Vishniac is a documentary about Roman Vishniac, a photographer best remembered for capturing Jewish life before the Holocaust. A camera can be a magical thing. But for one photographer, he captured images that would have otherwise been lost to history if not for immigrating to America. Nearly 90 years later, these photos are just about all that remain from communities wiped out in Hitler’s systemic genocide of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. His work…
"Vishniac: Documenting Jewish Life in Pre-War Europe"Category: Movie Reviews
Rabbi on the Block is a film that can play an important role in bringing the Jewish and Black communities together in dialogue. The film’s main subject is a rabbi and community activist, Tamar Manasseh. Manasseh hails from Chicago’s south side and is working to bring the Black and Jewish communities together. She is also the founder of Mothers and Men Against Senseless Killings (MASK). Anyway, the thing placing her in such a unique position…
"Rabbi on the Block – New York Jewish Film Festival 2024"
The Anne Frank Gift Shop resorts to dark comedy in discussing how to rebrand antisemitism and the Holocaust for the 21st century. “The latest studies are quite grim–2/3 of young Americans are unaware that 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust.” – Diedrick (Josh Meyers) The film is currently on the Oscars shortlist for Best Live-Action Short Film. Unfortunately, I didn’t know about it until mid-December following an email from Reboot about Elizabeth Banks leading…
"The Anne Frank Gift Shop: A Dark Comedy About Anti-Jewish Hate"
Red, White and Blue is a timely and relevant film about abortion rights and is currently on the Oscars shortlist for Best Live-Action Short. If I had seen this film last year, it would have been listed as part of my short film awards. Unfortunately, I did not get around to doing so. In fact, I completely forgot to cover the film in connection with Dances with Films. A lot of this goes back to…
"Red, White and Blue: A Timely Film About Abortion Rights"
Cimarron made its way onto Blu-ray through the Warner Archive Collection but the Best Picture winner did not age well at all. There are a few things to be said about this film. It is a film of its era. As such, there is a good amount of language that we don’t use today. Not to mention the racist stereotypes. But again, this is a film that was released back in 1931. Even not taking…
"Cimarron: 1931 Oscar Winner Did Not Age Well"
Max Steiner: Maestro of Movie Music tells the story of one of the pioneering composers in developing the Hollywood sound. “Steiner is the individual who seemed to convince all of Hollywood that films needed scoring.” – Leonard Maltin Steiner was both a master of the leitmotif, melodic themes, and an ability to musically catch the action as it happens on screen. This is what people refer in the industry as Mickey Mousing. He is credited…
"Max Steiner: Maestro of Movie Music"
Elia Kazan is an Oscar-winning filmmaker but nothing here is able to save this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon. In releasing the film on Blu-ray, it comes from a brand new HD master from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. The film’s release in 1976 came over two decades after Kazan’s second Oscar for directing and 13 years after his final directing nomination. Unfortunately, Kazan just wasn’t the same…
"The Last Tycoon: Elia Kazan’s 1976 Film Is On Blu-ray"
Mean Girls (2024) is not going to replace Mean Girls but the musical adaptation keeps the spirit of the classic 2004 comedy. There is a universe where the film is going straight to Paramount+. Thankfully, the studio also came to their senses and is giving it a theatrical release. This is a film that audiences should see in a theater. It may be a musical but it still remains a comedy at heart. In my…
"Mean Girls: The Musical Offers As Much Fun As The 2004 Classic"
The Monuments Men sees George Clooney and company tasked with tracking down artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War II. After 2008’s Leatherheads, Clooney took a brief break from period films to write, direct and star in The Ides of March. After that, he went back to the past for another period piece. This time around, he gathered an ensemble cast to hunt stolen artwork in a film that is based on a true…
"The Monuments Men – A George Clooney Retrospective"
George Clooney follows up two very strong films by taking it to the gridiron with a screwball romance in Leatherheads. A romantic comedy in football’s early days is probably not the first thing I’d think of when it comes to following up Good Night, and Good Luck. I’m not sure anyone expected Clooney to go in this direction. It’s certainly an interesting choice and he does a solid job with storytelling. The film probably offers…
"Leatherheads – A George Clooney Retrospective"