Rusty Jacobs Movies
- 2003
An Evening with the Woods Tea Company captures a night of folk music performed by the respected group. This program aired on many PBS stations before coming to home video. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woods Tea Company, Rusty Jacobs, (more)
- 1996
Fifty years after the Holocaust, Zev Carpati is the sole Jewish survivor of that period in his Ukrainian community. Almost all the others were either victims of the various calamities afflicting European Jewry in this century, or they emigrated when they had the chance. While there are other Jewish people living in this region, they have largely lost their history and traditions, and look to "Uncle Zev" for continuity. This a documentary film about that man: a musician, historian and storyteller. It also explores the common situation of both Gypsies and Jews in the region, which in the past 80 years has belonged to the Austrian Empire, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. It is now part of the Ukraine. One highlight shows Zev taking a donated Torah scroll to his birth community; the moment shows clearly what has been lost and what still remains. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The tensions felt between Palestinians and Israelis forms the basis of this odd political drama that is based on a short story by Abraham Jehoshua. The tale centers on a history student, Noah, who becomes a forest ranger so he can have the quiet time he needs to complete his dissertation. He is stationed in the midst of a remote firetower in the center of a large forest where his only companions are a mute Arab and his daughter Nahida. When he learns that some of the Israeli-planted forest was placed upon the ruins of an Arab settlement destroyed in the last war, he becomes fixated with exploring the remains with his binoculars, wondering about the history and lives of those who once lived there. One night, he dreams that Indiana Jones comes to him and explains that history is but an illusion. Soon after, an enormous fire erupts, Abraham's phone line is cut, and he can do nothing, but rescue the girl. Later her father is arrested for arson even though there is no proof that he did it. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Though some viewers might be put off by its length, graphic violence, and absence of likable characters, Sergio Leone's final film is also a cinematic masterpiece. Spanning four decades, the film tells the story of David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his Jewish pals, chronicling their childhoods on New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s, through their gangster careers in the 1930s, and culminating in Noodles' 1968 return to New York from self-imposed exile, at which time he learns the truth about the fate of his friends and again confronts the nightmare of his past. The acting, the re-creation of the time period, the cinematography, and the music are all superb. However, even more important is Leone's ability to make the film work on so many different levels: it's both a criticism of gangster-film mythology and a continuation of the director's exploration of the issues of time and history. Strange as it may seem, the violence and gore in the first half of the film turn into a sad elegy about wasted lives and lost love. The film's strengths emerge only in its full 229-minute version -- the 139-minute and other edited versions don't make nearly the same impact. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert De Niro, James Woods, (more)
Devery Freeman's novel Father Sky was the inspiration for the far-fetched but convincingly acted and directed Taps. When an exclusive military school is threatened with demolition by a rapacious real-estate company, the students, headed by Timothy Hutton, take drastic action. Utilizing every bit of military know-how at their disposal, the boys take over the school, arm themselves to the teeth, and prepare to do battle against the "invading" developers. General George C. Scott, the head of the academy, tries to quell the rebellion, but soon he too is swept up by the students' to-the-death determination when the Army is called in to rout the boys. Whenever the action of Taps begins to flag, we recommend that you keep an eye on the show-stopping performances of Sean Penn (in his movie debut) and Tom Cruise as two of the cadets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, (more)
