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Note: This account is no longer active.
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 403
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Member Visits: 7,179
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Total Visits: 48,659
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About penbar
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Film Bio:
Since 1997, I have been the chief film critic for the Oro Valley Times newspaper in Tucson, Arizona, a monthly publication with a circulation of 25,000. My contribution is full-length film reviews, capsule reviews, as well as special editions, such as the venerable Oscar issue (my favorite holiday!). Although Tucson is quite a distance from my homes in New York City and Philadelphia, this metropolitan area still manages to get many great art films along with mainstream pictures.
In May of 1999, brothers Tony and Nick Franks launched a new publication in London, England called Pocket Films, a definitive weekly guide to films and cinemas in and around London. As a contributor to Pocket Films from first launch, I write capsule reviews and gather pertinent "hard" data for publication. Due to their blossoming success, Tony and Nick hope to eventually bring Pocket Films back to Manhattan, and then to other major cities in the United States.
My film reviews, are also published in an independent film website, based in London. Check out this fabulous website at: www.6degrees.co.uk
How it all got started:
In early 1996, at the behest of a good friend, I began writing film reviews for friends on-line. Her rationale was that I saw so many movies, I might as well give everyone a head's up on what to see, and what to avoid. It became such a passion obsession?), that the rest, as they say, is history. And my on-line group of "friends" has grown steadily ever since.
"Anti" Film Bio:
My full-time job (when I'm not sitting in movie theaters and screening rooms, or writing reviews) is as a research scientist in the field of HIV/AIDS. I have been doing this since 1982, so I've pretty much been there since the beginning (from a scientific view point). I also freelance as a science writer for medical advertising agencies. As one can probably tell, I love to write. How lucky that I can combine writing and films - my two greatest passions!
Favorite movies:
My favorite films tend to be ones that I would watch over and over again, so they are usually comedies. But there are some films which are so profound they are in a class by themselves. Some (but definitely not a complete list) of my favorite profound and not-very-profound-at-all films include "Reservoir Dogs", "Caddyshack", "Blazing Saddles", "Das Boot", "The Godfather" (1 & 2), "Maurice", "This is Spinal Tap", "Orlando", "Blame it on Rio", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "Crimes and Misdemeanors", "The Portrait of Dorian Gray", "Henry Fool", "National Lampoon's Vacation", "Animal House", "The Ten Commandments", "Pulp Fiction", "Sling Blade", etc. I feel like I could go on and on. And I probably will when given half a chance! In all, the type of films I like most are, well, just about everything: comedy, art, mainstream, mystery, thriller, documentary, etc. And I must say that I don't mind a bit of violence!
Least favorite movies:
This is tough. There are some very, very, VERY bad films out there. There are two reasons to not like a film: 1) it's just not your cup of tea, or 2) the film just plain sucks. For instance, the most recent stinkers (as far as I'm concerned) are "The Mod Squad" and "The Haunting". And, I'm sorry to say, about 20% of all films shown at the New York Film Festival in any given year. Now I've been wanting to get that off my chest for a while. I've been attending the NYFF for the past five years, and I have definitely seen some amazingly good films, ones that took my breath away. But some are so excruciatingly dull, that over 50% of the audience abdicates before act 2. In recent memory from the 1997 festival is "Mother and Son", a little Russian number that left a stunned audience (only 50 or so of us were left by the end) unable to muster applause. My companion remarked that he would forever keep the ticket stub in his wallet: whenever someone asked what the worst movie was that he'd ever seen, he'd triumphantly pull it from his pocket. But, overall, if I were to pick a least favorite film category, it would be B-rated horror films. I don't like them, and I don't get them. Don't ask me to review them. Ever. In the near future, I hope to have a personal web site for my film reviews, as well as a site for Pocket Films and the Oro Valley Times.
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