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Many a commentator has called this film the quintessential Jewish film, while others have called it the opposite. The broad story of a father sweating over the marriages of his daughters is common to any religion or culture, but the details of this film are seeped in Jewish tradition. There is a simple philosophy about how one should live ones life that anyone can find poignant. And it’s filled with great songs.

Tevye (Topol, FLASH GORDON) is the milkman in the village of Anatevka, Russia in 1905. He embraces tradition and finds comfort in it. But his oldest daughters Tzeitel (Rosalind Harris, THE COTTON CLUB), Hodel (Michele Marsh) and Chava (Neva Small) have different ideas about following traditions regarding the use of a matchmaker to find husbands. Tzeitel is set up with the old rich butcher Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann, AMERICA, AMERICA), but she’s in love with her childhood sweetheart, the poor tailor Motel (Leonard Frey, FINNEGAN’S WAKE). Tevye is uneasy about the political unrest brewing, so when Hodel falls for the Marxist Perchik (Paul Michael Glaser, TV’s STARSKY AND HUTCH), Tevye really has to consult God for advice. But just wait until he finds out who Chava wants to marry.
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Many of the creative forces behind ANIMAL HOUSE came together to make this raunchy military comedy. Ivan Reitman directed and Harold Ramis wrote and starred in it. Reitman brought in Bill Murray who previously starred in his low-budget raunch-fest MEATBALLS. Unlike ANIMAL HOUSE there is no nostalgia to rely on and the sticking it to the establishment theme isn’t as fresh. But there are some great laughs to be had and Murray is outstanding in the type of role that defines his screen persona.

John Winger (Murray, GHOSTBUSTERS) is the quintessential slacker, whose life spirals out of control after he quits his job as a cabbie. On the spur of the moment, he decides to enlist in the Army to get his life in order and convinces his best friend Russell Ziskey (Ramis, GHOSTBUSTERS), a struggling teacher, to join him. Right from the start, it seems like a big mistake as they butt heads with their gruff drill sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA) and weaselly commanding officer Capt. Stillman (John Larroquette, TV’s NIGHT COURT). In between trying to shirk responsibility, John and Russell try to hook up with pretty MPs Stella (P. J. Soles, HALLOWEEN) and Louise (Sean Young, BLADE RUNNER).
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With the Super Bowl this weekend, leading up to the big game, This Weekend’s Film Festival delves into the world of obsessed fandom. A loser’s entire life revolves around the New York Giants. An Arsenal soccer fan has trouble balancing between his girlfriend and his team. A Red Sox fan makes all his life decisions around his team’s schedule. Female Iranian soccer fans risk prison to attend a World Cup qualifying game. Soccer hooligans beat rival team fans for the fun of it.
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Jafar Panahi has been fighting for the rights of women in his native Iran his whole career. Outside of bootleg DVDs, his work is not widely seen in his own country. But his work has been lauded at film festivals all over the globe. With this film, he took a much lighter touch on equal rights than his previous films like THE CIRCLE. In Iran, women are not allowed to attend male sporting events. His story follows women who dress up like boys to sneak into soccer matches to support their national team. Through this often-humorous tale, he exposes the hypocrisies and irrationality of it all.

In an existential move, none of the characters have names. The women are all types and as he shifts his focus from one to the other, they become a collective group that we root for instead of individuals, which is rare and hard to pull off in film. The first girl (Sima Mobarak-Shahi) rides a bus to the World Cup qualifier and a couple of the boys can tell that she’s a first timer. She not very convincing as a boy. When she gets to the stadium, she buys a ticket from a scalper (Mohsen Tanabandeh), who of course gouges her compared to the men he sells to. But the second she comes to security, she gets caught and is sent to a holding pen with other women.
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Armando Iannucci’s political satire looks at the maneuvering the British government makes to find out what the Americans have in the works in the lead up to a war in the Middle East. Pro-war and anti-war sides connive to push their agendas. A throwaway comment on a radio show puts the hapless Minister for International Development right in the middle of this political battle.

The minister, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander, PRIDE & PREJUDICE), said that he felt war in the Middle East was unforeseeable. The next day the Prime Minister’s strong arm Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi, MAX) blows his lid and threatens to stick Simon in the sticks. His new assistant Toby (Chris Addison, TV’s THE THICK OF IT) gets him into a big meeting with a visiting U.S. State official named Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy, TV’s DHARMA & GREG). He’s supposed to be room meat, but Clarke takes the opportunity to use Simon’s radio remarks to support her anti-war case. This leads to Simon being invited to the States to be used in Clarke’s battle against her warmonger counterpart Linton Barwick (David Rasche, TV’s SLEDGE HAMMER!).
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Villains are a lock.

The supporting actor category is usually a category for surprises. This year the front runners are clear and the field is thin. But there is definitely room for some unexpected actors and actresses to find themselves with an Oscar nomination next Tuesday.
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In 2005, the Farrelly Brothers did a baseball version of Nick Hornby’s novel about an obsessed soccer fan. But in 1997, there was this British film that more directly resembles Hornby’s novel even though he changed the autobiography into a work of fiction. The American version plays more like a traditional romantic comedy, while the British version is a character study. The latter is far more challenging.

Paul Ashworth (Colin Firth, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY) is a teacher who spends most of his free time obsessing about the Arsenal soccer team. When Sarah Hughes (Ruth Gemmell, TV’s EASTENDERS) comes to teach at his school, he rubs her the wrong way; she couldn’t ever fall for a soccer hooligan. I wouldn’t bet on it. But it’s not easy being in a relationship with a soccer fanatic.
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Former editor-in-chief of The Onion, Robert D. Siegel makes his directorial debut with this drama with a wry satirical edge that delves into the life of an obsessed football fan. This intriguing character study chronicles what drives an awkward outsider who lives for one thing. The depth to which he will go is scary.

Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt, RATATOUILLE) works as a cashier at a parking lot. The undemanding job gives him a chance to think about the New York Giants all day. He’s a regular caller on a late night sports talk show and prepares for each call by writing out everything he’s going to say. His best friend Sal (Kevin Corrigan, WALKING & TALKING) is envious of how he sticks it to the team’s rivals and can speak so well on the radio “on the fly.” Paul and Sal go to the stadium to tailgate, but they can’t afford tickets so they watch the game on a TV hooked up to their car’s battery. The football season is his happiest time.
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This Weekend’s Film Festival dedicates the lineup to poetic hearts, inspired by the release of BRIGHT STAR on DVD. The John Keats biopic is also a great romance. A young woman turns to poetry to heal heartache and finds more heartache. A documentary looks at one of the most savagely honest poets. A duel love story follows an affair between two Victorian poets and the scholars that love them. The Festival closes with a romantic comedy centering on the first production of the most famous tragic romance.
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It started as a concept album and then transformed into a stage play, which has become one of the most performed plays in the world. In 1985, the musical made its way to TV like classic PEANUTS adaptations via animation. At 49 minutes, the special is like a review of the stage version, giving fans a musical highlight reel to the world that Charles Schulz created.

The production begins with the title tune where the Peanuts gang gives their impression of good ole Charlie Brown (Brad Kesten, voice, Kevin Brando, singing). Next we get a song set to Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” where Lucy (Jessica Lee Smith) laments her love for pianist Schroeder (Jeremy Reinbolt). She says, “My Aunt Marion was right, never try to discuss marriage with a musician.” Charlie Brown gets wrapped up in many of his classic misfortunes involving kite flying, Valentine’s Day cards and losing baseball games.
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