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      Marvel Attracts Criticism With Israeli “Captain America” Superhero

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      The studio has angered many Palestinians and their supporters by casting the actress Shira Haas to play Sabra, a mutant Mossad agent, in a “Captain America” movie.JERUSALEM — It was the latest addition to a fantasy world populated by an ever-growing cast of superheroes and villains: Marvel Studios announced this past week that it had cast the Israeli actress Shira Haas to play Sabra, a mutant Israeli police officer-turned-Mossad agent, in the next installment of the “Captain America” franchise.While Jewish Israelis rejoiced at the casting of an actress from Israel as a superhero in a major Hollywood production (“Israeli Pride,” declared the Hebrew news site Maariv), the backlash among Palestinians and their supporters was swift, and #CaptainApartheid soon appeared on social media.Many critics expressed outrage about Sabra’s character and her identity as an Israeli intelligence agent, accusing Marvel of buying into Zionist propaganda; of ignoring, or supporting, Israel’s occupation of territory captured in 1967; and of dehumanizing Palestinians.“By glorifying the Israeli army & police, Marvel is promoting Israel’s violence against Palestinians & enabling the continued oppression of millions of Palestinians living under Israel’s authoritarian military rule,” wrote the Institute for Middle East Understanding, a U.S.-based pro-Palestinian organization, on Twitter.Compounding the anger was the name of the superhero, Sabra, which has different connotations for Israelis and Palestinians. To Israeli Jews, a Sabra can simply be a person born in Israel. But Sabra is also the name of a refugee camp in Lebanon where a Christian militia massacred hundreds of Palestinians while Israeli troops stood by 40 years ago.“The bottom line is that to Palestinians, Marvel having an Israeli superhero whitewashes the occupation,” said Sani Meo, publisher of This Week in Palestine, a magazine about Palestinian issues.Palestinians and their supporters around the world have been posting profusely about “Captain Apartheid,” he said. “Some of it is humorous,” he added, “though the topic is not humorous.”A 1940 sketch by Joe Simon of Captain America with a copy of a Marvel comic from the 1960s at the Library of Congress in Washington.Zach Gibson for The New York TimesMarvel Studios declined to answer detailed questions about the issue or about the company’s intentions in bringing Sabra to the big screen.“While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics,” the studio said in a statement, “they are always freshly imagined for the screen and today’s audience, and the filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago.”Explore the Marvel Cinematic UniverseThe popular franchise of superhero films and TV series continues to expand.‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’: Tatiana Maslany described the giant, green character making her television debut on Disney+ as “weirdly, the closest thing to my own experience I’ve done ever.”‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’: The trailer for the long-awaited sequel was unveiled at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The film will be released on Nov. 11.‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: The fourth “Thor” movie in 11 years, directed by Taika Waititi, embraces wholesale self-parody and is sillier than any of its predecessors.‘Ms. Marvel’: This Disney+ series introduces a new character: Kamala Khan, a Muslim high schooler in Jersey City who is mysteriously granted superpowers.Whatever its motivations, Marvel has found itself mired in the intractable, century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel has been vilified by international human rights groups and by boycott and divestment activists for its policies toward the Palestinians. Some of those organizations equate Israeli policy with apartheid. But the country is also gaining broader acceptance by some Arab governments, such as the United Arab Emirates, that have grown tired of waiting for any resolution of the long conflict.Simmering in the background, fierce disputes still frequently erupt in Israel and in the occupied territories over history, territory and national identity.Last year, those tensions embroiled another Israeli actress, Gal Gadot, who appears as Wonder Woman in a different superhero franchise, when she decried the continuing cycle of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Critics assailed her for comments in which she defended Israel’s right to exist, even as she expressed support for “our neighbors.”Much of the furor over Marvel’s decision to include Sabra in the new movie, called “Captain America: A New World Order,” centers on the name of the character itself.To Israeli Jews, sabra is the Hebrew name of a cactus bush and its fruit, prickly on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside, which the nation’s founders adopted as the nickname for native-born Israelis.But to Palestinians, the sabra bush, traditionally used to mark the boundaries of village lands, is a symbol of loss and steadfastness (“sabr” is also the Arabic word for “patience”). During the war that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948, Zionist and Israeli forces destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees after fleeing or being expelled from their homes. But the hardy sabra bushes remained an indelible part of the landscape even after most traces of the villages were erased.Residents of the Sabra camp in Lebanon mourning those who were slain in the 1982 massacre.Jamal/Associated PressCritics have also accused Marvel of being insensitive to the link between the Israeli superhero’s name and that of the refugee camp in Lebanon. Sabra and Shatila are the names of two Palestinian camps in Lebanon where, from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18 in 1982, a Lebanese Christian militia massacred hundreds of residents. Israeli troops had allowed the militia to enter the camps, and Israeli commanders issued no orders to stop the carnage.“Social media activists are slamming Marvel over their new Israeli Mossad superhero ‘Sabra,’ whose name is sensitive considering the Sabra and Shatila massacre,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA wrote on Twitter.The character of Sabra first surfaced in an issue of “The Incredible Hulk” comic book in 1980, wearing a blue cape and white bodysuit featuring a Star of David. That debut was some two years before the massacre in Lebanon.Yossi Klein Halevi, an American Israeli author and senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a Jerusalem-based research and educational center, said he believed that the filmmakers had not intended to reference the refugee camp when they decided to use the character.Over the course of a long conflict, like the one between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he said, “a kind of cultural paranoia sets in.”“Sometimes, a Marvel movie is just a Marvel movie,” he added.Still, critics point at how, in a 1981 Hulk issue titled “Power and Peril in the Promised Land,” the character of Sabra initially showed little emotion over the death of a Palestinian boy in an explosion, until the Hulk enlightened her about basic human values.Nothing is yet known about the story line of the next “Captain America” movie, which is scheduled for release in 2024, or the scope of Sabra’s debut role.Ms. Haas, left, on the set of the Netflix series “Unorthodox” in Berlin. One Israeli director praised her as “a brilliant actress who is relatable for her beautiful human flaws and not inhuman perfections.”Anika Molnar/Netflix/EPA, via Shutterstock’But Joseph Cedar, a New York-born Israeli director of movies including “Norman” and “Footnote,” praised Marvel’s casting of Ms. Haas, 27.A diminutive actress who has gained international recognition for her roles in the Netflix series “Unorthodox” and “Shtisel,” Ms. Haas survived cancer as a child.“I like the idea that the embodiment of an Israeli superhero is not a tall supermodel, but rather a brilliant actress who is relatable for her beautiful human flaws and not inhuman perfections,” Mr. Cedar said.Einat Wilf, a former Israeli lawmaker and author of “We Should All Be Zionists,” said that Israel was “enjoying a certain cultural moment,” with many of its local television productions finding success on international streaming platforms. “Marvel wants to make money,” she noted, adding that it appeared the studio saw the box office appeal of an Israeli superhero.Ms. Wilf said that she was withholding judgment about Sabra until the release of the movie, noting that superheroes had become more complex characters in recent years, with “a good side, an evil side, a trauma history.”“I am not so sure that an Israeli superhero will necessarily mean a positive portrayal of Israel,” she added.Hiba Yazbek More

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      ‘Drifting Home’ Review: A Sinking Development

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      Two friends visit their old apartment building and make haunting discoveries in this animated film from Hiroyasu Ishida.You never know what you’re getting with real estate: a building could have water damage from sailing through the ocean; could have structural damage from colliding, Titantic-style, with other drifting domiciles; or it could have a spirit-child squatter. This makes for a terrible appraisal but might make for a great fantasy drama.Just not in “Drifting Home,” Hiroyasu Ishida’s animated film on Netflix, which feels utterly lost at sea.The film follows Kosuke and Natsume, sixth graders and longtime friends who were raised together in the same apartment complex, and whose relationship has been tense ever since Kosuke’s grandfather died. Natsume sneaks back to the building where they once lived, which is set to be demolished. When Kosuke and an irrelevant brat pack of peers find her, they’re magically transported to an ocean haunted by ghosts of buildings long past.Though “Drifting Home” delivers a great visual concept (both a public pool and a department store with decaying walls sail by like the ghostly cousins of the Mary Celeste), it doesn’t deliver on the action. The pacing lags and the beats are predictable; the film’s go-to antic is having children repeatedly topple overboard.The emotional battleground between the reticent but traumatized Natsume and the guarded Kosuke is rich territory but feels more procedural than fleshed out, as does the fantastical logic of the world, which lacks coherence. So the underlying metaphor is unclear: Is it how nostalgia is linked to places, or is it an elegy for the actual structures and neighborhoods that have changed? It’s hard to tell with a film whose narrative goes so unattended.Drifting HomeRated PG. In Japanese, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘I Used to Be Famous’ Review: Hold On to That Feeling

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      A boy band veteran teams up with an autistic teenager in this film about friendship and music.The title of this movie is a bit of misdirection. Yes, one of the main characters, Vince, was famous. He’s a boy band veteran who is 20 years past his peak popularity when the story picks up in the present day. But this is less a first person singular tale than one of a team effort.Vince, played with a mostly winning ingenuousness by Ed Skrein, is trying to get his musical career back on track. It’s not going well — he’s taken to setting up his gear on top of an ironing board for an impromptu park performance in his South London neighborhood. There, he’s joined by an onlooker with a pair of drumsticks who makes joyful noises on a metal bench. He makes Vince’s electronic noodlings into something like a jam.The kid is Stevie, who is autistic, and he’s played by the neurodivergent actor Leo Long. The seamlessness with which the actor and his compelling character fit into picture, directed by Eddie Sternberg, is the most noteworthy thing about it.Vince pursues Stevie to a neighborhood music program, an inspirational drum circle headed by Dia (Kurt Egyiawan). Vince then tries to convince Amber, Stevie’s protective mother (Eleanor Matsuura), that a club gig could be good for the kid. He practically begs his former boy-band colleague, the still-famous Austin (Eoin Macken) to hear the duo, named The Tin Men by a club owner.It’s all pretty predictable, right down to the transfer of don’t-stop-believing energy from Vince to Stevie, and the delivery of the inevitable line, “All he ever wanted was a friend.” This has the effect of making the finale, which actually takes an exit ramp off triumphalist clichés, genuinely surprising.I Used to Be FamousNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘See How They Run’ Review: An Agatha Christie Mystery Spoof

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      Unraveling a murder case backstage at a Christie play in 1950s London.The whodunit comedy “See How They Run” is set backstage in a 1950s London production of the long-running Agatha Christie play “The Mousetrap.” With a sprightly wit and an all-star cast to bring it to life, the movie manages to be a loving parody of theater gossips, postwar London and Christie’s murder mysteries all at once.The story is an investigation of the murder of a Hollywood film director, Leo Köpernick (Adrien Brody). Leo had been hired to adapt the play, and he was killed in cold blood at the theater, making all the show’s players potential suspects and, they fear, potential future victims. There’s the disgruntled screenwriter, Mervyn (David Oyelowo), the sensitive actor Dickie (Harris Dickinson), and the hard-nosed theater owner (Ruth Wilson). Each has their motives, and an odd couple of detectives are assigned to untangle them. Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) is a jaded veteran, and his apprentice is a movie-loving rookie, Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan).As a parody, the film is quick to show its appreciation for the genres being spoofed. One charming gag finds Stalker pausing her criminal analysis to praise the virtues of performers who are tangentially mentioned in the course of the investigation. “Rex Harrison, wonderful actor,” she reverently intones.It’s an endearing bit because the same compliments could be passed along to this film’s decorated cast. The director Tom George gives his performers permission to approach their roles with cake-eating aplomb, and he complements their enthusiasm with campy direction, winking at the audience through title cards, split screens and paisleyed production design. The result is a plummy affair, a proper figgy pudding baked out of once-stale Scotland Yard tropes.See How They RunRated PG-13 for brief violence. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Casablanca Beats’ Review: Hip-Hop Isn’t Dead

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      Nabil Ayouch’s exuberant musical declares that the genre hasn’t faded; it has just been hiding in a Moroccan slum.When the rapper Nas proclaimed 16 years ago that hip-hop was dead — namely, by titling an album “Hip-Hop Is Dead” — it was a statement laced with self-aware irony: This was a hip-hop record, after all.As he always made clear, his title wasn’t the predictable gripe of an intellectual vanguard (“Painting is dead,” “God is dead,” etc.) but a call to action — a response to hip-hop’s co-option by corporate interests. It’s hard to imagine his assessment has improved. But if the French Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch’s exuberant new film, “Casablanca Beats,” is any indication, perhaps one need only look outside the United States for a reminder of the genre’s original power to create political change.Filmed in a hand-held, naturalistic style, “Casablanca” feels often like a documentary — until it spontaneously bursts into lyrics or dance, like “Fame” without the leotards, “Dancer in the Dark” without the contempt. The story is familiar, set in a tough neighborhood where Anas (Anas Basbousi), a former rapper, arrives to teach hip-hop at a community arts center.It is also, as his troubled teenage students are all too aware, a place that has historically produced suicide bombers. Hemmed in by joblessness, religious conservatism and captious expectations, the students are seduced by the devil’s music.Anas teaches class by day, sleeps in his car at night. Of his past, we know little. But when he tells his students that hip-hop is about speaking truth to power, not bling and petty beefs, it’s clear that he walks his own talk. We’ll forgive him and his students, flush with the joys and indignations of youth, for the occasional maudlin speech — and Ayouch for the attendant schmaltz. Hip-hop isn’t dead, the film energetically insists; it’s just been hiding in a Moroccan slum.Casablanca BeatsNot rated. In Arabic, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Heathers: The Musical’ Review: For the Cliques

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      This musical may lack the 1989 movie’s nihilism, but the gags still work and the songs are great — who are we to quibble?The wicked comedy “Heathers” (1989) has not mellowed with age. To the contrary, the film’s acerbic description of deception, murder and high school cliques feels even more brazenly arch in our age of catfishing and banalized violence. Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe’s musical adaptation pulls its punches compared to the original but it still has some bite, and a quiver of great songs. The show, which opened Off Broadway in 2014, has even acquired an international following of its own — this Roku Channel capture, directed by Andy Fickman, was filmed in London’s West End in May.As in the movie, nice-girl Veronica (Ailsa Davidson) enjoys a brief alliance with a trio of queen bees all named Heather and led by the imperial Heather Chandler (Maddison Firth) — they get the best number, the brilliantly glam-pop “Candy Store.” Eventually Veronica joins forces with J.D. (Simon Gordon), the manipulative loner who is the musical’s biggest casualty: the story hinges on him being unabashedly nihilistic but both the show and Gordon’s portrayal are too timid. Vivian Panka, on the other hand, easily commands center stage as a robotically intense Heather Duke, and nails her solo, “Never Shut Up Again.” That new song is among the changes Murphy and O’Keefe have made since the New York version — some underlining Veronica’s agency, others sanitizing a few lyrics (though there are still healthy helpings of the indispensable profanity). But despite these flashes of timidity and an overlong running time, the musical is a fun romp with plenty of, ahem, killer tunes.Heathers: The MusicalNot rated. Running time: 2 hours 16 minutes. Watch on the Roku Channel. More

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      ‘Confess, Fletch’ Review: Solving a Crime, Eventually

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      Jon Hamm bops along amiably enough as the carefree, wiseacre detective once played by Chevy Chase.Insouciance goes a fairly long way in “Confess, Fletch,” which revives the wiseacre investigator once played by Chevy Chase and featured in a series of novels by Gregory Mcdonald. Now Jon Hamm bops along as Irwin Fletcher (a.k.a. Fletch), living the life of Riley and explaining to strangers that he once was a great reporter. Tapping into a minor vogue in murder mysteries, Greg Mottola’s relaxed-fit film follows Fletch after he discovers a dead woman in the art-filled Boston house where he’s staying.Fletch blithely feeds tips to the police detective (Roy Wood Jr.) on the scene, ignoring the fact that he’s under suspicion himself. At the same time, his Italian girlfriend, Angela (Lorenza Izzo), suspects her stepmother of angling for her family’s art since the disappearance of her father. So Fletch noses around, questioning a high-rolling art dealer (Kyle MacLachlan) who loves EDM, a gabby neighbor (Annie Mumolo, more or less channeling Janice Soprano), and Angela’s chaotic stepmother (Marcia Gay Harden, having a ball).If any of that elicits a “heh,” you might warm to Mottola’s ambling brand of comedy, which also casts a faintly absurd light on the yacht-friendly Boston milieu. Yet a haplessness clings to Hamm that tends to take the air out of his character’s shenanigans.All of which makes one appreciate master practitioners of the unhurried detective genre like Peter Falk or James Garner. But getting peeved at Mottola and Hamm’s easygoing efforts would be like getting mad at a cat for sleeping too much.Confess, FletchRated R for sex, some drugs and gumshoe mischief. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘Goodnight Mommy’ Review: Behind the Mask

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      Twin boys worry that their mother might be an impostor in this disappointing remake.Far be it from me to quibble over punctuation, but the absence of the vocative comma in the title of “Goodnight Mommy” — an American remake of the Austrian chiller “Goodnight, Mommy” (2015) — should be read as a warning of other, more problematic omissions.Like the prickling atmosphere of dread that blanketed the original and is only pallidly reproduced here. The plot, though, remains roughly the same: Twin boys, Elias and Lucas (Cameron Crovetti and Nicholas Crovetti), arrive at their mother’s isolated country home after an unspecified absence to find her head swathed in gauze and her behavior apparently altered. Telling the boys she has undergone “a little procedure,” Mommy (Naomi Watts) bars them from her darkened quarters, and also — uh-oh! — from the barn. Is she an impostor?That question will be answered, if without the aesthetic elegance, masterly editing or rumbling horror of the first film. Even so, Kyle Warren’s screenplay is potent enough to generate several moments of suspense, and Watts, an exceptional actor sidelined too often by poor choices, is not the problem here. That would be the decision to jettison the children’s most creative cruelties — and consequently much of the movie’s tension — and a director, Matt Sobel, who’s determined to steer the audience toward a specific interpretation of events. The result is a film that feels lazily compressed and overly literal, suggesting a lamentable discomfort with ambiguity that’s all too common in arthouse-to-mainstream retreads.The new movie’s late-pandemic timing and the ubiquity of masking, however, add a fresh layer to the psychological underpinnings of both films. Perhaps never before have we understood so clearly how much of our ability to trust rests on being able to see the entirety of the human face.Goodnight MommyRated R for disturbing dreams and dirty dancing. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. Watch on Amazon Prime. More