JCast Network

I was so excited to see the remake of ‘The Magnificent Seven when I heard that the wonderful action director, Antoine Fugua (‘Training Day’, ‘The Equalizer’ ‘Southpaw’) was at the helm. His always takes it a step up when it comes to directing action movies.

In this version, Denzel Washington, is in the role Yul Brynner originated. He plays Sam Chisolm and you really don’t need to know much about him, except for the fact, that he looks great in black, has a beautiful horse, is a killer shot and has tons of charisma. It’s Denzel after all. Okay so, Sam gets hired by Emma Cullen (the wonderful Haley Bennet)and her brother, Matthew (Matt Bomer to help save their small farming town from a ruthless land baron, Mr. Bartholomew Bogue (the very thin and very slimy Peter Sarsgaard) who according to an article, gave up gluten and lost a ton of weight. Bogue is forcing the farmers to sell him their land so he can mine it for gold. The dude is a classic egomania with a narcissistic personality disorder. (Sound familiar?). For reasons I won’t go into, because it would be a spoiler, Sam agrees to take on the job. He then tracks down several BFF’S to help him with this impossible mission to defeat Bartholomew and his army of evil doers. They include, Chris Pratt (your basic great looking guy, with a charming personality who happens to be a crack shot);; the almost unrecognizable, Vincent D’Onofrio who likes to quote bible versus as he blows away bad guys, Ethan Hawke, who is suffering from PTSD and his sidekick Martin Sensmeier, as the Comanche Red Harvest, who is not only brilliant at face painting, but a master with the bow and arrow. Also in this wonderfully diverse cast is Manuel Garcia-Rulfo a Mexican bandit with a sense of humor almost good enough to play at the Comedy Store in Hollywood.

‘Hail Caesar’ written and directed by the always interesting, extremely talented (Ethan and Joel) takes us back to the brothers do it in a way that will have you laughing out of your seats. At least I was. This is one clever, funny, engaging film. The Coen Bros have their own unique way of showing the absurdity in any situation and they certainly don’t let us down with their newest outing.

In the days of old in a place called Hollywood, you’d find a studio shooting several different films at the same time on their various sound stages. One stage, there’d be a singing cowboy sitting on his horse (who he’s obviously in love with) while on another, they’re would have a bunch of dancing/singing sailors, right next door to a large pool of water, filled with beautiful synchronized swimmers and a mermaid or two.

Of course there was always some big budget religious epic filled with evil Roman soldiers, slaves and ending with Jesus on the cross being shot.

When ‘Hail Caesar’ opens, we meet studio chief Eddie Mannix (the wonderful Josh Brolin) a man that goes to confession every 25 hours, lies to his wife about quitting smoking which he considers a big time sin and spends his days and nights putting out fires, be it rescuing a starlet from a very risque photo session or locating his missing star, Brad Whitlock, (George Cooney) who’s been kidnapped by communists.

If that’s not stressful enough, Mannix has to take orders from his money man in New York who decides that their singing cowboy star, Hobie Doyle (the very funny, Alden Ehrenreich) should be the romantic lead in a very high society comedy.This happens to be one of the funniest scenes in the film and a really bad idea, since Hobie’s talents extend to twirling a rope, singing and basically not speaking. When director Laurence Laurentz (the terrific Ralph Fiennes) tries to get Doyle to shed his cowboy twang and speak like a proper gentlemen I was laughing so hard tears were rolling down my face.

But that’s not the only funny scene. The film is filled with them including, one featuring Scarlett Johansson as an aquatic musical star DeeAnna Moran (think Esther Williams) who’s pregnant, not married and starting to show in her skin tight mermaid outfit followed by Mannix meeting with a group of clergymen trying to get their okay on his film about Jesus.

Having said all this, the one person that absolutely steals the film is Channing Tatum as a sailor who sings and tap dances in a brilliant a homage to the late great Gene Kelly, who I know would be proud. Last but definitely not least is the wonderful, Tilda Swinton (who I swear is an alien) She plays twin gossip columnists out to dig up dirt on the actors even when there isn’t any.

‘Hail Caesar! is Coen Bros at their best and it is a must see. For that reason I gave this film, which opens in theatres, Friday February 5 bagels out of 6. Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and I’d love to know what you think.

saw this film last night at the Disney Studios. There was more security there than at the airport, but you know what, I didn’t care. It was worth it. The film I saw was ‘Star Wars:The Force Awakens and recommend you do the same. The publicist asked that we all write our reviews without spoilers so I’ll try my best.

When the film opens, we find out through the familiar writing that comes floating up on the screen that 30 years after ”Return of the Jedi’, the Rebellion aka the Resistance and The over the top evil, First Order are still fighting, each one determined to destroy the other. That’s not the only thing they have in common. Both parties are searching for Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) the last of the Jedis, Only problem is Luke has been in hiding for years and no one knows where he is.

We then encounter Finn (John Borega) a Storm Trooper in The First Order who has a heart – a big one. He escapes and along the way helps a resistance fighter pilot, Poe Dameran (Oscar Isaac) to do the same. Poe hides a map in the most adorable little droid, BB8 and tells Finn that if something happens to him, it’s imperative that he deliver the droid and the map to the Resistance, as it holds the key to finding Luke.

Only problem is Poe and Finn crash land on Jakku and their plane blows up. Finn thinks the Poe is dead. He makes his way through the desolate desert until he arrives at an outpost. It’s here Finn meets Rey (the wonderful Daisy Ridley) a scavenger, who lives on Jakku waiting for her parents to return. In the meantime, she must have taken some boxing lessons, cause she’s really good with her fists and other body parts. Through a series of circumstance, Finn and Rey join forces and make it their mission to get droid BB8 to the the Resistance.

To say more would ruin it, but I will say that along the way Rey and Finn meet up with Hans Solo (Harrison Ford), the very hairy and extremely lovable Chewie, as well as Princess Leia (Carey Fisher) who has now rose to the ranks of General and in charge of The Resistance. Oh, we also have a character who I like to call Darth Vadar light played by the wonderful Adam Driver. That’s all I will say about him to avoid spoilers.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him and Lawrence Kasdan is exciting, funny, wonderfully nostalgic and absolutely fantastic and a film you you do not want to miss. Even if you’ve never seen the first three ‘Star Wars’ it doesn’t matter. This film stands on its on.

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ opens Thursday, December 17, 2015 and it definitely deserves the five bagels at five I gave it. Check out our video to see my very own Chewie.

It’s 1957 the height of the Cold War. There are spies everywhere in the U.S. and society is suffering from Red Scare fever.

It was a time of great distrust and fear. People were even building bomb shelters to escape the nuclear blast they believed could come at any time. How naive people were then.

‘Bridge Of Spies’ directly brilliantly by Steven Spielberg is a true story about a Brooklyn insurance lawyer, Jim Donovan who believes in the constitution and that everyone, no matter what their political persuasion, deserves justice. When he is asked to defend a Russian spy, Rudolf.Abel (the incredible Mark Rylance) does everything in his power to make sure, that despite being a spy, this man gets a fair trial.

Screenwriters Matt Charman and Ethan and Joel Coen have woven this remarkable experience in Donovan’s life into an exciting, tense, fascinating and at times humorous story about a man who risked everything to do the right thing.

‘The Bridge Of Spies’ which opens in theatre Friday October 16 is definitely an Oscar contender along with Hanks and Rylance. Do not miss it.

Check out my video to see how many bagels I gave this remarkable film…Hint…more than 4 1/2.

‘Steve Jobs’ directed by Danny Boyle and written by the uber talented Aaron Sorkin, is a journey into the mind of a visionary who changed our world. The man, Steve Jobs, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Fassbender could not write code but he had imagination and the smarts to surround himself with geniuses, including his partner tech wizard Steve Wozniack (Seth Rogen)/

The film is written in three acts consisting of a backstage crisis that unfolds in real time right before Jobs launches a new product…The Mac in 1984, the NeXT’s black cube in 1988 and finally the IMAC in 1998.It’s during these tense backstage moments, we get a great insight into Job’s abrasive, cruel, hurtful, selfish personality. We meet his high school girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston) and their five year old daughter (the wonderful Makenzie Moss). Jobs denied that he was the child’s father for several years until he realized that Lisa was a genius in her own right.

Jobs was an obnoxious tyrant to practically everyone around him including his software designer, Andy Herzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) who Jobs threatens to publicly humiliate unless he makes the MAC say hello. Jobs was a self centered control freak and it’s hard not to despise him for most of the film. The only person he treats with respect and at times listens to is Joanna Hoffman (the fabulous Kate Winslett). Joanna is his head of marketing as well as his pseudo wife/mother/friend and at rare times, Jobs’ conscience.

Sorkin writes with an intense musicality that keeps propelling the film forward making it absolutely riveting to watch.. The rest of the cast including, Jeff Daniels as the head of John Scully, the head of Apple and Perla Haney-Jardine, who portrays Lisa at 19, when she was a student at Harvard, are all excellent.

You may leave the theatre hating Steve Jobs but you’ll definitely leave loving this film. ‘Steve Jobs’ opens in theatres, Friday October 9th. Check out my video to see how many bagels I gave it…Hint…more than 41/2. Love to know what you think.

The year is 1973…The place is Paris. Philippe Petit (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) goes to the dentist to have a tooth treated. While waiting his turn, he picks up a magazine and reads an article about the soon-to-be-built World Trade Center towers. He forgets about his tooth ache, tears the article from the magazine, goes home and draws a line between the two towers.. It’s at this moment that Petit’s dream is born. He becomes obsessed with one thing…Walking from the South Tower to the North which are 110 stories high..

The film is told in flashbacks and in the beginning Gordon-Levitt’s french accent might be a bit off putting, but eventually you will get so engrossed in this inspiring, exciting and intense story that you’ll forget all about it. Petit was a wire walker. He would walk around Paris finding places to put his wire. It’s here in this city of lights that he meets his girlfriend, Allix (the lovely Charlotte Le Bon) a street singer who gets swept up in Petit’s extraordinary energy and his passion for his art and his fearlessness.

We also get to meet his teacher and mentor, Papa Rudy Omankowsky of the famous White Devils aerial troupe (Ben Kingsley) who despite Petit’s arrogance, he agrees to teach him a thing or two about wire-walking.. Once he makes his mind up to attempt this amazing feat there’s no stopping him. First thing he has to do is gather a group of accomplices to help him pull off this very illegal caper. He recruits people from France as well as New York and working together they come up with a plan to sneak Petit up to the top of the South Tower, then, attach the wire to the North one without being seen by the guards as well as a view other complex and dangerous things in order to make this happen.. The World Trade Center wasn’t even completed when Petit did his ‘walk’.

The film really comes alive in the last third when Petit and his crew try to accomplish the impossible. When Petit finally gets on the wire, that is when the true magic kicks in and that is when Gordon-Levitt really shines. To this master walk back and forth from one tower to the next over and over again in is like watching the greatest prima ballerina dance. It is pure beauty and pure art..

‘The Walk’ which opens in theatres Wednesday September 30th is available in IMAX and 3D and this is how the film should be seen. On a different note, it’s hard to see the World Trade Center without remembering the day that changed the U. S. and it’s people forever…9/11. I don’t think in this climate it would have been so easy for Petit to climb to the top and bring to life his dream. ”I gave the film 4 bagels out of 4 and threw in a crepe. Check out the Two Jews On Video for more of my thoughts and of course to see my reluctant guest star.

‘The Martian’ directed by Ridley Scott and written by Drew Goddard is based on a book by Andy Weir, and it’s a definite must see.

On a mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) gets stranded on the planet when his crew, led by Jessica Chastain are forced to evacuate do to a severe storm. Not only is Watney left behind, but he’s presumed dead. Now most people would just completely freak out under these circumstances, but not this guy. He’s determined to live and luckily for him, he has the skills to survive. Watney is not only brilliant, ingenious, and funny but he’s also a botanist, which really helps when your food supply is dwindling.

Speaking of humor, What makes Matt Damon’s performance so extraordinary as well as compelling, is that he is able to show us the fear that is underneath his very funny, glib remarks. Unfortunately for Watney, eating is not his only problem. He has to somehow find a way to communicate with NASA and let them know that ‘hey guys I didn’t die so please come and get me’.

What’s really beautiful about this film is the way it shows the audience what us humans can accomplish when they work together and that’s exactly what happens. With the whole word watching, NASA and fellow scientists from China unite to bring the astronaut home. ‘The Martian’ is intense, beautifully shot and at times will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

The supporting cast including Kristen Wiig as a communications officer for NASA, Jeff Daniels as her boss, Sean Bean, Michael Pena, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, and Kate Mara add perfectly to the excitment. ‘The Martian’ which opens in theatres, Friday October 2nd, proves that Ridley Scott still has the stuff… He’s created a masterpiece. For that reason, I gave the film five bagels out of bagels with the works.

In the 1970’s, in South Boston, FBI Agent, John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) persuades, Jimmy (Whitey} Bolger, head of the Winter Hill Gang, to collaborate with the Bureau to bring down the Italian Mob. To say this wasn’t the best of ideas is an understatement.

‘Whitey Bogler became one of the most feared crime lords in Boston, bringing drugs to the schools and streets of Bean Town.. If that’ wasn’t bad enough, Bolger just happend to be a sadistic lowlife killer who was a border line sociopath. He eluded the FBI until 2011 when he was arrested in Santa Monica. Don’t worry this is not a spoiler. Anyone who reads or watches the news knows this.

“Black Mass” directed by Scott Cooper tells Whitey’s story through a series of flashbacks, that show members of Bolger’s gang squealing to the FBI about his operation and his numerous kills.

It’s an interesting story, but only to a point. What saves the film from being totally boring are the acting performances. Benedict Cumberbatch (Billy Bolger)as always gives an outstanding performance. Billy, who was the exact opposite of his brother was a very powerful political figure for many years in the State Senate. If you wanted anything done, you went through him. He basically closed his eyes to his brother’s criminal operation. Johnny Depp, wearing killer makeup, gives what could be, one of the best performances of his career. Joel Edgerton as a FBI agent and Bolger’s BFF since they were kids, comes very close to stealing the film. Watching him become more and more corrupt is one of the more interesting moments in the film. The women including Dakota Johnson as Whitey’s former girlfriend and mother to his only child, as well as Julianne Nicholson (John Connolly’s wife) are excellent. The members of Whitey’s intimate crew including, Rory Cochrane (Argo) Jesse Plemons as Whitey’s main henchman, Kevin Weeks and Peter Sarsgaard (in a very different kind of role_ all give seemless performances…

The problem with ‘Black Mass’, written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth is the script. We never see Bolger’s drug operation. We just hear about it. What we do get to see is Bolger killing or scaring one person after another. At the end of two hours, you’re left feeling drained. When you think of the great mobster films, Coppola’s ”Godfather 1 and 2′ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’, ‘Black Mass’ really falls short.. For that reason I only gave the film which opens Friday, September 18th, 3 1/2 Bagels out of 5.

Personally I don’t play chess and couldn’t ever imagine that watching a film about CHESS would be exciting…edge of your seat exciting. Well, I was so wrong. ‘Pawn Sacrifice’directed by Ed Zwick and written by Steven Knight is just that and more.

Tobey Maguire, in an Oscar worthy performance, plays Bobby Fisher, a mentally ill, brilliant chess master.

At the age of six, Bobby was living in Brooklyn, New York and was already at the point where he could dominate anyone that challenged him. By the time he hit his teens, he became an international grandmaster. Unfortunately, Bobby’s meteoric rise is coupled with his unpredictable erratic behavior and his escalating demands which pisses off the conservative chess establishment.

As Bobby travels the globe with manager Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and coach, Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Saragaard) Fisher crushes the world’s top players in his relentless pursuit of his ultimate opponent, the Soviet chess grand-master, Boris Spasky (Liev Schreiber) who has never lost a match.

In 1972, the match between Spasky and Fisher was called ‘MATCH OF THE CENTURY. This was a 21 game competition held in Reykjavik Iceland and one that could finally end 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Championship. Everyone in both countries were glued to their televisions to see the outcome.

But Fisher’s paranoia and growing obsession with conspiracy theories wind up disrupting the match and unnerves the normally unflappable Spassky. With the competition increasingly mirroring the tense politics of the Cold War era, even Bobby’s closes advisor are unsure if Fisher’s actions are the calculated antics of an antisocial eccentric or a sign that he is truly unstable.

‘Pawn Sacrifice’ which opens in theatres, Wednesday, September 16th is a riveting and revealing portrait of the troubled genius who sparked an international chess craze and captures the imagination of the world. Plus the sound track including music froom the 60’s and 70’s is absolutely awesome.

The year is 1988. The place is Compton in South LA. A group of guys got together and made history. ‘Straight Out Of Compton’ directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Andrea Berloff and Jonathan Herman takes us on their personal as well as musical journey. It’s also a story about the times, when police treated black Americans as if they were garbage. Unfortunately we can’t help but be constantly reminded that things haven’t changed all that much.

N.W.A. was formed by Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), Easy E (Jason Mitchell), Dj Yella (Neil Brown Jr. and MCRen (Aidis Hodge) in the late 1980’s. They used Easy-E’s drug money to form a record label entitled Ruthless and it’s because of his business sense, the group took off. It’s at this point, they catch the eye of Jerry Heller (Paul Giamatti) a rock manager who became co-owner of Ruthless. He also got the guys signed to Priority Records. Unfortunately, Jerry however was a bit of a sleeze and only looked out for his interests as well as to some degree Easy E’s. What made the group’s Rap so powerful is that they voiced the discontent that black people were feeling all over the U.S. They’re famous but ultra controversial 1988 anthem, ‘F-k tha Police’ caused them to not only have many confrontations with the police but caught the attention of the FBI as well.

Besides the music, ‘Straight Out Of Compton’ is the story of friendship. These guys really cared about each other despite their falling- outs. We get to meet several familiar faces including the notorious Marion “Suge” Knight (the excellent R. Marcos Taylor) who started out as a body guard and went onto forming on to becoming a musical icon in his own right. Suge formed ‘Death Row records with Dr. Dre, who became disgusted with Knight’s gangsta tactics. Dre went on to form his own company Aftermath and we all know how that turned on.

‘Straight Out Of Compton’ is an explosive, powerful, beautifully acted film, filled with incredible music, and tremendous live performances. The film which received my highest bagel score 5 out of 5, opens in theatres Friday, August 14th. Don’t miss it.