New York Jewish Film Festival

Joe Bendel

Joe Bendel
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Based in New York, Joe Bendel has reviewed film, television, music, and theater for nineteen years, in print and online. In addition to his site, J.B. Spins, he frequently contributes reviews to The Epoch Times, specializing in mystery/thriller series, documentaries, and Asian cinema. As a critic he has attended in-person international film festivals, including Sundance, Slamdance, Fantasia, and the New York Film Festival, as officially accredited press. He has also written for Nightfire, Libertas Film Magazine, and Signal to Noise (the dearly departed experimental music print magazine). He has over twenty-five years of experience in the book publishing industry and has taught film and music survey courses at NYU’s School of Continuing Studies. Bendel also coordinated the Jazz Foundation of America’s instrument donation drive for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University and the University of Denver Publishing Institute.
Based in New York, Joe Bendel has reviewed film, television, music, and theater for nineteen years, in print and online. In addition to his site, J.B. Spins, he frequently contributes reviews to The Epoch Times, specializing in mystery/thriller series, documentaries, and Asian cinema. As a critic he has attended in-person international film festivals, including Sundance, Slamdance, Fantasia, and the New York Film Festival, as officially accredited press. He has also written for Nightfire, Libertas Film Magazine, and Signal to Noise (the dearly departed experimental music print magazine). He has over twenty-five years of experience in the book publishing industry and has taught film and music survey courses at NYU’s School of Continuing Studies. Bendel also coordinated the Jazz Foundation of America’s instrument donation drive for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He is a graduate of Wittenberg University and the University of Denver Publishing Institute.

The Imaginary : A Former Ghibli Animator Yoshiyuki Momose Celebrates the Power of Imagination

@Courtesy of Studio Ponoc/Netlfix Japanese anime filmmakers have a bizarrely fantastic track record translating British young adult fantasies for the big screen. Studio Ghibli notably adapted Mary Norton’s The Borrowers (as The Secret World of Arrietty), Joan G. Robinson’s When Marnie Was There, and Diana Wynn Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle (loosely, but it still counts),…

Federer: Twelve Final Days / It Hits All the Right Nostalgic Notes and a Very Effective “Commercial” for Professional Tennis

Even if you won fifteen Grand Slam tournaments and spent a record 237-straight weeks as the #1 ranked player on the ATP tour, knee injuries are a tricky business to bounce back from. Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer always assumed any surgery would spell the beginning of the end of his career—and he ruefully admits…

Presumed Innocent Review : An Inconsistent Legal Thriller that Needed a Firmer Editorial Hand

In 1987, Scott Turow kicked off the legal thriller craze with his surprise bestselling novel Presumed Innocent, which still boasts one of the most famous twist endings since Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Fans will happily view Apple TV+’s new series adaptation, even though they have already read the novel and seen Alan…

Cottontail: A Japanese-British Co-Production, Starring Lily Franky

©Courtesy of Longride/Level 33 Entertainment  England’s Lake District has a rich literary history, often involving bunny rabbits. Richard Adams’ Watership Down was set in the area, but for Kenzaburo Oshima’s wife Akiko, the Beatrix Potter connection was much more important. Her love of Peter Cottontail attracted her to Lake Windermere in her youthful student days….

Jim Henson Idea Man, on Disney+

©Courtesy of Disney+ Jim Henson must be the most recognizable puppeteer in American pop culture history. Of course, his Muppets are even more famous. Initially, he wanted to work in the new medium of television and puppetry turned out to be a convenient entry point. As fans know, he would eventually create original creatures for…

Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle : A Really Good Volleyball Match and a Highly Entertaining Film 

©Courtesy of Toho, and Crunchyroll.  You really ought to give manga and anime credit for the way they teach teamwork and good sportsmanship. For instance, the recent anime film The First Slam Dunk and its source manga followed the ups and downs of a dysfunctional high school basketball team that somehow found a way to…

Sight / Dr. Ming Wang’s Commitment to Public Service Are Quite Laudable

©Courtesy of Angel Studio China’s Cultural Revolution is having a pop-culture moment. In Netflix’s Three-Body Problem adaptation, the cruelty of the extreme Marxist movement causes a central character to literally turn against the human species. Dr. Ming Wang also witnessed the student revolutionaries’ brutality as a child during the 1970s, but in this film, he responds…

The Big Cigar is Too Flawed to Fully Recommend / Review on Apple TV+

©Courtesy of Apple TV+   A movie production is always good cover for a caper, because they are supposed to be frantic and disorganized. It worked for CIA Officer Tony Mendez, when he smuggled Americans out of the Canadian embassy in Iran, as Ben Affleck dramatized in Argo. Leftwing producer Bert Schneider tried to do…

Daniel Yoon’s Ultra-Independent East Bay

©Photo by Daniel Yoon, Level 33 Entertainment  A mid-life crisis is hard enough without losing your sanity. Jack Lee worries about his state of mind, but from time to time he also suspects the ringing in his head might signify something beyond the boundaries of our assumed world. Regardless, his depressing life is an absolute…

The Idea of You : A Couple’s Night of “Stream and Chill”

Photo by Courtesy of Prime Video – © Prime Video Solene Marchand is an early Millennial, so she can maybe partially relate to Gen X. Hayes Campbell is Gen Z, but he is relatively early Gen Z, for what that is worth. There is only sixteen years difference between them, in contrast to the full two…