Bad Shabbos

Posted on May 23, 2025 at 5:32 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Not rated
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, medication
Violence/ Scariness:	Accidental death, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	June 6, 2025

The title makes it clear. Like “Bad Teacher,” “Bad Santa,” and “Bad Day at Black Rock,” this is a very dark comedy about an evening that does not go well. And then it goes extremely not well.

There’s a lot of pressure on this Friday night shabbos (Sabbath) family dinner at the home of religiously observant Jewish parents Richard (David Paymer) and Ellen (Kyra Sedgewick). Joining them are their three adult children, David (Jon Bass), Abby (Milana Vayntrub), and Adam (Theo Taplitz). Just about everyone is hiding something or worried about something or lying about something or all of the above.

Abby brings her boyfriend, Benjamin (Ashley Zukerman). She does not want her parents to know that they drove, which is forbidden on the Sabbath. David brings his fiancee, Meg (Meghan Leathers). Richard and Ellen are not happy that Meg is not Jewish, though somewhat mollified because she is studying Judaism with plans to convert. This dinner will be the first time Meg’s Catholic parents from Wisconsin meet David’s family and everyone is concerned about how that is going to go, especially since Meg has not told her parents that she is going to convert. Contributing to the pressure on David and Meg, it seems everyone in town knows about the expectations for this meal. They stop at the legendary Barney Greengrass deli to pick up challah (the braided bread traditionally eaten at Shabbos dinner), where they are waited on by real-life Gary Greengrass, who learned about the meeting of the two sets of parents from Richard. At the apartment building, the affable doorman, Jordan (Wu-Tang’s Method Man, in an irresistibly charming performance) says that “Richie” has told him all about it, and that David’s family is his favorite. Method Man just about steals the film as the ultimate ride or die friend of the family.

The family’s youngest son is fragile, highly sensitive Adam, who does not have a job and still lives with his parents. Richard and Ellen are constantly trying to reassure him that he is doing fine and loved by everyone, but he is only too aware that his family is worried and perhaps a little disappointed. He takes the anti-anxiety psychotropic drug Klonopin, and apparently some other medications as well. It is clear that at least some members of the family are concerned that his behavior might be disturbing for Meg’s parents. He is probably imagining a scene like the one in “Annie Hall,” where Woody Allen’s New York Jewish character meets Diane Keaton’s very Christian midwestern family, and imagines they see him as an Orthodox Hassid.

So, a lot of pressure. And then, as noted, things get very, very bad. As Meg’s parents, John (John Bedford Lloyd) and Beth (Catherine Curtain) are on their way, one of the people in the apartment is accidentally killed, implicating Adam. And then, along the lines of the recent “The Trouble with Jessica,” the group decides not to call an ambulance or the police but somehow cover it up, and the rest of the film is farce.

In “The Trouble with Jessica,” the people at a dinner party decide to cover up a death for selfish reasons. What gives “Bad Shabbos,” a lighter tone is the way the family immediately decides that their priority is protecting a vulnerable person and, of course, not making Meg’s parents think that they are the kind of people who have dead bodies in their apartment. Their logic — and their morality — may be wobbly, but it is hard not to sympathize with them. There is an extremely sweet moment when Meg delivers the d’var torah (a brief discussion of the meaning of a passage from the first five books of the Bible) to demonstrate what she is learning in her class. And it is very funny that the family keeps trying to persuade John and Beth that every unusual action is part of their tradition, expecting that anything Jewish is so unfamiliar to them they will just try to be polite and go along with it.

What makes the film especially engaging is the way it gets the details of a New York Jewish shabbos meal right. The tone of the film may be heightened, exaggerated for comic purposes, but unlike too many other portrayals this film never makes the characters into caricatures and the details are precise and affectionate. It’s very dark, but it is also very funny.

Parents should know that this is a comedy about a dead body and the lies and cover-ups in response to an accident. Characters use some strong language. They drink wine and misuse medication. There is an accident and brief disturbing images. A character struggles with mental illness.

Family discussion: Why did the family agree to lie? Were they right?

If you like this, try: “Round and Round”

Summer Movies 2025!

Posted on May 14, 2025 at 10:35 am

It’s time for summer movies! That means reboots, sequels, lots of Pedro Pascal, land even a few surprises.

SERIES and REMAKES

“Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” (May 23) Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, with some surprises from his past and some mind-blowing stunts.

“Karate Kid: Legends” (May 30) Jackie Chan, Ben Wang, and Ralph Macchio are back to wax on, wax off, and kick.

“Ballerina” (June 6) From the world of John Wick, pulls a bit of a “Tokyo Drift” on us, taking place not after the most recent film but in between Wicks 4 and 5, so expect some Keanu in this spin-off with Ana de Armas as a ballerina/assassin, co-starring Gabriel Byrne and Anjelica Huston.

“How to Train Your Dragon” (June 13) The popular animated movie series/television series inspired by Cressida Cowell’s bestselling books reboots as live action. Gerard Butler reprises his role in the animated films.

“28 Years Later” (June 20) Almost three decades after the setting of the “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later” films, it turns out those speedy zombies are still around. The healthy (for now) humans they are trying to attack include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes.

“M3gan: 2.0” (June 27) The killer doll is back.

“Jurassic World: Rebirth” (July 2)

The killer dinosaurs are back.

“The Old Guard 2” (July 2)

The immortal mercenaries are back. Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli, return; Uma Thurman, and Henry Fielding join the cast.

“Smurfs” (July 18) Rhianna produced and provides the voice in the latest story of the little blue people.

“Happy Gilmore 2” (July 25) Adam Sandler is back as the hockey player-turned golfer, now an established champion. Yes, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) is back, too. Expect some cool cameos.

“The Naked Gun” (August 1) Liam Neeson(!) takes over for Leslie Nielsen in this reboot of the deliriously silly series about the fumbling police officer, directed by Lonely Island ‘s Akiva Schaffer.

“The Bad Guys 2” (August 1) That glimpse of the Bad Guys before “Dog-Man” this year made us even more eager for this long-awaited sequel. Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina and Anthony Ramos return, this time joined by Bad Girls (voiced by Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova and Natasha Lyonne).

“Freakier Friday” (August 8) Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are back for another body switch, this time with the next generation. I hope “Pink Slip” is back with another banger.

“The Roses” (August 29) For those who don’t remember, Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas made a movie about a feuding couple called “The War of the Roses” in 1989. This reboot stars UK powerhouse stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. Andy Sandburg and Kate McKinnon play their friends

“The Toxic Avenger” (August 29) The 1984 film of the same name inspired three film sequels, a stage musical, a comic book series from Marvel Comics, a video game, and an animated television series. And now there is another version of the story about a downtrodden janitor who is exposed to a catastrophic toxic accident and becomes a crime-fighting superhero. The cast includes Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Taylour Paige, Jacob Tremblay, and Jane Levy.

SUPERHEROES

“Superman” (July 11) David Corenswet plays the superhero from Krypton, Nicholas Hoult is his archenemy Lex Luthor, and “Mrs. Maisel” star Rachel Brosnahan is reporter/girlfriend Lois Lane. Plus: Krypto the super-dog!

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (July 25) Fingers crossed that they get it right this time. The casting is promising: The very busy Pedro Pascal as stretchy Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as invisible Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as fiery Johnny Storm, and inside the scaly orange suit is “The Bear’s” Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. Julia Garner is Silver Surfer. Note: it’s set in the 1960s, but in the teaser at the end of present-day “Thunderbolts*” they’re still going strong.

BOOKS TO MOVIES

“The Life of Chuck” (June 6) A Stephen King story about an ordinary man with a terminal illness who becomes suddenly famous as the world may be ending stars Tom Hiddleston, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mark Hamill, and Karen Gillan.

“Highest to Lowest” (August 22) Ed McBain’s crime novel King’s Ransom is adapted for the screen by Spike Lee, with Denzel Washington as a wealthy music producer, Jeffrey Wright as his chauffeur and father of a kidnapped son. Music stars A$AP Rocky and Ice Spice are also in the cast. While you wait, check out an earlier film based on this book, Akira Kurosawa’s thriller “High and Low.”

“The Thursday Murder Club” (August 28) Take an international best-seller about retired crime solvers, add a dream cast (Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie) and the director of “Harry Potter” movies and “The Help.” I can’t wait.

NEW CHARACTERS, NEW STORIES

“Bad Shabbos” (May 23) Things go poorly when a man brings his girlfriend to meet his family.

“I Don’t Understand You” (June 6) In a darkly wicked comedy, Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells play a couple on vacation in Italy.

“The Phoenician Scheme” (May 30) The latest from Wes Anderson is sure to have exquisitely intricate settings, an all-star cast, and some weird twists and cryptic comments that fans will have a lot of fun trying to explain. The cast includes Benicio del Toro, Tom Hanks, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

“Deep Cover” (June 12) I love this idea — improv actors hired to go undercover. And I love the cast — Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed (“Ted Lasso”), Paddy Considine. The trailer is a hoot.

“Materialists” (June 13) Dakota Johnson plays a matchmaker to the rich and famous who has to decide between a man who is rich and famous (Pedro Pascal) and her not-rich, not-famous ex (Chris Evans). Hmmm, how’s that going to go?

“Elio” (June 20) The latest from Pixar and it looks like one of their best — a story about two kids who feel alone, one from planet Earth and one from outer space who happens to be the son of the alien who plans to attack us.

“Everything’s Going to be Great” (June 20) Allison Janney and Bryan Cranston are theater people. One of their sons is, too. The other one, not so much.

“Bride Hard” (June 20) Yes, it’s supposed to remind you of “Die Hard.” Rebel Wilson plays a bridesmaid who is also….a spy, the kind who does MMA-style fighting. The bride is played by her “Pitch Perfect” co-star Anna Camp.

“F1” (June 27) Brad Pitt and check-out-his-Met-Gala-look Damson Idris play drivers in a story set in the world of Formula One, directed by “Top Gun: Maverick’s” Joseph Kosinski.

“Sorry, Baby” (June 27) This festival favorite is an impressive debut written and directed by its star, Eva Victor and produced by “Moonlight’s” Barry Jenkins. Victor plays a graduate student who experiences a traumatic sexual assault. But the story is told with humor and resilience and with wonderful moments with the character’s best friend, played by Naomi Ackie, a sandwich shop owner, played by John Carroll Lynch, and with an actual baby.

“Eddington” (July 18) Always-provocative director Ari Aster takes on the sensitive subject of COVID-19, with stars Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Austin Butler, Emma Stone, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O’Connell, and Micheal Ward.

“Oh, Hi” (July 25) This festival favorite as a first-rate cast of up-and-coming stars, including Molly Gordon (who co-wrote), Logan Lerman, and Geraldine Viswanathan, with the always-welcome Polly Draper and David Cross.

“My Mother’s Wedding” (August 8) Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham play the daughters who have some feelings about attending their mother’s third wedding. Mom is played by director Kristin Scott Thomas.

“Honey Don’t” (August 22) Ethan Coen of the Coen Brothers brings back Margaret Qualley for the second in the lesbian trilogy. It does not count as a series because these are all new characters. Qualley plays a detective investigating a murder that could involve a local preacher, played by Chris Evans.

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Anniversary of Newton Minow’s Vast Wasteland Speech That Transformed Television

Posted on May 9, 2025 at 1:33 pm

May 9, 1961, my dad, the 35-year-old Chairman of the FCC, Newton Minow, made three significant appearances. In Washington, he gave his famous “vast wasteland” speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, telling them that while “when television is good, nothing is better,” he expected them to do more to uphold their statutory obligation to serve “the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” Then he went back to the FCC office, where he met with Elizabeth Campbell to sign the original license for WETA, the first educational television station in the nation’s capital, now the producer of the Ken Burns documentaries and the nightly Newshour. And then he flew to Chicago to attend the father-daughter dinner for my Brownie troop.

I often thought about how those three events defined his character: inspiring those around him to do better, supporting the visions of people making enriching cultural content and reliable news sources widely available, and always putting his family first. Over the next decades this was reflected in his efforts as a founder and board chair of PBS, a director of CBS, helping to create the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), where he served as vice chair until this year, working to require the V-chip and closed captioning, helping to get the start-up funding for “Sesame Street,” and arguing for the rescission of the radio license of a station that broadcast virulently racist and anti-Semitic programming. His countless awards include more than a dozen honorary doctorates, a Peabody, and the highest honor for American civilians, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Barack Obama (who met Michelle when they were both working in my father’s law office). Our family’s favorite “honor” might be the sinking ship on “Gilligan’s Island,” named as an insult to my father for his criticism of television by producer Sherwood Schwartz. They later had a very cordial correspondence.

Last month, I wrote an article for The Atlantic about the time Dad said “no” to President Kennedy.

Mike Leonard’s documentary about my dad has some wonderful stories.

I talked to my dad about some of his formative experiences, including the words from Bobby Kennedy that inspired him to focus on telecommunications, what he will advise the new FCC Chair, and why he told President Kennedy the first telecommunications satellite was more important than putting a man on the moon.

He was the world’s best dad and grandpa. We are so lucky.

My Best Movie Mothers eBook is Free for Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 9, 2025 at 10:04 am

In honor of Mother’s Day, my book, 50 Must-See Movies: Mothers will be free from May 9-14, 2025.

No relationship is more primal, more fraught, more influential, more worried over, more nourishing when good and more devastating when bad that our connection to our mothers. The first eyes to look at us with love, the first arms to hold us, Mom is the one who first keeps us fed and warm, who applauds our first steps and kisses our scrapes and takes our temperature by kissing our forehead. She’s also the one who keeps people in endless years of psychoanalysis for failing to make her children feel loved and safe. Mom inspires a lot of movies in every possible category, from comedy to romance to drama to crime to animation to horror, from the lowest-budget indie to the biggest-budget prestige film. A lot of women have been nominated for Oscars for playing mothers and just about every actress over age 20 has appeared as a mother in at least one movie.

There are innumerable ways of mothering and all of them show up in the movies. There are cookie-baking, apron-wearing mothers who always know just the right comforting thing to say. There are stylish, sophisticated, wealthy mothers and mothers who do not have enough money to feed their children. There are mothers with PhDs and mothers who cannot read. There are mothers of every race and religion and many species on earth and in outer space (remember “Alien”).

There are terrifying mothers who abuse or abandon their children or coldly deploy them like weapons of mass destruction. There are mothers who give good advice and endless support and mothers who try to push their children to take the wrong jobs and marry the wrong people. There are super-strict mothers and super-lax mothers, mothers who want to know every detail of their children’s lives even when they are grown up and mothers who barely remember that they have any children at all even when they are young. There are mothers of children with special needs who fight fiercely to make sure they have the fullest and most independent lives they can. There are children who love and support their mothers and children who break their mothers’ hearts with their selfishness and cruelty.

And there are those very special souls who remind us that motherhood does not require a biological connection. Stepmothers and adoptive mothers are as vitally important on screen as they are in the lives of those lucky enough to be mothered by them.

“A boy’s best friend is his mother,” says a character whose mother is central to the story even though she never appears in the film. (Spoiler alert: the quote comes from Norman Bates in “Psycho.”) In “Stop or My Mom Will Shoot,” tough guy Sylvester Stallone plays a cop who mother comes along on his investigation whether he wants her to or not. In “Oedipus Wrecks,” one of three short films that make up the compilation “New York Stories,” Woody Allen plays a lawyer whose mother finds the ultimate way to embarrass him. And don’t get me started on Jason’s mother in the “Friday the 13^th” movies.

I have selected 50 of my favorite movie mothers, including classic films like “The Sound of Music” and “Little Women” along with forgotten or overlooked films like “Stella Dallas,” “Claudia and David,” and “Dear Frankie.” Actresses like Anne Revere and Spring Byington made careers out of wonderful performances as mothers and I have included some of their best. I have a special affection for those based on real-life mothers, especially those based on the mothers of the writers who told their stories, like Sally Field’s Oscar-winning performance in “Places in the Heart.” But it is clear that in some way each of the mothers in these movies is inspired by the unique joys and frustrations of the woman we love first.

The Wedding Banquet

Posted on April 17, 2025 at 5:16 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language, some sexual material, and nudity
Profanity:	Constant f-words, strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking and drunkenness
Violence/ Scariness:	Family issues
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	April 18, 2025

“The Wedding Banquet,” more an adaptation than a direct remake of the Ang Lee film of the same name, may appear from the marketing to be a comedy, even an outright farce. But it is a bittersweet, tender-hearted story about the families we are born into and the ones we find for ourselves. Of course, both kinds of families can hurt our feelings and drive us crazy.

Lee (“Killers of the Flower Moon’s” Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran from “The Last Jedi”) live in Seattle, in a home Lee inherited from her father, on land that was once the home of the indigenous Duwamish people who were her ancestors. Their closest friends Min (Han Gi-Chan) and Chris (“SNL’s” Bowen Yang live in a guest house on the property.

Both couples are devoted and very much in love, but each has a difficult problem. Lee and Angela have just had a second very expensive failed attempt at IVF and are struggling emotionally and financially about taking a chance on one more try. Angela’s mother May Chen (the always-ravishing Joan Chen) is very supportive but also intrusive and self-centered, enjoying her involvement in a Pride group for Asian-Americans and their families.

Min is Korean. His student visa has run out and he is under a lot of pressure from his wealthy grandmother (Youn Yuh-Jung as Ja-Young) to return home and take a job in the family business. He proposes to Chris, but Chris does not want to feel that Min only wants to get married so he can stay in the US.

Min thinks he can solve everyone’s problems by marrying Angela so he won’t have to leave the country and in return paying for the next IVF treatment for Lee. But he will learn what Sir Walter Scott said so accurately: “Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive.” Every lie leads to another complication, including the arrival of Ja-Young and her insistence that they have a full-on Korean ceremony, which includes many photographs and a banquet.

There is at least one plot development that may be convenient but stretches credulity a few steps too far. But it avoids being predictable and sit-com-ish, with the four characters racing around to prevent Ja-Young from learning the truth and overly predictable twists. It is a much gentler film, and as appealing as the actors playing the two couples are, the heart of the film is the two women in the older generations. Yuh-Jung is spectacularly moving as the grandmother who wants for her grandson what she never had, a loving marriage. It turns out she is enmeshed in her own performative effort and that she is wiser and more compassionate than Min allowed himself to see. Chen gets a chance to show off some crack comic timing as well as a touching scene with her daughter. It is the performances that carry the day here, with everyone involved clearly having a wonderful time revisiting a film that meant a lot to them.

Parents should know that this film includes strong language, drinking and drunkenness, and a non-explicit sexual situation with brief nudity.

Family discussion: Why did Angela’s mother annoy her so much? Were you surprised by Ja-Young’s reaction to meeting Angela? The story reflects many changes in society since the 1993 original that inspired it. What changes do you think we will see if they do another version in 30 years?

If you like this, try: the Ang Lee original film that inspired this one