52 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019 THEJEWISHNEWS.COM

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

AT THE MOVIES
The action flick Rambo: Last Blood 
opens on Sept. 20. Sylvester 
Stallone returns as John Rambo, 
a Vietnam War vet who is a killing 
machine when angered. Last Blood 
opens with Rambo working at an 
American ranch on the Mexican 
border. The daughter of a close 
friend of his is kidnapped and 
taken to Mexico. Rambo takes on a 
Mexican drug cartel in his hunt for 
her. 
 The director is Adrian Grunberg, 
45ish. His Jewish parents left 
Argentina for Spain when Grunberg 
was young. He grew up in Spain. 
He moved to Mexico about 20 years 
ago and long worked in the Mexican 
film industry. In 2004, Mel Gibson 
hired him to be an assistant direc-
tor on Gibson’
s film Apocalypto, 
which was set in Mexico. In 2012, 
he worked with Gibson again in Get 
the Gringo, a well-received action 
film set in Mexico. It was the first 
head directing job for Grunberg and 
he co-wrote the film. By the way, 
Grunberg says he likes Gibson, 
and he learned a lot from him. I’
ll 
just say that a lot of other Jewish 
colleagues of Gibson have said the 
same things. But, Mel has been 
known to have another side, and it 
isn’
t pretty. 
 
NEW SHOWS: STREAMING 
AND BROADCAST
Unbelievable, an eight-episode 
mini-series, was released in its 
entirety on Netflix on Sept. 13. It 
follows Marie, a teen who was 
charged with lying about being 
raped, and the two female detec-
tives who follow a long path before 
they arrive at the truth. The always- 
good Toni Collette plays one of the 
detectives. The series was co-cre-
ated by and co-written by Susannah 

Grant, Pulitzer Prizewinner 
Michael Chabon, 56, and Ayelet 
Waldman, 54 (Chabon’
s wife). The 
first three episodes were directed 
by Lisa Cholodenko, 55 (The Kids 
are Alright). 
If you get the AXS cable/satel-
lite station, you can watch Paul 
Shaffer Plus One. It began on Sept. 
15 (new episodes on Sundays at 
9 p.m.). It’
s also aired on Shaffer’
s 
SiriusXM radio show. Ontario 
native Paul Shaffer, 69, was the 
original (1974) leader of the SNL 
house band before leaving in 1982 
to lead the house bands on David 
Letterman’
s TV talk shows. In 
Plus One, Shaffer talks to a lot of 
famous folks (mostly musicians). 
Season One guests include Detroit 
native and Motown legend Smokey 
Robinson, Steely Dan co-founder 
Donald Fagen, 71, and Harry 
Shearer, 75 (in his fictional per-
sona as Spinal Tap bassist Derek 
Smalls). 
Prodigal Son is a crime thriller 
(with some dark humor) that pre-
mieres on Fox on Sept. 23 at 9 
p.m. It centers on Malcolm Bright, 
a law enforcement profiler who 
is incredibly good at his job. He 
knows how killers think. His gift 
seems to be based on the fact that 
his father, Martin Whitly, who is still 
alive, was a notorious serial killer. 
Halston Sage, 26, has a big sup-
porting role as Ainsley, Malcolm’
s 
sister. She’
s a successful TV jour-
nalist with a good sense of humor 
and that humor helps her maintain 
a good relationship with her very 
weird brother. 
 Stumptown starts on ABC 
on Sept. 25 at 10:30 p.m. Cobie 
Smulders stars as a tough pri-
vate investigator with a military 
intelligence background. Camryn 
Manheim (The Practice), 58, has 
a biggish supporting role as police 
lieutenant Cosgrove. 

NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

Manheim

VIA FACEBOOK

Sage

VIA FACEBOOK

Shaffer

PANACEA ENTERTAINMENT

Chabon

BY GAGE SKIDMORE, WIKIMEDIA

Grunberg 

THEMOVIDEDB.ORG

Zingerman’
s Roadhouse 
in Ann Arbor is hosting a 
pre-Rosh Hashanah dinner 
with Joan Nathan, the James 
Beard Award-winning cook-
book author (and a University 
of Michigan grad), at 7 p.m. 
Monday, Sept. 23, at the 
restaurant. 
Nathan, who has written 
11 books and has been called 
“the queen of Jewish cooking,” 
will share Rosh Hashanah 
traditions and stories from her 
lifetime of traveling the globe. 
The special dinner features 
some of Nathan’
s recipes 
recreated by the Roadhouse 
staff — hummus with pre-
served lemon and cumin; 
gefilte fish mold, carrot 
Mahammar with dried clem-
entines, ricotta and fennel; 
Moroccan lamb shanks with 
carmelized onions and a dried 
fruit sauce; Bene Israel fish 
curry with fresh ginger, tama-
rind and cilantro; and dates in 
brown butter with vanilla ice 
cream, date syrup and halvah 
crumble — all from Nathan’
s 
King Solomon’
s Table. 
“Rosh Hashanah is a new 
beginning, a wonderful har-
vest festival,” she told the JN. 
“I feel every holiday is good 
because of the foods — old 
and new. And, at the holidays, 
there are foods you only have 
one time a year. It’
s so import-
ant; it’
s a way Jews have held 
on to tradition for so many 
years.” 
Nathan shared that she’
s 
working on a new book, “a 
memoir in food.” 
Dinner courses will be 
paired with wine selections 
from Michigan’
s Laurentide 
Winery.
Tickets are $100 per person. 
Call (734) 663-3663 or visit 
bit.ly/2khR6SM. 

Zingerman’
s To Host
Joan Nathan For A 
Rosh Hashanah Meal

