Killer Elite **+
February 23, 2012 by James Berardinelli - Reelviews
Despite having a perfect cast for a title like Killer Elite, Gary McKendry’s feature debut comes across as little more than a generic Jason Statham movie with two high-profile guest stars…writes James Berardinelli. Read more
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***+
February 23, 2012 by James Berardinelli - Reelviews
For one reason or another, there have been few quality movies made about 9/11. Maybe it’s because the event is too recent and the wound too fresh…writes James Berardinelli. Read more
Facing a Housefull of Critics
February 23, 2012 by Fraser Beath McEwing
The second Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert in the Ausgrid series was on safe ground when it came to programme choice…writes Fraser Beath McEwing. Read more
Record numbers for annual swimming championships
February 22, 2012 by David Weiner-Maccabi NSW
A record 166 entrants competed at the 62nd NSW Jewish Swimming Championships last Sunday. Read more
Former Wallaby to coach Maccabi NSW Rugby
February 22, 2012 by David Weiner-Maccabi NSW
The Maccabi rugby club has pulled off one of Maccabi sport’s great coaching coups with the appointment of former Wallabies fullback and Australian rugby legend Glen Ella as coach for 2012. Read more
Friends of Israel and enemies in Marrickville
February 22, 2012 by Henry Benjamin
At a function launching the revitalised NSW Parliamentary Israeli Friendship Group, Israel’s ambassador to Australia expressed his farewell to the pro-BDS Greens who drove last year’s anti-Israel campaign in the inner-Sydney suburb of Marrickville. Read more
Meeting the Challenge of the Desert and Spearheading IT
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire Staff
The president of Ben Gurion University and members of its academic staff have addressed meetings in Sydney on technology and water preservation. Read more
The Gonski Report and Jewish Schools
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire Staff
The Australian Council of Jewish Schools has announced that it will be part of the consultation process following the release of the Gonski Report into the Review of Funding for Schooling. Read more
Despotism
February 21, 2012 by Emily Gian
Earlier this month, the noted American commentator and jurist Alan Dershowitz wrote a thought provoking article entitled ‘How the Hard Left, By Focusing Only on Israel, Encouraged Arab Despotism’…writes Emily Gian. Read more
Parliamentarians visit Our Big Kitchen
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire Staff
The NSW State Liberal MP for Coogee Bruce Notley-Smith and the Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Shelley Hancock are the latest high-profile visitors to Sydney’s Our Big Kitchen. Read more
Mar-06 8:30pm SBS2-TV: As it Happened – Jewish and Émigré Attempts
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire
Anti-Semitism was at the heart of the Nazi ideology from the beginning. Read more
Mar-09 9:30pm SBS1-TV: As it Happened – the Soviet Liberation of Auschwitz
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire
Bringing together rare and forgotten footage, this series provides a ground-breaking portrait of World War Two. Read more
Kosher Shopping Online
February 21, 2012 by Community Editor
A Sydney-based company is selling Kosher food on line…and half their clients are not Jewish. Read more
Mar-01 9:00pm Radio National: The Magician of Lublin Part 2
February 21, 2012 by J-Wire
The Magician of Lubin tells the story of Yasha Mazur. He’s a Houdini-like performer whose skill has made him famous throughout eastern Poland. Read more
Beinart’s False Image of Zionism and American Jewry
February 20, 2012 by Isi Leibler
In June 2011, Peter Beinart a former editor of the staunchly pro-Israel New Republic, published a controversial essay in the left wing New York Review of Books, headlined “The failure of the American Jewish Establishment”…writes Isi Leibler. Read more
Helping Thousands Takes Millions
February 20, 2012 by Ayal Tusia
Over 660 people gathered at Jewish Care’s Gala Dinner, recently held at Melbourne’s Caulfield Racecourse, launching the 2012 Annual Appeal in support of those in need in the Victorian community. Read more
Displaced Jews from Arab Lands
February 20, 2012 by Shirlee Finn
The plight of Jewish refugees displaced from Arab lands was discussed at a meeting in Sydney last night. Read more
Conversation with David Broza
February 20, 2012 by Henry Benjamin
Israeli music icon David Broza is scheduled for concerts in Sydney and Melbourne next month. J-Wire spoke to him at his home in Tel Aviv. Read more
New home for Betar
February 20, 2012 by Community Editor
Hakoah’s White City complex will provide youth group Betar with a new home…the first headquarters they have had in five years. Read more
Spreading the Love
February 19, 2012 by Michelle Favero
Emanuel School’s Talia Rubenstein cheered up patients at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Public Hospital, Randwick and the Wolper Jewish Hospital, by delivering 280 red roses with a smile. Read more
Top JNF Award for Perth Collector
February 19, 2012 by Agencies
Lore Zusman, a Perth-based JNF Blue Box Collector has received JNF Australia’s highest honour. Read more
This Means War **+
February 19, 2012 by James Berardinelli - Reelviews
Sometimes it’s hard to recognize the importance of seemingly inconsequential element like “tone” when it comes to a romantic comedy. This Means War is a case study in what happens when the filmmakers mess this up. The movie is being marketed as an “action romantic comedy,” but the “action” aspect is really just a little flavoring that shows up at the beginning and the end. It’s jokey action – a would-be parody of over-the-top spy situations like those in Bond movies and the recent Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. But it’s clumsily presented, generating neither excitement nor humor. At the heart of the movie is a romantic triangle between three impossibly good-looking people who are so uninteresting that we keep hoping the sleazy bad guy will show up and shoot them all.
Maybe I’m being unreasonable. Maybe I’m asking too much that a romantic comedy makes me feel something other than apathy. Maybe it’s wrong of me to hope the most sympathetic character ends up with more than a throw-in consolation prize. I can’t say whether the biggest problem with This Means War lies in the direction, the acting, or the screenplay, but all three elements are contributors. Romantic comedies, especially those that overdose on steroids, are supposed to uplift. This one is just depressing.
The Grey ***
February 19, 2012 by James Berardinelli - Reelviews
Some would argue that the best way to see Alaska is through the images captured by an expert photographer. As breathtaking as the views may be, the climate can be unforgiving, with weather, terrain, and fauna that might give even notable survival expert Bear Gryllis pause. InThe Grey, director Joe Carnahan’s man vs. nature epic, the filmmaker strands seven characters in the midst of some of the most inhospitable territory on earth and shows that, when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles to survival, human beings have a tendency to look inward. The Grey is about raging against the dying of the light but also about accepting it with peace once the fight has been lost.
January and February, while not considered a prime market for motion pictures, have been good to Liam Neeson. Clad in the mantle of The Everyday Action Hero, Neeson has capitalized on his stolid reputation and a weak release schedule to burn up the box office withTaken (in January 2008) and Unknown (in February 2011). That is likely the reason Open Road Films elected to distribute The Grey to theaters in the dead of winter, and to open it in multiplexes when one could easily argue it is art house fare.
My Week With Marilyn ***
February 19, 2012 by James Berardinelli - Reelviews
At first glance, My Week with Marilyn might seem like a salacious behind-the-scenes look at a mostly forgotten (yet high profile at the time) movie that had its share of off-camera drama…write James Berardinelli. Read more
Is Iran Behind the Deaths of its own Scientists?
February 19, 2012 by Emanuele Ottolenghi
The way attacks were conducted against the car of an Israeli diplomat’s wife in Delhi has contributed to an interesting, if disconcerting theory among pundits…writes Emanuele Ottolenghi. Read more
Good Lying
February 18, 2012 by Rabbi Michoel Gourarie
Rabbi Michoel Gourarie asks and answers questions about lying… Read more
Cooking for Love
February 18, 2012 by Odile Faludi
Are you looking for an ice-breaker, a way to really get to know someone?…writes Odile Faludi. Read more
Israel ranked 2nd most educated country in the world
February 18, 2012 by Agencies
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released its “Education at a Glance ” naming Israel as the second most educated country in the world. Read more
A Meeting with the Maestro
February 18, 2012 by Fraser Beath McEwing
Being one of his greatest fans, I’d always wanted to meet Vladimir Ashkenazy, principal conductor of the Sydney Symphony and legendary pianist. It happened last week, most unexpectedly…writes Fraser Beath McEwing. Read more
NSW Parliamentarian makes personal Genocide Study Tour
February 18, 2012 by J-Wire Staff
NSW Labor Upper House MP and NSW Parliamentary Friends of Israel deputy chair, Walt Secord has made a self-funded genocide study tour to Israel, Armenia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Auschwitz-Birkeneau. Read more
