the ever splendid Glenda Jackson who is unfortunately no longer with us to accept the plaudits.

AND THEN COME THE NIGHTJARS 11th September 2023 (Read Full Review)

All scripted by Bea Roberts, a movie of a stage play using the same two principal actors based on a book. I always thought a nightjar was a container for dentures but apparently it is an avian with an insistent sinister chatter known as the bird of death. We are so informed by Michael, a Devon dairy farmer in the opening sequences of this film.

A HAUNTING IN VENICE September 25th 2023 (Read Full Review)

A majority of the dozen or so who attended enjoyed the film though three of us were on the ambivalent to unimpressed spectrum. I’d say it is well worth waiting until this movie pops up on free to view television but that does not swell the coffers at the Alhambra, our Alhambra, so dust off a fiver and watch Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, the only character in her vast literary canon who is more irritating than Miss Marple.

Covid 19, the modern day biological/laboratorical equivalent of the equally laboratorical atomic bomb, has devastated communities and enterprises including the Alhambra in Penrith but our local cinema has not taken umbrage at all WMDs so we got to see OPPENHEIMER. 

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY 10th July 2023 (Read Full Review)

This is the fifth outing for Indiana Jones and naturally comes with all the whizz-bang action of the previous adventures. Those who are expecting a ridiculous and incredible plot will not be disappointed, but of course that is the point – it is pure fantasy and escapism, and all the more enjoyable for it. No one will need reminding that Harrison Ford plays the eponymous hero, but here we find him not only playing the character close to his age in real life, but through the wonders of digital technology he is rejuvenated as his younger self when the story regresses to an early time.

CHEVALIER June 26th 2023 (Read Full Review)

The second June convening of the Cinema Group represented a doubling of the turnout from the first: whilst this is a comparatively impressive statistic it falls short of encouragement for the future of the flicks in Penrith. CHEVALIER. For those of us expecting to hear “ Zank evans for leetle gurls “ there was initial disappointment although on reflection a rerun of GIGI would also have disappointed with the jiggery pokery of current wokery reducing Maurice to miming his signature tune. We were instead treated to an historical drama.

THE LITTLE MERMAID June 12th 2023. (Read Full Review)

Missing April 24th 2023 (Read Full Review)

A criminologist character in this film opines that ‘this is the strangest case I ever saw’, but it is arguable that many audiences will consider this to be the strangest film they ever saw. Seemingly shot entirely on computers and other electronic media, it certainly differs from traditional production techniques.

Lunana: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM April 10th 2023. (Read Full Review)

A recalcitrant young schoolteacher who hankers after a guitar strumming career as a singer in Australia is committed to a five year training contract with the government of Bhutan when a spiteful civil servant consigns him for his final year to the distant Himalayas, specifically to the tiny village of LUNANA.

ALLELUJAH March 27th 2023 (Read Full Review)

There will be no shortage of Allelujahs as the Church calendar trundles into Easter but be sure to keep at least one aside for Alan Bennett. His latest stage to screen opus might not have the hilarious rat-a-tat delivery of THE HISTORY BOYS but there are plenty of those sly, wry Bennett smirks in ALLELUJAH

THE WONDER February 13th 2023 Read Full Review)

Set in a small village in rural Ireland some ten years after the Great Hunger or Irish Potato famine, during which at least a million people died, this film explores the religious attitudes and bigotry of the time. The basic plot revolves around eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell who has stopped eating for over four months but miraculously remains alive and well.

THE FABELMANS. 30th January 2023 (Read Full Review)

Spielberg’s “fictionalised” autobiography THE FABELMANS portrays Sam Fabelman’s (Gabriel LaBelle) family life through childhood and adolescence, along with his developing passion for movie making.

EMPIRE OF LIGHT. 16th January 2023  (Read full Review)

Sam Mendes’ tribute to the Cinema, set in the seaside town of Margate in the 1980s, Empire of Light portrays cinema manager Hilary’s (Olivia Colman) relationship with younger cinema employee Stephen (Michael Ward). The film covers racial tensions and mental health as well as many other issues.