One Direction: This Is Us
In the past it was a big deal to have a movie made about your life, and it usually used to be after you had done something great for humanity. And even then it often did not happen until decades after your death, but this is quickly changing.
For those who are not screaming teenagers, One Direction is a British boy band that has taken the world by storm for unknown reasons. For most adults, they are tiny creatures whose voices screech rather than sing, but to pre-teens and adolescents, they are gods among mortals. The oldest member of the group is 21 years of age, and they have been around for three whole years. Why not a documentary based on their three-year singing career?
“There’s no sex, drugs, swearing, smoking, or squabbling, just rock’n’roll of an indifferent kind, a little contrived rebelliousness against their good-natured security staff and some staged meetings with their crying mums, grateful dads and proud nans. During an unlikely hike through a Swedish forest, the quintet sit around a campfire like good Boy Scouts, contemplating the future and declaring they’ll always be best mates. This is the rock revolution reduced to the level of the Eurovision Song Contest,” wrote Philip French of The Guardian.
Cairo: Galaxy Cineplex
Alexandria: Green Plaza
Red 2
Hellen Mirren with a gun? Why not? That was my first thought when I found out about the first movie. I went in without any expectations, and found the comedic action film a nice surprise, with an added bonus of a great line-up of veteran actors. The second one has the same line-up, but this time one has great expectations. This is not a serious movie with a great storyline and complex characters. If you go in with that kind of expectation then you will be greatly disappointed. Rather, it is a silly action film that aims at making you laugh. That is it, and if it is successful, then it is good enough.
“If you like John Malkovich as a maniacally paranoid former black ops spy hiding under sou’westers and faking his own death, you get him doing that, too. Dean Parisot, who made the delightful Galaxy Quest, has a funnier sensibility than the first movie’s director, Robert Schwentke, but he’s still defeated by a script that’s over-complicated and under-sophisticated: elaborate throat-clearing for punchlines that never arrive,” wrote Tim Robey of The Telegraph.
Cairo: Odeon, Golden Stars, Ramses Hilton, El Salam Concorde, Galaxy, Galaxy Cineplex
Alexandria: Amir, Green Plaza
The Conjuring
Essential horror movie components: a far away house…check, a terrorised family including a screaming girl, who looks a bit creepy…check, and a dark presence…check. There is your optional possession, in which one of the family members is consumed by the dark presence. Usually, it is the creepy little girl, who goes to terrorise the rest of the family.
While one usually knows what to expect in horror movies, it really becomes about how the story is presented and that little twist at the end. If well-made, you are bound to shiver way after the movie credits roll, finding yourself in need of a night light to keep you company in those long, sleepless nights. The Conjuring has all the elements, but it is yet to be determined whether it is good enough to make you fear the crawling monster underneath your bed.
“The Warrens – religious folk concerned for their victims’ souls (their church attendance is patchy) – are presented as dedicated professionals, rather than kooks, weirdos or (whisper it) hucksters. But the 70s setting, paired with the cheapish visual effects, helps the thing scramble along like a fleshed-out episode of Scooby Doo. Wan’s shocks are predictable but – yikes! – are they scary,” wrote Henry Barnes of The Guardian.
Cairo: Golden Stars, Galaxy, Galaxy Cineplex
Alexandria: Amir, Green Plaza
