Adina Bernstein

I love Old Hollywood movies and television shows. There is a class, elegance, a distinct type of storytelling that is usually not seen in today’s movies. While most of the iconic actresses from the era were blonde or brunette, there were a few redheads who stood out.
1. Maureen O’Hara
The late Maureen O’Hara was the physical embodiment of the redhead. Irish, feisty, intelligent and with a very sharp tongue, she was one of the few actresses of the era to successfully break into the boys club a...

In 1999, Star Wars fans around the world queued up at their local box office, eager to step once more into the world of Star Wars. It had been 16 years since Return of the Jedi and fans were ready to return to the movies to watch another Star Wars film on the big screen. Entitled Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the film takes place a generation before Leia (the late and very missed Carrie Fisher), Luke (Mark Hamill) and Han (Harrison Ford) wage war against the Empire.
The buildup to Phantom Me...

On November 26th, 2008, the eyes of the world were on Mumbai. Terrorists were openly and brazenly killing innocent civilians. Among the nearly 200 dead and more than 300 wounded were staff and guests at the Taj Palace and Tower. Their story is told in the new movie, Hotel Mumbai.
The following review will be spoiler free.
Synopsis
Directed by: Anthony Maras
Written by: Anthony Maras and John Collee
Starring: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Anupam Kher, and Jason...

It’s never easy to start a solo career after spending years in a popular band. Last year, former Yellowcard front man William Ryan Key released two solo albums, Thirteen and Virtue and, on March 1, 2019, he played at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg.
Joining Key on stage was his former Yellowcard bandmate Josh Portman, actor/musician Patrick Heusinger and Selfish Things drummer Jordan Trask. Playing mostly songs from Virtue and Thirteen ,with a handful of old Yellowcard favorites, Key harkene...

War has a way of changing everything, relationships included. The new movie, The Aftermath, based on the book by Rhidian Brook, dives into this idea, looking into the aftermath of war and the repercussions that such atrocities have on an individual.
The following review will be spoiler free.
Synopsis
Directed By: James Kent
Written By: Joe Shrapnel (screenplay), Anna Waterhouse (screenplay) and Rhidian Brook (novel)
Starring: Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke, Flora Thiemann, Alexander Skarsgård,...

When I was growing up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the on-screen redheads that my former child self could look to as an icon were limited. There was Anne Shirley, but her story was limited to the small screen. Then The Little Mermaid premiered in 1989.
I Will Always Have an Affinity for Ariel
There is nothing like going to the movies and seeing yourself reflected on screen. Not only did I look like Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), but I understood her as well. She was and always will be to a certa...

Every genre has it’s expected clichés. The romantic comedy genre is no exception. The new movie, Isn’t It Romantic, both revels in the clichés and mocks them in gleeful fashion.
The following review will be spoiler free.
Synopsis
Directed By: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Written By: Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox and Kate Silberman
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Liam Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra, Alex Kis, Brandon Scott Jones and Jennifer Saunders
The film starts in the early 90’s. Young Natalie (Alex ...

For everyone who dreams of making it in Hollywood, only a small handful will see their dreams become reality. Among that small handful, an ever-smaller group of performers become icons. Glenn Close is one of those performers who has become an icon in Hollywood.
Her most recent movie, The Wife, hit theaters last fall. Based on the novel by Meg Wolitzer, Close and the film have already received multiple nominations and awards this season. The list of nominations includes a best actress Oscar no...

The mere act of walking into a bookstore gives any book lover a high. The mere act of walking through the Brooklyn Book Festival multiplies that high times 100. It is an experience that cannot be explained, only felt.
Held this year on September 16th in Downtown Brooklyn, the festival hosted publishing houses, magazines, undergraduate/graduate programs, and a booth presided over by JASNA-NY. Volunteers did more than sell books, DVDs, and recruit new members to the region. They brought Austen ...

When the Titanic fell into the ocean in 1912, the ship and her passengers became part of our cultural history. In 1997, writer/director James Cameron retold the story of Titanic through the eyes of doomed lovers Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio). Though there have been other filmed adaptations of Titanic, this film struck a nerve with the film-going public.
I was a teenager when Titanic hit theaters. Like many young girls at the time, I thought the movie was the greatest film e...

Christian Bale is one of the most respected actors of our era. Like Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman, he immerses himself so deeply into his character that the audience forgets that they are watching him play a fictional character in a fictional narrative. But in the early 1990’s, he was just another young actor hoping to build his career and reputation. In 1992 and 1993, Bale played two young men who rebel not just for the sake of youthful rebellion, but for a greater cause.
In 1992, Bale pl...

On the surface, rebooting a classic and beloved film seems simple. The narrative, characters and fan base are already there, it is just a matter of updating the individual pieces that are outdated. But there is more to it than a simple update. A filmmaker cannot just do the film equivalent of transforming a 1920’s Ford Model T into a modern sports car and think that audiences will flock to the theaters. There needs to be something more to the reboot.
1959’s Pillow Talk is one of the great rom...

For me, one of the harder aspects of living with depression is the fact that I am always exhausted. Nothing ever seems to quell the exhaustion. I try to get a good night’s sleep and eat healthy, limit my caffeine intake, etc., but I am always, always exhausted. There are some weekends when I sleep in and take a nap during the day. And yet, when it comes to bedtime, I have no problems falling asleep.
I went away a few months ago with my writing group for our bi-annual writing retreat. The reas...

When a screenwriter or screenwriters sits down to write a fan satire, they are walking a fine line. While the satirical elements must be present in the narrative, the fan base must feel like they are not being laughed at or used as a lesson on how not to be act or behave. Fanboys hit theaters in 2009. Austenland was released into theaters in 2013. The question is, which film balances satire and the fans, and which doesn’t?
Fanboys
Fanboys is set in 1998, right before the release of Star Wars ...

Every genre has it’s own standard narrative. In the romantic comedy genre, the standard narrative is as follows: There is a meet cute for the lead couple, their relationship or lack thereof builds, there is conflict and by the time the credits roll, there is some version of happily ever after. The problem with this narrative is that even with the predictable plot points, some creative teams are still too reliant on what they know instead of trying something new.
And yet, Only the Lonely stays...