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Tag Archives: Israel
Review: The Wedding Plan (2017): An Israeli rom-com, Orthodox-style
I reviewed Rama Burshtein’s latest film, a rom-com with an Orthodox Jewish setting, for the May/June issue of Film Comment. And this time, the review is also online. You can read my review here. It’s for the “short takes” section. … Continue reading
March 2017 Viewing Diary
The Goddess (1958; d. John Cromwell) Written by Paddy Chayevsky. Starring Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges. Stanley plays a character clearly based on Marilyn Monroe, rather extraordinary when you consider Monroe was still alive. It’s a brutal movie about stardom … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Bette Davis, Carroll Baker, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, documentary, England, Frances Farmer, Horton Foote, Israel, Jack Garfein, Joan Crawford, John Huston, July and Half of August, Kim Stanley, Orson Welles, Ralph Meeker, Robert Aldrich, Supernatural, Sydney Pollack, Tennessee Williams, Tommy Lee Jones, women directors
59 Comments
Review: Mr. Gaga (2017)
I’m a sucker for a good dance documentary, and Mr. Gaga, about Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin, is very very good. It opens today. I reviewed for Rogerebert.com.
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2014
I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Personal
Tagged Alfred Wertheimer, Anna Magnani, Austria, Carroll Baker, Christopher Hitchens, Claude Rains, Eli Wallach, Elvis Presley, Eminem, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Harry Potter, Howard Hawks, Inherent Vice, Iran, Iranian film, Israel, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Japan, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Crawford, John Cassavetes, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Wiig, Kwik Stop, Lars von Trier, Lauren Bacall, Lester Bangs, Liv Ullmann, Lon Chaney, Love Streams, Mark Twain, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Orpheus Descending, Palestine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Poland, Richard Linklater, Romania, Russia, Seth Rogen, Seymour Cassel, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sweden, Tennessee Williams, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones, Trotsky, war, year in writing, Zac Efron
14 Comments
Seen Recently: Paradise Now (2005), Museum Hours (2012)
I recently reviewed director Hany Abu-Assad’s latest film, Omar for Roger Ebert. Omar was about a young Palestinian guy, who had a secret girlfriend, and a job, but also was drawn into the cycle of violence of the larger conflict, … Continue reading
Review: Bethlehem (2014)
Bethlehem, co-written by an Israeli and an Arab, tells the story of an Israeli secret service agent and his teenage Palestinian informant. What does it mean to play both sides in a conflict? Can that situation EVER go over well? … Continue reading
Review: Omar (2014); directed by Hany Abu-Assad
The latest from director Hany Abu-Assad, and his first Palestinian feature since Paradise Now, Omar is pretty great. Upsetting, exciting, romantic, energetically filmed, great characters and scene-work. Also, best of all, it doesn’t present solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in … Continue reading
Iron Ladies, Hollywood-Style
This article originally appeared on Capital New York. It’s still up there, although it’s now part of Politico, and so I have reprinted the piece here, because I fear all of the dead links in my future. In lieu of … Continue reading
Tribeca Film Festival 2011: Rabies, Israel’s First Slasher Film
My first dispatch from Tribeca (April 21 – May 1) is now up at Capital New York, with a review of the fun stylish slasher movie (Israel’s first), Rabies (2010).