For the past half-decade, New York City has been consumed by a frenzy of greed. A whirlwind of out-of-context development, anarchic “architecture” and a virus-like proliferation of chain stores that has ravaged the cityscape. Property owners, not satisfied with rents and property values that have already soared into the stratosphere, instead are all too often…
So the Anti-Defamation League has finally weighed in on L’Affaire Will Smith, and, I have to say, its statement is a little disappointing. To recap: Will Smith, speaking off the cuff to a Scottish newspaper, suggested — quite reasonably — that Hitler was driven by a “twisted” notion of what he thought was “good.” The…
In October, it was Halle Berry. She found herself in the celebrity hot seat, apologizing profusely following an innocent, if clumsy, remark that only the most hysterical among us would view as evidence of antisemitism. This month, apparently, it’s Will Smith’s turn. In a rambling interview published in Scotland’s Daily Record, Smith was quoted as…
Will we be seeing much more of Borat, Sacha Caron Cohen’s uproariously un-P.C. Kazakh journalist character? It seems unlikely, judging from an interview that Baron Cohen gave to The Daily Telegraph. “When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so…
Just months after winning awards and garnering critical acclaim at film festivals, “The Tribe,” a documentary on what it means to be Jewish in the 21st-century has moved to #1 on the iTunes top-selling short films list. The 18-minute film chronicles the modern Jewish American experience through archival footage, graphics and animation and is downloadable…
The Tribe, a film that has made its way around the festival circuit in the past year and chronicles the modern American Jewish experience through archival footage and animation has finally made its way to iTunes. The 18-minute short film is now downloadable for $1.99. The plot summary from iTunes: What can the most successful…
Back in May, our Gabriel Sanders interviewed Leni Riefenstahl biographer Steven Bach at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage. The interview has since been broadcast on C-Span and is now available online. The broadcast includes a short excerpt from the filmmaker’s 1938 documentary “Olympia” and — at the tail end — a question from Gabriel’s…
She’s a sultry starlet. He’s a neurotic nebbish. But really Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen are just two peas in a pod, the actress tells USA Today: “I just adore Woody,” she says. “We have a lot in common. We’re New Yorkers, Jewish. We have a very easygoing relationship. “I’ve seen things like, ‘Are you…
The father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is criticizing “A Mighty Heart,” the new movie about his son’s abduction, suggesting that it falls into the trap of “moral equivalence.” In an article for The New Republic Online, Judea Pearl writes: You can see traces of this logic in the film’s comparison of…
When it was released in December 2005, Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” — the story of the Israeli agents tasked with assassinating those responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre — was criticized in some corners of the Jewish world for what was seen as lily-livered progressivism or, worse, downright hostility to Israel. The New Republic’s Leon…
For one night, at least, MTV may as well have been the Jewish Television Network. Yesterday’s MTV Movie Awards had an unusually large number of young, hip celebrity Jews taking center-stage. The show was hosted by comedian-of-the-moment Sarah Silverman, who, in typical faux-innocent fashion, mercilessly roasted Paris Hilton (conveniently in attendance). Silverman noted — to…
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