“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” opens on May 22. It’s way too complicated to relay the plot here. It’s a real “Star Wars” movie. It was directed and written by JON FAVREAU, 58. He created the Mandalorian TV character.
“Corporate Retreat” has been described as a horror movie with a lot of black comedy. This film already has “big internet buzz” (opens on the 22nd). Here’s the capsule plot: a group of executives are on team-bonding trip that quickly turns into a bloody fight for survival. The “bad things” are the product of a vengeful, former top executive.
ODEYA RUSH, 29, stars as Ginger Hayes, the girlfriend of the company’s top general (legal) counsel. He invited her to come to the retreat. ROSANNA ARQUETTE, 66, has a supporting role as Deborah O’Hara, chief company revenue officer.
OMAR SHARIF, JR., 42, has a small supporting role. His background is “very involved.” He wrote a book (2020) about his life and Tablet, a Jewish website, posted a book excerpt that is very informative. Find it via Google. Enter: “Omar Sharif Jr. Bar Mitzvah.”
Omar, Jr.’s father is the son of the famous Omar Sharif, a Muslim actor. His mother is Jewish and her parents were Holocaust survivors. Omar, Jr. grew-up in Canada and he had a bar mitzvah. He was living in Egypt during the liberal “Arab Spring” (2012) and he then publicly disclosed that he’s gay. But a ‘traditionalist’ crackdown quickly followed and he left Egypt in 2012.
He now lives in Los Angeles. He had a “biggish” role on a Canadian TV show (2005–6). His other roles were very small.
In a recent column, I mentioned that JON BERNTHAL and EBON MOSS-BACHRACH, both 49, are co-starring in “Dog Day Afternoon”, a Broadway play based on the hit 1875 movie of the same name. Both also play major characters on “The Bear”, a hit Hulu series.
The play opened in late March and received mixed reviews. I read reviews that Bernthal is “over-the-top” and others praised his energy. Moss-Bachrach’s lower “tone” seemed to get more ‘praise’ reviews.
All the reviewers do say that the film was a masterpiece that was better than the play. They say Al Pacino (Sonny) and John Cazale (Sal) as bank robbers were brilliant, as was the “legendary” director SIDNEY LUMET.
Here’s a Jewish tidbit I came across. “Dog Day” was based on a real New York City (1972) attempted bank robbery. In the film, Sonny is bank robbing to get money for a sex change operation for ‘Leon,’ his boyfriend. In real life, the (Jewish) boyfriend was ERNEST ARON (1946–87), aka ELIZABETH EDEN (1946–87). She got her sex change operation in 1976, with the $7,500 “her real Sonny” got from the movie company to tell his story.
Yes, the news is that the 5th season of “The Bear” is its last season. The series will end on June 26 (8 episodes will stream that day.) In my column, near June 26th, I will report what the series “official” news said about what will happen in the last episodes. Plus, I think cast members will have something to say when “The Bear’s” end is very close.
However, there’s already a bit of “new Bear.” On May 5, everybody was surprised when a new “Bear” episode began streaming on Hulu. It is called “Gary” (after the city in Indiana). “Gary” is a prequel to events in “The Bear”. Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach co-star in the episode and they co-wrote this episode.
It’s been my practice, near Memorial Day or Veterans Day, to note the living Jews who served in WWII and became famous celebrities after the war. Now, MEL BROOKS, 99, is the only person I know of who is Jewish, a WWII veteran, and became a celebrity. He saw combat in the last months of the war in Europe. His most dangerous task was disarming explosive mines! (He was trained to do this.)
Here’s two Jewish WWII vets who were not quite celebs, but well worth noting: EDDY GOLDFARB, 104, and HOWARD BERGER, 103 (I know him.) Goldfarb was a WWII Navy vet who saw a lot of combat. “The New Yorker” magazine called him: “The Man Who Invented More Than 800 Iconic Toys” (Search this title along with “New Yorker” to see a video about him.)
Berger served in Europe near the end of the world and saw a little combat. He stayed in Europe after the war for 50 years — first as a soldier and, later as a civilian employee of the Army. There’s a great on-line story about him — including how his duties led him to meet many famous celebrities. Google the following and you’ll find the article: david e. grogan, then s/sgt howard a. berger.
