Americans shooting Arabs, in Egypt - A Movie Review

Went to the movies last night. The local theater is a few blocks away. Most of the movies that they show are local productions. Despite my love for cinema, I can't bring myself to see these. Maybe at some point I'll buckle just for the experience of it. . . but that will be when I run out of other things to do. I hesitate with reason. If their movies are anything like their television shows, then I know there is nothing to enjoy. I don't think I could handle the poor production values, amateur acting, etc. Luckily, the cinema shows a handful of American productions. Since I've been here, I've seen posters for The Dark Knight, Righteous Kill, High School Musical 3(seriously, what the hell?), Mirrors, and Tropic Thunder. I asked the usher, and he said that Quantum of Solace comes out on the 4th here. Curiously, my information indicates that it will be the 5th. That's still more than a week before you all get to see it.

We had a few hours before the movie started and so we walked around the mall vicinity. We made a few important discoveries.

1. There is a tolerable pizza place very close to our apartment. Good dough, good mozzarella, decent toppings. I don't need pork products to survive, but I do miss bacon and pepperoni.
   
2. There is a table tennis/billiard/bowling alley business in the same area. We spent an invigorating half hour playing ping pong. Four games later, we had each won two games. The proprietors of the business wanted to play us. They were summarily and deftly defeated. I want to go back there frequently.

We saw Body of Lies - the fourth film collaboration of Ridley Scott and Russel Crowe. Between the two of them lies a body of work that makes it onto top 50 listsWhat a fantastic movie! The writing was quick and smart (as expected from William Monahan) and the cinematography was what we have come to expect from modern, fast-paced action movies (thanks to DP Alexander Witt). The cast was perfect. I will now watch anything that Leonardo DiCaprio does. He is immediately believable in his roles. The local talent was also impressive - those with better eyes than my own may recognize actors from Paradise Now, The Syrian Bride, Munich, etc. The story was strong - not too complicated (Syriana), not too preachy(Lions for Lambs), not too vacuous(The Kingdom), but juuuust right. Some have aptly compared this movie to Spy Game. I think that's a fair comparision.

I feel like there is something to say about violence here. Movies represent violence in many ways. Lots of movie makers increase the exposure to bloodshed, dismemberment, etc. Sometimes they put the act of violence off screen and we then see a shadow of the act, or we see a blood splatter, or we just hear it and our mind fills in the rest. All of these techniques have their uses. Over the years, gunshots in film have varied in their decibel levels. I don't know any official data on the subject, but it seems to me that the volume of the gunshots in a movie changes how the movie affects me. The guns from a Woody Allen farce sound like cap-guns, for a less jolted audience experience. Body Of Lies has some intense violence. The depictions would be conisidered violent even if we were watching a Cecil B. DeMille movie, but this violence came with some volume. The increased volume makes the whole experience much more viscerally jarring. I'm a pacifist, and I don't usually like movies that are obsessively violent. This movie is not that. It is tasteful and appropriate for the story that is being told. Watch the movie, tell me what you think.

The overall Egyptian movie experience was pleasant. Except for a slight focus issue, the audio/video was quality. The seats were comfortable and the audience was quiet and respectful. The ushers were cool too... they actually wore tuxedos and they ushered people in and out with dim flashlights. The intermission in the middle of the movie was a shock. It wasn't very gracefully spliced. I suppose it's impossible to expect Egyptians to go a whole two hours without smoking.