People see me as your \”typical Jewish woman,\” and maybe it\’s true: I\’ve got curly hair, opinions on every subject and I do not go camping. Plus, even after years of speech classes, I still have an identifiable New York nasality in my voice.
56-year-old actor extraordinaire Streep of \”Out of Africa,\” \”Sophie\’s Choice,\” \”Kramer vs. Kramer,\” \”Postcards From the Edge,\” \”Angels in America,\”etc. and 13 Academy Award nominations fame has taken on the comi-tragic role of a Jewish mother.
Based on Whedon\’s short-lived 2002 TV series, \”Firefly,\” whose fan base helped spur the movie, \”Serenity\” revolves around the outlaws\’ attempts to discover the telepath\’s true identity after she beats up everyone in a bar.
What is the best way to move toward a new year? The Jewish method that calls for an intense review of the past year, or the American approach of entering each new year with a sort of reckless optimism oblivious to what has come before? It seems that the answer depends on whether or not one is a parent.
In 1986, Oscar-nominated production designer Arthur Max (\”Gladiator\”) visited Jerusalem in the midst of the intifada.\n\n\”People told me not to go almost everywhere, but I went everywhere,\” said Max, who is Jewish. \”Of course, some of the Old City was closed off for security reasons, but I went to the Western Wall and into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And I stood on top of the Jaffa Gate and I looked out over what to me always had been a name, and suddenly I felt connected to my heritage, a close connection to all the Jewish history I had studied as a bar mitzvah.\n\nMax drew on those feelings to recreate medieval Jerusalem for \”Kingdom of Heaven,\” in which the protagonists also journey to Jerusalem to connect to their religious roots. The Ridley Scott film revolves around a crusader (Orlando Bloom) swept up in the 12th-century battle between Christian King Balian and Muslim leader Saladin.
Apparently, Demi Moore is the only thing people will be seeing on Ashton Kutcher\’s arm these days. In the actor\’s new film, \”Guess Who,\” Sony Pictures spent some $100,000 to digitally remove a red string kabbalah bracelet from his wrist, according to a recent article by MSNBC.com\’s Jeanette Walls.
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces its Oscar finalists on Jan. 25, millions of Americans will be tuning in to learn who has been nominated for best actor, actress, director and picture.
\”Boy\” revolves around 40ish novelist Eric Weiss, who returns home — actually to the hospital where he was born — to visit his dying father, Manny, a shoe salesman. It\’s his first trip back in a while, and he\’s ambivalent: \”I saw what Brooklyn did to my parents, and I knew I had to get the hell out of here,\” he tells a friend. \”I saw … the fear, the xenophobia, the suffocating double grip the Holocaust and the Depression had around their throats.\”
What\’s the best way to celebrate 350 years of Jewish life in America? If you\’re the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, you fete one of the top cultural achievements of American Jews — the movie business — with that favorite all-American pastime, the top 10 list.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.