Zach Villa Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Guns & Moses,’ starring Mark Feuerstein, Neal McDonough, Alona Tal, Michael B. Silver, Craig Sheffer, Christopher Lloyd and Dermot Mulroney

July 20, 2025

by Carla Hay

Mark Feuerstein in “Guns & Moses” (Photo courtesy of Concourse Media)

Directed by Salvador Litvak

Culture Representation: Taking place in California’s High Desert region, the dramatic film “Guns & Moses” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: After a wealthy land developer is assassinated during a charity benefit event for a synagogue, the synagogue’s rabbi does his own investigation into the murder and finds a tangled web of motives and possible suspects.

Culture Audience: “Guns & Moses” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and twist-filled crime dramas told from the perspectives of unlikely investigators.

Neal McDonough, Mark Feuerstein, Alona Tal, Mercedes Mason and Dermot Mulroney in “Guns & Moses” (Photo courtesy of Concourse Media)

Despite a few stumbles and some corny dialogue, “Guns & Moses” is an absorbing murder mystery with a rabbi becoming an amateur detective in a case involving antisemitism and environmental concerns. The investigation scenes are better than the action scenes. “Guns & Moses” capably handles its storylines and character personalities for the large ensemble cast without gettting too jumbled or messy.

Directed by Salvador Litvak (who co-wrote the “Guns & Moses” screenplay with his wife Nina Litvak), “Guns & Moses” takes place in California’s High Desert region, where the movie was filmed on location. The movie had its premiere at the 2024 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. It’s the type of thriller that has a predictable ending, but the “whodunit” crime-solving part of the movie is intriguing.

“Guns & Moses” begins by showing a charity benefit gala for the High Desert Jewish Center, which is trying to raise money to build a synagogue for its members. The High Desert Jewish Center’s place of worship is currently the center’s headquarters, which is located in a storefront building. The synagogue has been a goal for years, but it’s been difficult for the High Desert Jewish Center to raise enough for money for it.

Rabbi Moishe “Mo” Zaltzman (played by Mark Feuerstein), who is 43 years old, is the leader of the High Desert Jewish Center. At this charity gala, which takes place in the evening, the guest of honor is Alan Rosner (played by Dermot Mulroney), a wealthy property developer. Also in attendance is Donovan Kirk (played by Neal McDonough), the mayor of High Desert, who playfully pretends to get into a verbal argument with Alan when they see each other at the ceremony. Alan and Donovan are both charismatic “alpha males” who are very good friends. Mo admires both of them and knows that they could be powerful allies.

Before Alan gives his speech, the audience at the gala is shown a pre-recorded video of Alan’s closest confidants congratulating him on receiving this honor from the High Desert Jewish Center. Appearing in the video are Alan’s business partner Tibor Farkas (played by Craig Sheffer); Alan’s brother Jeff Rosner (played by Michael B. Silver); Jeff’s wife Pauline Rosner (played by Cherie Jimenez); Alan’s wife Liat Rosner (played by Mercedes Mason); and Alan’s two stepchildren who are in their late teens: Devora Rosner (played by Brielle Angelique) and Koby Rosner (played by Massi Pregoni), who are from Liat’s previous marriage.

Liat was a widow when she married Alan, who adopted Devora and Koby after Alan and Liat got married. The only person in the congratulations video who seems like he doesn’t want to be there is Koby, a stoner who’s addicted to vaping. By contrast, Devora is an obedient “daddy’s girl,” who brims with pride and joy when talking about Alan and how she likes helping him with his company’s social media. The teenagers’ biological father (Liat’s first husband) was killed in a terrorist attack. More about Liat’s past is revealed in the movie.

Mo is happily married to his loyal wife Hindy Zaltzman (played by Alona Tal), who is the mother of their five children, ranging from ages about 9 to about 17: son Yossy Zaltzman (played by Joshua Gallup) is the eldest, followed by daughter Esty Zaltzman (played by Mila Brener), son Levy Zaltzman (played by Jarod Bainbridge), daughter Dini Zaltzman (played by Juju Journey Brener) and son Mendy Zaltzman (played by Trey Diaz Murphy). Yossy and Esty are the most eager to help when Mo begins his investigation.

During Alan’s speech at the gala, he announces that he is pledging $2 million as a gift to build the High Desert Jewish Center’s proposed synagogue. As soon as he makes the announcement, tragedy strikes: Alan is gunned down by an unidentified sniper who flees by car. Alan is killed almost instantly.

The two police partners who are at the crime scene to investigate are Detective Wallace (played by Ed Quinn) and Detective Nestor (played by Zach Villa), who believe the High Desert Jewish Center’s security chief Brenda Navarro (played by Gabrielle Ruiz) on who the killer is. Brenda suspects that the killer is a 19-year-old named Clay Gibbons (played by Jackson A. Dunn), who is known to associate with a white supremacist group and who has previously had antisemitic run-ins at the High Desert Jewish Center.

Flashbacks show an incident when Clay stood outside the building and pantomimed shooting a gun at the people who were entering the building. Brenda confronted Clay and ordered him to leave. He was defiant and taunting, to make it clear that he intended to scare people with these gun gestures.

Another flashback, shown a bit later in the movie, reveals that the most recent antisemitic incident with Clay was when he and Mo had a tense conversation when Clay was parked outside the center and was playing music too loud in Clay’s car. Mo politely asked Clay to turn down the music. Clay’s response was to go on a rant saying that Jewish people are perpetrators of white genocide, and the Holocaust was a hoax.

After the murder of Alan, Clay is quickly arrested at his home, even though Clay’s widowed father Owen Gibbons (played by Jake Busey) says that Clay was at home all night with Owen. The police don’t believe this alibi. Clay’s mother died in a car accident when he was 11. The movie also makes a point of showing the cutting scars on Clay’s arm, as an indication that he has a history of self-harming.

Mo doesn’t believe that Clay committed the murder because, as shown in the flashback where Mo confronted Clay, Mo asked Clay to listen to the Holocaust survivor story of an elderly congregant named Sol Fassbinder (played by Christopher Lloyd), whose immediate family was murdered in the Holocaust. Clay seems skeptical of the story but he eats some brownies offered by Mo as a sort of peace offering. Clay wasn’t seen at the High Desert Jewish Center again.

Mo goes to visit Clay in jail and promises to try to help prove Clay is not guilty of the murder. His conversation with Clay is short because Detective Wallace and Detective Nestor suddenly show up and scold Mo for talking to a suspect while being a witness for a possible trial. Mo also gets some backlash and criticism from other people who find out that Mo visited Clay in jail. Most of the people in the community think that Clay is guilty, even though there is no physical evidence tying Clay to the murder.

Mo trusts his instincts and decides to do his own investigation, against the objections of some people, such as Alan’s widow Liat. At the shiva wake for Alan, Mo notices that Liat is being comforted by Sid Borowski (played by Paulo Costanzo), a former professor who had been feuding with Alan. Devora is very upset to see Sid at this wake and says that Alan would never have allowed it.

Mo finds out why there was bad blood between Sid and Alan. This review won’t give away all the details, but it has to do with a lawsuit that Sid filed against Alan, with the lawsuit accusing Alan’s company of being environmentally hazardous and causing the death of birds. In response to the lawsuit, Alan dug up scandalous information from Sid’s past that caused Sid to be fired from his job.

More details also emerge about Alan’s business activities that could be motives for someone wanting him murdered. Mo’s life also gets put in danger, but he won’t stop his investigation. Security chief Brenda insists that Mo get a gun and learn how to use it. Other things happen that convince him even more that that someone who isn’t Clay was responsible for Alan’s murder.

At times, “Guns & Moses” resembles a TV series crime procedural, where Mo gets some answers and evidence a little too easily for someone who’s not a professional investigator. However, there’s some validity in believing that Mo could be better at gaining people’s trust because he’s a rabbi and not a law enforcement official. Mo is a very interesting character and seems to be written as someone who was made to be in a series of murder mystery stories.

“Guns & Moses” has some touches of comic relief, such as when Mo’s eldest son Yossy wants to tag along for something dangerous that Mo wants to do, but Mo doesn’t want Yossy to go with him because he doesn’t think underage Yossy can handle it. Yossy wails, “Did my bar mitzvah mean nothing?” Other lines of dialogue are hokey and might get unintended laughs. For example, during a pivotal scene in the movie, Hindy tells Mo: “May God and your Glock protect you.” (That sentence is also the movie’s slogan.)

Feuerstein makes Mo a believable character, even though some of the situations he’s in don’t look too credible. The cast’s acting performances are solid overall though. Fans of the 2009 to 2016 comedy/drama series “Royal Pains” should be delighted to know that former “Royal Pains” co-stars Feuerstein and Constanzo have an on-screen reunion as Mo and Sid in “Guns & Moses.” This reunion is less than 15 minutes of screen time in “Guns & Moses,” but it’s better than nothing.

If you see “Guns & Moses” in a theater and stay for the end credits, then you’ll see writer/director Salvador Litvak in a short pre-recorded message where he says that he made the film in response to the alarming rise in antisemitism in recent years. He also says in the message that although he doesn’t ever wish for antisemitic hate crimes to happen, he believes that Jewish people need to learn to protect themselves against violent attacks and should be prepared to fight back if necessary. In the message, Salvador Litvak also requests that fans of the movie give positive feedback to other people about “Guns & Moses” so that he can make more similar-themed movies.

“Guns & Moses” comes across as a non-political crime drama and not as pro-gun propaganda for Jewish people. Therefore, this politically-tinged statement from Salvador Litvak is wisely kept at the end of the film because the story is not preachy at all and in fact encourages people not to rush to judgment against those who might be considered “enemies.” Whatever anyone’s political opinions are, “Guns & Moses” should be enjoyed for what it is: a suspenseful mystery thriller that isn’t perfect but it has a memorable lead character who could be in one or more sequels if enough people want it.

Concourse Media released “Guns & Moses” in select U.S. cinemas on July 18, 2025. Fathom Entertainment will re-release “Guns & Moses” in select U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement from September 7 to September 11, 2025.

Review: ‘Vengeance’ (2022), starring B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher

January 12, 2023

by Carla Hay

Ashton Kutcher and B.J. Novak in “Vengeance” (Photo by Patti Perret/Focus Features)

“Vengeance” (2022)

Directed by B.J. Novak

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas and briefly in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Vengeance” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A New York City podcaster is persuaded to go to rural Texas to investigate the drug-overdose death of a woman whom he briefly dated.

Culture Audience: “Vengeance” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star/filmmaker B.J. Novak and movies about crime investigations that take dark comedic jabs at society.

B.J. Novak asnd Boyd Holbrook in “Vengeance” (Photo by Patti Perret/Focus Features)

The comedy/drama “Vengeance” puts a satirical spin on a familiar movie concept of a stranger coming to an area to investigate a possible crime, with the stranger feeling like a “fish out of water.” The stranger then usually lets judgment get clouded by internal prejudices, as well as the prejudices of people around the stranger. “Vengeance” makes some of its cultural stereotypes too broad and heavy-handed, and the movie’s ending could have been better. Overall, the story can hold viewers’ interest, as long as there’s tolerance for what the movie is saying about personal biases.

B.J. Novak, a former co-star and writer of the U.S. comedy TV series “The Office,” makes his feature-film directorial debut with “Vengeance,” a movie that he also wrote. “Vengeance” starts out very strong with biting comedy. And then, it meanders back and forth between an intriguing investigation and clumsily handled culture shock, with jokes that are hit and miss. The ending of “Vengeance” is meant to be a surprise twist, but observant viewers can see some clues leading up this ending and can figure out why Novak chose to end the movie this way.

In “Vengeance” (which had its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival), Novak portrays Ben Manalowitz, a politically liberal podcaster who lives and works in New York City. Ben, who is also a writer for The New Yorker, is every cliché (for better or worse) of what many people think about a college-educated, New York City media person. Depending on someone’s perspective, Ben is either well-versed and knowledgeable about many topics, or he’s a smug intellectual snob.

The movie opens with a hilarious scene of Ben and musician John Mayer (portraying himself) having a conversation at a rooftop party in New York City. The conversation topic for these two bachelors is dating. John says, “I don’t ever want to go past knowing what someone’s parents do for a living. If I know what someone has done for a living, I’ve hung too long.”

Ben replies in agreement: “Or siblings. Why does anyone care about your siblings, especially so early [of meeting a potential partner]? Has that ever changed whether you want to date somebody?” John says, “People say guys like us are afraid of commitment. No, we’re afraid of commitment to something we can’t get out of.”

Ben adds, “There’s no such thing as commitment. Fear of commitment is fear of regret.” John replies, “100%. Or fear of intimacy. Please. I’m intimate with everybody.” If only “Vengeance” had more of this type of banter in the movie, it would have been a lot funnier. Viewers won’t get to see much of Ben’s life in New York City, because he will soon be plunged into an unexpected investigation in rural Texas.

It just so happens that Ben wants to do a new investigative series for his podcast, so he pitches an idea to his podcast producer Eloise (played by Issa Rae), who is smart and sarcastic. Ben says that he wants to do a series about why the United States is so divided. However, as he tells Eloise his theory: “America isn’t divided by space. America is divided by time.”

Eloise replies, “Not every white guy in New York needs to have a podcast. You got the verified checkmark. You got The New Yorker position.” Ben says, “I want something more. I don’t just want to be writer. I want to be a voice. As dorky as it sounds, I care about America.”

At home one night, Ben is asleep when he is woken up by the sound of his phone ringing. The person on the other line is sobbing, and he identifies himself as Ty Shaw (played by Boyd Holbrook), who is a complete stranger to Ben. Ty lives in a rural part of western Texas, about a five-hour drive away from the city of Abilene. It’s a very politically conservative part of Texas that has almost the opposite of the environment and lifestyle that Ben has in New York City.

At first, Ben doesn’t know the reason for Ty’s call, until Ty tells Ben that Ty is the older brother of Abilene “Abby” Shaw (played by Lio Tipton, in flashbacks), who recently died of an opioid overdose at a party in a Texas oil field. Ben and Abby had a fling some years ago that he almost forgot about until Ty’s phone call.

Ty is under the impression, based on the way Abby talked about Ben, that Ben and Abby were in a serious, long-distance relationship. The reality is that Ben and Abby haven’t seen or been in contact with each other for years. Ben tries to tell Ty this information, but Ty is so grief-stricken and insistent that Ben was the love of Abby’s life, Ben goes along with it.

It isn’t long before Ty has convinced Ben to go to Texas for Abby’s funeral, where Ben is asked to give a eulogy about Abby. At the funeral, Ben finds out that Abby was an aspiring singer, so he awkwardly says in his speech: “I know she loved music. She will always be a song in our hearts.”

Ty soon tells Ben that he believes that Abby’s overdose death was murder. Ty also insists that he and Ben are going to track down whoever allegedly murdered Abby. Ty says to Ben: “You and me, we’re the men in her lives. And they fucked with the wrong two guys.”

Ben tells Ty: “I don’t avenge deaths. I don’t live in a Liam Neeson movie.” Ty responds, “You kind of look like a guy in a Liam Neeson movie.” Ty names “Schindler’s List” as “my least-favorite Liam Neeson movie. Huge downer.” Ty adds, “Stay down here and avenge Abby’s death with me.”

Ben doesn’t take Ty’s murder theory seriously, but Ben sees this investigation as the perfect idea for his next podcast series. He tells Eloise about it and says, “This isn’t a story about vengeance. It’s a story about the need for vengeance, the meaning of vengeance.” Eloise asks, “Dead white girl?” Ben replies, “The holy grail of podcasts.”

And so, Ben ends up getting to know Ty and the rest of the loud and boisterous Shaw family. They include Ty’s three other siblings: 24-year-old sister Paris (played by Isabella Amara), who’s an aspiring filmmaker; 17-year-old sister Kansas City (played by Dove Cameron), who’s an aspiring “celebrity”; and 9-year-old El Stupido (played by Eli Abrams Bickel), who isn’t called by any other name in the movie.

The siblings’ mother is feisty Sharon Shaw (played by J. Smith-Cameron) and grandmother Carole Shaw (played by Louanne Stephens), who is very racist against people of Mexican heritage. One of the movie’s jokes about Carole is that she doesn’t know that Texas lost the battle of Alamo. Unfortunately, all of the Shaw family characters except for Ty are very underdeveloped and are nothing but hollow stereotypes.

Ben and Ty are told that Mexican drug dealers probably killed Abby. During this investigation, Ben meets and interviews several local people who might have information on what happened to Abby on the night that she died. These locals include a smarmy music producer named Quentin Sellers (played by Ashton Kutcher), who was working with Abby on some music recordings; a drug dealer named Sancholo (played by Zach Villa); and County Sheriff Jimenez (played by Rio Alexander), who is every cliché of an unsophisticated cop.

“Vengeance” has some subtle and not-so-subtle comedy poking fun at stereotypes of “city slickers” and “country hicks.” Ben is doing a podcast series about vengeance, but it begins to dawn on him that he is experiencing his other podcast series idea about America being a divided country. Not surprisingly, Ben gets some resistance to his investigation because many of the locals think that Ben is an “outsider” who can’t be trusted. The cast members give competent performances, although enjoyment of “Vengeance” will be affected by how much a viewer thinks Kutcher is convincing or not convincing in portraying a Texan.

All of the characters in “Vengeance” are portrayed as alternately amusing or annoying, which seems to be the movie’s point. “Vengeance” doesn’t point fingers at any particular lifestyle or political belief as better than the rest. The movie shows there’s something irritating and ultimately toxic about any mindset that wants to lump people of different cultures into one degrading stereotype. And sometimes, when people get consumed by an “us versus them” mentality, they can end up with the worst traits of the people they despise.

Focus Features released “Vengeance” in U.S. cinemas on July 29, 2022. The movie was released on digital and VOD on August 16, 2022, and on Blu-ray and DVD on September 20, 2022. Peacock premiered “Vengeance” on September 16, 2022.

Review: ‘Hypochondriac’ (2022), starring Zach Villa

March 22, 2022

by Carla Hay

Zach Villa in “Hypochondriac” (Photo by Dustin Supencheck/XYZ Films)

“Hypochondriac” (2022)

Directed by Addison Heimann

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the horror film “Hypochondriac” features a cast of white, Latino and African American characters representing the working-class middle-class.

Culture Clash: A pottery maker is haunted by his traumatic childhood in ways that begin to affect his relationship with his boyfriend.

Culture Audience: “Hypochondriac” will appeal primarily to people in horror movies that explore themes of mental illness and generational trauma.

Although it can get a little repetitive, “Hypochondriac” skillfully shows the blurred lines between psychological horror and mental illness. The movie’s plot is fairly simple, but the striking and often horrifying visuals in the movie will leave an impact. “Hypochondriac” is the feature-film debut of writer/director Addison Heimann, who shows promise as a filmmaker who can craft stories and characters that hold people’s interest. “Hypochondriac” had its world premiere at the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival.

In “Hypochondriac,” which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city, the opening scene shows a mentally ill woman (played by Marlene Forte) having paranoid delusions in her home. She looks frantically out of the window, because she thinks people are out to get her. And then, this unnamed mother turns hostile toward her only child—a 12-year-old son named Will (played by Ian Inigo)—and she accuses him of “being in collusion with them.” After Will denies her accusation, she does something horrifying: She tries to kill him by strangling him.

Later, another incident that’s not shown in the movie involves this mother, a knife and a lot of blood in the house’s kitchen. Viewers find out that this incident is the one that caused the mother to be sent to a psychiatric facility. Will’s unnamed father (played by Chris Doubek) tells Will that Will’s mother has been taken away to get psychiatric help, and he orders Will to not look in the kitchen until it can be cleaned up. But, of course, Will does look in the kitchen. And he sees that it’s a blood-splattered mess.

“Hypochondriac” then fast-forwards 18 years later. Will (played by Zach Villa), who is openly gay, is now a pottery maker for a small company that caters to upscale clients. He seems to be fairly happy, and he has settled into a loving relationship with his boyfriend Luke (played by Devon Graye), who is as laid-back as Will is neurotic. Will and Luke (who is an AIDS counselor) have been dating each other for the past eight months.

Will has been guarded with Luke about his past. But things happen in the movie that cause Will to open up to Luke about the childhood trauma that still haunts him. Will also has a co-worker named Sasha (played by Yumarie Morales), who is a sassy friend, but she has her own personal struggles too. There’s a scene in the movie where Sasha has a panic attack, and Will helps her get through it.

It isn’t long before Will’s seemingly stable life starts to unravel. He gets mysterious headaches. Then he seems to be having random fainting spells. Throughout the story, Will visits a series of clinic doctors and other medical professionals, who can’t find anything that’s physically wrong with him. Michael Cassidy has a satirical cameo role as a nurse practitioner named Chaz, who insists on being called “NP Chaz” and who gives off-the-cuff, incompetent diagnoses.

Will also starts getting phone calls from his mother, whom he does not want to hear from at all. His mother repeatedly warns him not to trust Luke. She also leaves a lot of rambling messages on Will’s voice mail. And there are recurring visions of someone dressed in a wolf costume that have to do with Will’s Halloween memories from when he was a child.

It’s very easy to tell at a certain point in the movie how much is reality and how much is a hallucination. Thanks largely to Villa’s riveting performance and the engrossing direction of the movie, the entire journey of “Hypochondriac” is a harrowing ride that takes viewers into the mind of an increasingly disturbed person. “Hypochondriac” has an ending that might not satisfy some viewers, but it realistically shows how mental illness remains with people throughout their lives and isn’t like a nightmare that goes away when someone wakes up.

UPDATE: XYZ Films will release “Hypochondriac” in select U.S. cinemas on July 29, 2022. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on August 4, 2022.