أولاد العم فيلم يستحق المشاهدة… ولكن

لنتفق شريف عرفة … مخرج عبقري …هو الإرهاب و الكباب و الإرهابي و المنسي و اللعب مع الكبار و طيور الظلام و إضحك الصورة تطلع حلوة و مافيا و الجزيرة ..و هو نفسهسمع هس و الناظر و ابن عز و فول الصين العظيم و عبود على حدود… شريف عرفة منتج و مؤلف و مخرج أضاف الكثير للسينما المصرية

و لنتفق أن العلاقة بين مصر و العرب من ناحية و إسرائيل من ناحية أخرى هي مادة ممتازة، لم تطرح بقدر كافي ؛ سوى في أفلام حرب أكتوبر و أفلام نادية الجندي مهمة في تل أبيب و٤٨ ساعة في إسرائيل و سذاجة خالتي بتسلم عليكي
الفيلم الوحيد الذي تعامل مع إسرائيل من ناحية إجتماعية من غير حروب أو قصص واقعية أو بطولات ملحمية هو فتاه من إسرائيل و مش حنتكلم عن مستواه الفني. و هناك عدد من الأفلام تعاملت مع القضية كحبكة للدراما في الفيلم مثلما في همام في أمستردام و أصحاب ولا بزنس و عندليب الدقي و هو نوع من الأفلام يعرض واقع يحدث في الكثير من الأحيان أثناء التعامل مع الطرف الأخر.. ربما كان للتلفزيون نصيبا أكبر في التعامل مع الموضوع من خلال قصص من ملفات المخابرات المصرية رأفت الهجان و دموع في عيون وقحة و الثعلبو السقوط في بئر سبع و المسلسل شديد السذاجة العميل ١٠٠١ و أخيرا حرب الجواسيس

السنة دي شريف عرفة نازل بفيلم ولاد العم …. فيلم رائع مستواه الفني مذهل… أداء ممتاز من أبطاله كريم عبد العزيز و منى زكي و النجم اللي يستحق لقبه على التترات شريف منير… في فيلم يحاكي الصراع العربي الإسرائيلي على مستوى واقعي إجتماعي بطولي الغرض الأول منه هو تعريف جيل كامل بما يدور الآن في العلاقة مع إسرائيل… صورة شديدة الإبهار لأيمن أبو المكارم .. و لازم و أنت خارج من الفيلم تفكر فحاجات كتير أوي.. حتفكر فالحقيقة …الحقيقة المجردة ..  التي لايجوز أن نظل ننكرها أو نخفيها دون أسباب…و أكتر جملة صح فالفيلم …إن لو العرب و المصريين عرفوا حجمهم الحقيقي إسرائيل حتبقى صغيرة أوي

أكتر حاجة عجبتني في الفيلم إن الإسرائيليين طالعين بيتكلموا عبري و مش قصيرين و مناخرهم مش طويلة و مش بيقولوا يا حبيبي طول الوقت

فيلم يستحق المشاهدة جدا و لكن … حسيت في الفيلم إن باتمان مصر يواجه الجوكر الإسرائيلي … ظابط مخابرات مصري مطلوب في قائمة اغتيالات الموساد يدخل إسرائيل بشخصه و جنسيته و يتسلل لبيت ظابط إسرائيلي يأخذ بصماته و يتحرى عن علاقاته بزوجته و ينقذ حياته و حياة فتاه فلسطينية من انفجار في ملهى ليلي ويجند زوجته دون أي مساعدة … المساعدة الوحيدة كانت عبارة عن تصريح لدخول مبني الموساد …و يدخل فعلا و يشوف القائمة فنكتشف إن الظابط الإسرائيلي جايب مراته المصرية معاه إسرائيل كطعم لاصطياد الظابط المصري و إنه أكيد كان عارف إنه هييجي …مفيش فالموساد غير شريف منير و مفيش في إسرائيل عميل مجند واحد يرجع منى زكي …. لازم كريم عبد العزيز !!!! الله يرحمك يا رأفت يا هجان. و برضو هو إلي يرجعها فالأخر بنفسه …بعد ما يقتل الظابط الإسرائيلي و ٣ آخرين … و يوقف ينظر لتل أبيب .. و يقول هنرجع بس مش دلوقتي ..
الحبكة البطولية أمريكاني أوي …أه نقدر ندخل إسرائيل و نقدر نجيب المعلومات و نرجع الست اللي إتخطفت و نعمل قد اللي اتعمل في فيلم ده مرتين بس مش واحد لواحده … ماهو جمعة الشوان بطل و رأفت الهجان بطل …بس مش لوحدهم في منظومة كاملة بترشدهم… يا سلام على رأفت الهجان لو كان قال لمحسن بيه .. أن عايز أدخل الموساد … قاله لا ده خطر و مشي لحد العربية ١٠٠ متر و بصله و قال .. على بركت الله بس خلي بالك من نفسك يا رأفت مصر كلها محتاجك !!!! أكيد كان في مخاطرة بس أكيد برضو كانت محسوبة و معروف هتوصل لفين…آخر حاجة .. مافهمتش يعني إيه مبحبش القطارات يا ابن عمي … هاراجعها بالتوك توك

في رأيي الفيلم كان يحتاج لأن تكون الحبكة البطولية اكثر واقعية حتى تصل لنا وجبة دسمة من الحقائق دون أن تتوه في مشاهد أكشن أمريكية

Invictus

Sometimes… things that seems not so important, may change a whole country …things that leaders are blamed about, may turn to be the reason for  history to remember them …

Everyday, you must hear someone blaming the government, criticising a certain minister or a businessman. Every hour you must hear a depressed young man willing to pay anything to leave this country. Till the day when Egypt wins an important match or a championship in football .. You go in the streets to find real loyalty and passion for this country, you hear the songs everywhere praising our home land …
Clint Eastwood’s latest movie, with the two Oscar Nominations; best actor in leading Role (Morgan Freeman) and Best actor in supporting role (Matt Damon) proved that this doesn’t take place only in Egypt, it took place in South Africa and for sure it may take place everyday in different countries, because people always seek happiness and inspiration.

Nelson Mandela the great African Leader, in his first round of presidency after spending 27 years in prison, used the 1995 Rugby world cup, hosted in his country to unite South Africa…
He convinced the National Sport Council, he inspired the captain of the South African national team, believed in a team experts confirmed that it will never reach the finals… He dreamt of the Rainbow nation and he saw it in the final match, during the 100 mins; 43 million people supporting and cheering without thinking about the race or the origin or the social level or any other discriminations that took place at that time, People only holding the South African Flag and crying out loud for the players.

A great, worth to see, inspirational movie.
Morgan Freeman deserves an Oscar for his role as Nelson Mandela.

“Invictus” is a short poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). It was written in 1875 and first published in 1888. The Movie title comes from the fact that Mandela had the poem written on a scrap of paper on his prison cell while he was incarcerated. In the movie, Mandela gives the “Invictus” poem to his national rugby team’s captain Francois Pienaar before the start of the Rugby World Cup. In reality, Mandela provided Pienaar with an extract from Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech from 1910.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Cairo Time 2009… A movie in Egypt

It has never been a concern of mine to search for a Canadian movie, I don’t even know they had a cinema industry, but someday a friend of mine was walking in down town and saw the film being shot. He knew it’s an international movie filmed in Egypt but he never got to know the name, until that day when he saw the same scene he attended in a youtube video titled “The Making of Cairo Time”. A year now, I have been trying to download this movie, Last week I found it’s torrent coincidentally and saw it today.

The movie is a story of a Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) arriving to Egypt for a vacation with her husband who works for the UN. He was stuck in GAZA, so she had to explore Egypt with her husband’s old friend; Tarek (Alexander Siddig) , a single Egyptian  retired policeman who owns a coffee shop. A brief, unexpected love affair catches their hearts. The film won Best Canadian Feature Film in Toronto International Film Festival.  it’s rated as 6.7/10 movie on the IMDB… and personally I don’t care.

What made me really enthusiastic about this movie is that it takes place in Egypt. I was happy to see that the international cinema is starting to see our homeland as the new city of romance; specially that according to the movie director Ruba Nadda (who has Arab origins); she was influenced by her visit to Egypt when she was young with her mother. On the other hand side I had fears that the country shall be misused in such a movie; misused in the sense of stating trivia about Egypt or shooting places that won’t really represent Egypt. Unfortunately, I saw what I was afraid of during the 90 minutes runtime of the movie.Tarek as an Egyptian and Juliette being a writer in a magazine interested in social and woman-related topics, talked about religious ideas, Egyptian street kids, secret marriage and other topics that drew her attention (and actually draws everyone’s attention about Egypt). However there is a huge difference between making a movie to discuss those problems and just throwing words that can be understood in different ways about a culture in a romance movie. I can understand that a movie showing a country shall treat the good and the bad or else it would be a touristic documentary which of course is not the case, this is why I appreciated showing the slums & the Bedouin life together with Semiramis intercontinental view… The Pyramid, the Nile & the white desert together with highly crowded down town street with youth following pretty women, however, the involvement of the previously mentioned topics stopped me from enjoying the charm of the love story rising at some very well written and filmed scenes.

Personally, I would like to see more international movies taking place in Cairo and I’d rather see more Egyptian movies showing the world the beauty of our beloved country and explaining many aspects regarding our culture and ideas.

- The Academy awards nominated Patricia Clarkson’s performance was magnificent in playing the middle-aged lonely woman and Alexander Siddig convinced me very much playing an Arab.

- I was happy seeing Mona Hala an Egyptian Actress as Jamila.

- Om Kolthom’s Alf Leila w Leila was played through out the movie like 5 times

- The wedding scene in Alexandria was very poor. It didn’t show what really a Wedding is in Egypt

- The way both Patricia and Alexander smoked water pipe was hilarious, seems it was their first time.

- Most of the extras were plucked off the street.

- Filmed in Cairo in about 25 days. Temperatures on average were 50 degrees Celsius.

- The making of Cairo Time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK8uueeqqMI

Bedazzled and طير انت

Let’s Imagine;
What will happen if the devil really meets you and grants you 7 wishes in the return of your soul …
What will happen if a  Kind witch – who always fails at school-  grants you 7 wishes, just to sign his school certificate for him to be able to graduate…
What if in both cases you are just a lonely, pathetic desperate loser and your only hope is to fall in love with a beautiful girl…

That’s Bedazzled and طير انت…

Once I heard Ahmed Mekky in a TV interview saying that, it won’t be necessary to quote a movie unless you have an idea that adds up to it. Mekki, together with Ahmed el Guindy and Omr Taher quoted the American “Bedazzled 2000″ in their hit comedy “Teer Enta” and i have to admit they added up much to the movie. I loved both movies; Bedazzled with it’s spiritual perspective and Teer enta with the social perspective. and i laughed much more in the Egyptian treatment.

Both Elliot Richards and Doctor Bahig lacked self-confidence and never had the courage to admit to their dream girls how much they admire them, they both thought that magic would change the reality, they both failed to believe that it’s all about them from the inside. Dr. Bahig after the unsuccessful 7 wishes – or I can call them the 7 sketches criticising the entire Egyptian society- discovered the reality of the relation between man and woman, found what’s best in himself and was able to marry his Dream Girl. Elliot Richards after the unsuccessful 7 wishes discovered that no one can buy his soul – because simply it belongs to GOD - knew the secret behind Heaven and Hell, and met his soul mate someday..

Watch the 2 movies and u have 14 wishes to learn from.

Special Mention: Donia Samir Ghanem Stunning performance in Teer enta.

بالألوان الطبيعية

إبنك… ممكن تبص على رسوماته تعجبك جدا… لكن لما يقولك عايز أدخل فنون جميلة أو معهد سينما تبصله كدة و تقوله “دي دراسة تكميلية إدرس الأول حاجة تنفعك و تكون عندك رؤية خاصة و بعدين لو عايز تدخل كلية فنية معنديش مانع”. ده كدة أنت متفتح جدا … غيرك بقى يبدأ يزعق و ممكن يضرب كمان لأن بقية ولاد العائلة مهندسين و دكاترة و هو عايز يطلع “ولا حاجة” … و لو بنت… أمها ممكن تحرمها من التعليم نهائي علشان السافلة عايزة تخش الكلية دي بس علشان تقابل رجالة سفلة زيها .. ده إحنا كدة بنتكلم عن العائلة إلي مش مدخلة الموضوع فالدين أوي… لكن لو أب متعصب (سواء مسيحي أو مسلم) يبقى دخلنا فالحرام و الحلال …حرام ترسم موديلز عريانة .. و حرام تدرس تشريح جسم الإنسان من وجهة نظر فنية … .. لو عايز ترسم.. بلاش ترسم بني أدميين … ده غير بقى إن الوسط الفني قذر…و فلوس الفن حرام

و لما تيجي تحلل دفعة الكلية الفنية حتلاقي مجموعة من أنصاف موهوبين مجموعهم جبهم هنا و مجموعة داخلة أقسام ديكور و عمارة علشان يتقال عليهم مهندسين بعد كدة و مجموعة مش مهتمة بالفن أوي و شايفة إن  في أقسام  هما إلي بيجيبوا فلوس اليومين دول و الباقي موهوبين بجد بس جزء منهم بيضل طريقه فشغل السوق و قليل أوي إلي يبقى فنان بجد. ده كدة من حيث الاتجاه الفني… أما من حيث الأنماط حتلاقي الملتحين و المنقبات و المحجبات والشكلهم محجبات و العاديين جدا و المطولين شعرهم و الحالقين زيرو و مسقطين البنطلون… و من حيث الاتجاه الديني حتلاقي شديد التعصب و المتدين و المعتدل و المتفتح و الملحد… ده غير بقى اللي بيخش الكلية حاجة و يطلع حاجة تانية خالص

ببساطة الفن هو كل حاجة حوالينا… ربنا هو الفنان الأعظم … النيل فن، مشهد الغروب فن، تجانس الألوان بين الجبال و البحر فن، جسم الإنسان خارجيا و داخليا فن … ده لما ميكانيكي بيشغل عربية بايظة بتقول عليه فنان

الفن هو وسيلة التعبير عن الذات بكل مافيها من تناقضات أو أهداف سامية أو حتى شهوات. و رؤية الفنان هي رؤية ذاتية خاصة نابعة من خبراته و تجاربه في الحياة، و على الجمهور المتلقي أن يقبل أو يرفض دون أن يحجر على حرية الإبداع. لكل عصر أو حقبة من الزمن ستجد ما يعبر عنه من رسومات أو أعمال نحتية أو صور أو أفلام .والمجتمع بعدما تعرض للتغيرات الدينية و الاقتصادية.. لم يعد للفنان أو للفن إحترامه

فيلم “بالألوان الطبيعية” هو تحليل مدقق و رمزي لما سبق أو لأزمة الفن من خلال يوسف (كريم قاسم) الذي يدخل كلية فنون جميلة و ياخذنا معه في رحلة الفن طوال السنوات الخمس…مصارعا أربعة عناصر – هي السر الرئيسي في ابداع الفنان أو فشله بعد الموهبة بطبيعة الحال- المجتمع، الطموح ، الجنس و الدين. يوسف يصل إلى معادلة مرضية في الصراع اللانهائي. الفيلم لا يسيء إلى الفن أو الفنانين أو حتى طلبة الكليات الفنية إنما هو يعالج الحالة التي وصل إليها مجتمعنا في التعامل مع الفن. و كل ما ظهر فالفيلم حقيقي حتى لو لم يكون موجود في فترة الدراسة فهو واقعي يواجهه الفنان مهما كان مجاله. نعم… الفنان لازم يواجه نظرة المجتمع ليه إنه رسام أو مصور او نحات … لازم يحس إن اللي بيعملوا مش حرام أو عيب … لازم يعرف إن الجنس شهوة موجودة جواه و لازم يوظفها صح و يتعامل معها … لازم يعرف هو عايز يعمل إيه و يبقى متأكد إنه حيوصل

نعم… أنصاف الموهوبين بيستغلوا الموهوبين للوصول إلى أغراضهم مش بس فالفن في كل مجالات الحياة… و لو رفضوا ممكن يدمروهم
نعم … في لحظة ضعف معينة ممكن كل حاجة تبقى صنعة و ينتهي كل ما يشعر به الإنسان
نعم … الفن أقوى من الجنس و ويستطيع السيطرة عليه
نعم … كل مايقوله الفيلم صحيح !!!! هذا هو حال الفن في مصر
الفيلم أكثر من رائع و يستحق المشاهدة لا الهجوم

أهم مشاهد و أقوال الفيلم

لما دفعة أولي ديكور كانت سهرانة في الأتيلييه…و بدأ كل نمط من الأشخاص الموجودين بتشغيل مايعبر عنه.. موسيقي غربية… أغاني حكيم … الأذان… التراتيل المسيحي

يوسف بيكلم ربنا في وسط الكليه -
طز فيكم كلكم … طز فيكم و فالكلية… طز فالداكتره و المعيدين … و طز فالعميد… ليه جبتني هنا .. هأبقى إيه حطلع إيه قولي كلمني … أنا موهوب ولا لا … أنا موهوب ولا فالأخر حبقى زي عم محمود… ليه جبتني هنا بتعاقبني ده…أنا عديت الدنيا كلها علشان أجي أتعلم و أبقى فنان… عايز أبقى فنان … مش حنفع فأي حاجة تانية لو مبقتش فنان هضيع …حبقى ولا حاجة و حفضل طول عمري ولا حاجة … انقذني إلحقني .. لو أهمك صحيح متسبنيش.. لو بتحبني متسبنيش

د.سعيد لما قال ليوسف -
في حاجة مقيداك من جوا لازم تنطلق… فرغ المخزون إلي جواك … لما تخرجه حاتعرفه فتقدر تحكم عليه و تختار إيه اللي لازم تقدمه للناس إيه اللي ترفضه و إيه اللي تتعالج منه… طلع إلي جواك حلو وحش صح غلط حرام حلال كله خايف من إيه.. خايف الناس تشوف جروحك… لما تطلع إلي جواك حتعرف نفسك على حقيقتها حاتكتشف إنك إنسان تاني غير إلي كنت تعرفه غير إلي حواليك صورهولك… لكن طول ما أنت كبته بيتعبك… مقيدك… و مانع حاجات مهمة يمكن عبقرية إنها تطلع للنور..أنت عامل زي بقيت الناس في مجتمعنا قافلين على نفسهم و فاكرين إن هي دي القشرة اللي بتحميهم و هي ف الحقيقة بتسجنهم… ماتخافش إتحرر… إنطلق

لما يوسف رسم فتاة الليل… و عيطت … و مشيت من غير ولا كلمه

هدي تقول لعمر -
عارف أنت بتحس بكدة ليه… علشان مابتعملش أي حاجة بصدق…من قلبك… من جواك …كله من برا… علي أنت بتقول إنك بتعمل شغل لل ناس علشان الفلوس زي اللوحة المعفنة دي و شغل تاني ل نفسك … لمزاجك… للفن …لكن الحقيقة إن كل إلي بتعملوا للناس مش لنفسك… أنت مابتعملش أي حاجة لمزاجك كله للسوق… كله شغل تجاري… تكنيك… من غير روح… أنت نصاب يا علي أنت مش حقيقي مش فنان … أنت صنايعي … مابتحاولش تعرف أنت من جواك عايز إيه… و الكارثة إنك بتحاول تقنع الناس و نفسك إنك فنان… أنت بترسم حلو … نسبك، تكويناتك، تلوينك مبهر … لكن كل ده صنعة… الرسم صنعة و الجنس صنعة … و كل شئ ف حياتك صنعة

يوسف لدكاترة الكليه -
أنا مش عايز اتعين .. أنا مش عايز أنتمي للمكان ده .. أنا لو اتعينت حكمل رحلة التوهان إلي ابتدتها أول مادخلت القسم …أنا دخلت هنا علشان اسم مهندس علشان أرضي به أمي… أنا منفعش موظف و منفعش مهندس ديكور .. أنا رسام و هي دي موهبتي الحقيقية إلي لازم أخرج من هنا و أدور على نفسي فيها

Exploring your life (Meet the Robinsons)

One simple fact all movies dealing with time traveling agreed upon; changing one single detail in the past may change your  whole future.

It’s a humanity dream to control it’s life, know the future and change it ..
This one dream that will never be achieved has been triggered in several movies. Meet the Robinsons is a MUST see animation picture that stressed that future is better than the past.. so search for your future instead of getting back to change the past.

Everyday each one of us regrets some actions he did, or something he said and sometimes it extends to regretting major life decisions. There is always 2 solutions: Changing the past or Changing the future.
Louis is an orphan who loves science and  inventions, and gets 124 adoption rejections, the thing that made him invent a memory scanner to remember his mother and search for her. He succeeds in inventing the scanner, gets adopted by the science fair judge, signs a contract in a big research company and in few years he is running the leading scientific and research company and invented a time machine.
Michael “Goob” Yagoobian his roommate only dreams of winning a baseball game, but his team loses because of him sleeping during the game, because Louis spent the night working on his invention and Goob couldn’t sleep. Years passes and he never get’s adopted and his failure changes to hatred and he tries to ruin Louis’s life, stealing the time machine and changing things in his past.
The movie ends with both futures saved It’s a Must see and i don’t want to spoil it.

In real life there is no time machine to change the past or to explore the future..
Building a future without knowing it’s mysteries is the idea behind our creation and actually it’s the fun part about life .. you are taking risks in your career, in your love life, in your relations and there is a margin of unknown that makes you curious. when you fail or the result is not as desired.. you just have to .. KEEP MOVIN’ ON..

remains to say…
- Meet the Robinsons 2007 is the 47th Disney animated feature and the first Disney Animation pictures production.
- One memorable quote of the movie:
“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long… We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

Julie and Julia…

Julie & Julia (2009) is a story of passion and ambition, an answer to the question each of us always asks “Do I reallyhave what it takes to do it?” It’s an invitation to discover yourself and search your inside for what you really want to do and make you happy. Cooking for both Julie and Julia changed their lives. I bet, many of us needs to find this thing that would change their lives. A lot of us get busy with the routine of work and forget many important things we love to do or some important dreams we wished to be.

No matter what your age, culture, background, the era you are living in is … it’s just the same. Decide what you really want do and FIGHT for it. Don’t give a shit for those who do nothing except de-motivating others when they try to do what they want; with some social nonsense or with trying to make them feel guilty towards leaving or being less committed to what they did before. The ironic thing is that those de-motivating people are the first to congratulate if it turned to be perfect.

It’s the Feel good movie of the year…
Julia Child started a cooking career in 1949; it was crowned by publishing her book “Mastering the French cooking” in 1961 including many French cuisine recipes. Influenced by this book, Julie Powell in 2002, started blogging “Julie/Julia project” a diary of experiencing the French cook through Julia’s book in 356 days and it was a life-changing experience that ended with her dream of becoming a writer coming true in 2005.
The movie plots the two stories of Julia starting her career and Julie finding herself paralleling in a very interesting way with an amazing performance by Meryl Streep (Julia Child)& Amy Adams (Julie Powell) and their very supporting husbands Stanely Tucci (Paul Child) & Chris Messina (Eric Powell)

I wouldn’t have watched this movie unless a good friend recommended it for me and here is my turn to recommend this movie to you all.

Check more about the real Julia Child http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

This movie is the first motion picture to be based on a Blog that turned into a book later J you can check Julie and Julia project http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/

Shallow Hall (2001) vs. 7abibi na2eman (2009)

I never had the chance to see “Shallow Hall” before yesterday and i decided to do so, to see the difference between it and it’s Egyptian version “7abibi na2eman”… and the exact difference is the word SHALLOW … Shallow Hal 2001 is not the best movie u can see… it’s not a hit of course but u can never consider it a bad movie  !  More over, i cannot call any of them a real comedy that makes you laugh out loud. However, i am here comparing how the plot was treated in both versions.

the plot of the movies, is a superficial man, who sets high PHYSICAL standards in the woman he wants, suddenly fall in love with a 300 pound girl just for her inner beauty.

In the English version, Hal (jack black) meets some self -help guru who hypnotizes him to stop being shallow and look deeper when he sees a woman to see the real beauty inside her … Hal meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow) an obese who is really kind and nice, and is volunteering in many charity work , the idea is he never saw her fat, he saw her slim and fit and thus he got attracted to her and started to know about her inner beauty.. His friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander) didn’t understand what happened to his pal and thus went to the self -help guru to understand what happened, and he gave the guru he impression that he is losing his friend and that Hal is losing his job and life and so he got the words that return Hal to his shallowness.
At this point, we discover that Hal saw the really ugly people (men and women) as pretty,  only if they were good from the inside, but saw the  the beautiful people as really ugly because they are bad from the inside …  u will be touched at that point of the movie, specially when he meets the little girl at the hospital. and of course the movie ends with Hal and rose getting married …

In the Egyptian version, Ramez (7′aled abou el naga) accidentally drinks a spell that was supposed to be put for another guy in order to fall in love with Nesma (Mai 3ezz el din). The spell was to make the guy see only Nesma’s  inner beauty.. he fall in love and they were about to get engaged when the spell effect ended, and he discovered the truth, he evaluates the whole relation and discovers how beautiful Nesma is despite her weight and they marry each others .

From my opinion, the Egyptian version of the movie is superficial and related the whole inner beauty thing to only the women you are attracted to , however the English movie  gave us the reality that we need to look at everyone around us deeply to see how beautiful it is from the inside. there are people around us u start mocking, making fun of or just avoiding to deal with, just because you think they are different; Obese, Gays, Lesbians, Elderly, those having birth or genes  defects.

I enjoyed watching the English version, and i can’t deny that i smiled while watching the Egyptian one on a dark night trying to find something to entertain me. but the question is why not be entertained and moved at the same time … this is what the Egyptian movies usually misses, specially when quoting an American movie !

Slumdog Millionaire

The 18 years old Jammal Malik is a contestant in the indian version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?”. Jammal participated in the show for Latika his beloved girl to see him. However, he made it to the 10,000,000 rupee and is one question far from being a millionaire. Being an uneducated Slum Boy, he was suspected of cheating and he was arrested and tortoured by the policemen to confess, but instead he told his life story and he appeared to know Only the answers; as each question was related to an event that happened in his life. The Film ends with Jammal Malik winning the 20,000,00 rupee and his latika .. and his life just changes !

 

Danny Boyle directed one great movie in the Cinema History, 8 Oscars are not enough to award the great effort in acting, writing, cinematography and editing and the whole cinema technique.
the actors playing the 3 life stages of Jammal – Salim and Latika are more than amazing, the screen play contains memorable quotes that really touches and makes a difference beside the amazing way of enumeration. Light and shooting locations are new and charming.

HOWEVER..there is something strange about the movie at least for me ….
the movie is a British American production - adapted by Simon Beaufoy, the British screenwriter and directed by the british filmmaker Danny Boyle – that reflects the slum life in India …

The Question is… Who gave them the right to discuss such an internal dilemma facing India? Knowing that india has Cinema production that competes with Hollywood

Amitabh Bachchan, bollywood’s top actor and perhaps one of the most famous faces in the world, has voiced bitter comments about the movie’s portrayal of India….

I can remember quite well, how youssef chahine the famous egyptian director was accused of  abusing EGYPT, because he directed some movies like el “3asfour”, “el cahera menawara b ahlaha”, “el a7′ar” and other movies at which he discussed some political corruption and reflected lower socities lives. At least he is an egyptian discussing egypt’s problems but in this case even if the original play was for an indian writer Vikas Swarup ain’t it an abuse to INDIA or in other words an interfence in the internal problems of the East …

there is freedom in art and in expression, but the problems of a country is better discussed through it’s own citizen .. i am not against Chahine movies nor other egyptian directors who made movies reflecting certain problems in Egypt But i won’t be happy if a non-egyptian director discussed Egypt in his movie in a way that affects it’s reputition.. and this is in my opinon what happened in Slumdog millionaire…

If i was indian … i for sure wouldn’t like the hit of the year “SlumDog Millionaire”

YES MAN….It’s not just a Comedy

A depressed man who says NO to everything in his life, was challenged to say YES to everything… and the surprise is that his life changed…He fall in real love, he made new friends, retrieved his relation with his old friends whom he was about to lose,  he worked for charity, he got promoted, learned new skills that differed with him  in different situations, and enjoyed chilling activities that he never thought of doing before. In other words he LIVED !!!!!

If you compared your life to the movie and thought how many times you refused to do things and discovered that it would be so much fun to do … you will understand …YES is the word that we shall use to live .. we shall stop thinking in the pros and cons of each and every action we take in our lives for a longer time than the action really takes, we shall not do things that we don’t want to do just to satisfy others, we shall stop thinking of how people perceive our actions and we shall not say NO and regret it !!!!!!

In real life, you won’t meet some self development guy who challenges you to say YES.. However, Jim Carrey invites us to live … to be a “Yes Man” …. will we accept the invitation ?

Sorry for disturbance…آسف علي الإزعاج

Ahmed Helmy and Menna shalaby in contribution with Mahmoud Hemeda and Dalal abdel Aziz, succeeded to perform one of the few physiological movies in Egypt. Ahmed helmy after the death of his father (mahmoud hemeda) lost his self confidence and started to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia; imaging that all people are dealing with him in a bad way, visualizing his father, and living in a love story with (Menna Shalaby) only in his mind. His mother (Dalal Abdel Aziz) tried to force him to visit a doctor, but he never did, until she confronted him with the truth. he revised all the actions that happened during the last period and referred to his camera to find himself all alone in the photos he supposedly took with his girl friend, he was convinced and went to a psychiatrist.

Ayman Bahgat Amar; in his first screen play, proved that he is different, and suceeded to add suspense to the story that we – the audience – never doubted that what’s happeneing in the first hour of the movie is only in the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic patient. Ahmed helmy proved that he is not only a great comedian but also a good actor. Menna shalaby was charming. Mahmoud hemeda and Dalal abd el aziz .. added to the film a lot. The D.O.P succeeded in building a language in the lighting and the camera movement that added to the movie a lot specially in the scene when the mother confronted the patient.

Nevertheless the movie had some weak points, mainly in describing the patient’s relation with his friends and Co-workers, and the unexplained relation with his boss. another weak point from my point of view is that the director Khaled Marie is affected with the Oscar winning award “A Beautiful mind” starring Russell Crew - inspired by the life of John Forbes Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, who suffered paranoid schizophrenia -

Remains to say that “Sorry For Disturbance” is one of the best egyptian movies in 2008

High school musical (2006) … High School Musical 2: Extended Edition (2007) …

High school musical (2006) … High School Musical 2: Extended Edition (2007) … High School musical 3: Senior Year (2008)

3 great Musicals … i haven’t yet had the chance to see the third of them but the first two are more than fabulous… only saw them on MBC MAX last few days …

Stars of the trilogy:
Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) - Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) - Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) - Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) - Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu) - Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman) - Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin)

Director: Kenny Ortega
Writer: Peter Barsocchini 

High school musical (2006)

Troy & Gabriella met in a new year’s eve party and we are forced to sing together, exchanged numbers but never thought they will meet again. nevertheless they both discovered that they are in the same High school. Troy is a basketball playmaker and the captain of this team “wildcats”. Gabriella is a Genius math geek. They fall in love and decide together to join an audition for the musical performance in the school. and after they audition and get a call back along with Sharpay and Ryan Evans. Roy’s friend Chad becomes upset because he is afraid that Troy will become distracted from the basketball championship. Gabriella’s friend Taylor wants her on the science team and is willing to do anything to get her on the team.Troy had to choose between what he really wants to do (the undiscovered part of him) and what he has been doing since ever. Gabriella was sure of the step she is doing, until the evil plan Chad and Taylor put succeeded in breaking her heart. Seeing them distracted and not enjoying their lives anymore, Chad and Taylor confessed, and the whole teams are standing together in order to win the basketball championship, the science competition and the audition.The movie calls for searching inside ourselves to find what’s undiscovered and not to be afraid of whatever the reaction of the surrounding society; if they love, they will encourage you to do it..

High School Musical 2: Extended Edition (2007)

The “wild cats” gang are having a summer job in the country club owned by Sharpay and Ryan Evans. Gabriella wanted an unforgettable summer and the whole team decided to have fun all together despite the regulations of the working place. Moreover, they were going to join the talent show organized at the country club in a duet for Gabriella and Troy. When Sharpay knew that, she started to drag troy’s attention and trigger his dreams through her father’s power. Troy went after his dreams and changed totally in the way he deals with his friends and missed his dates with gabriella. Sharpay destroyed the gang’s summer and that’s why gabriella left the country club, leaving Troy to the truth that him running after his dreams should not make him lose the people he loves. 

I am looking forward to watch High School musical 3: Senior Year

Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty gives us the chance to think… is being GOD an easy Job??
Bruce Almighty gives us another dimension in dealing with GOD.. gives us a small imagination to what could happen if GOD wasn’t there.. gives us a real reflection to the human soul and how it acts and thinks in times of weakness…

Bruce is not Jim Carrey.. he might be you.. he might be me … 
GOD is not Morgan Freeman.. but HE needs you to believe in HIM, give HIM the chance to assist you, pray – not for people to see you praying, and not to tell HIM “see i am praying and you don’t give me what i ask“-just praying because you need to tell HIM what’s inside you and be sure HE will do the best for you.

GOD loves me … HE is not there to torture HIS son .. HE is not there to overload him with what he can’t do… HE knows what you can do and what you can’t do since HE created you… and HE wants you to discover the miracle in yourself.. “You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle”

there are understandable reasons to why this movie has been officially forbidden in Egypt..but i hope those who saw the movie in and outside Egypt understood what’s behind it and not only considered it another comedy for Jim Carrey

Bruce Almighty
A guy who complains about God too often is given almighty powers to teach him how difficult it is to run the world.
Starring:Jim Carrey – Morgan Freeman – Jennifer Aniston
Writing Credits: Steve Koren – Mark O’keefe
Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and some crude humor.
Runtime:101 min

Shall we Dance???

“Shall we Dance 2004″                        Vs.                    “ماتيجى نرقص 2006 “
 
Richard Gere …  John Clark                                          Yousra…. Salwa
Jennifer Lopez …  Paulina                                            Tamer Hagras…. Ahmed
Susan Sarandon …Beverly Clark                                    Ezzat abo Auf…. Khaled
Lisa Ann Walter …  Bobbie                                           Hala Sedky…..Maggie
Stanley Tucci …  Link                                                 Ta’alt zein…..Ashraf
Anita Gillette … Miss Mitzi                                            Laila Sho’ir…. Madame suzi

Director: Peter Chelsom                                               Director: Inas el Deghedy
Screen Play : Audrey Well                                            Screen Play: Rafik el Saaban
Runtime: 106 min                                                        Runtime: 123 min

The american version plot is that; John Clark is a man with a wonderful job, a charming wife and a loving family, who nevertheless feels that something is missing as he makes his way every day through the city. Each evening on his commute home, John sees a beautiful woman, staring with a lost expression through the window of a dance studio. Haunted by her gaze, John impulsively jumps off the train one night, and signs up for dance lessons, hoping to meet her. When he does meet Paulina, she icily tells John she hopes he has come to the studio to seriously study dance and not to look for a date. But, as his lessons continue, John falls in love with dancing. Keeping his new obsession from his family and co-workers, John feverishly trains for Chicago’s biggest dance competition. His friendship with Paulina blossoms, as his enthusiasm rekindles her own lost passion for dance. his wife being suspicious hires a secret dedective; his secret is revealed, John will have to do some fancy footwork to keep his dream going and realize what it is he really yearns for. (imdb)

In the egyptian version , Salwa , a lawyer working in an office that lies above a dancing school, depressed of her daily routine even in sex and charmed with the music and the dances she sees daily, registers for dance lessons. She also falls in love with dancing and trains for a dance competition organized in CityStars :-S, her husbands becomes suspicious and starts to follow her untill her secret is revealed and she is divorced.  The veiled girls who were being taught dance in the  school, admitting that it’s a good place to go in the law suit presented by their brother, changes his prespective and he starts to learn dancing in the same dancing school, till they dance together in an international  competition organized in Egypt :-S

Inas el deghedy wanted to discuss the view of the egyptian society towards dancing, togther with some other problems including ” homosexuality” through a men dancing couple in the school , “late women marriage” through maggie and “religious extremism” through the brother of the veiled girls, however copying the american movie in everything, decor (specially that of the school), locations, music used, the idea of using the train/underground daily, the performance of some charachters (specially Hala sedky copying Lisa Ann Walter) and even the music used, caused the movie to lose it’s aim due to continous comparison with the original movie that we loved !

Walid Awny, a great Dance designer failed completely to design dances for this movie, he tried to copy the original dances in the american version and blend in them oriental music, or give the dances unneeded meanings, which made the dances a total mess… (specially in the dance of the first contest and in the dance before she got divorced) N.B the last was a trial to copy JLO /Richard tremendos latin dance on the night before the contest
SWAY should have never been used as a soundtrack for this movie as it is stuck in our minds with the tremendous performance of “Tucci and Walter” in the Cha-Cha contest and in the movie finale …not to mension the awfull performance of Yousra and ezzat abou Auf and the ununderstandable contribution of the Judges in the dance!!!!!

I have always respected inas el Deghedy and i admit that her name on the movie is the only reason that pushed me to see this remake of one of my favourite movies, however she failed to do a good movie and also to deliver any message due to the deadly trials to copy the original movie in everything !!!!!!! 

remains to say … SHALL WE DANCE is based on the Japanese screenplay by Masayuki Suo “Dansu wo shimashô ka? 1997″

خيانة مشروعة

العاصفة ، جواز بقرار جمهورى ، انت عمرى ، ويجا…هى أفلام خالد يوسف و يسبقها عشر سنوات من العمل مع المخرج العالمى يوسف شاهين و نجح فى اضافة رائعة فى تاريخه و تاريخ كل من شارك معه فى هذا العمل

خيانة مشروعة

بطولة: هاني سلامة – مي عز الدين – سمية الخشاب – هشام سليم – سامح الصريطي – إبراهيم عيسى – حسن حرب – أحمد عودة – ساندي – مايسة – هديل – حسن نبيل
انتاج: الباتروس للإنتاج الفني
مدير التصوير : سمير بهزان
مونتاج: غادة عز الدين
موسيقي: ياسر عبد الرحمن

قصة و اخراج: خالد يوسف

حينما يسيطر الجشع على الأنسان يفعل اى شئ من اجل الوصول الى مطامعه … الفيلم يحكى قصة شاب يقتل أخوه و زوجته عمدا نتيجة لتحريض من عشيقته التى تطمع فى ماله و قد كان الأب قبل وفاته نقل ملكية الشركات و الأرصدة الى الأخ الأكبر بعد ان أقسم على ان تكون امانة الى ان يعتدل حال الأخ الأصغر. و لكن الأخير لم يصبر و قتل أخوه و زوجته التى اوهمته عشيقته بخيانتها له…و ظهرت جريمة القتل على انها جريمة شرف و خرج منها الأخ الأصغر بثلاث شهور مع ايقاف التنفيذ …و رغم ذللك ظل رائد المباحث وراء الحقيقة الى ان أظهرها

سمية الخشاب فى دور شهد(العشيقة) استطاعت ان تجسد دور الشيطان بمنتهى البراعة

هانى سلامة امام كاميرا خالد يوسف ممثل رائع

مى عز الدين (زوجة الأخ الأكبر) استطاعت بعذوبة و رقة لم تخرج منها قبلا ان تغير مجريات الفيلم

هشام سليم و سامح الصريطى …خبرة سنين و اسلوب سهل ممتنع اضاف للفيلم

خالد يوسف كضيف شرف للفيلم لم يضيف الى دوره او للفيلم الكثير

ساندى و مايسة و هديل علامات استفهام

ابراهيم عيسى اضاف للفيلم بعد سياسى خاصة فى حواره مع هشام سليم : “انت عارف الأقتصاد المصرى عامل كده (و يميل بجسده) و محتاج حد يسنده” – و حواره مع مى عز الدين ” هما عملوا شغلهم و سرقوا ، احنا نعمل شغلنا و نظهر الحق ، يمكن حد تانى يعمل شغلوا و يحاسبهم

خالد يوسف(مخرجا) و غادة عز الدين (مونتاج) استطاعا التحكم فى الأحداث المتداخلة للفيلم … سمير بهزان مديرا للتصوير نجح فى اختيار مواقع و زوايا تصوير جيدة خاصة التصوير فى حديقة الأزهر و منطقة الحسين وإن يؤخذ عليه مشهد الغذاء فى نادى القضاه و مشاهد داخل السيارة..موسيقى الفيلم نجحت فى اضافة روح تشويق للأحداث.. هناك اغنية للفيلم ظهرت على القنوات التلفزيونية و لكنها لم تكن ضمن أحداث الفيلم اسلوب دعاية جيد خاصة مع صوت أمال ماهر و ان كنت لا احبه

اعتبره احلى و انجح الأفلام المصرية هذا الموسم