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Up Front

How the West was funny

We haven\’t kept up with Ari Sandel since the nice Jewish boy from Calabasas came out of nowhere last year to win an Oscar for his hilarious short film \”West Bank Story.\” His second venture, \”Vince Vaughn\’s Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Nights — Hollywood to the Heartland,\” has opened to excellent reviews and is now playing in general release.

Israel [hearts] Valentine’s Day

Although many people today correlate St. Valentine\’s Day with Christianity, the contemporary, commercial holiday of love is actually rooted in paganism. In honor of the goddess of marriage, love, fertility and women, Juno Februata, the Romans held a pagan festival in which girls and boys were matched for erotic festivities by drawing names from a box.

‘Meadow Soprano’ explores her Jewish spirit in Israel

Jamie Sigler, who played the daughter of Mafia kingpin Tony Soprano on the acclaimed HBO show \”The Sopranos,\” grew up in a Jewish home in Jericho, N.Y., going to Hebrew school and having a bat mitzvah. But it was only during her recent visit to Israel that she said she felt a true spiritual and emotional connection to her roots.

There will be Jews at Oscar’s 80th

After some relatively lean years, Hollywood\’s Jewish talent made a solid showing as nominations for the 80th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday. The biggest winners were brothers Ethan and Joel Coen, whose thriller \”No Country for Old Men\” earned seven nominations, while Daniel Day-Lewis, son of British Jewish actress Jill Balcon, qualified in the best actor category.

Jewish themes on tap at Sundance festival

\”I never sold weed after high school — I swear,\” said 31-year-old filmmaker Jonathan Levine.\n\nInstead, he said, \”The Wackness,\” which revolves around a dealer who trades pot for therapy sessions (and premieres in competition at the Sundance Film Festival this week), was inspired by his teen angst back in 1994, as he bemoaned his social status, bickered with his Jewish parents and obsessed about what he calls life\’s \”wackness, the awful stuff, rather than living in the moment.\”

William Castle makes spine-tingling return in Jeffrey Schwarz docupic

Aside from overrated CGI explosions, deafening sound systems and validated parking, the movie-going experience isn\’t exactly as thrilling as it once was. That\’s why director Jeffrey Schwarz wants to remind audiences of cinema\’s earlier pleasures with the documentary \”Spine Tingler,\” which highlights the career of horror director and crazed \’50s and \’60s film marketer William Castle.

Let kids rule the land

Kids can influence how their families handle the growing global warming issue, at least according to Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, co-authors of \”The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming\”

Virgins welcome at ‘Hebrew Horror’ night

Inspired by this week\’s Jewish pastime of movies and Chinese food, the Los Angeles \”Rocky Horror Picture Show\” cast Sins o\’ the Flesh is hosting an inaugural Jewish-themed send-up of the midnight cult classic at the Landmark Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles on Saturday, Dec. 22.

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More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.