BONUS: Introducing ToI's newest podcast, 'The Reel Schmooze'
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 November 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.
This week, the pair introduces the concept of the new show, including the segment, "What's the Jangle," in which they discuss two tidbits of Jewish entertainment news.
We hear how "The Real Pain" creator Jesse Eisenberg is willing to go under the knife to donate a kidney to a perfect stranger. And we learn about two brave Hollywood actresses -- Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver -- who haven't joined the boycott Israel movement and are signed on to work with Israeli director Joseph Ceder in his upcoming thriller.
Next, we get to "The Main Screening," a segment in which the duo discusses two films: the newly released Natalie Portman project, "Arco," and 2024's "Thelma" starring 96-year-old June Squibb.
Hear which films get the seal of approval from our team and which was a split decision on this week's The Reel Schmooze.
The Reel Schmooze can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
IMAGE: Jordan Hoffman (courtesy) / Israeli actress, director, producer Natalie Portman arrives for the screening of the film 'Arco' at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 16, 2025. (Bertrand GUAY / AFP)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to The Real Shmuse with TOI's film reviewer, Jordan Hoffman, and me host Amanda Borschell Dunn, |
| 0:12.4 | where we're going to bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews as you can use. |
| 0:19.5 | Whoa, look at that. That was good, Amanda. I like that. |
| 0:22.5 | That's pretty good. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, and this week we're also going to find the |
| 0:27.0 | Jangle, the Jewish angle, in two news items, and we're going to talk about two films, |
| 0:33.2 | Arco, which is coming out in theaters this week, and Thelma, which is now streaming on a screen |
| 0:39.7 | near you. So, Jordan, first of all, what do you think about the name of our podcast, The Real Shmooze? |
| 0:46.9 | What do you think? |
| 0:47.7 | The Real Shmooze is great because it is a pun, because it's R-E-E-L-L because years ago motion pictures were captured on film and then |
| 0:57.2 | carted around on these things called Reels. The kids today have no idea. It's all done digitally. |
| 1:04.6 | But, you know, in the movie biz, believe it or not, the term A Real is still used as jargon because a reel of film was |
| 1:14.7 | about 20 minutes, give or take, 22 minutes. And you'll still hear, people say, oh, well, you know, |
| 1:21.4 | you find out by the second real. And that really means you find out by like the 30 minute mark. |
| 1:26.1 | But it's still a term used, which I find endearing. |
| 1:28.9 | Of course, you can occasionally find, you know, very rarely are films captured on film anymore. |
| 1:36.0 | Some directors still do it. |
| 1:37.8 | Our friend Christopher Nolan still does it. |
| 1:40.8 | Denis Villeneuve, the French-Canadian director whose whose name I'm mispronouncing still doesn't. |
| 1:46.3 | But even more rarely are movies projected on film, |
| 1:50.5 | especially new ones. |
| 1:52.1 | And what's funny is in big cities, New York City, in L.A. and whatnot, |
| 1:57.6 | and then also film societies, maybe in a university town, |
... |
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