Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX

Soon to be in theatres. This creepy but compelling film recalls only the supine position of the fairy tale princess. “Sleeping Beauty” a darling of the Chicago Film Festival, an enigmatic movie written and directed  by Julia Leigh delves into the deepest, deviant male sexual fantasies; a pathetic metaphor for man’s incapacity to relate to or legitimize the emptiness, inadequacies, ... Read More »

It has been a year of breath- defying heights and devastating lows but constantly the movies offer a palliative hiatus from the wonders and woes of the day. I will continue to be immensely grateful and appreciate your continued readership; from all corners of the globe you represent lovers of the magical world of film and its transformative powers. Roman ... Read More »

Based upon the book by Benjamin Mee, “We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, A Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals that Changed Their Lives Forever”. Succinctly stated and accomplished. The actual Zoo is in England; the movie takes place in California. Matt Damon, whose seasoning as an actor keeps pungently improving, is ... Read More »

This spectacular version of the dazzling play does not disappoint; once again I was ambushed emotionally and shed copious tears as I did in Lincoln Center. Steven Spielberg’s genius translates beautifully from stage to screen, one of the most original stories of the century; based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo. “War Horse” is a visual extravaganza and no one ... Read More »

Rollicking, roller-coaster, ceaselessly entertaining 2 hours and thirteen minutes of Tom Cruise as “Ethan Hunt” is the best and the fourth “Mission Impossible”. Cruise pours his money, heart and body into this non-stop, galvanizing, at times implausible, but always fun flick. I admire Tom Cruise (regardless of his religious convictions); he is fearless and embraces the challenges of his roles ... Read More »

The good news: it is an excellent film; the not so good news: it is redundantly predictable.  For those who did not devour the trilogy written by Stieg Larsson( “The Girl Who Played with Fire”, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”) or see the Swedish movie versions or are returning from an alternate universe; entertainment, mystery, engrossment are yours ... Read More »

There are a myriad varieties of pain: physical, anything from an ingrown toenail to a bullet wound; psychological, the mind can be just as fractured as a bone; broken heart, a bloodless, agonizing gash that can be fatal. “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” corners the market on the blindly, excruciating, bludgeoning pain of BOREDOM! This film is a travesty ... Read More »

Let’s state the obvious and move on. Charlize Theron is a gifted actor and has an Oscar to prove it (“Monster”).  She has physical attributes that most can only fantasize or dream about. So why take the role of “Mavis Gary”? Who is “Mavis” ? She is a washed- up mediocre writer of young adult fiction; she is a dissipated ... Read More »

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Carl Jung (1875-1961).  Dissertations have been written on the similarities and disparities between these iconic founders of psychoanalysis. David Croenberg (“A History of Violence”) spins an accurate version of the relationship between these men whose tools revolved around “discussion”, “talking” to unearth the screeching pain of dreams, hysteria, psychosis; the time is pre -WW1. Carl Jung is ... Read More »

  This outrageous, outlandish, horrific yakuza (Japan’s crime syndicate) film written, directed and starring Takeshi Kitano; he earns the blame and deserves no fame for this travesty of mutilation and obnoxious display of severed body parts. This gory scenario forsakes and destroys all boundaries accepted, expected in most organized crime films (“The Godfather”). Everyone dies, creatively; guns, knives, even banal ... Read More »