40 | JANUARY 9 • 2020 

AT THE MOVIES 
Opening everywhere on Friday, 
Jan. 10, are Just Mercy, Like a 
Boss and 1917. Mercy tells the 
true story of Walter McMillian 
(1941-2001), a black man who 
lived in a small Alabama town. 
He was accused of the 1986 
murder of a white store clerk 
during a robbery. He was con-
victed though he had no criminal 
record and many alibi witness-
es, including a police officer. 
McMillian (Jamie Foxx) was sent 
to death row where he remained 
until 1993. His appeals were 
handled by Bryan Stevenson 
(Michael B. Jordan), a famous 
African American civil rights 
lawyer. Tim Blake Nelson, 55, 
has a large supporting role as 
Ralph Myers, a real-life (white) 
career criminal who claimed he 
and McMillian were partners in 
the store robbery. 
Like a Boss is a comedy 
about Mel (Rose Byrne) and 
Mia (Tiffany Haddish, 40), two 
friends who start a beauty com-
pany together. They do well for a 
time but run into financial trou-
ble. Salma Hayek plays Claire, a 
rich woman who appears to be 
a “white knight investor” who 
will bail the company out. Claire 
demands that Mel and Mia be 
tougher in the way they run the 
company — that they “act like 
a boss.” Ari Graynor, 36, has a 
largish supporting role. 
1917, as I have written 
before, is an acclaimed film 
about British soldiers during 
WWI. Here’
s an interesting 
post-script: on Dec. 27, it was 
announced that Sam Mendes, 
54, who directed and co-wrote 
1917, would receive a knight-
hood from Queen Elizabeth later 
this year. 

TV CATCH-UP
FBI: Most Wanted (CBS, 10 p.m., 
started Jan. 7) is a spin-off 
of the CBS series, FBI, which 
began in 2018. The five co-stars 
include Roxy Sternberg, 30. 
In 2016, she was profiled in 
the London Jewish Chronicle 
after being cast in Emerald 
City, a short-lived NBC series. 
Sternberg is the daughter of 
a black and Jewish Ugandan 
mother and an English Jewish 
father. The Chronicle noted that 
when in London, she teaches 
Hebrew school classes at her 
synagogue (she’
s fluent in 
Hebrew). 

JEWISH OLDEST MAN 
On Dec. 20, Irving Piken cele-
brated his 111th birthday. He is 
now the oldest living man in the 
United States and, yes, he’
s still 
quite mentally sharp. Census 
records show he was born in 
Brooklyn in 1908, the son of 
Russian Jewish immigrants. 
Brooklyn Law School just con-
gratulated him on his birthday, 
noting he’
s their oldest living 
grad (class of 1930). He has 
been a lifelong Dodgers fan and 
has been honored by the team 
at Dodger Stadium. Piken, a 
retired bank president, moved to 
Southern California in 1977. 

Arts&Life

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Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish 
in Like A Boss

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