dr_atef90 Reviews

The Water Diviner (2014)

Crowe's First Film behind the camera, hope it's not the last...

[7/10 · 2 September 2015]

No doubt that Russel is a great actor who made many remarkable roles and worked with great directors, in this movie it seems that Crowe learned some things from these directors, there are some positives in Crowe's first film but there are also little mistakes. First the script is good, has many sensational parts enforced with great acting abilities from Russel and his fellas. Soundtrack and music are good and represent the emotions and feeling of the characters, with a mix from eastern and Australian music. The song of the movie at ending title was so good and it was a completion of the musician effort at this movie. The greatest thing for me is cinematography, Andrew Lesnie (The cinematographer of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) showed us a great and marvelous pictures,the colors,the shades and angles of camera. What I didn't like was FLASHBACKS, It was many and the same at every time, Crowe showed it as a memory of the leading character but he wasn't there to have a memory of these events. So how he knew it. The worst thing was visual effects of some fire and explosions, it was poorly done and it looks like as in a cheap Turkish drama(The worst visual effects I've ever seen is in Turkish drama). It was a good start by Russel Crowe behind the camera but he has to avoid the mistakes - which were few- next time, and i really hope for a next time. My final rate is 7.5/10

Excuse My French (2014)

A good movie on the way of Wes Anderson

[8/10 · 6 October 2014]

Inspite of I am Egyptian, i don't like Egyptian movies especially at the last 4 years except few of them,but this one is totally different from what Egypt used to produce last years. It is about a touchy issue in Egyptian community,the relationship between Muslims & Christians,the director choose the school children to deal with that issue demonstrating also the corruption in educational system in Egypt & the differences between private schools & governmental ones.He showed in a simple way that the religious persecution issue in Egypt is such a myth. The director used a new way in directing according to Egyptian cinema,if an American saw this movie he might think it is one of Wes Anderson movies, The same way in directing,same bright colors,same movement of camera, the centralization method of camera which Wes is famous with & even the music sounded like Wes movies. May some think it's copying,but I like it especially I'm a fan of Wes movies. The scenario was great & touchy & showed the characters feelings. The ending was brilliant showed Muslim & Christian are equal,you cant recognize them from each other in Egyptian community(when we discover at the end of the movie that the teacher we thought she is a Christian,discovered to be a Muslim),It showed that they are equal even in punishment at the end of the movie. This is one of Egyptian modern cinema finest & I support to produce more like that. 4 out of 5

The Blue Elephant (2014)

Good directing & cinematography regarding Egyptian movies,but...

[8/10 · 2 October 2014]

If you give this movie 10 of 10 like most of Egyptian have done,I think you have overrated it.may be it is very good at directing & cinematography but regarding the Egyptian movies especially at the last 4 years but according to acting & screenplay it doesn't deserve to get the full mark. This movie is an adaptation from the best selling novel which have the same name so if you have red the book you will see the movie so simple & ridiculous,the screenplay failed to show us the real feelings you can feel when you read the book,failed to to make impression about how the main characters feel or what they done,the most annoying thing it didn't focus on the main events which is the hallucination of the main character caused by having the pills,it didn't focus on there psychology instead it focused too much on the love story between Yehya & Lobna like the most of Egyptian movies. The acting was good if we consider superficial screenplay especially from Kareem & Khaled. The music was good for that kind of movies. The best thing in this movie was Directing by Marawan Hamed (The director of Omaret Yakobean & Ibraheem Llabyad),it was excellent according to Egyptian movies with great cinematography. The ending of the movie wasn't good(It is different from the ending of novel,The novel is much better) My conclusion if you had red the book you will not enjoy the movie & if you didn't you will not understand it because the biggest defect in movie was the writer of the novel & the screen-player was the same person. 8 of 10 will be good according to Egyptian cinema. 7 of 10 according to international cinema.