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With all of the talk going down about the prosthetic nose that Bradley Cooper wore while playing legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein in the forthcoming “Maestro” and Helen Mirren’s star turn as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in “Golda” (which opened Friday), it got me to thinking about what other films centered on famous Jews might be out there. I figured it had to be pretty minimal. Jews, after all, are estimated to comprise a population of a mere 18 million of the 8 billion people in the world, or a scant 0.2 percent. Of the U.S. population, only 2.4 percent identify as Jewish. So I mean, how many Jewish-themed projects could there be?

It turns out the answer is a lot more than I thought.

How do I know this? Because while surfing around, I discovered ChaiFlicks, which in August celebrated its third anniversary as a niche streaming service bringing viewers a...

Jewish streaming platform ChaiFlicks is launching an all-new slate of TV programs and films set to begin rolling out in August. Programming includes “Wartime Girls,” the Israeli series “The New Black (Shababnakim)” and drama series “Normal” from Lior Dayan and Dori Media.

The new program additions follow “The Lesson,” which debuted earlier this summer. Starting in August, documentary series “The Hebrews” (August 2) and drama film “Those Who Remained” (August 8) will debut on ChaiFlicks, followed by “The Elected” on September 7.

“Normal,” the semi-autographical story from Dayan (the son of Israeli actor/writer Assi Dayan and grandson of Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan), will join ChaiFlicks on October 4, and “Wartime Girls” Season 4 will hit the streamer in December.

On December 20, ChaiFlicks will premiere the fourth season of “Wartime Girls,” which centers on three young Polish women as they fight Nazi occupation during World War II.

ChaiFlicks is also hosting the inaugural Free Summer Film Festival,...

Actress-director Anjelica Huston may have been born into film royalty and may have fulfilled that royal destiny by becoming the third generation, after actor grandfather Walter and director-actor-writer father John Huston, to score Oscar gold, but her early innings were not the stuff cinema dreams are made of.

“Casino Royale” is the film where she first appeared, as an uncredited young teen 55 years ago this month. It is largely regarded as an overcooked comedy fiasco, or as Variety deemed it back then, “an attempt to spoof the pants off the James Bond.” The film had no less than five directors, including her father, John.

Variety was kinder to John Huston’s 1969 film “A Walk with Love and Death,” Anjelica’s first starring role, but most other outlets were tougher on the film and Huston’s performance, and it came and went with little notice.

In a vain attempt to overcome that fate,...

Sales

Dori Media Group (Dmg) has sold Israeli drama “Normal” to WarnerMedia in Latin America, where the series will be available on HBO Max. the series premiered in November of last year on Israel’s Hot, pulling strong reviews and ratings, finishing the year as one of the broadcasters top three most-watched dramas. Based on the true story of series co-creator Lior Dayan, the series kicks off with its protagonist at a low point, committed to a psych ward after a nervous breakdown fueled by drug use. There, the writer battles with personal demons and receives treatment while facing the harsh reality that he is totally normal, a standard superseded by his father, filmmaker, actor, and artist Assi Dayan, and grandfather, defense minister Moshe Dayan. “Normal” played in competition at last year’s Series Mania in the festival’s International Panorama section.

Animation

Kids’ Entertainment company Cake has closed a U.

Seven movies have been digitally restored.

Wim Wenders

The Berlinale Classics section of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 15-25) will present the world premieres of seven digitally restored films.

The strand will open on February 16 with the premiere of 1923 silent classic The Ancient Law, restored digitally by the Deutsche Kinemathek. Zdf/Arte have commissioned French composer Philippe Schoeller to make new music for this version.

Wim Wenders’ Wings Of Desire (1987) will screen in a 4K Dcp version. The version is restored by the Wim Wenders Foundation and is based on its original negatives; StudioCanal will be releasing it in German cinemas later this year.

My 20th Century (1989) is the feature debut of Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, who won the 2017 Golden Bear. It is a black-and-white story about the diverging lives of identical twins at the start of the Twentieth century. The film owes its 4K restoration to the Hungarian National Film Fund.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s head of...

Films on filmmakers will be at the heart of documentary conference entitled Cinema as a Rumour: in memory of Assi Dayan at the Jerusalem Film Festival on Wednesday.

The annual conference, which is in its third year, is organised by the professional body the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers Forum, the festival and America’s Duke University.

“The aim of the conferences is to put the spotlight on documentary topics that are rarely examined in an academic way. There’s a lot of focus on films about the Holocaust and Middle East conflict but films about other subjects rarely get studied,” explained filmmaker Orna Raviv, one of the organisers of the event.

The conference is being dedicated this year to Israeli actor and filmmaker Assi Dayan, who passed away in May. There will be a discussion about the documentary Life as a Rumor [pictured] as well as a TV series about his controversial and sometimes tempestuous life.

Other films up...

A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.

“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.

The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].

Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.

Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...

A trip by Israeli reggae producers to Jamaica, Final Solution architect Heinrich Himmler, new immigrant angst and a pit ball rescue centre are among the many worlds explored in this year’s Israeli Documentary Competition.

“We were focused on both the film language and the subject matter. We wanted films that were both fresh in the way they were shot but also challenging socially or intellectually,” says filmmaker Anat Zuria, who was on the festivals four-person selection committee for documentaries.

The 15-title selection kicks off today with a sold-out premiere screening of filmmaker and journalist Uri Misgav’s Life of Poetry: The Story of Avraham Halfi [pictured].

Combining interviews with friends and archive footage, the picture explores the life of the publicity shy late poet, described by Misgav as an “anonymous hero”, whose work Adorned Is Your Forehead formed the basis for one of Israel’s most popular Hebrew songs.

Other contenders include Yossi Aviram’s The Polgar...

Stars: Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, James Earl Jones, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, Richard Kind, Isiah Whitlock Jr. | Written by Daniel Taplitz, Assi Dayan | Directed by Phil Alden Robinson

A great deal can change in twelve years. Societal shifts adjust the mindset we have when consuming all aspects of entertainment. Certain approaches that previously worked will grow tired and played out. With that in mind director Phil Alden Robinson had a challenge in front of him as he is directing his first film since Sum of All Fears in 2002.

Perhaps the twelve year gap was too much of a hurdle to leap, because The Angriest Man in Brooklyn is nowhere near the quality of what you would expect from the guy who gave us wonderful films like Field of Dreams and Sneakers. Nearly every part is miscast causing each actor to be constantly at odds with their roles. Tonally...

Prognosis Negative: Robinson’s Return a Detached, Tepid Exercise

His first outing since the ill-fated 2002 film The Sum of All Fears, director Phil Alden Robinson’s latest, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, is a remake of a 1997 Israeli film, The 92 Minutes of Mr. Baum, which happened to be part of a trilogy directed by Assi Dayan. At first appearing to be a black comedy about miserable, self-pitying human beings, a not-so-subtle message about the importance of family, enjoying one’s time and appreciating the preciousness of life, eventually cascades over the slim narrative, rendering any emotional or comedic potency to absolute zero. With a running time of about 80 minutes, this treatment still feels padded with moments that feel utterly useless because they’re not fully developed or simply used as a matter of convenience.

Henry Altmann (Robin Williams) is an unhappy man. Home life seems particularly dire, unable to have...

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn Lionsgate Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: C- Director: Phil Alden Robinson Screenplay: Daniel Taplitz, adapted from Assi Dayan’s 1997 Israeli film “The 92 Minutes of Mr. Baum” Cast: Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, James Earl Jones, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 5/8/14 Opens: May 23, 2014 A sentence of death from your doctor is so difficult to face that according to the Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler- Ross, the unfortunate individual goes through five stages: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. There’s another way to deal with the anxiety, and that’s with humor, with joke [ Read More ]

The post The Angriest Man in Brooklyn Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Jerusalem (AP) — Actor and director Assi Dayan, an Israeli cultural icon who was known for both his trailblazing films and troubled personal life, died on Thursday in his Tel Aviv home. He was 68. No cause of death was given but Dayan had suffered from several illnesses in recent years. Word of his death immediately became the top news item in Israel. A scion to one of Israel's most prominent families, Dayan was the youngest son of famed military chief and defense minister Moshe Dayan. His sister Yael was also a former politician. "My baby is gone and this is not the age when you expect the anchor to fall," his 97-year-old mother Ruth said, speaking to reporters outside his home. Despite his lineage, Dayan was somewhat of a counterculture hero. He often lashed out at the state and angrily confronted his father over his military views, his marital infidelities and...

Legendary Israeli filmmaker Assi Dayan, one of the most celebrated cultural icons to come out of the holy land with 8 Israeli Oscars, or Ophir Awards, to his name, has passed away at the age of 68. Publicly known for his self-admitted battle with substance abuse in recent years, Dayan was in pain early Thursday morning local time, when his home caregiver called paramedics, whom upon arrival found him unconscious and were unable to resuscitate him. Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2014 The son of notorious Israeli military leader and politician Moshe Dayan, who died in 1979, Assi Dayan made his

read more...

Films have done much to show existential impact of militarisation upon Israeli society, and chart the collapse of early idealism

"Israel is more than grapefruit and soldiers," said Assi Dayan at the opening of Seret, the London Israeli Film festival on Sunday evening. Yet his films have done much to show the existential impact of militarisation upon Israeli society, and chart the collapse of early idealism. In 1967, he played the film-star-handsome Palmach commando in a portrayal of kibbutz life amid the sun and barley. But in 1976, two years after his famous father, the eye-patched tank general Moshe Dayan, finished as minister of defence, he directed a cult parody of the army as full of fools and swindlers. And then, in 1993, a grim story of drunken Israeli soldiers murdering the occupants of a Tel Aviv bar. And finally, in 2011, Dr Pomerantz, a tragic farce about a broken therapist who makes a...

Mila Kunis comes to the rescue in her latest film The Angriest Man In Brooklyn, when she saves Robin Williams's character from drowning.

Williams plays Henry Altmann, an ageing lawyer who, on the day before Thanksgiving, finds out he has a rare and progressive form of cancer that leaves him with just an hour and half to live.

Kunis can be seen pulling Williams out of the water near Brooklyn bridge in the shots below, and behind-the-scenes snaps also show the actress getting her hair wet with a bucket of water rather than dipping it into the East River.

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn is an adaption of the Israeli film Mar Baum by writer-director Assi Dayan, in which Mr. Baum clears up some last minute business - calls are made to family members and time is spent doing routine jobs like picking up his daughter from school, getting stuck in heavy traffic,...

James Earl Jones and Da'Vine Joy Randolph are joining Robin William and Mila Kunis, in the dark comedy, Angriest Man In Brooklyn, for director Phil Alden Robinson, from a script penned by Assi Dayan and Daniel Taplitz. The upcoming film, shooting this month, finds Kunis playing a stand-in doctor who mistakenly tells an obnoxious patient (Williams) that he has only 90 minutes to live. She desperately tries to locate the man after her prognosis sends him on a contrite tour of the city to right all the wrongs in his life. No word on exactly what characters Jones and Randolph will play, or how their characters figure into the story. Most recently, Jones starred...

In recent years France has been among the front-runners in pushing the boundaries of modern horror. With such offerings as Frontier(s), Inside and High Tension, French filmmakers have been making us seriously squirm. It is with this reminder of the quality of their filmmaking that we at Dread Central bring you an announcement of the film list from the 17th Annual L'Etrange Festival, France's biggest horror film festival.

With over 70 films being screened and more than 17,000 attendees expected to descend on Paris, Le'Etrange Festival

Below we have the Complete listing of the festival's events:

From the Press Release

L’Étrange Festival – a unique event bringing filmgoers a fascinating roster of provocative and eye-opening films – is thrilled to announce the line-up for its 17th edition, September 2 – 11, 2011 in Paris, France.

The 2011 line-up continues the tradition of highlighting emerging talent, paying homage to independent-minded filmmakers and featuring a truly diverse program that includes cutting-edge works,...

Mivtsa Yonatan / Operation Thunderbolt (1977) Direction: Menahem Golan Cast: Klaus Kinski, Yehoram Gaon, Sybil Danning, Assaf Dayan, Gila Almagor, Assaf Dayan, Mark Heath Screenplay: Menahem Golan and Clarke Reynolds Oscar Movies Klaus Kinski toting a machine gun, Sybil Danning sporting owl-like sunglasses, Operation Thunderbolt The Good, The Bad, And The Unfashionable Despite the complex and gripping real-life basis for Mivtsa Yonatan / Operation Thunderbolt — the 1976 hijacking of a Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris Air France flight — director-co-producer-co-scenarist Menahem Golan managed to make a film utterly devoid of suspense, depth, or intelligence. With its cheap look (despite full cooperation from the Israeli armed forces), subpar craftsmanship, and one-dimensional characters, Operation Thunderbolt is nothing more than your below-average 1970s movie-of-the-week. In fact, Operation Thunderbolt is so mediocre that it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The fateful story, also told in the 1976 Us-made television movies Raid on Entebbe [...]...

Even though 2010 wasn't considered a good year in Israeli cinema, as its presence on the international front was rather modest, it certainly wasn't as bad that one might think, and by comparison, 2011 is looking at least as good, if not better: There are already two Israeli films that will be launched at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival, and just before that, Sundance's World Dramatic Competition will include a title that I mention below. 2011 will mark the return of a few veterans, and (hopefully) the rise of a few new star filmmakers. Here are the 5 most anticipated projects on the Israeli side of the film world...: #.5 The Slut – Hagar Ben Asher This project is supposed to satisfy the thirst of people who prefer the more "arty" cinema. Ben Asher has been working on this since 2007, when her short film Pathways won awards in Cannes. This is supposed to be a...

This brave, fierce Israeli film, an attack upon the oppressive character of ultra-orthodox Judaism, centres on a deeply sincere Haredic rabbi for whom it's obsessively Torah, Torah, Torah all day long. His literal, fundamentalist, narrow-minded reading of texts estranges him from his charming young wife and destroys his devoted, delightfully open-minded young son, first spiritually, then physically. The rabbi is played by Assi Dayan, the 64-year-old actor son of charismatic Israeli hero General Moshe Dayan, he of the famous black eye-patch. All three actors are excellent.

DramaWorld cinemaPhilip French

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...

Out This Week

Avatar (12A)

(James Cameron, 2009, Us) Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver. 163 mins

The King Of The World returns with an awesomely expensive epic that makes everything else out there look cheap. It really is a visit to a strange new world: part-prog rock album cover, part-Japanese anime come to life. The mix of real action and animation is flawless, the 3D is unobtrusively immersive, and Cameron has lost none of his gift for gripping, purposeful action. It's a shame the story is so un-revolutionary: a formulaic mix of A Man Called Horse, other Cameron movies, The Matrix Sequels, and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, all washed down with an eco message that's at odds with the technological spectacle served up. But you'd be churlish not to be carried away by the experience. Come on, this is amazing!

Nine (12A)

(Rob Marshall, 2009, Us) Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz.

An intensely painful and sombre film about an Orthodox Jewish family

An intensely painful and sombre film from Israeli writer-director David Volach, about an Orthodox Jewish family, which provides a variation on the theme of Abraham and Isaac. Assi Dayan and Sharon Hacohen play Rabbi Abraham and his wife Esther, and Ilan Griff is Menahem, their adored little boy, all agog at the family's forthcoming trip to the Dead Sea.

The rabbi is ferociously stern with his son, even demanding that he rip up a picture of an African tribesman on the grounds that this man is indulging in "idolatry". Yet his face lights up with love in the little boy's presence. The story is inexpressibly sad, and the movie is intelligent, severe and austere in equal parts.

• Released on Boxing Day.

Rating: 3/5

DramaWorld cinemaPeter Bradshaw

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to...

I'm writing this the day after first posting this entry. I now regret it. The point I make about artists is perfectly valid but I realize I wasn't prepared with enough facts about the events leading up to the Festival's decision to showcase Tel Aviv in the City-to-City section. I thought of it as an innocent goodwill gesture, but now realize it was part of a deliberate plan to "re-brand" Israel in Toronto, as a pilot for a larger such program. The Festival should never have agreed to be used like this. It was naive for the plan's supporters to believe it would have the effect they hoped for. The original entry remains below. The first 50 or so comments were posted before these regrets.

¶ The tumult continues here about the decision to spotlight Tel Aviv in the City-to-City sidebar program of the Toronto Film Festival. The protesters say the festival...

• Richard Shepard is set to continue working in awkward comedy formulas, after The Matador and The Hunting Party he'll be taking on a remake of an Israeli film for Overture films. Scripted by Daniel Taplitz and smartly re-baptized as The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, this is based on 1997 Israeli film "Mar Baum" (written and directed by Assi Dayan, son of the late Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan) and tells the tale of a man who, upon learning he is about to die, must decide whether to spend his limited time (92 minutes) rushing to get things done or slow down and enjoy his final moments. The project was kicking around since 2004 when Revolution Studios had optioned the remake.  ...

...

Richard Shepard has signed to direct Overture Films' dark comedy The Angriest Man in Brooklyn , says The Hollywood Reporter . The project, originally titled "92 Minutes" and based on a 1997 Israeli film, explores how a New York City man uses the last hour and a half of life he's been told he has left. Daniel Taplitz adapted the screenplay from writer/director Assi Dayan's original Mar Baum .

Richard Shepard is set to direct the dark comedy The Angriest Man in Brooklyn for Overture Films, which was originally titled 92 Minutes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new project is based on a 1997 Israeli film and explores how a New York City man uses the last hour and a half of life he's been told he has left. Daniel Taplitz adapted the screenplay from writer-director Assi Dayan's original "Mar Baum."

"I love multi-toned films, and this is an extremely smart, unique and funny story," Shepard said. "It is also very emotional, without an ounce of undue sentimentality."

No production date has been set.

Richard Shepard has signed to helm Overture Films' dark comedy "The Angriest Man in Brooklyn."

The project, originally titled "92 Minutes" and based on a 1997 Israeli film, explores how a New York City man uses the last hour and a half of life he's been told he has left. Daniel Taplitz adapted the screenplay from writer-director Assi Dayan's original "Mar Baum."

Bob Cooper's Landscape Entertainment is producing the film with Daniel Walker of Force Majeure. Exec Lauren Kisilevsky is overseeing the project for Overture.

"I love multi-toned films, and this is an extremely smart, unique and funny story," Shepard said. "It is also very emotional, without an ounce of undue sentimentality."

Shepard, repped by Gersh and Industry Entertainment, wrote and directed "The Matador" and "The Hunting Party." He also directed the pilots for "Criminal Minds," "In the Motherhood" and "Ugly Betty," for which he won an Emmy.

Shepard's...

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Producer, director and screenwriter Rafi Bukai succumbed to cancer Tuesday at the age of 46 and was buried Wednesday. Bukai first gained local and international prominence with Avanti Popolo, which he produced, directed and wrote. The film was honored by the Locarno Film Festival. He went on to produce other films like Life According to Agfa (1992), starring Assi Dayan. His latest effort as producer, the feature One Small Step for Man, starring Israeli-American director Avi Nesher, premiered at the Haifa International Film Festival in October. The film's director, Shahar Segal, said: "He was involved in the most important Israeli films made in the last twelve years. He had a love affair with moviemaking and was one of the industry's characters. (His death) is a loss to the industry." Bukai is survived by a wife and a son.

What would you do if you were told by your physician that you had 92 minutes to live? That's the harrowing prognosis given a middle-aged man in the droll, deadpan "The 92 Minutes of Mr. Baum", which registered solid audience approval at last year's Chicago festival.

Realistically, 92 seconds might be this Israeli film's life span as a domestic release, but this cerebral and surprisingly light-hearted entrant should, nevertheless, tickle some fancies in big-city art houses and garner approval on the festival circuit. It could play well on one of the more iconoclastic, upscale cable channels as well.

It's basically Samuel Beckett meets Dr. Kevorkian in this film of the absurd as Mickey Baum (Assi Dayan), in for a routine checkup, learns from his dispassionate, nerdish physician that he has an inoperable brain tumor that will kill him, according to mathematical calculations, in 92 minutes. No, he's not on "Candid Camera", and the joke, i.e., a death sentence, is squarely on him. What to do? Disregard the prognosis, go crazy, let loose, attend to present matters? Undeniably shell-shocked, the methodical Mickey decides that he must clear up his life with his remaining time, and tie up practical-matter details.

As his watch quickly ticks away his minutes, Mickey tries to focus, but he's understandably out of it, languishing in traffic, lapsing into distractions. What is most unsettling and disconcerting is the small arcana, the little derailings of life -- waiting for an old man to cross the street in traffic, etc. -- now take on life-and-death urgency. In essence, filmmaker Assi Dayan slyly shows us how we all waste time over the trivialities and nonessentials -- that for many of us, life itself is a merely a never-ending list of chores and petty logistics and that we never really experience its full-dimensional richness.

Generally, the comic conceit of the diagnosis carries well through out the film, enlivened by Dayan's subtle comic flourishes as Mickey goes up against the annoying everyday circumstances of life. The tone is nicely enhanced by off-the-wall humor and Dayan's own performance as the stricken Mickey is both touching and comic. Indeed, he's an Everyman, an unremarkable type who's doing his best to deal with life's crazy twists and turns.

Visually, "Mr. Baum", however, is somewhat of a stiff as Dayan's generally static compositions and metronomic cadence imbue it with a lethargy that sometimes detracts from the thematic and comedic aspects. Technical contributions are generally well-executed, highlighted by art director Ariel Glazer's sly, comic sensibilities.

THE 92 MINUTES OF MR. BAUM

H.L.S. Film Prods. with the participation

of l'Unite de programmes Fictions de la Sept ARTE present

Producers: Yoram Kislev, Haim Mecklberg

Screenwriter-director: Assi Dayan

Director of photography: Avi Koren

Art director: Ariel Glazer

Editor: Zohar Sela

Music: Boaz Avni

Color/stereo

Cast:

Mickey Baum: Assi Dayan

Dalia Baum: Rivka Noiman

Guy Baum: Tomer Sharon

Maya Baum: Shira Gefen

Mutter Baum: Sarit Seri

Museumsfuhrer: Adam Baruch

Running time -- 80 minutes

No MPAA rating...