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Netflix and Beyond

THE WORDS

A tale within a tale within a tale of three authors; at its core a scenario of plagiarism, the act of stealing another’s idea, lying and convincing the world, and yourself, it is your creation, your brain-child; it has been around since antiquity, and undoubtedly will continue until the end of time. This is a good film: well- scripted, presented, ... Read More »

OSLO, AUGUST 31’ (NORWEGIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

This candidly remarkable film is not for everyone, but more than any movie in recent memory, deals honestly with the staggeringly powerful tentacles of addiction; a hunger that imprisons the body and more pivotally the mind. “Anders” is granted a day in Oslo after ten months in rehabilitation; he is clean but terrified of unshackled freedom, the bane, angst of ... Read More »

LAWLESS

The “cowboy” or western genre has never ranked too high on my scale of top themes; I recognize and respect the John Wayne/Gary Cooper cult; loved the “Ballad of High Noon” more than the plot. Although not a Western in the true sense (minimal horses),  Australian director John Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave (not to be confused with the artist) ... Read More »

COSMOPOLIS

David Cronenberg has made some pivotally powerful films (“Eastern Promises”, “History of Violence”) but “Cosmopolis” does not flirt or touch the legitimacy of his past movies. A dark, senseless “awakening” in a materialistic, capitalistic “cosmos”; billionaire “Eric Packer” spends a day in a white stretch limousine (technologically equipped), visited by staff, girlfriends, financial advisers, even his doctor; while watching his ... Read More »

THE IMPOSTER

In 1994, San Antonio, Texas 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay disappears, vanishes without a trace; he is blond, blue-eyed, incorrigible, loveably irritating, a bane to his mother and older brother; his sister Carey Gibson, for years, grieves and searches, for her younger, painfully- missed sibling. Almost three and a half years later he surfaces in Linares, Spain. “The Imposter” is an excellent ... Read More »

PREMIUM RUSH

On a likeable scale from one to ten (ten being the most positive) where do bicycle messengers rank? They don’t! Without exception, as a group they are detested, cursed, sometimes killed but never pitied, admired or respected. They are universally iconoclastic: a plague, on urban society;  “rules of the road” do not apply to them, stop lights anathema, pedestrians annoyances, ... Read More »

THE BOURNE LEGACY

This awful flick is more a curse than “ legacy”;  disjointed, disengaging, disenfranchised from previous “Bourne” sagas starring Matt Damen; unfathomable crime using “ Bourne”  nomenclature to lure advocates of the now deceased Bourne genre, to this facile, sophomoric, anemic replacement. “The Bourne Legacy” pathetically edited, is a compilation of “running” sequences; Jeremy Renner (a fine actor, wasted in this ... Read More »

SPARKLE

Superb, stunning performances cement the viewer’s attention for the entirety of this quasi-nonfictional portrait of three, talented African American sisters, striving for notoriety in the late 1960’s, Detroit, Michigan. Loosely based upon “The Supremes” . With the formation of “Motown Records” in 1959, African Americans initiated their financial destiny;  Barry Gordy, Jr. founder,  is pivotal in paving the yellow-brick- path ... Read More »

CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER

ALL COMMENTS MADE ON PENEFLIX WILL BE ANSWERED ON THE SITE. THANK YOU AND KEEP THEM COMING. This is a classic scenario of “having your cake and eating it too”; “Celeste” and “Jesse” have loved, been in love, their entire lives; they interpret each others thoughts, mimic foreign accents with perfect pitch; are the closest of comrades,  play blissfully together;  ... Read More »

2 DAYS IN NEW YORK PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED 5-27-12

Do anything to avoid this desultory, despondent, dreary, dreadful, demeaning portrait of a French family visiting their daughter/sister living in New York. There is not an ounce of chemistry between Julie Delpy and Chris Rock. Shamed that I did not exit after fifteen minutes of this dull, dumb, dismal, despicable drivel. NO STARS. For Now……..Peneflix Read More »

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