Movies

Generation Wealth explores the American dream, which it defines as the quest for fame and fortune.  This interesting and somewhat distressing documentary written and directed by Lauren Greenfield explores some of the obsessions of modern day society, such as greed, materialism, the desire to be wealthy and famous, and social status.  According to this documentary, this is no longer just...

The 38th annual San Francisco Jewish Film festival is in full swing. From July 19 to August 5, Bay Area theatres in San Francisco, Albany, Palo Alto, San Rafael, and Oakland will screen 67 Jewish films from 22 countries. One of the films is a restored 87 minute 1924 Austrian production of ‘Stadt ohne Juden” –“The City without Jews.” It...

In a study released in April 2018, more than one-fifth of millennials surveyed said they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or aren’t sure if they’ve heard of it. A full two-thirds couldn’t identify what Auschwitz is. (In case you’re in that demographic, in the early 1940s, it was a Nazi concentration camp where an estimated 1.1 million Jewish prisoners...

How often do you catch yourself humming a tune, or singing along with lyrics, when you suddenly experience that moment of clarity as you realize the song’s message?  The instant when you learned that “Ring Around the Rosie” was about Black Plague or that U2 was singing about Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in “Pride in the Name of...

As one can glean from the title, the subject of Path of Blood is not pleasant, but for those who are not Islamic extremists, the insights it provides are necessary to learn.  Documentary film maker Jonathan Hacker utilizes captured Al Qaeda footage along with video from the Security Service of Saudi Arabia, to tell the story of how Osama bin Laden’s...

Two dramatic Jewish-themed films will be screened in July in Boca Raton and Delray Beach . "Righteous," a 2016 Polish drama based on a true story about a Jewish orphan who was hidden during the Holocaust by a Polish couple, will be screened on July 11 at 1 p.m. at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center's Phyllis & Harvey Sandler Center in...

There is an ethical sweetness on display in the film The House of Tomorrow, written and directed by Peter Livolsi and based on the novel by Peter Bognanni, possibly because the ideas and behavior are based on ideas expressed by architect, philosopher, dreamer, Renaissance man, Bucky Fuller. In the scenic land of the Midwest, possibly Minnesota, two sixteen year old boys/budding...

The latest film produced by Jerusalem U, “When the Smoke Clears: A Story of Brotherhood, Resilience and Hope,” has screened in 50 Jewish communities around the United States this month, culminating in PTSD Awareness Day on June 27. “By confronting daily and ongoing challenges, the soldiers work to rediscover meaning in their lives while coping with the challenges of their injuries...

Paul Aken operates the Platen Press Museum which is located, appropriately enough, in Mt. Zion, Illinois.  Although it is coincidental, the religiously themed name of Aken’s city harkens back to the primary use of movable type after it was invented in Germany in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg: It was used to print the Bible, which up to then had...

I know my day is coming. I hope it’s coming. I’m pretty sure it’s coming. The movie School of Rock is what really put actor Jack Black on the A-list of actors. More importantly, it spawned actual Schools of Rock featuring lessons, workshops and camps with locations in San Diego, Encinitas, Oceanside and Temecula. Rob Colletti plays Dewey, a shlubby everyman who dreams of being something more....