A roundup of film and celebrity news including Mila Kunis, Avatar sequels, Amy Schumer and Jewish context.
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on Dec. 19. It is another sequel in the very popular Avatar series. The first film, Avatar (2009), was a huge critical and box-office hit. If you factor in inflation, the first Avatar film made the most money that any movie has ever made.
For a variety of reasons, the much-wanted sequel didn’t appear in theaters until 2022 (Avatar: The Way of the Water). Two more sequels are set to open in 2029 and 2031.
The main theme is the conflict between Earth humans, working for the RDA, and the Na’vi, 10-foot-tall blue-skinned, sapient humanoids that live in harmony with nature on Pandora, their planet. Resources on Earth have dried up and the RDA wants to mine important ores on Pandora (not nicely).
James Cameron, 71, wrote and directed the first Avatar film. In 2013, he said he would hire Amanda Silver and her husband, Rick Jaffa, to co-write all the Avatar sequel films. He kept his word. They co-wrote, with Cameron, The Way of the Water (2022) and they co-wrote Fire and Ash with Cameron. The couple is also known for writing other hits, including four reboot Planet of the Apes movies.
Silver,now 62, and Jaffa, now 69, were interviewed by the L.A. Jewish Journal paper in 2014. Silver said her parents were Jewish, and her maternal grandfather, Sidney Buchman (1902-75), got three Oscar nominations for his screenplays. Jaffa said he was raised Christian, but he had a Jewish great-grandfather. The couple told the Journal that they (and their two children) were regular goers to a progressive Los Angeles synagogue.
Stephen Lang, 73, has played the “bad guy,” Col. Miles Quaritch, in all the Avatar films. Lang steadily worked in films and TV shows and, now and again, he got a star role — but never in a big hit. Avatar has made him a much, much better-known actor.
Lang’s father was Jewish; his mother was not. My educated guess is that Lang has always been secular. By the way, Lang’s father, Eugene, was a smart businessman, He was worth $50 million when he died and all of it went to charities. Long before his death, Eugene told his three children his money would go to charity. He told them that they would be better people if they made their own way. This was OK with Stephen.
Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer Mario Santor
You may have caught photos, last month, of Amy Schumer, 44, looking incredibly slimmer (and healthy). It seemed, to me, that all the articles about her weight loss only mentioned that she had found a better weight loss medicine than another she tried.
However, these articles didn’t get to the real story. She clarified things when she posted an Instagram video on Dec. 1. She said she had been diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome more than a year before. This syndrome can result in higher weight and dangerously high blood pressure.
She said she worked hard to bring down her weight because weight loss would reduce or eliminate the “bad stuff” associated with the syndrome. Vanity, she said, had nothing to do with her weight loss.
Etc.
Here’s two “still fresh” items that I couldn’t fit in my last column:
Wake-Up a Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery opened in a few theaters on Nov. 26 (to be eligible for Oscar awards) and it premiered on Netflix on Dec. 12. It’s the third mystery/comedy film in the Knives Out film series. Daniel Craig reprises his role as Benoit Blanc, a master detective. The film’s stars include Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and Mila Kunis, 42. Kunis plays Geraldine Scott, a local police chief.
The Hallmark Channel makes about 30 original Christmas films every year. In 2022 and 2023, Hallmark finally made two good Chanukah-themed films: Hanukkah on Rye and Round and Round. In 2024, it was a so/so interfaith holiday film (Leah’s Perfect Gift).
Oy to the World premiered on Dec. 14, 2025. Good sources say it’s another not very good interfaith romance film. (Suggestion: Take advantage of the one-week free Hallmark subscription. You probably can view the 2022 and 2023 films).
Long ago, Hallmark made good films for CBS. Loving Leah (2009) is a great Jewish, Hallmark/CBS movie. Available now on many free apps (including Tubi, Plex and Pluto).
Yes, I have mentioned this movie before. But this film is good with any Jewish holiday. Trust me, you’ll love it.