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michel_effeich
Reviews
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Not a bad movie.. but I still feel its a wasted opportunity to create a masterpiece.
Yes. The movie is good and its great to finally see the link between episode II and episode IV. I would also have to say that I enjoyed the show nevertheless, the relatively low score that I gave to the movie (which is surprisingly contradicting with the general opinion of people) is justified form my opinion.
WARNING.. SPOILERS AHEAD.. DON'T READ UNLESS YOU SAW THE MOVIE ALREADY.
First of all, the ending was a major disappointment.. imagine yourself watching the series starting by episode 1 to 6 which is what should be done now
u come to this movie and you already know that there are twins.. and you know their names and where they are.. oooops.. the surprises in the old trilogy are DEAD. You know in the first minutes of "the new hope" that Leia Organa is Vader's daughter!!!! Its sooo weird.. and it wasn't supposed or intended to be like that!!!! Also you can't be wondering about the love triangle that develops between Luke, Leia and Han solo.. because Luke and Leia are brother and sister
the plot loses a lot of its magic with this. What I think should have been done, is that the birth part should not have been shown at all!!!!... it was enough to show the senator, Yoda and Obi Wan next to padme and the droids helping her.. maybe show obi wan with padme like in anakin's vision and hear a baby cry so we know that there was a baby that came to life.. and THAT'S IT.. no need to show the girl!!!! skip the rest of the birth scene and go directly to the death scene of Padme.. No need to spell the fate of the kids out.. its explained very well in the old trilogy. Besides.. in a conversation between Luke and Leia in episode 6, I think one of them says that he/she remembers their mother.. I am not sure.. gotta see that one again soon
but that would not be possible since Lucas decided that Padme dies at BIRTH
but I am not sure about that one.
Second.. Vader in the new hope is dark and scary.. I don't think I will feel the same about him when seeing the new hope. After the way he was turned to the dark side.. his treachery to the emperor becomes only a matter of time not a surprise or a twist of events.
Third.. Padme died in childbirth because of the Anakin's actions and not because of any health issues .. The droid says that to Obi Wan I think before birth. If that is the case, then if Anakin did not turn to the dark side, Padme would have lived and the premonition Anakin sees would not have happened.. so the premonition instead of being a catalyst of his fall to the dark side is a result of his actions.. I don't think it should be like that. It does not feel right.
Fourth.. the movie was hyped as being the darkest of the saga
.I have to say I will have to disagree. General grievous is a DROID!!! It didn't add darkness to the movie
Dooku dies early on too
the costume of Vader comes in the very end so we don't see Anakin ENJOYING his new powers and terrifying his enemies
Maybe I expected more darkness
the dialogue too was flat in some places..
Fifth
how can the senate accept forging the empire so easily? No political intrigues? Opposition? And how can they accept what the chancellor is claiming about the Jedi? The ones that helped protect the republic for all those years??? It was very easy for something very difficult..
I think I had a lot of expectations for this movie being dark and full of action and plot, and this is why I cant give a higher score.. It was below my expectations. Still, I am looking forward to buying the DVD and checking out the deleted scenes and extras.. hope no one kills me because of this review!
Sahar el layaly (2003)
Finally an Egyptian movie that has the potential to be a worldwide hit..
I think that what makes "Sahar El Layali" so different from all the other Egyptian movies is that it is a bold attempt at criticizing and analyzing problems that are witnessed by youth in their early marital lives in Egypt and maybe in the whole world as well.
In the midst of all the thoughtless comedies appearing in Egyptian theatres every week, such a deep movie is a breath of fresh air and something which implies that Egypt can produce good movies provided that the creators ignore the usual saying of "this is what the public wants" in order to guarantee easy revenues.
The movie impresses right from the very beginning with an excellent star-packed cast comprising some of the best young actors in the Egyptian scene; Mona Zaki and her husband Ahmed Helmi (husband in real life), in addition to Hanan Turk, Ola Ghanem, Khaled abou El Naga, Fathi Abd El Wahab, Gihan Fadel and last but far from least Sherif Mounir.
My review would not include spoilers because I think everybody has to see and enjoy this movie but in brief the movie describes the inter-relations between 4 young couples and the problems that they face in either their marital lives or emotional / love relationships. This is where the movies is bold as it depicts real-life problems in outstanding realism that hits the unprepared audience who might have bought tickets to watch a comic movie like the vast majority of the movie in the scene nowadays.
The acting was superb from the whole cast but Sherif Mounir (being the most experienced actor) and Gihan Fadel shone out as the real driving forces of the movie handling the most difficult and emotionally complex roles with extreme talent.
The movie is not all drama and has its adequate sense of humor that actually adds to the experience. The use of Fayrouz's classic song "Sahar El Layali" was a brilliant idea and well integrated into the movie.
The movie was attacked, however, for its boldness as well as a couple of scenes that were considered to have sexual content. In my opinion, such scenes, if any, were essential to the plot of the movie and the movie would suffer if edited in any way. Furthermore, and due to the nature of the movie, the content and the adult dialogue, the movie's director assigned an "Adults Only" banner which was made very clear on the movies posters (which were very nicely done by the way) so such scenes would be forgiven in the light of the age restriction imposed on the movie.
In the very end, I would like to say why I wrote this review which happens to be my first on IMDB (wonderful site by the way). When a movie like this comes around, and you find some people attacking it in a rather narrow minded manner, you have to speak for its defense in the hope that more of this good stuff arrives.
Finally, this movie might be what the Egyptian movie industry needed to know that movies with plot and not only comedy can succeed. I voted a flawless 10/10 for this movie and would suggest that anyone interested in Arabic-speaking movies MUST see this movie regardless of the user rating it gets at the end.