The Omega Man (1971)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

I first saw "The Omega Man" as a kid at a baby-sitting room at a casino in Lake Tahoe and at the time I thought it was one of the scariest movies around. Why on earth they'd choose to show a bunch of 9-year-olds a science fiction flick about the after-effects of a nuclear war, I'll never know, but it scared the pants off me just the same.

Now looking back as an adult, it seems a bit kitschy to me. And almost funny. But the fright factor still remains.

Charlton Heston plays a rugged doctor that has survived devastating germ warfare. The rest of the planet was wiped out. As the creator of a vaccine, he was only able to save enough of the drug for his own use in of those soap opera like scenes, where he's covered in blood and oh-so-dramatically injects himself. 'Must...get...serum," he says.

Horrible vampiric creatures who can only see at night, control the decimated city. They patrol the streets creating bonfires and hurling catapults at Heston's above-ground mansion/fortress. Heston discovers a small hippie clan of survivors--a group of young kids who have hidden away and now seek salvation. Can Heston use his blood to create a new serum, providing hope for the future? Or will it be another one of those paranoid 1970s endings where all hope is lost?

Heston is seemingly indestructable, even though he's one man against a virtual army of vampires.

"The Omega Man" works on the idea of, 'What if I was the last guy on earth? I could go into a record store and get all of those old Beatles CDs, I wanted to track down and I don't have to pay back my student loans or even worry about money again.' It's a terrifying theme, one that stayed with me many years later. Heston is superb in the flick and this was the first inter-racial love scene in a movie as Rosiland Cash plays his girlfriend.

The Omega Man is based on the novel "I Am Legend (1954), by writer Richard Matheson. The story was first filmed as "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) featuring Vincent Price. A third adaptation of the novel, "I Am Legend," featuring Will Smith was released in 2007.

The website "Rotten Tomatoes" shows the film as having mixed reviews with a score of 59%. Director Tim Burton claims this to be one of his favorite films.

Female North Korean Mati-Hari caught

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

According to The Korea Times, a female North Korean spy is in custody for obtaining "confidential" information about South Korean companies and the National Police Agency from people she met through internet chat rooms.

They said the 36-year-old woman, identified as Kim Soon-nyeo, had been arrested on espionage charges, as had Oh Byung-doo, a 52-year-old former exec of the Seoul Metro subway service, who supported her financially.

According to prosecutors, Kim, disguised as a North Korean defector, crossed the border into China in Feb 2006, and worked as an accountant at a hotel in the Human Province. Running a cosmetics company there she lured some South Koreans into relationships through internet chat rooms and obtained information on South Korea from them.

Alongside the former Seoul Metro exec, other South Koreans involved included a college student and two travel agency workers.

The slick spy collected confidential info about the subway system from Oh, information about local universities from the student and a list of names of high-ranking police and public officials from the travel agents.

Oh, a married man, maintained romantic relations with the spy since his first encounter with her in China in May 2006, and transferred nearly $252,000 to "help" her cosmetics business. In June 2007, he became aware that she was a North Korean spy, but amazingly, still continued the romance.

Kim attempted to enter South Korea as a "defector" in September last year, but her identity was discovered during questioning by security officials, the prosecution said.

Mel Gibson Fired From "Hangover 2"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Mel Gibson's cameo in "The Hangover 2" touted as his first step of a comeback, has been cut because the cast and crew couldn't stand working with him, TMZ reports. Gibson had been lined up to play a Bangkok tattoo artist in what once source described as a "pivotal" role in the sequel. "I thought Mel would have been great in the movie," said director Todd Phillips. "But I realize filmmaking is a collaborative effort and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew."

Star Zach Galfinaskis is rumored to have been unhappy about working with Gibson because of the star's messy personal life. He hinted at Hangover discontent during a recent Comedy Death-Ray podcast. "I'm in a deep protest right now with a movie I'm working on, up in arms about something. But I can't get the guys to listen," he said. "It's very frustrating."

"Take the Money and Run" (1969)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

This film is filled with crime/gangster/prison movie satire, visual and verbal gags, one-liners and the unsuccessful criminal robbery attempt by inept crook Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen). We see Virgil's entry into a life of crime at a young age, his crime sprees, his first prison term and eventual escape as well as his eventual capture at the hands of the FBI.

Memorable scenes

-Virgil has difficulty holding up a bank because the teller cannot read his threatening note. "Does this say GUB? or GUN?" he asks, befuddled.

-The failed heist in a pet store where he is chased by a gorilla.

-One attempt when Virgil discovers that the stolen pistol he uses in a hold up is actually a cigarette lighter.

-While in prison, Virgil volunteers for an experimental vaccination and, for several hours, is turned into a rabbi.

Allen initially filmed a downbeat ending in which he was shot to death, but was convinced to go for a lighter ending.

The film was the first to be directed solely by Allen. (He wanted Jerry Lewis to direct originally; when that didn't work out, Allen got the notion to direct it himself). This film marked the first time Woody Allen would perform the triple duties of writing, directing and acting in a film. The hysterical and almost slapstick style is similar to that of Allen's next several films, including "Sleeper" and "Bananas."

Take the Money was filmed on location in San Francisco. One scene is set in Ernie's restaurant, whose striking red interior was immortalized in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). It was also filmed at San Quentin State Prison. One hundred San Quentin prisoners were paid a small fee to work on the film during the prison sequences. Micil Murphy was one of the actors in the film. Ironically, he had become an actor after being paroled from San Quentin three years earlier in 1966, where he served a five and half years for armed robbery.

Controversy over Angelina Jolie's new Bosnian film

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Angelina Jolie has been banned from filming her new movie in Bosnia for the time being.

The Oscar-winning actress was due to direct her first film, which she describes as a love story set in the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, about a Bosnian Muslim woman who falls for a Serbian soldier.

But Bosnia's Federal Ministry of Culture have abruptly withdrawn permission for her to film in the country, citing incomplete paperwork. Their decision came amid protests from a women war victims association claiming that the love story is between a woman and a Serbian who rapes her.

The country's culture minister Gavrilo Grahovac said: "We will only give them a permit to film if we can see the script and it shows us the story is not that insults Bosnian women, victims of war."

Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women Victims of War association claimed that "in the film, a victim is really falling in love with her torturer."

Snooki on "South Park"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The gags on "South Park" were fast and furious with the obvious jokes splattered all over the screen like hair gel. The new "South Park" residents from Jersey were predictably brash, trashy and orange and from a critical standpoint, we can say that the episode took "the easy way out" but also "the only way to go."

The best gag involved South Park's take on "Jersey Shore's Snooki who they turned into a pickle-eating, daiquiri-slurping, lap-grinding, gremlin-rat-monster, whose choice of exit was crashing through the nearest closed window.

Although it wasn't laugh-out-loud funny (like most South Park shows), it was I must admit amusing. There were also allusions to zombies, John Carpenter's The Thing and Teen Wolf and the episode culminated with an unlikely ally for South Park residents. Osama Bin Laden and his boys from Al Queada were called in to help and they used highjacked airliners to crash planes into the Jersey mob.

"Broadway Danny Rose" (1984)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Perhaps one of Woody Allen's funniest films, "Broadway Danny Rose" begins with a bunch of show biz vets sitting around a table at New York's Carnegie Deli reminiscing about the legendary character, a loser of an agent who would represent anyone, including blind xylophonists, piano-playing birds and has-been crooners with drinking problems.

Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged dancer and a washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova whose career is on the rebound.
Lou is having an affair with a ditzy woman, Tina (Mia Farrow), who had previously dated a gangster. Lou wants her to accompany him to his big gig at the Waldorf Astoria, where he will perform in front of Milton Berle, who could potentially hire him for even bigger things.

At the singer's insistence, Danny Rose acts as a "beard," masquerading as Farrow's boyfriend to divert attention from the affair. Tina's ex-boyfriend is extremely jealous and believing Tina's relationship with Danny to be real, he orders a hit on Danny, who finds himself in danger of losing both his client and his life.

In it's wacky comic way (with images that call to mind Fellini and Chaplin), "Broadway Danny Rose" has a lot to say about the power of imagination and the need for a positive attitude in a world where nice guys finish last and people without morals rise to the top. It's also a loving homage to a now-vanished type of show business.

Although the flashback story is set around 1969 its connections to the Borscht belt entertainment circuit; the use of Berle, the deli comics and its pointed mention of Weinstein's Majestic Bungalow Colony in the Catskills (where Allen got his start performing magic tricks at 16 years old), seem to place it much earlier.

A lot of the charm of the film lies in its offbeat casting. Allen himself does some of his best acting as Danny and Mia Farrow has never gone further outside her usual range and image. Interestingly, the storytellers in the deli are all real comics with one exception, Allen's own manager Jack Rollins, who is said to be the inspiration for the Danny character.

Robert DeNiro, Sly Stallone and Danny Aiello were all considered for the role of Lou Caniva, but Nick Apollo Forte was chosen after a casting director came across one of his self-produced albums in a record store.

Finally, one can't overlook the part played by the Carnegie Deli as the central location for the movie. The owner, Leo Steiner, played himself in the deli scenes and although the place had to be closed for two entire days to accomodate filming, Steiner didn't complain. In the movie, Danny has a sandwich named after him at the deli--cream cheese on bagel with marinara sauce ( a play on the merged worlds of guilty Jew Danny and brash Italian Tina).

Broadway Danny Rose opened on January 27, 1984 on 109 North American screens, grossing $953,794 in its opening weekend.

"Conviction"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Betty Anne Waters is about to be one of the most famous lawyers in American thanks to Conviction, the new movie about her quest to free her wrongly convicted brother, Kenny. But she doesn't have a law practice. Instead she runs a pub.

"She didn't become a lawyer to be a lawyer," explains a source. "She became a lawyer to get her brother out of jail." Since freeing Kenny, Waters has only been in court once--to renew the bar's liquor license.

Israeli consulate welcomes Egyptian consulate to Los Angeles

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Vowing to work for "comprehensive, equitable peace between Palestinians and Israelis, Hesham Einakib, the new Consul General of Egypt to L.A. spoke in a ceremony at Los Angeles City Hall on Friday.

Israeli Consul General Jacob Dayan greeted Einakib at the ceremony. The nearly two hour affair, organized by the Consul General of Israel and the office of the Mayor of LA, drew an estimated 200 people from the local Israeli, Jewish and Egyptian communities.

"I'm very happy to be in Los Angeles," said Einakib who showed up with his fashionably dressed wife. "This is a wonderful place to have a new consulate."

In a performance for the event, Israeli pop singer Miri Mesika was joined by Egyptian Oud player Hosam Ibrahem who sang in Arabic.

"Alice" (1990)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Alice Tate (Mia Farrow) finds herself falling out of love with her stockbroker husband (William Hurt), and in love with a sax player named Joe (Joe Mantegna) in this modern take on Alice in Wonderland from writer-director Woody Allen.

Seeking a cure for back pains, Alice sees an acupuncturist (Keye Luke), who soon realizes Alice's pains are really in her heart. The doctor's magical herbs bring Alice out of her romantic rut.

Chinese actor Keye Luke steals the show as a con artist "doctor" who tries to help Alice out of her mid-life crises, by giving her dozens of Chinese herbs with magical powers. Particularly funny is the scene where the all-knowing physician hands Alice an Opium pipe, which she nervously smokes and then promptly lies down on the floor and falls asleep.

Dr. Yang's second-floor office apartment is not promising. It is a den, grubby and small with peeling paint and lights fitted with what appear to be 20-watt bulbs. Her meeting with Dr. Yang who is as mysterious as the ancient East, opens up a whole new life, or series of lives, for the repressed housewife.

"Alice" calls forth "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Hannah and Her Sisters." Underneath there are hints of everything Allen has done from "Take the Money and Run" to "Interiors," "Radio Days," "September" and "Oedipus Wrecks." Not since "Manhattan" has he been so devastatingly comic about the manners of the city he calls home.

Mia Farrow looks great and gives a performance that sums up and then tops all of the performances that have preceded it. Alice is a closet-feminist version of the sort of character Allen usually plays. In spite of the worldliness around her, she remains hopelessly naive, weeping bucketfuls while watching a movie about Mother Teresa.

Every member of the all-star cast is super: Mr. Luke ( charmingly funny), Joe Mantegna, William Hurt, Alex Baldwin, Blythe Danner (Alice's older sister), and Cybill Sheperd as an officious television executive.

Another funny stand-out character is Bernadette Peters, who turns up briefly in a sort of sparkly Glinda the Good costume. She's the reluctant muse sent to help Alice with her writing. The muse is dressed like Oz, sounds like Queens and behaves like a bored student adviser.

"Alice" calls for a celebration.

Kim Jong Un may have had surgery to look like gramps

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Did Kim Jong Un, the son and anointed successor of Kim Jong IL have plastic surgery to look like his grandfather? That's what South Korean newspapers are speculating after North Korea released the first official shots of Kim Jong Un last week. In them, he looked like the splitting image of his grandfather, the highly popular Kim II Sung--with the same chubby cheeks, downturned mouth and even the same haircut.

Which is surprising, experts say, because in earlier photos the boy looked nothing like that. "A lot of people in South Korea have pointed out that Kim's face is very different from when he was young, particularly the shape of his chin," one professor tells the Daily Telegraph. "The change is quite dramatic." One South Korean paper even said that it had secretly interviewed three North Koreans, and discovered that the same speculation had flourished there, too.

Flintstones turn 50

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Fifty years ago, the culturally iconic cartoon "The Flintstones" debuted on ABC. Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty inhabited the fictional town of Bedrock in 10,000 BC in an equally fictional world inhabited simultaneously by humans and dinosaurs. But they were no knuckle-draggers. The Flintstones were the first members of the opposite sex shown sleeping together on network TV.

The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next door neighbor and best friend. Critics and fans alike agree that the show was an animated imitation of "The Honeymooners" with rock puns thrown in. It ran from September 30, 1960 to April 1 1966 on ABC.

'Social Network' finds lots of friends at box office

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Movie fans are spending some face time with a story about the founders of Facebook.

"The Social Network" about the creation of the online juggernaut, debuted as the No. 1 weekend film with $23 million.

Distributor Sony hopes for a long shelf life for the film, which has earned Academy Awards buzz and rave reviews. Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution said "The Social Network" has a good shot at becoming a $100 million hit.

"It really is a great start for us. This is a movie that is resonating everywhere. The reviews are the best I've seen at our studio in my career," Bruer said. "It's just one of those movies that critics and audiences alike are embracing and I think it's going to have a tremendous life."

"The Social Network" traces the history of Facebook from Harvard University, where computer whiz Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), and best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), launched the site, through its meteoric rise with 500 million members and a stock value in the billions.

Justin Timberlake co-stars as Napster founder Sean Parker. Facebook has called the film "fiction" about its founder, the notoriously private Zuckerberg.

The weekend's other new wise releases had weak starts. Paramount's horror flick "Case 39" starring Renee Zellweger, opened at No. 7 with $5.35 million, while Overture Film's vampire tale "Let Me In" debuted at No 8 with $5.3 million.

The Warner Brothers animated adventure "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," held up well, retaining the No. 2 spot in its second weekend with $10.9 million and raising its total to $30 million.

"Lost in Translation" (2003)

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

"Lost in Translation" is another of my favorite films by director Sophia Coppola. Starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, the film centers on an aging actor (Murray), and a recent college-graduate (Johansson), who develop a unique closeness after a chance meeting in a grand Tokyo hotel. The movie explores themes of loneliness, alienation, insomnia and culture shock against the backdrop of a modern Japanese sky-scape.

The film is like a travelogue for Japan, displaying several glittering scenes of Tokyo nightlife in all it's glorious Times Square-like splendor.

Bob (Murray) arrives in Tokyo to film a Suntory whiskey advertisement. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), is left behind in her hotel room by her huband, John (Giovanni Ribisi), a celebrity photographer on assignment in Tokyo. Charlotte is unsure of her present and her future and about the man she has married. Bob seems to be going through a mid-life crises. One night, Bob finds himself unable to sleep and goes to the hotel bar where he meets Charlotte, who also cannot sleep. The two had previously seen each other throughout their days earlier at the hotel, but strike a friendship bond through their adventures in Tokyo together while experiencing the differences between Japanese and American culture.

Various locations in Tokyo are showcased throughout the film in particular the bar featured predominately in the film is the New York Bar situated on the 52nd floor of the Shiniuku Park Tower and part of the Park Hyatt Tokyo hotel in Shiniuku, Tokyo.

Bill Murray gives a surprisingly subtle understated performance as a fading has been movie star trying to revive his career by appearing in substandard Japanese talk shows and whiskey ads. Johansson is great as the innocent, lost Charlotte and plays well off Murray's sardonic wit.

"Lost in Translation" won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2003. It was also nominated for Best Director and Best Picture but lost both to the Lord of the Rings. Bill Murray was also nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Sean Penn for Mystic River. The film also won Golden Globes for Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Musical or Comedy Actor.

The film made me want to buy a one way ticket to Tokyo and have a dip in the shimmering Hyatt Hotel's futuristic looking swimming pool. I give it an A+.

CECI Honors Avi Arad with a Lifetime Achievement Award

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Hollywood and the Holy Land's movers and shakers turned out at the Kodak Theater Sunday to honor Israeli CCO of Marvel Entertainment, Avi Arad with a "Lifetime Achievement Award." Presenting the award to Avi was film vet Jon Voight.

The dinner gala entitled "From Vision to Reality" was held for over 500 guests in the Kodak Theater's Grand Ballroom. The MC was Noah Tishbi and Cantor Arianne Brown of Sinai Temple performed the National Anthem.

Among the high profile guests were: Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, Beny Alagem, Amy Pascal, Sam Nazarian, Jimmy Delshad, Mayor of Beverly Hills and the cast of Beverly Hills Housewives.

"I am honored to be among so many extraordinary people thinking about the future generation and Israel," said Dora Kadis, Exec Director of CECI Organization.

Among the Corporate sponsors were: El Al Airlines, Omninet Capitals, P. Nazarian Foundation, Saban Family Foundation and Union Communication.

The importance of education and leadership for the next generation was highlighted throughout the course of the evening. At the event the top 5 CECI Ambassador Project winner students from Israel and an award-winning teacher were honored for their significant educational achievements.

CECI is dedicated to paving the way for a more stable and flourishing Israel through research and education.

Born and raised in Giv'atayim, Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Arad came to the United States during his college years and enrolled at Hofstra University to study industrial management. He earned a bachelor of business administration from Hofstra in 1972.