Film
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The Schmooze 8 Best (and Worst) Mel Brooks Movies
Melvin James Kaminsky is finally getting the tribute he deserves. A monthlong retrospective at the Bell Lightbox, home of the Toronto International Film Festival, is honoring the director better known as Mel Brooks. “It’s Good to Be the King” salutes the 88-year-old’s “triumphant bad taste and transcendently-awful-cum-pricelessly-hilarious jokery,” according to program notes. Though Brooks hasn’t…
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The Schmooze ‘Zero Motivation’ and 7 IDF Movies You Should See
“Zero Motivation,” which won the best narrative feature award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is an IDF version of “M* A* S* H.” Apparently, not everyone in the Israeli military is a gung-ho paratrooper. They also serve who push pencils around in boring circles. In this film, two women stationed at a military base…
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Culture 159 Thoughts We Had While Watching ‘The Red Tent’
When Anita Diamant’s novel “The Red Tent” hit bookstores in 1997, Jewish women couldn’t devour it fast enough. The book focuses on Jacob and Leah’s daughter Dinah, who only gets one sentence in the Bible. Famously, it tries to upend the narrative of her rape, giving her a voice and a sense of agency that…
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Opinion Why I’m Boycotting the ‘Exodus’ Movie — It’s Racist
Christian Bale plays Moses in “Exodus.” What’s wrong with this picture? On November 25 — one day after the Ferguson grand jury decision sparked a national outcry over race relations in this country — “Variety” ran an interview with Ridley Scott, justifying the director’s decision to cast white actors in the key roles of his new movie,…
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Culture A Monument to the World Before the Holocaust
“At the end of the world, there is a high mountain, and on that mountain, there is a huge rock, and from that huge rock a pure spring comes gushing out. And at the other end of the world, there is the heart of the world… And the heart of the world gazes and gazes…
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Film & TV The Yiddish Path to Acting Fame and Fortune
A version of this post appeared in Yiddish here Like all actors attempting to break into the notoriously difficult profession, Michael Levi Harris is seeking to stand out. Luckily, Harris has a talent that is almost unique: he has an exceptional knack for languages. Not only can Harris speak many tongues but he also has…
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The Schmooze Why David Broza Still Has Hope for Peace
Courtesy David Broza David Broza is likely Israel’s most famous singer-songwriter. With a throaty Leonard Cohen sound and earthy Bruce Springsteen lyrics, Broza has recorded platinum albums and toured the world to great acclaim. He is also among the nation’s most recognized peace advocates, a fact that fueled his most recent activities — an album,…
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The Schmooze 6 Movies About Ex-Orthodox Jews Everyone Should See
In contemporary cinema the representation of Jews is not so unusual. However, ex-Orthodox Jewish characters are portrayed far less often. Nonetheless, their role is significant and in some cases, iconic. (See my recent piece about Anna Wexler and Nadja Oertelt’s documentary ‘Unorthodox’ for one of the most recent examples.) Here are six of the best….
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Sports This year’s biggest World Cup upset came from its most ‘Jew-ish’ team
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News Who is Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli politician who could dethrone Netanyahu?
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Opinion The latest victim of the culture war over Israel is a left-wing, lapsed Catholic Bible scholar
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Fast Forward Trump nominee defends college cartoon of Jewish student with devil horns at Senate hearing
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Fast Forward Mamdani touts ‘Babies not Bombs’ messaging after flexing political muscle in the New York primaries
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Fast Forward Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary
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Fast Forward Half of Americans think the U.S. is ‘too supportive’ of Israel
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Opinion How Israel’s strongest partisans destroyed global support for Israel