Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX

A year ago ensconced in a small alternate theater I witnessed one of the most emotionally charged and riveting plays I had ever seen; “Scorched” by Wajdi Mouawad. It is a present day tragedy, pounding one’s sensitivities at Sophocles, Euripides decibels;  the ending permanently chiseled on my consciousness. “Incendies”  is the film version, magnificently transferred from stage to screen by ... Read More »

Robert Redford has succeeded in bringing this little remembered travesty to light and those  who insisted I see it, I am in your debt. It is April, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln has been assassinated by the actor John Wilkes Booth, he did not act alone; the war, unofficially is still being waged (the last shot fired was in June of ... Read More »

For those who sped and wept through Sara Gruen’s novel; a tale of making the most of the dastardly depression; you will not be disappointed because the movie adheres religiously to the printed scenario. The fable is told in retrospect by an aged Jacob (a luminous performance by Hal Holbrook) revolving around young Jacob (played by handsome, but wooden Robert ... Read More »

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) has to be hemorrhaging in her sarcophagi ! She is a titan, visionary in the rarefied world of literature. Her theory of “Objectivity” ,“Individualism”; the industrialist, master-builder, capitalist without smothering government strictures eventually empowers the common man.  How in the twenty-first century, with all the tools, talent and plethora of material could this bastardized version of “Atlas ... Read More »

After a cultural infusion of Titanic proportions I decided to join the stampede of reviewers who saw “War Horse” at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center; paying a scalper price at the Herculean level, my expectations were massive and thrillingly surpassed; worth every scalped dollar. This stunning and imaginative tour de force, based on Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel ... Read More »

Since the Paleolithic Age bullying has been in vogue. There is a poisonous gene that dominates the psyche and behavior of the “bully”; it does not discriminate between gender; it has morphed in today’s sophisticated, highly developed technological world into a pristine, lethal art form aided by the internet (cyber-bullying). Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier serves with masterful sensitivity and insight ... Read More »

If spawned from the womb of an alternate universe, with comparable intelligence, venturing into ‘Miral”, ignorant of of the political debacle that created and still exists in Israel/Palestine; England’s clandestine exit and shoddy betrayal; tepidly entertained, mildly confused, concluding, questioning the source and validity of the controversy. Questions unaddressed and unanswered. Of interest is the love story involving the sublimely ... Read More »

Women of a certain age (or all ages), don your jogging suits and run, claw your way into the energizing, entertaining, inspiring, wildly wonderful world of “POTICHE”, “TROPHY WIFE” starring Catherine Deneuve in her prime: sensual, alluring, enchanting, luminous as ever. “POTICHE” reaffirms why we go to the movies; laughing and leaving with a lighter, brighter, fresher perspective on the ... Read More »

This worthless piece of Bollywood drivel is an embarrassment to the India film world,  a huge waste of good actors talents; an unforgiveable, monumental insult to the Indian people. The premise that all men are feckless, cheating Lotharios; their wives clueless, brainless beauties, whose days are spent in shopping malls or filing their nails, waiting witlessly, aimlessly for the hours ... Read More »

For the few who opened this, brevity will reign. If you are an “Inception” fan (I do not qualify) this one will captivate and hold your attention; each 8 minute train segment is riveting as the “terrorist” and his bomb are hunted.  Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal, well- cast in this redundant, reminiscent, lethal version of “Groundhog Day”. Gyllenhaal has ... Read More »