Category: Cinema

I just watched Spiderman 2 last night.
After hearing so much about it and reading all the great reviews it got, I’ve been itching to see it.

And well, what do I think after seeing it?
Well, I enjoyed the movie a lot. It’s a lot of fun, the action is cooler than the first, the villain is greater (I always thought Doc Ock was the best villain in the Spiderman comics), the story is nice, the miserable love story goes on and the cinematography, photography, special effects and directing are great.
This movie is a must see for fans of this genre.

Now, to the other big question. Which did I like most? The first or the second movie?
Well, I’m still not very sure about that. I loved the first, and I really liked the second.
I guess if the first movie wasn’t the one in which Spiderman gets in touch with his powers, then this one would definitely rule.
So, I guess, to me these movies are of the same great level.
I’m sure I’ll be buying the DVD when it’s out.

Spiderman 1 & 2 are the most successful movies from this superhero genre, I think.
Sam Raimi and the cast did a wonderful job.
Can’t wait till 2007 for the third.

Yesterday I finally got to see Satin Rouge by Raja Ammari, a Tunisian movie that got a lot of great reviews when it was released back in 2002.

I heard and read so much about it, and have been wanting to see it for a long time, but never really got around to it.

Anyway, after seeing it, I understand why it got all the great reviews. It’s a really nice and well done movie. Maybe one of the best Tunisian movies yet.

It’s the story of a widow who’s raising her adolescent daughter on her own and who’s leading a pretty boring and depressing life. It’s like her life stopped when her husband died and she’s just there to take care of her daughter now.

Circumstances later drive her to a cabaret in search of her daughter where she discovers this whole new night life of dance and pleasures. It excites and attracts her but also worries her.
Nevertheless she is sucked in slowly as she builds a friendship with one of the belly dancers there and starts frequenting the place more only to become a dancer herself too.

She ends up caught in the middle of being a perfect mom that she no longer is and a belly dancer that she still isn’t yet.

Of course there are other events I don’t want to get into so as to not spoil it for anyone who’s going to see it. But what I can say is that it’s really worth the watch.

The directing, cinematography and photography is really good too. I truly enjoyed the shots that were taken, the angles, …etc.

I give it a 8/10 as a movie.
You should really see it.

So, it seems like there’ll be a third part to Tarantino’s Kill Bill saga.
But don’t get too excited. It won’t be out for another 15 years.

Quentin Tarantino said Monday he plans to shoot a third part of the Kill Bill vengeance series.

“I have plans, actually not right away, but like in 15 years from now, I’ll do a third version of this saga,” the director said at a news conference to promote “Kill Bill” Vol. 2, which opens in Spain next month.

Tarantino said part three would focus on the daughter of a hired killer that Uma Thurman’s character bumps off early in her revenge spree.

Now this is real cool…
It’s a shame we have to wait so long for it…

Every now and then I compile a list of the latest movies I’ve seen with a short review on them and then score them out of 10.

So, here are the movies I’ve seen recently and what I think of them.

Runaway Jury, Big Fish, Freaky Friday, Johnny English, Legally Blonde 2 and Master & Commander.

Continue reading Movies I’ve Seen Recently

Andy Serkis did a great job on Gollum, and I can’t wait to see how King Kong will turn out.
I’m sure Peter Jackson will make a great movie out of it and that Serkis will be part of the creation of a perfect King Kong.

Ah, Cinema magic…

After months of waiting, I finally got to see Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” last night.

Kicking back and relaxing on our beautiful new sofas, I really enjoyed this film.

It’s really simple and the story is a sweet and simple one too.
Two people’s lives cross in Tokyo, they relate, and they share a nice week together and then they move on.

Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson did a nice job on this movie.

This is the second Sofia Coppola movie, and after seeing both, I truly think she’s going to have a good future in writing and directing movies.

It’s been a while since we last went to the cinema. And usually when we do, we go to see an arabic movie because the foreign movies are old and we’d have already seen them.

So, this past Saturday we thought we’d go catch this Egyptian movie called “Haramiyyah fi Tayland” (Thieves in Thailand) starring Hanan Tork and Karem Abdel-Azeez.

It was a pretty good movie and we enjoyed it very much. But the true reason why we really enjoyed it is because of the scenes shot in Thailand.
They shot in Bangkok and in Phuket, and we found ourselves identifying places that we went to and took pictures at when we visited Thailand on our honeymoon.
From the Bangkok streets, temples and floating market to the Phuket downtown, touristic area and beaches to the Krabi islands.
They even shot scenes at the same resort we stayed at in Phuket; Le Meridien Royal Yacht Club Resort.

It’s so great to watch a movie and say: I’ve been there, yes I saw that, remember that?, we took a picture at that exact place, we swam there, we dived there…etc.
That’s how most of the movie was for us, bringing back some really beautiful memories and places, and further making me want to visit Thailand again.

The story is a nice one and I expect that even people who never visited Thailand would like the movie.

But for us, Thailand simply overshadowed the movie.

We saw the Farrelly brothers’ movie “Stuck On You” featuring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear last night.

It was quite a nice movie. I actually rented it not knowing what to expect. All I knew was that it topped the US box office when it was released and the few lines I read from the back of the DVD cover.

It’s a nice sweet comedy movie. Not side-splitting like some of the other Farrelly brother movies, but still a pretty good movie.

It’s the story of conjoined twins who seek different careers and have rather different personalities.
The actors did a great job and carried the movie very nicely.

I especially liked the song Greg Kinnear sang at the end of the movie.

All in all, I’d give the movie a 6.5/10.

People who have known this blog ever since it’s beginnings might have realized that I write a lot less about movies than I used to.

That’s basically because I see less movies now than I used to last year.
Last year, we were addicted to movies, we’d watch 2 to 3 movies a day, and believe me, I’m not overdoing it.

Anyway, ever since we bought a receiver and have access to satellite channels, we’ve been renting less movies and watching more shows and news.

But still being a cinema fanatic, I have to watch a minimum number of movies every week 😛

Among the movies that I saw lately, that are worth mentioning, are the following:

– Something’s Gotta Give: This is a really nice movie. Jack Nicholson as always is great and his sense of humour is so cool. Diane Keaton rocks and is amazing.
It’s a nice love story with a good dose of comedy in it. I really enjoyed it.

– Mona Lise Smile: This is a nice movie, but then again it has Julia Roberts in it. How could it be otherwise?
It’s a nice story, set in the 50s, about women in society and how they should not see their roles just as homewives taking care of their husbands, but should try to go on with their lives and their careers.

– Duplex: This is a really fun comedy. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore did a great job on this.
It’s so funny and really reminds me of us and our upstairs neighbours, lol.
It’s a Danny Devito movie, so thumbs up to him.

– The Core: Well, I heard a lot of bad remarks about this movie before seeing it, but I actually didn’t find it that bad.
It’s not the best sci fi movie and it defies a lot of scientific laws, I agree. But it’s a good enough movie. Who cares if it’s scientifically correct or not, it’s fiction.
Of course what they did is impossible but well who cares.
It’s the same genre as Armageddon and Deep Impact. Impossible, unreal, and simply fiction.

I’ll just stop here for now…

I was at the DVD store yesterday and there are a bunch of new movies I haven’t seen yet. God, do I have a lot of catching up to do. I love it 😉

U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a scathing indictment of White House actions after the September 11 attacks, won the top prize Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

With Moore’s customary blend of humor and horror, “Fahrenheit 9/11” accuses the Bush camp of stealing the 2000 election, overlooking terrorism warnings before September 11 and fanning fears of more attacks to secure Americans’ support for the Iraq war.

Michael Moore said :

“I can’t begin to express my appreciation and my gratitude to the jury, the Festival, to Gilles Jacob, Thierry Fr