Joe Bendel

New York

Covers film, television, jazz, and a smidge of theater in multiple places (including J.B. Spins, Cinema Daily US, The Epoch Times, and Criminal Element).

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Articles

It Should Satisfy the Fanbase and Makes this CW’s Oldest Skewing Series Yet

1 week ago | cinemadailyus.com | Joe Bendel

©Courtesy of CW Sherlock Holmes only had one canonical relative in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories, his older brother Mycroft, a late Victorian deep-state power broker. However, subsequent writers and filmmakers keep adding siblings, like his teen sister Enola and his “smarter” younger brother Sigerson (played by Gene Wilder). Frankly, the prickly detective never showed much parenting potential, but in this new series, Amelia Rojas believes he is her father.
A Compelling & Darkly Comic One-Darned-Thing-After-Another Chaos

1 week ago | cinemadailyus.com | Joe Bendel

©Courtesy of Apple TV It is hard to switch careers at Andrew Cooper’s age. In his case, it is especially difficult, because his boss engineered a humiliating scandal to justify firing him. However, Gen X’ers usually have the resourcefulness to find a way.
‘G20’: US President Evades Terrorists

1 week ago | theepochtimes.com | Joe Bendel

This so-called thriller passes the time, but that’s about it. 4/12/2025Updated: 4/12/2025R | 1h 48m | Action | 2025Technically, there are 21 members of the G20, the multinational forum founded to address economic issues that cross borders. There are only 19 member-nations; these nations granted full membership status to the European and African Unions. Out of those 19 nations, several are outright dictatorships, like China. Consequently, nobody really expects the G20 to really do anything.
‘October 8’: The Disturbing Re-emergence of Anti-Semitism

1 month ago | theepochtimes.com | Joe Bendel

A documentary exposes the hatred of Jews on college campuses after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. 3/14/2025Updated: 3/14/2025NR | 1h 40m | Documentary | 2025When Americans learned of the Armenian genocide in 1916, they raised over $110 million in early 20th-century dollars (well over $3.4 billion when adjusted for inflation) for relief efforts. Yet, perversely, after the Oct.
‘The World Will Tremble’: The Horror of Concentration Camps

1 month ago | theepochtimes.com | Joe Bendel

NR | 1h 49m | Drama | 2025Many consider Jan Karski’s famous report to be the earliest documentation exposing the National Socialist (Nazi) concentration camps. But the eye-witness account written by Solomon Wiener (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) was the first to reach the Allies. It also detailed the genocidal process more thoroughly. Wiener and his companion, Michael Podchlebnik (Jeremy Neumark Jones) knew firsthand of what he wrote because they survived the Chelmno death camp in Poland.
‘Meeting With Pol Pot’: The Danger of Talking With a Dictator

1 month ago | theepochtimes.com | Joe Bendel

NR | 1h 52m | Drama | 2024Malcolm Caldwell could be considered the Walter Duranty of Cambodia. In much the same way Duranty covered up Stalin’s genocidal policies targeting Ukrainians (known as the Holodomor) in his New York Times reports, Caldwell notoriously sanitized the Khmer Rouge’s mass murder of its people. Yet the Scottish “journalist” was murdered by the communist regime mere hours after he interviewed dictator Pol Pot.
Michel Gondry's Maya, Give Me a Title Review

1 month ago | cinemadailyus.com | Joe Bendel

©Courtesy of NYICFF So far, Michel Gondry has only released about a dozen features, but his prolific filmography includes dozens of short films and music videos. Unfortunately, we may never have a chance to see his Pharell Williams musical Golden, which was reportedly cancelled due to a creative impasse. Instead, we finally get to enjoy a collection of animated shorts he originally produced for an audience of one. Yet, they are near to his heart, because they were inspired by his daughter, Maya.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux -Beginning-Review

1 month ago | cinemadailyus.com | Joe Bendel

©Courtesy of GKIDS Inspired by Manfred von Richthofen, “The Red Baron,” Char Aznable is a fan-favorite villain in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, whose popularity eclipses many of its heroes.
‘Jazzy’: Coming of Age on a Reservation

1 month ago | theepochtimes.com | Joe Bendel

The friendship of two preteens shapes their life on an Oglala Lakota reservation. 2/26/2025Updated: 2/26/2025NR | 1h 26m | Drama | 2025Jasmine, known as “Jazzy” (Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux) lives in a trailer park, while her extended family still resides on their Oglala Lakota reservation. Yet she never thinks of herself as poor. All her schoolmates lead similar lives under roughly equivalent conditions.
Sirens of the Deep" Displays a Keen Understanding of Its Source Material and an Affinity for Its Fans

2 months ago | cinemadailyus.com | Joe Bendel

©Courtesy of Netflix Much like Philadelphia has its Rocky Balboa statue, the Polish city of Lodz features an enormous 2,000 square meter mural of Geralt of Rivia, the monster-fighter-for-hire also known as “The Witcher.” First Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories were adapted as a Polish film and TV series. Then, Netflix produced an English language series, starring Henry Cavill. A subsequent standalone anime prequel, Nightmare of the Wolf, focused on the young Geralt and his mentor.