EL James successfully capitalized on sexual titillation that has been practiced by archival cultures for eons: India’s “Kama Sutra”, China’s Taoist texts during the Han Dynasty, even Confucius had opinions on the “joining of the essences”;  author James Clavell in novels “Shogun” and “Tai- Pan” gives a more contemporary twist in Eastern “pleasing pleasures”; these civilizations considered “coupling” as an …

Knowing nothing about the scenario I was surprised, stunned and unabashedly thrilled with the treatment of this contemporary topic. Director Sebastian Lelio and actor Daniela Vega paint a quintessential portrait of love, grief and overpowering courage. “Marina” (Daniela Vega) a waitress and part time nightclub singer is devoted to “Orlando” (Francisco Reyes), divorced and many years her senior; after a …

To enter: 1)   To enter you MUST be a subscriber to Peneflix.com 2)   You may only enter once. 3)   You MUST answer all questions correctly, especially, the last one: # of Oscars for the Best Film. 4)   ALL ENTRIES HAVE TO BE IN NO LATER THAN FRIDAY MARCH 2nd, MIDNIGHT The winner or winners will receive $250.00. Those new to the “game” should be apprised …

Commencing with an elegant pairing of a stag and doe; roaming in pure, redolent silence, caressed by nature’s virgin splendor, an Adam and Eve joined forever in a solitude so magnificent and profound, it aches. Writer/director Ildiko Enyeid then poll vaults the viewer to a slaughterhouse where bovine beauties meet their bloody fate; wrenching cries, soulful eyes plead for mercy; …

Why? Why would two credible actors decide to star in this maladroit attempt at the horror genre? Was it the charm of director/brothers Michael and Peter Spierig? Academy Award winner Dame Helen Mirren might have been enticed by the enigmatic Sarah Winchester (1840-1922), daughter-in-law of Oliver Winchester (1810-1880) founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company; her daughter Annie died after …

Director Ziad Doueiri challenges viewers to choose sides between two, decent, hardworking individuals: “Tony Hanna” (Adel Karam) a Lebanese Christian, garage owner and Yassar Salameh (Kamel El Basha) a displaced Palestinian, foreman of a construction crew; a smashed drain pipe is the vehicle that escalates into a lesson which stems from the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. Here, tempestuously, ideologies collide, …

For twelve years Peneflix, along with Hollywood and Foreign, has focused on the Bollywood genre; mastering the salacious gaze, nubile, partially clothed, perpetually running, tearful heroes and heroines now rank on the entertainment scale of Western audiences. Ancient, epic poems, myths, tales: “The Ramayan”, The Mahabharata”/ “The Bhagavad Gita”, reference the way one should conduct one’s life, mimicked by The …

Possibly, not the worst, but far from the best of times; the Vietnam War (1955-75) transformed the Western world, heralded the death of idealism, giving birth to post-modernism, erasure of naivety; “The Age of Aquarius” (The 5th Dimension) is in full swing, gifting sexual license, mind-enhancing drugs, anything to escape the reality of government culpability; lying Presidents who allowed American …

From the onset there is a romantic perversity luridly lurking at the core of each scene; at times clandestine, oftentimes overt, always lusciously tantalizing a mesmerized, unsuspecting viewer.   Writer/director (P)aul (T)homas Anderson’s “Pygmalion” scenario goes deliriously, deliciously awry. “Reynolds Woodcock” (astounding Daniel Day-Lewis) a nascent fashion designer for the rich and titled in 1950’s London; effete and imperially slim, …

While on hiatus Peneflix has been immersed in the miraculous, curative effects of binging on Netflix; yes, it is an addiction and I’ve spent hours committed to self-analysis, why one allows these fictional forces to wrap their slippery tentacles around one’s psyche, kidnapping viewership for the duration of their tempestuous, taunting existence? Like Ulysses “Sirens” once exposed, doomed; they have …