Netflix and Beyond

From the first cords of Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” I was bamboozled emotionally; tearfully -smiling, heart- swelling, loving  the company of these compelling, real people: “Philip” (glorious performance by Pierce Brosnan,  magnificently aged, even his wrinkles have integrity), a widower, stringent, workaholic, living in Denmark; collides with “Ida” (enchanting portrayal by Trine Dyrholm, her incandescent smile, defines “love”) a hairdresser …

Once upon a time, in a century long gone bye, I was a feature writer; great, easy fun, face-to-face with press -worthy subjects;  interesting, entertaining, some controversial, some fascinating individuals, but periodically I would meet, as I pejoratively referred to as  “flatliners” , those I could not engage, waves of resentment, that a lifejacket could not ward off, buttressed me …

Please know that I relish your comments. Those who agree, enhance my “ego”; those who disagree, keep my arteries unclogged! Either way, it makes my days and nights richer, knowing that you are reading “peneflix”. COMMENTS WILL EVENTUALLY  BE ANSWERED ON THE SITE; YOU MUST GO BACK AND CHECK! THANK YOU! For Now……Peneflix

F. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940,  at the age of forty-four: impoverished, never to know the immensity of the literary legacy that continues to enthrall, captivate and hypnotize readers and movie audiences seventy-three -years after his premature passing. Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the iconic classic is a stylized, gaudy, formulaic extravaganza of mythic proportions; palaces of Disneyland size and style; …

This enthralling, riveting, compelling film is for anyone who has actualized their dreams, defied the “odds” and the “gods”,  bulldozed antagonistic skeptics, spitting in the eye of the disbeliever; castrators of ingenuity, promise;  and for all those who have yet to slay the cynics;  give birth, sculpt their fantasies into reality. “Kon-Tiki” is filmmaking at its pinnacle; actors, especially Pal …

Based on the 2007 novel by Moshin Hamid, directed by Mira Nair, far exceeded the limited and problematic boundaries of the book; blatant honesty informs intelligent characters: flawed, wounded, irrevocably altered by heinous, untoward circumstances; Ms. Nair and fine acting gift viewers a raw, realistic, radical story of metamorphosis, indoctrination, transformation from the benign to “the reluctant fundamentalist” . Riz …

It will take years of the therapeutic process to conclude “why” , with knowledge and foresight, I went to see this terrifically awful film; questioning the soundness of my mind, the stability of of my judgment I can only surmise I suffered from a temporary loss of sanity or a petit mal seizure. Based on a true story which transpired …

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), masterful champion of “Impressionism” is brilliantly depicted by Michel Bouquet in Gilles Bourdos film about the legendary painter at the conclusion of his life, in tandem with his second son “Jean” (1894-1979, destined to be the iconic filmmaker), at the commencement of his, (Vincent Rottiers); linked by “Andree” (Christa Theret) the luminous, endorphin-infused, final muse of Renoir …

Matthew McConaughey, son of a gas station owner,  first captured and glued my attention in the 1996 “A Time to Kill”; he has had some bad films (“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”) but throughout his career, the forty-four- year old actor has been incredibly perspicacious in role selection. As “Mud” he excels, as a good- hearted miscreant who manipulates two fourteen …

Pablo Berger’s homage to silent, black –and -white film’s legendary history was the opening feature at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January. Referencing the Grimm Brothers historical fairy tale; flaying “Disneyesque” (1937), benign, whistling interpretation, Berger’s heroine is of stronger, tougher “stuff”; “Carmen” (“Snow White”) inherits from her father, a matador’s muleta. Seville, Spain in the 1920’s harbors the …