Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

The "Schmoovie" of the week is "Holding Liat," a remarkable documentary that charts the struggle of one Israeli-American family to return its loved ones who were taken hostage to Gaza during the Hamas murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Short-listed for an Oscar for Best Documentary, "Holding Liat" is now playing at art theaters, including in New York and Los Angeles.

Produced by Hollywood filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and created by brothers Brandon and Lance Kramer, we learn in the film that during the siege on Kibbutz Nir Oz, educator Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband, artist and mechanic Aviv Atzili, were separately captured by the Hamas gunmen. 

The film follows American-born couple Yehuda and Chaya Beinin, kibbutznikim who immigrated to Israel in the 1970s, their daughter Tal, who emigrated from Israel to Portland a decade ago, and their grandchildren, primarily Netta, who barely survived the rampage at Nir Oz.

The filmmakers, cousins to the Beinin family, begin charting their relatives two weeks after the couple's capture. Through updates from the IDF, we understand that there are disturbing findings related to Aviv, but that Liat is thought to be relatively secure.

Yehuda, Tal and Netta journey to Washington, DC, to attempt to sway US politicians' hearts and minds to fight for their cause, but quickly see how each generation frames the conflict and its potential resolution.

Upon the joyous return of Liat during the 2023 temporary truce that saw 97 hostages freed, we learn that Aviv was slaughtered by the terrorists. However, Liat resumes her activism, pushing for a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict. 

Hear the conflicted reactions the intense, but nuanced film evokes in this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

Image: Still from 'Holding Liat' (courtesy)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

The "Schmoovie" of the week is "Marty Supreme," starring Timothée Chalamet (who also co-produced), Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara and Fran Drescher. It was produced and directed by Josh Safdie, who also co-wrote the script, alongside Ronald Bronstein. 

Like the very Jewish film it is, it arrived to the world on December 25 and so Borschel-Dan had to make a rare outing into a Jerusalem cinema. She brings back the unique impressions from an Israeli crowd watching this utterly Yiddishe story set in 1950s Lower East Side New York -- especially how they reacted to Holocaust references.

Hoffman, who recently interviewed director Safdie about the film for Vanity Fair, gives us the inside scoop on the crazy cast of characters that flesh out the "junkyard Jews" at the heart of the tale.

The pair keeps the conversation very general -- no spoilers! -- for the first half of the episode, but then get Talmudically into the weeds for the second.

Hear about our very first unreserved top-marking "not bad" from both hosts on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Timothée Chalamet attends the premiere of 'Marty Supreme' at Regal Times Square on December 16, 2025, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, we hear amazing Jangles (entertainment news a Jew can use) from Hoffman, including the contentious NY launch of "Marty Supreme" and the inside scoop into actor Jack Black's superwoman of a mother. 

We hear a full-throated recommendation from Borschel-Dan for a multi-media performance she caught that is touring Israel. Based on journalist and author Matti Friedman's "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai," the Beit Avichai production will announce its schedule of future shows in April.

The pair hunker down to review the Schmoovie of the week, "The Sure Thing," a 1985 film of teen love -- and lust. Rob Reiner's second directorial outing gets mixed reviews from our hosts. 

Hear who gave "The Sure Thing" a middling "meh" and who gave it our top mark of "not bad" on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: US actor Jack Black attends the premiere of Columbia Pictures' "Anaconda" at The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles, California, on December 13, 2025. (Robyn Beck / AFP)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, we hear reviews of two films: the 2019 "An Officer and a Spy," a film by controversial director Roman Polanski on the Dreyfus Affair, which is now playing in the United States, and the shattering documentary, "The Voice of Hind Rajab."

But the pair opens the program by honoring director-actor Rob Reiner, who was slain over the weekend alongside his wife, Michele. We learn about his early acting work and hear about many of his groundbreaking films that have become enduring classics.

Hoffman tells us about Polanski's cinematic childhood and early adult life -- he barely survived the Holocaust and his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson family. We then hear how Polanski skipped out on the sentencing after pleading guilty to engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, a 13-year-old girl he was photographing for Vogue, and has lived outside of the US ever since, but still working consistently. And after all that, we learn about the merits of the film, "An Officer and a Spy."

The final movie discussed is potentially even more controversial to several listeners, "The Voice of Hind Rajab." The film portrays the attempts of the Ramallah-based Red Crescent to send an ambulance to save the six-year-old Hind, who is trapped in a war zone in northern Gaza in a car with her family, who are all dead. Using the actual soundtrack from the terrified girl's phone calls for help, the film is a carefully crafted re-enactment of the impending tragedy.

Hear which film(s) got a seal of approval on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair speaks about two new movies, the feature film, "Jay Kelly," and the short documentary "Carol & Joy."

But first, we hear in this week’s “Jangle” segment, an update on a story from last week regarding one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the film, "Eleanor the Great," Sami Steigmann, who was asked not to speak at a Brooklyn middle school about antisemitism due to his pro-Israel views.

Our second Jangle involves the impending sale of Warner Bros Studio. Hoffman has some passionate thoughts.

We then speak about "Jay Kelly," a 2025 comedy-drama directed by Noah Baumbach and written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer. For Borschel-Dan, it was a screening in two sleepy parts that ended with a "meh" rating. Hoffman was (slightly) kinder.

Both were united in their appreciation for the documentary, "Carol & Joy," directed by Nathan Silver and starring actress Carol Kane and her 98-year-old mother, Joy Kane. It is a delight of a film and... executive produced by a The Reel Schmooze regular, Natalie Portman.

Hear which film got a seal of approval on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: George Clooney, from left, director Noah Baumbach, and Adam Sandler pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Jay Kelly' during the London film festival, October 10, 2025. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair speaks about two films, "Eleanor the Great," directed by Scarlett Johansson, and the documentary, "Son of a Seeker," by first-time filmmaker Kai Balin.

But first, we hear in this week's "Jangle" segment, Hoffman recounts the recent votes of the New York Film Critics Circle for their annual "best-ofs," which are also known as the “Elite Oscars.”

Next, we turn to two news items surrounding "Eleanor the Great." The first is that first-time director Scarlett Johansson said in an interview that she was asked by a would-be financial backer to change her film’s plot away from the Holocaust. And then we also heard this week that one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the film, Sami Steigmann, was asked not to speak at a Brooklyn middle school about antisemitism due to his pro-Israel views.

We then review the film "Eleanor the Great," directed by Johansson and written by Tory Kamen. It stars the great June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Then we turn to the independent documentary "Son of a Seeker," which is being shown at some Jewish film festivals, and learn about the unusual story of a third-generation Holocaust survivor who learns, after attending Jewish day school and contemplating immigration to Israel, he may not be Jewish after all.

Hear who gave both films a seal of approval on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: June Squibb, left, and Scarlett Johansson attend the special screening of "Eleanor the Great", hosted by Sony Pictures Classics and The Cinema Society, at Village East by Angelika on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair speaks about two films, a feminist independent Iranian documentary called "Cutting Through Rocks," which won an international documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and the 1990 Thanksgiving classic, "Avalon."

But first, in the entertainment news section we call the "Jangle," Borschel-Dan tells Hoffman about the rise and fall of the Israeli rock opera, "Shaul," by Israeli musician Shlomo Artzi.

We also hear a listener's feedback on a point of Jewish law raised in last week's discussion over "Bad Shabbos."

Hear who gave both films a seal of approval and which was a split decision on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair speaks about two films -- the new-ish, Jewish, "Bad Shabbos," and the classic Mel Brooks's "History of the World, Part I."

But first, we turn to the segment, "What's the Jangle," in which we discuss two tidbits of Jewish entertainment news.

Hoffman gives a tiny peek at the upcoming super Jewy film starring Timothée Chalamet, "Marty Supreme," which he saw in previews this week.

And then we hear Pope Leo's top four films of all time. (Spoiler: three of them are very Jewy.) And, which questionable film personality was quoted by the pope at a Vatican event?

Next, we get to "The Main Screening," in which the duo first discusses "Bad Shabbos," which one half of the team absolutely loved and the other gave a pretty warm review.

And then, we move to the classic, "History of the World, Part I," which Borschel-Dan buckled down and watched for the first time.

Hear who gave both films a seal of approval and which was a split decision on this week's The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by the PodWaves and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

This week, the pair introduces the concept of the new show, including the segment, “What’s the Jangle,” in which they discuss two tidbits of Jewish entertainment news.

We hear how “The Real Pain” creator Jesse Eisenberg is willing to go under the knife to donate a kidney to a perfect stranger. And we learn about two brave Hollywood actresses — Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver — who haven’t joined the boycott Israel movement and are signed on to work with Israeli director Joseph Ceder in his upcoming thriller.

Next, we get to “The Main Screening,” a segment in which the duo discusses two films: the newly released Natalie Portman project, “Arco,” and 2024’s “Thelma” starring 96-year-old June Squibb.

Hear which films get the seal of approval from our team and which was a split decision on this week’s The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Jordan Hoffman (courtesy) / Israeli actress, director, producer Natalie Portman arrives for the screening of the film 'Arco' at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 16, 2025. (Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use. 

In this episode zero, the duo beta-tests their soon-to-be-launched podcast series — so new it did not yet have a name — in which they will deliver entertainment news from a Jewish angle (aka Jangle) and review one new or noteworthy film.

This week, the pair first discusses the growing boycott of Israeli filmmakers at international festivals. Hoffman weighs in on how this is misfiring when it comes to some of the more prominent -- and very left-wing -- Israeli artists.

Next, we hear about "Nuremberg," the Hollywood treatment of the Nuremberg Trials, which began in November 1945, launching the field of international law.

In the film, psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is ordered to evaluate whether Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) is fit to stand trial. As the highest-ranking surviving Nazi military commander, to the Allied lawyers, Göring is the "big fish" that must be landed.

Borschel-Dan and Hoffman give their differing opinions of the movie and agree to disagree.

The Reel Schmooze can be heard wherever you find your podcasts.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.