Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX

Returning from twelve dazzling, sun-dappled, art infested days in Rome and Florence, submitting to my remedy for jet lag, movies. I could not have chosen two more diametrically different themes; both worthy of four stars. “Cost of a Soul” is morbidly depressing, but brutally realistic. Sean Kirkpatrick has given birth to the quintessential “Murphy’s Law” film; two soldiers back from ... Read More »

WILL POST AGAIN THE 26TH!!!!!!! Read More »

Medieval maps; unknown territories marked with the signage “hic sunt dracones”,  “here there be dragons”. Watching this finely filmed, but perpetually flirting with the melodramatic movie;  deciphering the priorities of the plethora of themes: the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), the making of a modern saint, the egregious crimes of a sinner, and the ubiquitous, droning, love and betrayal issues kept ... Read More »

In November of 2009 I had the memorable and fascinating adventure of visiting the caves of Cantabria,  Altamira Covalanas and Castillo in Northern Spain. One has to believe in a superior presence when embraced by paintings done thousands of years ago; man’s artistic aesthetic began with the creation of Adam and Eve. With massive anticipation I went to see Werner ... Read More »

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 »