Have: Issue 15 (May 2025)

The PJFM monthly resource for all things Jewish film and media news.

THE FIRST JEWISH SUPERMAN AND MORE JEW-ISH FILMS HITTING THEATERS THIS SUMMER

Table of Contents 3

Upcoming Jew-ish Movies

5 Philly Jewish Superman

7 Haim 9 OCTOBER 8 10 J a k e S h a n e 13 B A D B O Y 9

HAVEN | ISSUE 15

Upcoming Jew-ish Movies 2025 is halfway over, but there are still plenty of Jew-ish movies coming out this year.

THE LIFE OF CHUCK It may be based on a novella by Stephen King and directed by Mike Flanagan, the man responsible for horror films/shows like The Haunting of Hill House (2018), Doctor Sleep (2019), and Midnight Mass (2021), but not to fret. THE LIFE OF CHUCK is not a horror film but a sci-fi drama that won the People’s Choice Award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Tom Hiddleston plays Charles “Chuck” Krantz, a Jewish accountant who experiences love, loss, and more in three chapters of his life. Costarring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Mark Hamill. In theaters this June.

EDDINGTON Ari Aster, the Jewish director who sprung into the horror genre with his hits Hereditary (2018) and Midsommar (2019), goes a different route in his latest film. Described as a COVID-19 western, this genre-bender follows the residents of the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico, as political and social turmoil worsen amidst the pandemic.

EDDINGTON recently premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, and Austin Butler. In theaters this July.

HAPPY GILMORE 2 He’s back! And while the plot is unknown at this point, Adam Sandler’s long-awaited sequel, costarring Margaret Qualley and Ben Stiller, is sure to bring laughs this summer. Streaming on Netflix this July.

PAGE 3

OH, HI! A new rom-com featuring Jewish actors Molly Gordon (Theater Camp, The Bear) and Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Hunters), Sophie Brooks’s indie follows a newly married couple on a weekend getaway that goes awry. In theaters this July.

TOGETHER Real-life Jewish couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco, who also play a couple plagued by a supernatural force in the film, shocked Sundance earlier this year with their disturbing new horror movie. Watch the trailer if you dare! In theaters this July.

CAUGHT STEALING Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) is back with a wild crime thriller set in 90s NYC. Austin Butler plays a washed-up, former baseball player who finds himself embroiled in the criminal underworld featuring two Orthodox Jewish mobsters (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio) and more. In theaters this August.

HONEY DON’T! Ethan Coen, one of the brothers of the legendary Jewish directing duo, returns with a wild detective comedy. Margaret Qualley stars as a private investigator investigating a string of deaths tied to a church. Co-starring Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Charlie Day, and Billy Eichner. In theaters this August.

PAGE 4

Philly Jewish Superman It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

It’s (Jewish) Superman from Philadelphia!

The iconic caped superhero returns to theaters in a reimagining by writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy). If you’ve seen the trailer already, you know you’re in for one magnum opus. There’s action.

There’s Krypto, the cute, superpowered dog. There’s that memorable Superman theme music. There’s Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. There’s Lex Luthor, the famous (and famously bald) archnemesis, portrayed by Nicholas Hoult. And then there’s David Corenswet, the latest actor to put on the suit and save the world. He is the first Jewish actor to play Superman, and from the trailer itself and Corenswet’s formidable presence, the actor has already taken social media by storm. The fans can’t wait to see his performance.

PAGE 5

Corenswet was born here in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania before transferring to Juilliard.

He also played in productions at Arden Theater, Walnut Street Theatre, and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival.

After appearing in a couple guest-star roles on shows, Corenswet made waves when he led Ryan Murphy’s Netflix drama series Hollywood in 2020. Although reactions to the show were mixed, his role got the attention of other directors. Following the show, Corenswet played roles in other hit movies like Pearl (2022) and even last year’s Twisters (2024). SUPERMAN, however, is his first leading role in a feature film.

Corenswet becoming Superman was fate from the beginning. When Entertainment Weekly interviewed him in 2019 about his dream role, he replied his “pie-in-the-sky ambition is definitely to play Superman.”

Corenswet has the charisma, charm, and looks to play the superhero, and the world can’t wait to see what he brings.

SUPERMAN hits theaters July 11.

PAGE 6

Haim

Inside the Jewish sister trio rock band If you know your movies, you may recognize Alana Haim from Paul Thomas Anderson’s 70s-set San Fernando Valley coming-ofage comedy/drama Licorice Pizza (2021) where she played Alana Kane, the feisty love interest of Cooper Hoffman.

Alana’s comic timing was so good that she received several nominations for her performance, including a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. In one of the most memorable scenes, she invites a boy over for Shabbat dinner to her family where her real-life sisters, Danielle and Este, are introduced.

Alana instantly became a new talent in Hollywood, but long before Licorice Pizza, she and her sisters made names for themselves already with their pop rock band, Haim. “Haim” also means “life” in Hebrew, and it’s quite fitting that it’s their surname. The band is a mix of genres, a blend of soft rock and pop rock, R&B, alternative, etc. It’s everything! There is never just one way to describe Haim’s songs. The lyrics are catchy while the beat is oddly hypnotic. Every song stands out for its uniqueness and meaning.

PAGE 7

Take, for example, one of their newest songs, “Relationships,” which is almost at two million views on YouTube. The song feels like part-hip-hop, part-indie, like something you would hear both in a coffee shop or a dance club. The visuals are remarkable in the way they depict the differing complexities and joy of modern-day romance.

The video starts off with Danielle presumably leaving her boyfriend (played by Drew Starkey) and then presents scenes in literal reverse. Starkey walks in a white room and then walks backwards, and then moments of the couple looking sad are followed by intimate, sexy moments. Haim shows that romance is just messy, and even in the bad ones, those past, better memories create such a yearning to stay in the relationship.

Since the mid-2010s, Haim has toured the globe and remained one of the most popular Jewish American pop bands. Their eclectic style stands out, as well as their familial affection these sisters have for one another.

Listen to one of their songs and you’re guaranteed to tap your feet.

Click HERE to subscribe to Haim’s YouTube channel.

PAGE 8

Co-sponsored by

OCTOBER 8 Wednesday, June 4 7 PM at Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Special Guests Noa Fay

(Student, Activist)

Asaf Romirowsky

Executive Director, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME)

SCAN HERE FOR INFO

Andrew Goretsky Regional Director, ADL Philadelphia

Jake Shane It’s a cliché to say, “everybody’s talking about… [name],” but these days, everybody really is talking about Jake Shane!

You may also call him @octopusslover8 or @passthatpuss. This Jewish comedian/social media influencer, with his short stature, cherubic face, and impossible-to-love personality, has taken over the nation, it seems like. He started off as one of several TikTok influencers in 2021, entertaining users with his food reviews (which he calls “puss reviews”), dance moves, and hilarious historical reenactments. A few years later, he’s a household name, interviewing celebrities on his weekly podcast, Therapuss with Jake Shane, and going on a nationwide tour, Live with Jake Shane. All of this…and he’s only 25.

PAGE 10

You may be wondering why “octopus” is such a theme of Shane’s content. When he was in high school, his mom took him out to try it, and it just clicked for him: wouldn’t it be funny if he reviewed octopuses? It’s so random, of course, but like anything on social media, you can pick the most random topic in the world and gain a million followers. Shane, like so many other influencers, was very lucky, and since his first video, his sassy charm brought him over 3.6 million TikTok followers, as well as over 1.1 million Instagram followers and 233,000 YouTube subscribers.

In addition to his comedy, viewers embrace Shane’s candidness with living with anxiety and OCD. Like anybody in the public sphere, especially someone who became famous in what feels like overnight, Shane is aware of the emotional toll fame brings to his psyche. In the end, however, getting to entertain the world is always worth it, and being oneself more so.

PAGE 11

“I was very insecure about my preferences for a while,” Shane says in an interview with Teen Vogue. “I always thought sharing what I loved made me less cool. But that's not true. Sharing what you love and doing what you love — forget cool.”

Forget the pressures of being “cool” indeed! Like Shane, let’s all just be ourselves.

Follow Jake Shane on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

PAGE 12

BAD BOY

Netflix’s New Israeli Show from the creators of the Israeli Euphoria

Israeli television is back on the ultimate streamer with a new show. BAD BOY is a coming-of-age drama that is drawing parallels to Adolescence (2025), the hit British series about a teen boy accused of murdering a girl. While both shows are certainly heavy and revolve around youths in prison, the plots are quite different, and BAD BOY explores an unexpected topic that’s nowhere near Adolescence: stand-up comedy.

PAGE 13

“At its core, BAD BOY is a story about the stories we tell ourselves about our systems of “justice” and the ones those caught up in them must subsequently tell in order to survive.”

- Collider.com This eight-episode series is based on co-creator Daniel Chen’s childhood, which was spent mostly in juvenile detention centers. Guy Manster, in a committed performance, plays Dean, a troubled youth who is sent to prison on multiple charges, including violence and drugdealing. In jail, he is presented with the usual prison culture that is so common onscreen; the “snitches get stitches” rule, inmate hierarchy, etc. (If you’ve seen Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019), you understand it.)

The inmates themselves are feisty and intelligent, but beneath their charisma hides a deep pain. Dean eventually forms a close bond with another inmate, Zoro (Havtama Farda), an Ethiopian kid of whom the other inmates are scared of. To keep himself occupied, as well as cope with his own trauma, Dean begins stand-up for the other inmates.

PAGE 14

Winner of seven Israel Television Academy Awards and ranked as Netflix’s sixth most watched show in early May, BAD BOY is visceral filmmaking that draws you to the screen. Despite the heavy content, there is a magnetic force us viewers can’t ever shake, a draw to the pain these characters have endured. Kudos to the actors, the show paints the characters in an understanding light. As viewers, we know they have made mistakes, but we also see them grow from those mistakes in a setting that no one wants to be in.

This is no surprise given that the co-creator of the show, Ron Leshem, is responsible for Euphoria (2012-2013), another teen drama that was later remade into one of HBO’s most talked about – and controversial – shows.

Leshem understands the chaos and mayhem of adolescence, and almost 15 years after Euphoria, he’s still finding remarkable talents to carry on these roles.

BAD BOY is now streaming on Netflix.

PAGE 15

BRINGING YOU THE BEST IN JEWISH CINEMA AND BEYOND. Thank you for supporting the organization.