The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Welcome, Cairene movie lovers, to our latest edition of what’s new in Cairo cinemas. This week, we have two comedy movies sandwiching a horror film. Uma Thurman and Sofia Vergara take the lead on The Con is On, while Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder team up in Destination Wedding. As for the horror flick, get ready to delve into the world of Annabelle and The Conjuring with the release of The Nun.

The Con is On (The Brits Are Coming)

What’s it about? Driven by their debts, a couple is in search of a quick ruse to make a lot of money to pay off their debts. They think they’ve found the solution in a very valuable ring, until they realise they’re not the only ones after it.

The good: The movie stars quite a number of reputable names in Uma Thurman, Sofia Vergara, Alice Eve, as well as Tim Roth, Stephen Fry, and Maggie Q. While it may not be very innovative, the plot has the potential for quite an interesting turn of events amid some fun action and humourous situational and punchline comedy.

The bad: With a star-studded cast, things should go smoothly, or it could do exactly the opposite. If there’s no chemistry, there’s no fun for the audience. Another problem of course, would be in the writing, so it remains on the writer and director to bring life to this movie, and their only previous experience together was The Devil You Know, a weakly-rated thriller. So, do you think the cast can save this one?

The Nun

What’s it about? In the world of The Conjuring movies, and before Annabelle, somewhat a prequel of those movies, The Nun presents the birth of such horror stories. The Vatican sends two nuns to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania, little do they know what horrors await them.

The good: Director, Corin Hardy, caught attention with his movie The Hallow, the award-winning horror film which he directed and co-wrote. As for the screenplay, Gary Dauberman, writer of It, as well as both Anabelle movies along a number of other horror movies, and the story was co-written by Dauberman, and James Wan who was involved with the Saw movies as well as The Conjuring 2.

The bad: While everything seems solid in terms of people at the helm of things, not to mention the exciting trailer, it may look as if they’re milking the story too much. Preliminary reviews also slam it for lacking a plot, and relying too much on cliché scares and jumps.

Destination Wedding

What’s it about? Keanu Reeves is back with his John Wick look in a rom-com co-starring Winona Ryder. The movie sets up a destination wedding in which two socially awkward people meet each other on the journey there, a trip that allows them to discover what they have in common, and gets love brewing in the air.

The good: Both actors are quite adorable and highly liked, and they actually have excellent chemistry. Winona Ryder is the more active person of the two, and Keanu Reeves’ smooth quietness complements that pretty well, something that writer and director Victor Levin can take to higher levels.

The bad: Unfortunately, pairing two adorable characters may not be enough to make you sympathise with pretty easy-to-hate characters. While it may appeal to a lot of people, it all depends on how much you like the writing, so it remains somewhat a risk.

 

To find out where and when you can catch these films, check out the Cairo 360 Cinema Guide.