The fridge wasn’t nuked after all: An impassioned defense of “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

By Josh Weiss May 4, 2016

There was an announcement back in March that was great news for some and dreadful news for others — that is, of course, the announcement of a fifth installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise. It’s currently scheduled for the summer of 2019, with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford set to return to directing and acting…

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The one thing “Fantastic Four” did absolutely right

By Josh Weiss December 30, 2015

There are few things in this world about which we can be absolutely certain. However, despite the year’s many disagreements and altercations, there is one thing on which we can all agree: The “Fantastic Four” movie this past summer was absolutely, unequivocally dreadful. One could go so far as to call it fantastically awful, pun…

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Retconning History: Comic Books and the Holocaust

By Josh Weiss April 16, 2015

In Matthew Vaughn’s 2011 movie X-Men: First Class, Professor Charles Xavier tries to stop his friend Magneto—controller of all things metal—from killing American and Soviet navy servicemen during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis by telling him the sailors were just “following orders.” Magneto then delivers arguably the best line of the film: “I’ve…

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Tevye at Temple Sinai: Past as Prologue in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’

By Evan Goldstein January 6, 2015

Recently, I participated in one of our people’s most sacred customs: I went to see Fiddler on the Roof. I was psyched. Fiddler has been a part of my life from time immemorial (meaning, I literally cannot remember a time when I did not know it nearly word for word). I’ve seen the movie countless…

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A Lesson in Dancing, and Driving, with Palestinians: A Review of the Other Israel Film Festival

By Catie Damon November 26, 2013

The Other Israel Film Festival, featuring films by and about Arab populations living in Israel, just finished running for its seventh season at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center. I was lucky enough to stream a few of the festival’s documentaries and dramas this week from my little corner of the West Coast. Two films impressed…

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The Other Israel: The Garden of Eden

By Derek M. Kwait November 21, 2013

The 7th Annual Other Israel Film Festival, ending today at the JCC of Manhattan, presents films focused on the stories of the other 20% of Israel’s population such as Palestinians and other Arabs and Druze. The message of these films is powerful: There’s a whole other Israel out there than the one you see on…

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Self-Loathing “Jewtopia”

By Derek M. Kwait September 30, 2013

Jewtopia features Tom Arnold as a gynecologist. That could be the review right there; any further commentary seems superfluous. Yet I will go on because in truth, I have a lot more to say, or at least vent, about this movie. Its central plot concerns the unlikely friendship between Christian O’Connell (Ivan Sergei) and Adam…

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Whither Alicia Silverstone?

By Ben Sales January 27, 2010

She was Natalie Portman before Natalie Portman was Natalie Portman, Isla Fisher before Isla Fisher was Jewish and definitely before she married Borat. She was the Jewish “it” girl of the mid-to-late ’90s, the time of my pubescence. She was the Semitic goddess, Alicia Silverstone. You know how a lot of guys secretly love “Mean…

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