Netflix and Beyond

RESTREPO A year ago I saw, along with young physically challenged veterans, the staggeringly remarkable “The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It concentrated on the war in Iraq but its brilliance rested it its lack of politics; no whys, if onlys, or Bush bashing; just focusing on getting the job done. I knew it was one the finest films …

CYRUS On a recent trip to Minneapolis John C. Reilly sat in the seat behind me: immediately recognizing him I was ginger about approaching him: many known personalities are protective of their privacy and this I respect. As I went to deplane I mentioned how much I was looking forward to seeing “Cyrus”; he was instantly gracious, asked which carry …

I AM LOVE…… Is flawless and the finest film I have experienced in years. It lacerated my very core leaving a crater of such magnitude, a wound, that after the pain of poignancy has evaporated the scar tissue left in its wake will leave a treasured reminder, a tattoo to be savored, and guarded for the remainder of my life.    …

KNIGHT AND DAY If you just want the review scroll down! I can take all sorts of license being the Founder, CEO, and CFO of Peneflix. June is one of my favorite months: conclusion of the school year, commencement of summer and a celebration of my life. Decades ago I read that when you die you take with you the …

WINTER’S BONE It has been eons since I have experienced a more bleakly brilliant film; so brutally raw and realistic that it has a voyeuristic flavor, the viewer should not be privy to the gruesomeness and pain inflicted on the characters, especially the indomitable Ree Dolly (precociously played by Jennifer Lawrence). We must pay homage to Daniel Woodrell upon whose …

SOLITARY MAN In less than a year we have had “A Serious…”, “A Single…” and now a “Solitary Man”; played with delicious debauchery by Michael Douglas (who with time, grows to resemble his father, Kirk). Mr. Douglas as Ben Kalmen is the aging Lothario who with Faustian gusto seeks youth and virility in the arms of “barely” legal girls and …

SPLICE Do you remember Dolly? Not Dolly Levi from “Hello Dolly”; but darling Dolly, the sheep, born July 5th, 1996, the first mammal to be cloned from “an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer”. Scientists Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and their colleagues at the Rosin Institute outside of Edinburgh, Scotland used a cell from a mammary gland …

SPLICE Do you remember Dolly? Not Dolly Levi from “Hello Dolly”; but darling Dolly, the sheep, born July 5th, 1996, the first mammal to be cloned from “an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer”. Scientists Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and their colleagues at the Rosin Institute outside of Edinburgh, Scotland used a cell from a mammary gland …

RAAJNEETI (POLITICS) Many of you read my recent review of “Kites” a Bollywood creation that on the whole was a disappointment. In “ Raajneeti” Bollywood’s tentacles have a firm grip on the Hollywood aesthetic. Thrilled, that in less than two weeks I can give a positive and enthusiastic “ thumbs up” to this legitimate drama. Indians might or might not …

SEX AND THE CITY 2 For those with a limited attention span, read no further. NO STARS for this useless piece of rubbish, that ranks as one of the worst movies of 2010; might even fall deservedly into one of the most atrocious and vainglorious films of all time. This film is filled with volumes of sins; while the torments …