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. We roll out with three Jangles -- news with a Jewish angle. Borschel-Dan gives her favorite actress, 96-year-old June Squib, a shoutout for her recent Tony nomination for "Marjorie Prime." Hoffman discusses his recent discovery of a famous Jewish porn star and also the new reboot of "Lord of the Flies" which hints that one...
May 14, 2026•45 min
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, we dive straight into our two films for this week, the 2021 documentary "Bernstein's Wall" and Bradley Cooper's 2023 "Maestro." Our two classical music fans begin with the documentary, highlighting the parts of conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein's life that were previously unknown to them. We hear how the movi...
May 07, 2026•55 min
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, before diving into our two films for this week, we revisit the 1960 film "Exodus" with a few reflections based on listeners' responses -- and Hoffman's musing while sweeping. We then hear about the movie maven's night out enjoying the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, and the E-Street Band's longtime Jewish musicians. Th...
Apr 30, 2026•45 min
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, before diving into the nuts and bolts of the iconic epic Hollywood adventure, we learn how the 1960 film "Exodus" is part of Hoffman's genesis story. Hoffman lays out the film's plot, which is based on a 1958 Leon Uris novel. We learn about director Otto Preminger, who was a very big deal in Tinsel Town during h...
Apr 22, 2026•43 min
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. We start the program with a "Jangle" -- a Jewish angle -- on this week's entertainment news. Hoffman brings a tale of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, who defends three Israelis in Times Square who are being attacked by a would-be social media influencer. Hear what transpires. Our main feature this week is Israeli dir...
Apr 16, 2026•44 min
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. We start the program with two "Jangles" -- Jewish angles -- on this week's entertainment news. In a follow-up to our previous program, we hear how the comic Modi dropped out of a Passover event after finding out that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was participating. A principled stance? And then, Hoffman pays tribute t...
Apr 07, 2026•56 min
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 team takes our listeners -- and our boss -- up on their recommendations. After Borschel-Dan asked listeners for their favorite stand-up comedians, we received a deluge of responses. We decided to launch our stand-up tour with " Modi: Know Your Audience ," which is available freely on YouTube. While both had ...
Mar 26, 2026•48 min
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. In today's Oscar episode, movie maven Hoffman gives us a Jewy recap of this year's Academy Awards. We learn about surprising Jewish roots among some winners and how a person we thought was a sure thing came home with nothing. We then turn to the most recent installment of "Superman" and discuss the hero's Jewish roots and ...
Mar 18, 2026•53 min
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. In today's escapism episode, movie maven Hoffman begins with a recommendation of a new, very Jewy podcast, Classical Music Happy Hour with pianist Emanuel Ax. We then discuss the 2025 independent film, "Fantasy Life," written and directed by Matthew Shear. His directorial debut is produced by and stars Amanda Peet, Shear, ...
Mar 12, 2026•43 min
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. In today's Oscar-themed episode, movie maven Hoffman begins with a rant against the cynical social media uproar over a misstepped statement made at the Berlin Festival. We then hear about the 2025 hit "Blue Moon," which portrays a pivotal night in the life of master lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film is up for two Academy Awar...
Feb 26, 2026•56 min
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. Movie maven Hoffman begins with a tribute to master documentarian Frederick Wiseman , who died this week, aged 96. We then hear about the Israeli film “Children No More: Were and Are Gone,” directed by Hila Medalia, which is nominated for Best Documentary Short Film. The film documents a vigil that began in March 2025 in T...
Feb 19, 2026•52 min
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. After Borschel-Dan reads out a listener's cottage cheese-themed email, Hoffman brings us a news "Jangle" involving "Marty Supreme" actress Odessa A'zion. Next, we hear how to pickle lemons, and then we turn to an Israeli student film, "The Butcher's Stain," that is up for an Oscar this year for Best Short Film. Hoffman wei...
Feb 12, 2026•54 min
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. Hoffman delights with his New Jersey quest for the best cottage cheese in the world -- Israeli -- much to the utter scorn of Borschel-Dan before turning to his scathing review of the new Amazon "documentary" charting the life of First Lady Melania Trump prior to the inauguration. We hear a theory that producer Melania Trum...
Feb 06, 2026•40 min
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, we hear scintillating updates on Hoffman's test drive of his new snow blower before launching into our two Schmoovies of the week. First, we discuss "33 photos from the Ghetto," which explores the saga of a trove of previously unpublished photographs of the Nazis brutally suppressing the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Revol...
Jan 29, 2026•52 min
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. We update that last week's main movie, "Holding Liat," is now playing in 20 locations throughout North America. Then we hear a "Jangle" about unabashed Zionist Michael Rapaport, who was just in the news for his participation in "The Traitors." The first "Schmoovie" of the week is "It Was Just an Accident" by Iranian filmma...
Jan 22, 2026•52 min
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. The "Schmoovie" of the week is "Holding Liat," a remarkable documentary that charts the struggle of one Israeli-American family to return its loved ones who were taken hostage to Gaza during the Hamas murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Short-listed for an Oscar for Best Documentary, "Holding Liat" i...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr
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. The "Schmoovie" of the week is "Marty Supreme," starring Timothée Chalamet (who also co-produced), Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara and Fran Drescher. It was produced and directed by Josh Safdie, who also co-wrote the script, alongside Ronald Bronstein. Like the very Jewish film it ...
Jan 01, 2026•56 min
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, we hear amazing Jangles (entertainment news a Jew can use) from Hoffman, including the contentious NY launch of "Marty Supreme" and the inside scoop into actor Jack Black's superwoman of a mother. We hear a full-throated recommendation from Borschel-Dan for a multi-media performance she caught that is touring Is...
Dec 25, 2025•52 min
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, we hear reviews of two films: the 2019 "An Officer and a Spy," a film by controversial director Roman Polanski on the Dreyfus Affair, which is now playing in the United States, and the shattering documentary, "The Voice of Hind Rajab." But the pair opens the program by honoring director-actor Rob Reiner, who was...
Dec 16, 2025•50 min
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 speaks about two new movies, the feature film, "Jay Kelly," and the short documentary "Carol & Joy." But first, we hear in this week’s “Jangle” segment, an update on a story from last week regarding one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the film, "Eleanor the Great," Sami Steigmann, who was ask...
Dec 11, 2025•49 min
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 speaks about two films, "Eleanor the Great," directed by Scarlett Johansson, and the documentary, "Son of a Seeker," by first-time filmmaker Kai Balin. But first, we hear in this week's "Jangle" segment, Hoffman recounts the recent votes of the New York Film Critics Circle for their annual "best-ofs," w...
Dec 04, 2025•52 min
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 speaks about two films, a feminist independent Iranian documentary called "Cutting Through Rocks," which won an international documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and the 1990 Thanksgiving classic, "Avalon." But first, in the entertainment news section we call the "Jangle," Borsch...
Nov 27, 2025•46 min
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 speaks about two films -- the new-ish, Jewish, "Bad Shabbos," and the classic Mel Brooks's "History of the World, Part I." But first, we turn to the segment, "What's the Jangle," in which we discuss two tidbits of Jewish entertainment news. Hoffman gives a tiny peek at the upcoming super Jewy film starr...
Nov 20, 2025•45 min
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 ...
Nov 15, 2025•36 min
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. In this episode zero, the duo beta-tests their soon-to-be-launched podcast series — so new it did not yet have a name — in which they will deliver entertainment news from a Jewish angle (aka Jangle) and review one new or noteworthy film. This week, the pair first discusses the growing boycott of Israeli filmmakers at inter...
Nov 11, 2025•41 min
