Netflix and Beyond

Who is Ricky Gervais? Pleading relative ignorance of television and its massive audience appeal; my viewing hours spent primarily in the dark, velvety caverns of movie theatres,  I was stunned and sickened, finally bored by Mr. Gervais’s antagonistic, pejorative, cruel and “below the belt” undignified comments about presenters, nominees and winners at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards. Most celebrities have developed ... Read More »

This remarkably real and gut-wrenching film by Mike Leigh resonates with veracity; characters oozing pain, desperation, paralyzing loneliness balanced by those whose aptitude for normalcy, human decency is magnetically ethereal. Lesley Manville is Mary an achingly functional alcoholic whose need for Gerri (a medical counselor), her coworker, and Tom (Gerri’s, engineering geologist husband) is as addictive as the white wine ... Read More »

This film, from India, should appeal to a universal audience.  It is terrific. Based upon a 1999 murder in New Delhi and the campaign for justice, taking years to reach fruition, focuses on the crusaders who championed, against supreme odds, the cause, rights, of the victim;  a vivacious, determined, fearless enchantress who looses her life because she refused to serve ... Read More »

To commence, I am a supreme despiser of the hand- held camera technique; sounding decidedly pejorative I still consider it amateurish, devoid of professionalism, relegated to the “wanna be a filmmaker”; a high school novice. I recognize that there have been some fascinating films resulting from this technique, “The Hurt Locker” , jumps immediately to mind. In “Blue Valentine” this ... Read More »

It is an enigma. I am totally devoid of an aesthetic attraction to country western music yet I  find the movies riveting, ravishing and raunchily entertaining. Archival favorites are: “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, Sissy Spacek (Academy Award) portrays Loretta Lynn,  her foibles, follies and fortune, with spunk, fire and dignity; “Sweet Dreams”, Patsy Cline is immortalized by the gorgeous and gifted ... Read More »

SUBSCRIBERS PLEASE NOTE, I CAN ONLY REPLY TO YOUR COMMENTS ON MY SITE ( if that is where that are posted) www.peneflix.com; really enjoy reading your opinions. It is a healthy, hearty sensation knowing that some of you have questioned the five day hiatus between film reviews; yes, I have been going but I did not want to waste precious ... Read More »

As I sat alone, entombed in a theatre, that could house 200 on the final day of 2010, watching this silly, trite, but occasionally humorous movie I distinctly heard the ominous toll of the death knoll for all my aspirations, convictions, pejorative as they are, that I could master, muster, conquer the inertia pervasive in the Indian American community and ... Read More »

  An excellent play (written by David Lindsay-Abaire) has been translated into one of the finest films of the year. Nicole Kidman (Becca) and Aaron Eckhart (Howie) are dealing with the most horrific loss a parent can suffer: the senseless death of a cherished child. (This is evident from the commencement of the movie). Both actors soar in their personal ... Read More »

Suggestion. Try, and it will be a challenge, not to compare the 1969 version starring the iconic John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell. If you succeed you will be thoroughly engrossed, entertained by this Coen brothers remake. Jeff Bridges gives a regal performance as the cantankerous, curmudgeon Ruben “Rooster” Cogburn; a lawman of “true grit” but unconventional methods, hired ... Read More »

  For forty excruciating, Chinese torturous minutes “Somewhere” went nowhere, I wished I was anywhere, but there; finally left and went somewhere, no matter where, just miles away from “Somewhere”. UNRATEABLE For Now…………Peneflix Read More »