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Tunisian Film Gets Best Arab Film Award

Good news related to Tunisian cinema…

The Tunisian film “Tender is the Wolf” (Ors El Dhib) received best Arab film Award at the 11 th edition of the San Francisco Arab Film Festival. The Festival aims at featuring alternative representations of Arabs that contradict the current stereotyped pictures of Arabs frequently encountered in the American media.

The film which was directed and written by Jilani Saadi, a young Tunisian film maker, is an unsettling, gritty representation of urban life, exploring issues such as the “sexualization” of women, poverty, unemployment and aimlessness.

The film also received a number of distinctions at several festivals throughout the world, including a special distinction at the latest Carthage Film Festival.

The young Anissa Daoud starring in the film, plays the role of Aziza, a young prostitute who is gang raped by a group of outcasts. The other main role in the film, namely that of ‘Stoufa’, is played by Hassine Graya.

“Tender is the wolf” is not the only Tunisian film to take part in this festival. Nouri Bouzid’ s post 9/11movie , “Making Of” was shown at the opening of the festival- a distinction in itself- eliciting much praise and sparking an intense debate.

[Source: Tunisie Online News]

So there’s one other must-see Tunisian movie on my list…

Personally, I haven’t had the chance to watch as much as I’d like of our Tunisian movies, just the more famous ones, and those I really liked.
So I’d be really grateful to whoever can suggest their favourite Tunisian movies for me to check out.

Which other Tunisian movies do you think are a must-see?

Mr. Brooks

I just finished watching the movie Mr. Brooks, featuring Kevin Costner and Demi Moore.

The movie is a psychological thriller about a man, Mr. Brooks (played by Kevin Costner), who is addicted to and enjoys murder; he is a serial killer known by the pseudo “The Thumb Print Killer”, who continues to be tempted by his alter ego to keep on killing people even thought he wants to quit.
Demi Moore plays the role of a devoted police detective who is tracking the footsteps of the thumb print killer, earning his admiration and respect along the way.

I found the movie pretty interesting, I really liked the story and the script, and I think that Kevin Costner did a great job depicting the mixed up personality of the serial killer and all his different faces and personas.

If you’re into the whole psychological thriller genre, then I do recommend this movie; it is a good and enjoyable one that keeps you engaged throughout it all.

Overall, I think I’d give it a score of:

[Amazon: Mr. Brooks DVD]

1408 – The Movie

Last night, I finally got around to watching “1408“, a movie based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name, and featuring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.

I’m a fan of John Cusack’s, especially his lighter comedy roles, he’s a great actor who can take on many different roles so naturally, and who picks his roles really well; so I try to never miss a movie he’s in.

I can’t claim to be a big fan of Stephen King though; I loved some of his works and their movie adaptations, but I was also let down a number of times, especially when the stories took weird twists towards including a bunch of unexpected aliens in the story in a pretty annoying way.

Anyway, back to 1408, it’s about a writer, who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences and ghost stories, who checks into a fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel, despite being warned by the Hotel manager that it is an evil room; And then genuine terror begins.

The movie started off really well, and got scarier by the minute, building up that creepy atmosphere that has you all alert and all; in other words: scary in the good old sense of scary movies, not the torture-porn or teen-startle stuff studios are putting out these days; but two thirds of the way into the movie, things started falling apart for me, and the movie just started losing my interest; I don’t know it just felt like they were padding it to make it longer, which kind of made the ending a bit less powerful for me.

Anyway, all in all, it is a good movie; I liked the idea of the story, the evolution of its events, and the acting.
Do I think it could have been done better? Maybe.
Do I recommend it? For people who are into this genre of movies, yes, it is an interesting movie, and there aren’t that many of its type out there these days.

Overall, I’d give it:

[More: IMDB, Amazon]

The Screening Room’s Top 10 Animated Films

CNN’s The Screening Room have released a list of their top 10 animated feature films.

Their list goes as follows:

1. Toy Story/Toy Story 2
2. Princess Mononoke
3. Sleeping Beauty
4. Akira
5. The Jungle Book
6. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
7. Grave of the Fireflies
8. Fantasia
9. Watership Down
10. The Triplets of Belleville

I’ve seen most of the animated films on their list and do agree that they’re some of the best out there, but I’m not sure my list would turn out the same.

I’m quite sure there’d be more Pixar films on my list, a couple more Disney ones, a few from the other studios and some other Japanese ones. I’ll try to get around to posting my top animated films soon.
Till then which are your faves?

Evan Almighty

This past weekend, I watched Evan Almighty, featuring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman.

The movie is a sequel to Bruce Almighty; In this one God (Freeman) contacts Congressman Evan Baxter (Carell) and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood; You can imagine the rest.

I saw the trailer for this movie a long time ago, I liked the idea and what I saw in the trailer, and thought it looked like a very promising funny summer comedy.

I was a bit dissapointed though because even though it has some good laughs here and there, it just didn’t turn out to be the great summer comedy I was waiting for. Personally, I was expecting a bit more from Steve Carell.

Some people say this movie isn’t just about comedy, it also has a message, well yeah it’s kind of true, but you can be funny and have a message at the same time.

My score for this movie would have to be: 5/10.
If I didn’t have such high expectations it might have gotten more, but well…

Ratatouille

Last night, I also watched “Ratatouille“, Pixar’s latest film, written and directed by Brad Bird, who also worked on 2004’s “The Incredibles“.

I’m a big fan of Pixar and their animation movies, they’ve got the best animations, the best stories and the best characters hands down.

Personally, Ratatouille is now my favourite Pixar movie, I simply loved it. It’s such a fun and cool movie. Remy, the rat, is just so cute and adorable as a main character, the story is a very nice one, and the animation is perfect as usual.

The story follows Remy, a young rat who is passionate about cooking, and finds himself at the famous Paris bistro that belonged to his idol Chef Gusteau, as he tries to become a chef despite his family’s skepticism and the rat-despising staff and patrons.

I’ll surely be buying this movie’s DVD when it’s released; it’s a sure classic.
I totally recommend watching it, it’s so much fun and so enjoyable.

A Couple Of Office Space Quotes

Last night, I popped in one of my favourite comedy movies “Office Space” into the DVD player and laid back to enjoy.

I just thought I’d share with you a couple of quotes from the movie that I think a lot of people in the IT field will relate to.

Peter Gibbons: Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.

and…

Joanna: So, where do you work, Peter?
Peter Gibbons: Initech.
Joanna: In… yeah, what do you do there?
Peter Gibbons: I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch.
Joanna: What’s that?
Peter Gibbons: Well see, they wrote all this bank software, and, uh, to save space, they used two digits for the date instead of four. So, like, 98 instead of 1998? Uh, so I go through these thousands of lines of code and, uh… it doesn’t really matter. I uh, I don’t like my job, and, uh, I don’t think I’m gonna go anymore.
Joanna: You’re just not gonna go?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Joanna: Won’t you get fired?
Peter Gibbons: I don’t know, but I really don’t like it, and, uh, I’m not gonna go.
Joanna: So you’re gonna quit?
Peter Gibbons: Nuh-uh. Not really. Uh… I’m just gonna stop going.
Joanna: When did you decide all that?
Peter Gibbons: About an hour ago.
Joanna: Oh, really? About an hour ago… so you’re gonna get another job?
Peter Gibbons: I don’t think I’d like another job.
Joanna: Well, what are you going to do about money and bills and…
Peter Gibbons: You know, I’ve never really liked paying bills. I don’t think I’m gonna do that, either.

If you haven’t already seen this movie, you just have to, it’s so so funny…

Check it out: “Office Space”

Guess The Movie From The Quotes #2

So let’s give this guessing game another turn…

The following are a number of quotes from a famous and cool movie that has achieved cult film status. See if you can guess the movie from the quotes; should be quite easy for any movie fan.

– I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.
– Every day above ground is a good day.
– In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.
– All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don’t break them for no one.
– You wanna waste my time? Okay. I call my lawyer. He’s the best lawyer in Miami. He’s such a good lawyer, that by tomorrow morning, you gonna be working in Alaska. So dress warm.
– Say goodnight to the bad guy.
– So you wanna dance, Frank, or do you wanna sit here and have a heart attack?

So did you guess what film these quotes are from?

300

A friend of mine and I went to see 300 at the cinema yesterday. I’ve heard many mixed reviews about this movie, a lot of people loved it, and many others said it was a waste of time, void of meaning or purpose.
Curiosity pushed me to go and see it for myself and then build my own opinion on whether it’s a good or bad movie.

I didn’t go in expecting much, which is good, because I generally get a good surprise with the movie turning out better than I expected; The same held in this case.

I have to say that I ended up enjoying the movie; it’s no great epic and it’ll be forgotten in no time, but still it’s an entertaining piece of action cinema. There’s no deep story behind the movie, it’s no actor’s movie, and it crams in so many clich

Guess The Movie From The Quotes

Well, every once in a while I’m in the mood for a little game of guessing or what if, …etc; This time I thought why not put it on the blog.

The following are a number of quotes from a really cool movie that has achieved cult film status, and which is among my personal faves of all time. See if you can guess the movie from the quotes; should be quite easy for any movie fan.

– What the cops never figured out, and what I know now, was that these men would never break, never lie down, never bend over for anybody. Anybody.

– The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.

– How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?

– To a cop the explanation’s always simple. There’s no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. If you find a body and you think his brother did it, you’re gonna find out you’re right.

– I used to dehydrate as a kid. One time it got so bad my piss came out like snot. I’m not kidding, it was thick and gooey.

– And like that…he’s gone.

There are many cooler quotes from this movie, but they’d make it too easy to guess.

So did you guess what film these quotes are from?