Category Archives: Movies

Tweet Watching the opening scene of Pride & Prejudice is painful. My vision is blurred. I am sniffing and snuffling. Finally, I hit the PAUSE button, run to the bathroom–Karen and Offspring #3 groan–where I yank a fistful of tissues, honk! blow my nose, and wipe the silvery strings dripping down my cheeks. The reasons: [...]

Tweet Karen peeks in and asks: “So, what’s happening?”“They’re in the forest trading meaningful glances.”Ten minutes later, Karen again checks in with the same question and my reply is pretty much the same.Twenty minutes later:“They’re still in the forest,” I wearily report, “but now they’re tenderly frolicking. Touching even. It’s like totally lyrical.”Karen rolls her [...]

Tweet “You are empty. You have nothing to fill you up.” In my twenty-five years in Hollywood, the most baffling people I work with are actors. They can alternately be a blessing, making my words come alive in ways I never imagined. Or they can be a curse, taking my scripts in directions I never [...]

Tweet The first thing we hear is the urgent chiming of church bells. Our view widens to reveal a stark 17th century Danish village. An old woman tries to escape, but she is cornered and captured. She screams like a beast. Absalon, a rigid but compassionate Christian Minister interrogates the old woman, begs her, orders [...]

Tweet It’s entirely appropriate that the best Israeli film ever made is a religious meditation on faith, miracles and love. Ushpizin is a gentle and comedic story about Moshe and his wife Mali, Baalei Teshuva, Jews who have become observant after leading secular lives. Moshe and Mali are coping with severe money problems at the [...]

Tweet Take a look at this video of Munkatch, Hungary, 1933. Look at your Jewish ancestors, how they lived and married and danced before the Holocaust. I watched this footage over and over again and found that the tears were just dripping from my eyes. A vanished world. A lovely and meaningful Shabbos to all [...]

Tweet Believe me when I tell you that the Israeli film, Walk on Water, has all the ingredients for a film that I should absolutely hate: a guilt-ridden Mossad agent, “good Germans” and, well, I don’t want to spoil the story and give away too much but this picture has several other liberal cultural reference [...]

Tweet It’s Friday, time for some movie recommendations. As always, my list is made up of films you can and should rent. I guarantee that these movies are ten times better than what’s playing in your local theatre. These films are also completely kosher and appropriate for even the most religious households. My Favorite Wife, [...]

Tweet Okey-dokey. Another Shabbos is almost here and afterwards some of you may want to sit back, relax, and watch a movie. Problem is, so many films on the New Release shelves of your local Blockbuster are just plain wretched. So I’m here, once again, to perform a mitzvah. This week I’m just going to [...]

Tweet Several Seraphic readers are planning on kicking back this weekend and renting some films. I have received several requests for my recommendations. So, here’s my list of some of my all time favorite films. They are also totally kosher and appropriate. I admit that they are all a bit old, but you don’t need [...]