Hollywood

PENEFLIX  5th ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD CONTEST It is that time of year, when once again I prove incapable of separating my mind and heart; they are so entwined that an autopsy would prove inconclusive. I vote for the film and nominees that I consider the best in their category. I do not play the odds; so many “winners” do, regardless …

Laborious. Talented Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin cannot salvage this poorly written, tremendously tedious tale of star- crossed lovers, “Adele” and “Frank”, bonding over a sweltering Labor Day weekend in 1987; narrated by Adele’s  adult son “Henry” (Tobey Maguire), (child, Gattlin Griffith) approximately twelve years old, at the time. Adele, a depressed, barely functioning agoraphobic, with formidable trepidation, takes Henry …

PENEFLIX  5th ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD CONTEST It is that time of year, when once again I prove incapable of separating my mind and heart; they are so entwined that an autopsy would prove inconclusive. I vote for the film and nominees that I consider the best in their category. I do not play the odds; so many “winners” do, regardless …

Luxuriating in the quiet, comfortably dull zone between the Academy Award nominations and the unveiling of the champions (Sunday, March 2nd) lurks the placating, coddling, mindless two and three star action flicks; knowing beforehand that the hero lives, enjoying the thrill of the chase; lusting for the inevitable demise of the nefarious antagonist; herein lies “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”. Chris …

If Sunday night’s telecast of the Golden Globe Awards was sequestered in a time capsule and viewed a hundred years from now, people would be dumbfounded; these are actors?  Stuttering, shaking, stammering their inane acceptance speeches; surprised? They have known for months that they have a 20% chance of winning; hire a speech writer, be prepared NOT to make a …

Knowing the tragic, disastrous outcome of the 2005 Navy Seal team 10’s  mission in the unforgiving mountains of Afghanistan, made the film even more daunting and traumatic. Writer/director Peter Berg creates a beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted scenario based on Marcus Luttrell’s book “Lone Survivor:The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10”. Mark Walberg as …

There are times when one does not venture out of house, apartment, ranch or tent; weather, frame-of-mind, or general ennui; the lure of the couch, greasy snacks and mindless movies placate the psyche. ON DEMAND’s fare generally serves the detritus of the film world (with the exception of second-run films); movies not generally released, hibernating in the limbo of films, …

Being a glass “3/4” full person, I  usually find something redeeming in the majority of films I see; although many of you will find this unbelievable,  there are movies I intentionally, deliberately avoid;  anything to do with vampires, hangovers, anchormen, grudge matches, “this is the end”, or Las Vegas. When questioned about the BEST and the WORST films of the …

James Thurber (1894-1961) a short story writer and cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine created “Walter Mitty” and his secret, fantasy world in 1939; when I read this story, decades later, I realized what a masterpiece of literature it was; a pecan that will resonate as long as it is read. Walter Mitty, minus any assertive characteristics, is a universal …

Earns its “R” rating: salacious, scandalous sex (ancient Rome’s Tiberius, a distant second) voracious drug use; total absence of accountability and bereft of a moral compass; debauchery, greed, Olympian ambition, addiction; based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, the “wolf” whose heroic rise to millions, and ultimate collapse is depicted in the film, based on the book he wrote, …