Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX

Lin-Manuel Miranda serves a banquet of sumptuous joy; a feast for the pandemic-starved, melancholic, woebegone viewer; from its marvelous commencement to its spectacular conclusion, its edifying, glorious, musically magnificent score, innovative, ingenious choreography, stupendous cinematography, culturally iconic scenario, miraculously refashioned an audience steeped in a despondent, yearlong fug, into an exuberant mass, kvelling, knowing this is the stuff of happiness. I loved this movie, there are not enough adjectives to ... Read More »

A lifelong Stephen King devotee, my fantasy has been to wander the dark, blighted, possessed corridors of his fecund imagination, just for a palpable hour, touching, feeling, experiencing the wizardry pulsating beneath his unorthodox artistry; “Lisey’s Story” might not share the hierarchy of “The Stand”, “The Shining”, “Misery” or one of my favorites “Thinner” but is hefty, semi-autobiographical and sensationally ... Read More »

“Oslo”, based upon the Tony Award- winning play (J.T. Rogers), which is gloriously reminiscent and equally worthy of experiencing as a film, choreographs an incredulous moment in history: the power of a visionary couple blending intransigent advisories, Israel and Palestine, channeling their missions into a viable solution for peace;  Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott with remarkable aptitude depict Mona Juul ... Read More »

Director John Krasinski’s second film about the hunted, haunted Abbott family is surprisingly better than the earlier “A Quiet Place”; it is tautly structured, synchronicity weaves its compelling coincidences involving humans out-maneuvering aerial aliens, keenly sensitive to sound, and presciently frightful to behold; there is magic in its meaning and profoundly acted by the previous cast, and a new member ... Read More »

Documentarian Luke Holland (1948-2020) spent his life bringing to the fore man’s errors, injustices, crimes against mankind: campaigning on behalf of threatened tribal people; highlighting Ruby Kennedy’s campaign to compensate slave labourers under Hitler’s demonic regime; it is “Final Account” that will stabilize, confirm his legacy of intuitive brilliance; as a grandson of Holocaust victims; commencing in 2008 he interviewed ... Read More »

Christoph Waltz in his directorial debut and starring as the obsequious, uxorious “Ulrich Mott” (loosely based on the murder of socialite Viola Herms Drath) validates, once again, his transformative powers; with chameleon aptness he imbues Mott’s pathological gallantry with slithering, scintillating charm; he convinced Washington Grand Dame, “Elsa Brecht”, (indomitable Vanessa Redgrave) besting him by forty years, to become his ... Read More »

“NEW ORDER” (PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED, THEATRES) SPANISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) A highlight of the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival. Excellent FIVE STAR study of civility versus savagery; enfranchised versus disenfranchised; brutal but brilliant analysis of wealth, spurring anarchy. Still resonating after almost a year. And still… FIVE STARS!!!!! “DREAM HORSE” (THEATRES) If you viewed 2015’s “DARK HORSE” and heartily enjoyed an unlikely ... Read More »

The Bollywood genre is an acquired taste for many Westerners; I have been hooked, captivated, numbed by its magical realism for over twenty years: “Lagaan”, “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Like Stars on Earth”, “3 Idiots”, “Mr. and Mrs. Iyer”, “Mangal Pandey”; dominated by the unrelated Khan’s (Salman, Aamir, Shah Rukh) I can testify that I have studied their varied performances for ... Read More »

“THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD”             HBO MAX & THEATRES Really? Angelina Jolie, with a face capable of launching a fleet of warships, Rapunzel tresses, a fire fighter? A role Frances McDormand could have pulled off; director Taylor Sheridan bombs with his choice of Jolie as his heroine; her attributes were a hinderance, detraction from, ... Read More »

“Revenge is best served cold”; two prime protagonists, serving vigilante reparation after the death of loved ones; Mads Mikkelsen stars as “Markus” a frigid, calculating Afghani soldier, returning to Denmark to avenge the death of his wife, killed in a horrific train accident; Mikkelsen’s deliciously terrifying performance anchors this sublimely well-written (writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen) scintillating scenario; beautifully balanced, “Riders ... Read More »