Inglorious Basterds

Since January 2009 I have been looking forward to the August 21st release date of Inglorious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger. While many people think that Inglorious Basterds is just a shoot' em up adventure movie with no plot, they could not be more wrong. Inglorious Basterds focuses on three groups of people: The basterds, Shoshanna Dreyfus, and Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter. Inglorious Basterds focuses on Judaism in many different ways. The Basterds, a group of eight Jews from America are dropped into France with the sole purpose of killing Nazis and then scalping them. Shoshanna Dreyfus is a Jew who escaped from Hans Landa, an SS officer with the job of hunting down Jews and then killing them. When Shoshanna was a teenager, her hiding place had been given away by the French farmer she was being hidden by, and her entire family died except for her. Hans Landa is known among France and Germany as the Jew Hunter, and he was the Nazi who tried to kill Shoshanna's family. I won't tell you what happens in the end of the movie, but it is very suspenseful, and there is a lot of action and shooting. In the first scene of the movie, Hans Landa confronts a French farmer about the location of some Jews. The movie confronts the horror and terror of the World War II, and how hard it was for Jews to survive in the Second World War. I definitely recommend this movie. I give Inglorious Basterds a 9.3/10.

Seth Rogen

For many people, an example of a Jewish comedian is Woody Allen, or the Three Stooges. However, there is one who is taking the world by storm with his vulgar, disgusting, sarcastic, comedic and hilarious voice. His name: not Sacha Baron Cohen, but Seth Rogen. Seth Rogen was born in Canada in 1982 to: in his own words, "radical Jewish socialists." His mother was a social worker, and his father worked for a union. When he was thirteen years old, he became involved with standup comedy at his Jewish camp, and became legendary there for his comedy. While he was sixteen, he entered the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest, and finished second. He then left Canada, and arrived in America where he landed a role in Freaks and Geeks, a Judd Apatow comedy, in which he starred alongside James Franco, Jason Segel, and John Francis Daley. He then moved on to star in the short-lived show Undeclared, which he co-wrote with Judd Apatow. Some of the most recent movies that he has starred in include: Funny People, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Observe and Report, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express. He has also had minor roles in movies like: Anchorman, Stepbrothers and Superbad. In many of his movies, Rogen discusses his Judaism. One of his quotes says that his "face is circumcised." Most of the times, he acts as if being Jewish holds him back, and that it prevents him from reaching his goal. Some of Rogen’s upcoming projects include starring in The Green Hornet, and writing an episode of The Simpsons. Overall, I would have to say that Rogen is my favorite Jewish actor, and one of my favorite actors all together.

Here is a video of Rogen doing standup at a young age in Canada. It's very funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-aZogWeiyU

Bintel Brief

For some people, reading about other people's worries is not an enjoyable idea. However, the Bintel Brief does that, and still manages to be historical and even uplifting at times. The book is a collection of about 200 letters from the early 1900's to the mid-1960's. Each letter is written to the Jewish Daily Forward by someone stating their predicament, and asking for advice or financial aid. While the letters might sometimes have grammatical mistakes, or not be well-written, sometimes the sheer despair or helplessness just makes you forget about all that. What I love about this book is that some people who contribute are grandparents who need help with their daughter-in-law, or young men who need help getting a job, and ever single letter is different from the one before it. This book demonstrates the raw emotions that course through the veins of the Jewish religion, and for that reason, I give Bintel Brief a 7.2/10.

Life Is Beautiful

While a 12 year old's favorite movie might be something like American Pie or Stepbrothers, I would have to say that mine would be Life Is Beautiful. Robert Benigni stars in this tragic yet, as the title states beautiful film. The movie begins in the mid 1930's where Benigni's character, Guido is traveling around Italy. He meets a young woman whom he calls "princessa." He departs and arrives in Italy, and runs into her time after time. His advances are denied repeatedly, but they eventually fall in love after many of his hilarious ideas to get her to marry him. They marry, and have a son together named Joshua. They all three get deported to a concentration camp, but Guido manages to distract his son from the horrors of the camp by telling him that they are at a resort, and they are playing a game in which the first prize is a tank. After "getting" 940 points, Guido hides his son, and rushes off to find his wife, only to be executed. While the ending is the most beautiful part, I won't tell it to you so that your heart will be warmed, just like mine. I enjoyed this movie greatly, and it was uplifting, funny and sad at the same time. I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys movies that are a tad bit slow at the beginning, but that make you think at the end. I give Life Is Beautiful a 9.1/10.

Exodus

The fights for Israel were arguably the most violent battles that were ever documented in the Middle East. Exodus is the story of a young Jewish man named Ari Ben Canaan who wants to rebel against the British who are controlling his country, and he tries to liberate Israel/Palestine. He attempts to free young Jewish children in refugee camps by transporting them on a boat named Exodus. It was a huge political fiasco in the book, and the children were freed. The book documents the fights, and the establishment of a new country. It also goes back to 1939, and talks about all the main characters during World War II. While this book sounds horribly depressing, and it is at times, it also has some very uplifting moments, and some intense romance scenes (no, not like that). Leon Uris, unbelievably talented in plot writing, he leaves a lot to be desired in writing skills. His plots are unbelievably superb and interesting, but his writing style makes aspiring writers like myself cringe. However, his characters portray moving emotion, and Exodus is a riveting look into the fight for Israel. This book is obviously good for Jews, but also for people of all religions, other than Jihadists. The action mixes in well with the romance and boring scenes, and makes Exodus a great book to read. I give Exodus an 8.9 out of 10.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! My name is Julian, or for those who know me, Juju. For my mitzvah project, my rabbi and I decided that a blog based on Jewish pop culture (Movies, books, TV shows etc.) would be funny and Jewish at the same time. JuJew was created. The first post will be up soon, and to all you Alter Trombenicks (Old Bums in Yiddish) out there, this blog will be sure to rouse you. Enjoy!