Dimpled, dazzling Taraji P. Henson registered as a dynamic, minimally heralded performer on my inventory of “actors to track” when she played detective “Joss Carter” on television’s “Person of Interest” (2011-2016, Joss was eliminated in the third season); her career, stunningly escalated in 2016’s “Hidden Figures” with her brilliant depiction of NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson (1918-), in director Adam Shankman’s ... Read More »
With all the fantastical, superficial, sensational movies spawned upon the screen, “The Least of These” will quietly shrivel into obscurity, an undeserving demise for an analysis in quiet devotion, a pure evaluation of a sincere and godly man; Mother Teresa (1910-1997), founder of the “Missionaries of Charity”, whose altruistic dedication to the sick, disenfranchised, poverty-stricken of India, earned her a ... Read More »
Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every ... Read More »
With Cassandra prescience, harrowingly recognizing a precursor to a “Bala” franchise: “Ms.”, “Mrs.”, “Gramma Bala”; has to be terminated in the first trimester. Director Catherine Hardwicke and actors Gina Rodriguez (Miss Bala) and Ismael Cruz-Cordova struggle and fail in the recreation of Mexico’s 2011 Oscar nominee of the same name. “Gloria” (Rodriquez) is a naïve, makeup artist, in the wrong ... Read More »
Once again February has shed prominence on the stars, movies and those behind the scenes. This year is the most difficult, challenging to date, due to the range and diversity of the films and nominees. I feel there should be separate categories for drama and comedy. I also question “Roma” being in “Best Movie” and best “Foreign Film” categories. Every ... Read More »
An abusive, egregious example of “poetic license” gone awry, a freefall of intense mediocrity; an embarrassment for two Academy Award winning actors: Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as one-dimensional, divorced parents of an astrologically gifted son “Patrick” (Rafael Sayegh) who scripts the killing of his wretched stepfather “Frank” (Jason Clarke) from his wizardly computer. Commencing with unsubtle, unsuccessful, plagiaristic references ... Read More »
For those who saw 2011’s French “The Intouchables”, starring Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy (Cesar Award for Best Actor) and Audrey Fleurot, this rendition, despite fine actors, at best, is an anemic cloning; Bryan Cranston as wealthy quadriplegic, “Phillip” and Kevin Hart as parolee caretaker, “Dell” struggle, and mostly succeed, in capturing the implausible relationship between two disparate men, whose partnership ... Read More »
Director Karyn Kusama’s bleak, intensely depressive template for Nicole Kidman’s dire transformation is only partially successful. Kidman has fearlessly strengthened her reputation as an actor with idiosyncratic characters: “Dead Calm”, a damsel in distress; a homicidal weather forecaster, “To Die For”; “Moulin Rouge”, a courtesan; Academy Award for “The Hours”, playing doomed writer, Virginia Woolf; she’s depicted Grace Kelly, explorer ... Read More »
Having missed the idiosyncratic era of “Laurel & Hardy” director Jon S. Baird’s “Stan & Ollie” biopic stuns with a profound poignancy; stars, John C. Reilly (Oliver Hardy, 1892-1957), Steve Coogan (Stan Laurel, 1890-1965) synchronize, incandescently the comedians hilarious, slapstick routines; from 1927, until their final road trip (“Birds of a Feather”) in 1953/54, their ingenious “schtick”, in over thirty ... Read More »
A night of glitz and glamour (Lady Gaga in an award winning gown), more importantly a night of civility and class; it was as if the egregiousness of this past year was left in the wake of a new era; the presenters and winners, like the strongest steel, emerged from the flames, surviving a year of discontent, stronger, highly polished ... Read More »
Peneflix MOVIE REVIEWS BY PENEFLIX
