Mar-13 Sydney: Dealing with headache pain
March 2, 2012 by J-Wire
Sydney’s Wolper Jewish Hospital invites you to a FREE seminar on headaches and migraine…. Read more
Mar-11 Sydney: What makes a good person do evil things?
March 2, 2012 by J-Wire
The Shalom Institute presents a special theatre night featuring the play “Address Unknown” directed by Moira Blumenthal. Read more
Mar-06 Sydney: Israel – Where Politics and the Bible Meet
February 28, 2012 by J-Wire
Encounters@Shalom presents a four week course with Dr Itzik Peleg – a widely-published lecturer at Haifa University… Read more
Mar-07 Sydney: A Great Purim
February 28, 2012 by J-Wire
The Great Synagogue hosts a Masked Purim Party… Read more
Mar-04 Sydney: Malts in the Movies
February 28, 2012 by J-Wire
The Great Synagogue presents a tasting of Scotland’s finest whiskies… Read more
Getting Married? Health Check!
February 27, 2012 by J-Wire
Getting married? You need to know genetic disorders are often more common in specific community groups…. Read more
Queensland candidate expelled for racism
February 23, 2012 by J-Wire
Peter Watson has been expelled from the Australia Labor Party because of his racist and homophobic views. 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
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
Diplomats under attack
This week we woke to the news that two Israeli Embassies had been struck by car bombs, one in New Dehli, India and the other in Tbilisi, Georgia. ..writes Emily Gian. Read more
SBS Quizzed on “The Promise”
February 15, 2012 by J-Wire
Victorian Liberal Senator Helen Kroger has said that SBS has appeared to have made a business decision to screen the controversial series “The Promise” even though reports said “it was offensive to the Jewish community”. Read more
Apr-01 Sydney: Heritage Concert
February 13, 2012 by J-Wire
The Great Synagogue transforms into a concert hall for an amazing performance. Read more
Abattoir used in part for Shechitah Shut Down
February 10, 2012 by J-Wire
ABC-TV’s Lateline broke a story last night on an abattoir near Sydney which authorities have shut down after hidden cameras had revealed alleged cruelty to animals. The abattoir in question is the source of Kosher meat in the Sydney region. Read more
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Internship Program
February 9, 2012 by J-Wire
Two voluntary internship positions are available to university-aged members of the community. Gain work experience with the community’s pre-eminent public affairs organisation. Read more
Welcome Fraser
J-Wire welcomes to its ranks Fraser Beath McEwing…its new music critic. Read more
Director donates proceeds of play
February 2, 2012 by J-Wire
The director of “Address Unknown”, Moira Blumenthal, is dedicating to Gift of Life Australia program a performance of this very powerful and exceptionally well acted play, the content of which connects to Gift of Life’s plea to the Jewish community whose blood lines were severed in the Holocaust. Read more
Popular nightspot hosts popular comedian
January 30, 2012 by J-Wire
Austen Tayshus will appear next week at Downstairs at Alma’s in the heart of North Caulfield.
Tayshus aka Sandy Gutman will bring his unique brand of humour to the basement club in Wilkes St.
For bookings checkout
Austen Tayshus
Haaretz article on Israel shaming Australian Jews…ECAJ takes action
January 24, 2012 by J-Wire
The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz has published online an article inferring that “Israel is shaming Australian Jews” resulting in a flood of complaints to The Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Read more
Jan-30 8:00p.m. ABC-TV: Australia Story
January 23, 2012 by J-Wire
ABC-TV repeats “The Girl from Boryslaw” – the story of the late Sabina Wolanski
New Role for Former Judge
January 19, 2012 by J-Wire
Former Supreme Court judge David Levine has been appointed inspector of the New South Wales Police Integrity Commission. Read more
Abduction *
January 19, 2012 by J-Wire
Perhaps the only way to approach Abduction that will not result in a 105-minute boredom-induced coma is to think of it as a comedy, preferably with a drinking game attached. There are laughs to be had, although none of them are intentional. Girls (and gay guys) enraptured by Taylor Lautner’s smoldering eyes and well-formed pecs aren’t likely to be overly concerned about his wooden dialogue delivery or unchanging facial expression, but everyone else will be chortling. This is a miscasting of mammoth proportions.
It boggles the mind that someone thought Lautner could make it as an action hero. On some level, I suppose it makes sense. Looking at a specimen like Arnold Schwarzenegger, arguably the biggest action icon of the ’80s, one could develop a model: nice chest, bulging biceps, limited emotional range, incomprehensible dialogue delivery. The problem is, Schwarzenegger was always a “man’s man,” whereas Lautner is generally despised by straight males of all ages. That makes Abduction an action/thriller with females as its primary audience, which is box office poison. Over the years, with rare exceptions, action films have struck gold on the strength of teenage boys.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ***
January 19, 2012 by J-Wire
For decades, the spy thriller has been dominated by one name: Bond. 007’s trappings, which include pyrotechnics, high-octane chases, death-defying stunts, gorgeous women, and the like, have come to define the genre. While it’s unquestionable that Ian Fleming’s superspy has left an indelible impression on movies and novels, it would not be reasonable to apply Bond-generated expectations to the grounded endeavors of John le Carré and Len Deighton. Both authors began writing in the early 1960s with the primary purpose of creating “anti-Bond” protagonists. For Deighton, it was Harry Palmer (played in three films by Michael Caine). For Le Carré, it was George Smiley. Physically unprepossessing, meek in manner, emotionally cool, and antisocial, Smiley’s primary weapon is his mind not a gun. He is a master tactician of the Cold War, matching wits against the best the KGB has to offer.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is regarded by critics as being among the best of Le Carré’s yarns. A faithful adaptation (which this is) has two requirements: the narrative must be dense and the pace must be slow. Le Carré’s stories have no room for mindless action; they are heavily plot-driven, which makes them a challenge to adapt. Two hours is probably too short. The condensation required to cram the essence of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy into a feature film of reasonable length is likely to result in less attentive audience members becoming lost along the way. Even a quick trip to the bathroom could be a viewer’s undoing. And, although the pacing is slow, events move rapidly. A lot happens, but little is explosive.
Hospital Exhibition
January 17, 2012 by J-Wire
An Honorary Cardiologist at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital is also an artist…and an exhibition of his work has opened within the hospital. Read more
Jan-31 11:05p.m. SBS1-TV: Movie – Close to Home
January 11, 2012 by J-Wire
Follows two young Israeli female soldiers who patrol the streets of Jerusalem together, checking the IDs of Palestinians they encounter. Read more
Coming to a supermarket near you
January 5, 2012 by J-Wire
75,000 jars of Vegemite are being distributed to supermarkets around Australia bearing the photo of Melbourne medico Dr Peter Schiff. Read more
Mendy makes the finals
January 4, 2012 by J-Wire
12-yr-old Sydney schoolboy Mendel Slavin is in the finals of Jewish Kids Got Talent…and heads to New York next week for the last rounds of adjudication.
Jan-28 9:30p.m. SBS1-TV: Movie – Black Book
January 4, 2012 by J-Wire
In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. Read more
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows ***
December 29, 2011 by J-Wire
It can be argued that few things embolden a filmmaker more than success. When Guy Ritchie re-invented the world’s best-known detective for his 2009 Sherlock Holmes, no one knew how the movie would be received. Ritchie’s vision was validated by a strong world-wide box office. For the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Ritchie’s more confident style betrays his assurance. No longer as reliant upon visual flourishes and spastic camera movement, the director allows the story to be the primary source of propulsion. A Game of Shadows is a stronger, better realized movie that builds upon the strengths of the original and jettisons some of the weaknesses.
For the nearly 120 years since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the character in the 1893 story, “The Final Problem,” James Moriarty has been a fan obsession. Holmes’ equal-but-opposite, Moriarty is the perfect foil for the consulting detective – a brilliant mathematician whose intelligence matches that of his adversary. Moriarty appeared in only one of Conan Doyle’s 60 Sherlock Holmes stories (the aforementioned “The Final Problem”) but has become a staple of Holmes lore and is frequently employed in the ever-growing non-Conan Doyle library of the detective’s adventures (Reichenbach Falls notwithstanding). It makes sense, therefore, that Ritchie would bring Moriarty to the screen – what better rival for Robert Downey Jr.’s incarnation of the detective than a man who can match him in deduction, gamesmanship, and physicality?
watch the trailer
We Bought a Zoo ***
December 29, 2011 by J-Wire
After the twin disappointments of Vanilla Sky (which critics generally liked but the public did not) and Elizabethtown (which was equally dismissed by critics and the general movie-going populace), Cameron Crowe has hunkered down in relative obscurity for six years. He has recently emerged with the documentary Pearl Jam Twenty and a new feature film, We Bought a Zoo. Although the latter does not rank alongside Crowe’s best, it is an improvement over Elizabethtown. Designed as a family film based on the memoirs of Benjamin Mee, We Bought a Zoo is heartfelt but safe. The missing element is the edgy irreverence that elevated Crowe’s best directorial efforts – Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous – above their generic counterparts.Salesforce JW
The tone of We Bought a Zoo veers from feel-good to maudlin. Some of the problem may devolve from the original material, but Crowe’s screenplay was not original – he re-wrote one credited to Aline Brosh McKenna, who claims an uneven body of work (her most recent movie: I Don’t Know How She Does It, but she was also responsible for The Devil Wears Prada). The general sense of blandness and predictability that marks the story’s progression does not damage its emotional strengths. We feel for these characters and, because we care about them, we yearn for the highs the film ultimately delivers.
