Movie Review: Tango Shalom
19 Mar
Arts & Culture, Latest

Tango Shalom | The Dancing Rabbi of Crown Heights

Tango Shalom Released February 11, 2021 1 hour 55 minutes Directed by Gabriel Bologna Convivencia Forever Films Comedy, Family, Dance: English Hasidic rabbi Moshe Yehuda is a father of five whose Hebrew school is on the verge of bankruptcy. His brother, Rahamim, is entangled in a scam while simultaneously begging for help to pay for his upcoming wedding to, oy, a progressive woman. This disastrous state of affairs is exacerbated by their mother’s antipathy toward Rahamim’s fiancée, Marina Zlotkin, as well as her son’s future mother-in-law, Leah. Rabbi Yehuda, a talented amateur hora dancer in his spare time, tramps across Brooklyn in search of paid employment. With no end in sight to his mounting tsuris, he and his family face disastrous financial and emotional ruin. But then one day, while waiting at a bus stop, Moshe hears music coming from a Latin...

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24 Feb
Arts & Culture, Jewish World, Latest

Queen Esther Goes to Hollywood

The pivotal moment is when Esther decides to come unbidden before the king. She asks the eunuch Hegai for a chariot, but he refuses her and warns her not to go. Undeterred, Esther runs to the palace through the driving rain. When she arrives, soaked, her gown clinging to her suggestively, King Xerxes has just appointed Haman his regent in a meeting with all of his trusted advisers, including Mordecai the scribe. Esther flings open the great oak doors, but as she approaches, one of the king’s servants draws a sword to slay her. As she climbs the steps to the throne in slow motion, the sword reaches her neck. Mordecai looks toward heaven. But at the last moment, Xerxes pushes the sword away. He thrusts his royal scepter toward Esther as if he is exorcising...

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Wonder Woman 1984 characters
12 Jan
Arts & Culture, Latest

Wonder Woman 1984: Who Is the True Villain?

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.  They say a hero is only as good as its villain, but what if said villain is not a psychopathic clown with a penchant for scars, a master of magnetism or an intergalactic purple titan looking to snap half the universe out of existence? What if the villain is not an individual at all but a disunified collective force of greed, apathy and selfishness?  This is the approach director and cowriter Patty Jenkins takes with Wonder Woman 1984 (WW84), the sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman, in which Gal Gadot reprises the titular role of Diana Prince. Of course, our hero cannot fight an idea outright, so Jenkins creates surrogates to spread her rebuke of the gospel of wealth in...

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Mank film poster
17 Dec
Arts & Culture, Latest

Mank: A Heroic Tragedy With No Tragic Hero

No one enjoys looking in the mirror more than Hollywood, and no one does it better—as vastly entertaining show-biz movies like Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood can all attest. Now comes Mank, David Fincher’s loving and atmospheric re-creation of 1930s Hollywood.

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What to Watch: "The Crossing"
04 Dec
Arts & Culture, Latest

When Children Rescue Children

It’s a rare treat to discover a film that appeals across the generations, but The Crossing is a perfect example. This movie is true family-friendly storytelling. Set in 1942 Norway, during the third year of the German occupation, this is a particularly poignant and uplifting tale of ordinary youngsters rising to the challenge of rescuing Jewish children during a brutal period of history. 

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What to Watch: The Passengers
08 Sep
Arts & Culture, Latest

The Abandoned Jews of Ethiopia

Jews have lived in Ethiopia for centuries, but over the past decades, the majority have emigrated to Israel, most in the well-known airlifts of Operations Moses (1984) and Solomon (1991). Now some 140,000 are citizens. Those left behind in Addis Ababa and Gondar languish in dire conditions, vividly illustrated in the beautifully shot film. 

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ChaiFlicks, a Santa Monica-based service that acquires and distributes content focused on Jewish culture
03 Sep
Arts & Culture, Latest

ChaiFlicks: Jewish TV and Film on Demand

Moment brings you essential independent reporting from the Jewish community and beyond. But we need your help. Your support is critical to the work we do; every tax-deductible gift, of any amount, keeps us going. Thank you for reading and thank you for your help. Donate here.  Seemingly out of nowhere, the pandemic lockdown has fueled the unprecedented popularity of Jewish-themed streaming series, some with unexpected crossover appeal to broader audiences. Think Unorthodox, Shtisel, The Spy, Fauda and HBO’s The Plot Against America. So it’s only natural that a boutique streaming service has emerged to try to catch this wave, providing engaging, smaller, independent alternatives to the big- and mid-budget blockbuster limited series. ChaiFlicks, a Santa Monica-based service that acquires and distributes content focused on Jewish culture, launched August 12. The new service costs $5.99 per month, roughly what the BBC-overflow Acorn...

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23 Jul
Arts & Culture, Film, Latest

Palm Springs: Build Your Own Palace in Time

Repetition mixed with monotony is not usually high up on Hollywood’s list of project themes, which is why Hulu’s Palm Springs was such a delightful surprise. The film stars Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother) as two apathetic California wedding guests who get stuck in a Groundhog Day-like time loop, forcing them to relive the couple’s special day over and over again. For a film that was shot in pre-coronavirus times, Palm Springs is surprisingly relevant.

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