Movie Byte ... Mseebeh

Yet another short movie by my friend Basel ...



Of course these are experimental movies only done in a few hours ... but that is what every movie fan should do ... keep the camera rolling ...

Movie Byte ... A Warmer Shade of Gray

After two years on the dusty shelf ... Abeer here decided that enough is enough :)

Here is my first attempt (with a group of course) to make it into the movie business ...




I hope you can enjoy it ... it was done in a rush with the efforts of only two members of the team in the final days (I was busy with moving to our new house) ...

More Here. I hope you can enjoy it.

Movie Byte ... Empty Peanut (Jordanian Short Movie)

This is a short Movie made by my dear friends Basel and Motasem ...

Dudes ... some day our fooling around with the camera will take us somewhere ...

Enjoy you all ... the video is on Facebook in a larger resolution than Youtube ... choose what suits you ...

Movie Byte ... Captain Abu Raed : Will He Fly High ?

The first Jordanian Feature film in fifty years, Captain Abu Raed has been creating some echoes around the Jordanian media; newspapers and blogs, and some Arabic and international media for some time now. It's only natural that this film captures much attention in a country that recently started to discover its hunger for culture and art and its need for a cultural identity. But the question that wanders around in my head is: Is this buzz all good ? do we need to set the bar that high, and then hold hands and pray that the film makes the jump ?

There are numerous examples for films, some good and some not as much, that were killed by anticipation. I can remember Waterworld, The Da Vinci Code, and most recently a film that can be compared to our film; the first saudi feature film "Keef El-Hal". I admit they weren't top notch but the overflowing anticipation in international media had the bigger hand in all the negative reviews these films received after they hit theaters.

I know Amin Matalqa is a good director, I have seen more than a handful of his short films and I think he is really talented, but unfortunately that is not the only ingredient in the recipe for success. Success requires hard work, collaboration, creativity, experience, luck among others. I wish the film makers had put enough of that to match the expectations, but let's not make this harder for Amin by expecting a film of high-caliber, and let the movie speak and decide for itself, and more importantly let's all triumph, for we have reached Sundance, DIFF, and God-willingly The Globes and The Oscar, Who knows ?

Movie Byte ... Les Invasions Barbares

Les Invasions Barbares

I saw this movie yesterday on TV ... I've never heard of this film before ... and I really wasn't surprised that it won the Oscar for best foreign language movie back in 2004 ... exquisite movie ... once more showing that European cinema (European Canadian in this case) is WAY ahead of its American counterpart ...

A man in his last days is surrounded by his friends and family ... he and his friends are intellectual elites ... and his son was away ... it really holds a deep philosophical perspective throughout the whole movie ... and highlighted in the last minutes of the movie ... the discussion that took place in the last scenes about Politics and Sex is one of the best discussion I've ever heard in my life ...

I would definitely recommend seeing this movie ... I've just read that its part of a sequel ... preceded by Le Déclin de l'empire américain (The Decline of the American Empire [USA]) which received a Academy Award Nomination for the same category in 1986 ... and followed by L'Âge des ténèbres (The Age of Ignorance [International: English title]) which is Canada's Submission for the next Academy Awards and was released two months ago ... I know I'm gonna try my best to see them ...

Rating : 8.5/10

Movie Byte ... Babel

Babel

Before I saw the movie, I turned to Wikipedia, in an attempt to understand what the title has to do with the film and to find out what Babel may mean other the the ancient city in Ancient Iraq. What I found was new to me, and surely exciting. Relate this to the Arabic word "Balbalah" which means :

والبَلْبلة: تفريق الآراء. وتَبَلْبَلت الأَلسن: اختلطت. والبَلْبَلة: اختلاط الأَلسنة. التهذيب: البَلْبلة بَلْبلة الأَلسن، وقيل: سميت أَرض بابِل لأَن الله تعالى حين أَراد أَن يخالف بين أَلسنة بني آدم بَعَث ريحاً فحشرهم من كل أُفق إِلى بابل فبَلْبَل الله بها أَلسنتهم، ثم فَرَّقتهم تلك الريح في البلاد. والبَلْبلة والبَلابل والبَلْبال: شدَّة الهم والوَسْواس في الصدور وحديث النفس .المصدر:لسان العرب

I knew this was the beginning of a wonderful movie; especially when "By the Writer and Director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams" came across my mind. Their magnificent work in the first two part of what can be called a trilogy will be remembered for a long time.

The cast is simply amazing. A diverse group of actors who where simply up to the expectations, with a special mention to the little Moroccan kid and the Japanese girl who really were astonishing. A question mark is raised, however, about Kate Blanchett’s character which was less than her capabilities as the great actress we know she is.

I personally think that this film followed the trail of all trilogies I’ve seen where the third part is the least creative and capturing. The idea of the scattered time line has appealed to many in the first two films, but if nothing new was added the spectator will be dulled and won’t react in the same passion as in the first two films. Another thing is that the Japanese story was a little astride from the three other stories, which actually made some events in the story seem unreal and far too coincidental to accept, which weakened a story with such a powerful biblical reference that drives you to think more.

Political references in this movie are numerous; starting with the Arab-terrorist and the scared transcendental westerner stereotypes, to the fast spread of news across the worlds. The film also holds a reference for Bush’s new policy regarding Mexican immigrants.

However, I don’t want to neglect the importance of Alejandro González Iñárritu as a Director and Editor, because technically speaking it’s was absolutely amazing. Fast editing combined with a variety of shots makes the viewer so indulged with the picture and the music will be felt like strings playing with your heart.

My Rating : 7.5/10

Movie Byte ... Diarios de motocicleta

Diarios de motocicleta

This film tells the story of the youthful Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Alberto Granado, and their "road trip" around their beloved continent Latin America. And as he explains it "What we had in common - our restlessness, our impassioned spirits, and a love for the open road.”

What started as a touristic tour for two young men who wanted to "make love with girls from every country" had evolved into a bitter discovery of the starving workers and the politically oppressed they encountered in Chile, Peru and Venezuela. The misery they encountered and the pain they saw changed them forever.

What I love about this movie is that it's very passionate, it makes you understand what the circumstances were at that time and how it changed this young rich medicine student into the "Commendante Che Guevara" we know today. Technically it was astonishing; breath-taking views of various locations in Latin America along with beautiful music and marvelous acting made this picture worth watching.

My Rating: 8.0 / 10