Metwalli as a metaphor for Arab disunity?
What do Nour El-Sherif's bickering wives symbolize? The Critic takes on one of Ramadan's most popular TV dramas (December 6, 2001)

 

 

2001 Cairo Film Festival
Exclusive coverage and plenty of photos from the opening ceremony

 

 

Summer 2001 flicks, parts 1, 2 , 3 & 4

Enjoy cairolive.com's look at the eight biggest Egyptian films out in cinemas now. (September 10, 2001)

Sukoot Hansawar (Silence, We're rolling!)
"Lamei's transformation of the elegant concert into a "maskhara" (farce) is Chahine's way of trying to say, Egyptian pop culture has become a farce as well. "Take away" (the name of Lamei's song) has replaced Um Kulthum..."

55 Isaaf
In the new film 55 Isaaf (Ambulance 55), which opens nationwide today, Mohamed Saad (left) and his co-star Ahmed Helmy sing a couple of songs that sound a lot like the raps performed by Thulathi Adwaa Al-Masrah in the 60s...


As'hab wala Bizness (Is it Friendship... or Business?)
Qamar and Salama are the type of presenters viewers supposedly can't get enough of -- superficial to the core. But then politics rears its ugly head, and the guy who goes to cover the Intifada wakes up to the total and utter meaninglessness of what they've been doing back home..."



Ga'ana Al-Bayan Al-Tali (This Just In)
The film's themes are taken straight from the jaws of the media which it is trying to portray: it features corrupt parliamentarians, plays on people's fears of powdered milk and the US as an evil entity trying to ruin everything...



Ibn Ezz (Rich Boy)
Alaa Walieddin has just served up his annual summer offering. And just like everybody else, you'll watch it, laugh a little bit, and remember nothing about it in the morning.

Ayam El-Sadat (Days of Sadat)
Perhaps everybody who sees this film will learn something they didn't already know about the late president of Egypt. "I didn't know Jehan's mother was English!" said one movie-goer.




Africano
This film has summer written all over it. It says it in a way that's smarter, and more effective than the summer comedies that have become the season's stalwart.




Al-Silim wal Ta'ban (Snakes and Ladders)
Al-Silim wal Ta'ban may be all about consumer culture and consumer values, but it's problem is that it goes too far. In purporting to be a realistic look at the sexual exploits of youth today, it puts forth characters that are mere caricatures of today's young people.

 

Pearl harbor review
Global pearl: Pearl Harbor review

 

Ramadan 2000 TV coverage:
Read week one's introduction to the most popular shows this Ramadan

Updates on week two of Wagh Al-Qamar and Awan Al-Ward

Week three: Wagh Al-Qamar ends while Awan Al-Ward continues to shock

Eid 2000 movie reviews:
None of this year's eid films feature any of the mega-stars who have monopolised the feast's screen for years

In the film Rasha Garea (Dare to Give), Ashraf Abdel-Baki pays homage to himself, with the help of former ad girl Yasmine Abdel-Aziz.

 

Will "Pyramid" be TV's new money tree?