Tannoura Maxi (Heels Of War) clinched two awards at the Monaco Charity Film Festival Awards 2012, Best Actress for Joy Karam and Most Promising Director (1st time Director) for Joe Bou Eid. The movie was also awarded “The Talent to Watch Award” at The Seventeenth Annual Arabian Sights Film Festival.
I still think the movie wasn’t that good, yet should not have been banned or censored by any means, but nevertheless congratulations to Joe Bou Eid and Joy Karam.
On a side note, I’d like to ask LBCI to correct the information posted on their website because there’s a big difference between the Cannes International Film Festival and the Monaco Charity Film Festival. Added to that, The Award “Tannoura Maxi” won at the Seventeenth Annual Arabian Sights Film Festival, not the Washington DC International Film Festival, was “Talent to watch Award” not the most innovative film award.
Tannoura Maxi won two awards at the Cannes International Film Festival and an Award for the most innovative film at the Washington DC International Film Festival. It turns out that what was rejected by the Lebanese community was greatly admired at the most prestigious international festivals. [LBCI]
Dancing with the Stars is a dance competition where the contestant pairs consist of a celebrity and a professional dancer. It’s been running in the U.S for 15 consecutive seasons now on ABC.
I liked MTV’s promotions but I kept wondering what would really happen in Lebanon if someone pulls something like that in real life like a waiter taking some guy’s girlfriend for a spin. He would probably got beaten up or shot lol!
Update: I added *Spoiler Alert* as per one of the reader’s suggestions and edited slightly the post.
I went on Saturday to watch the avant-premiere of the new James Bond movie Skyfall at Grand Cinemas in ABC Dbayyeh. It was supposed to be released last week but was delayed until Thursday November 1st due to recent events in Lebanon.
Skyfall is a major improvement from the last two bond movies but it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it a lot but I was hoping for it to be a bit better in some aspects. In fact, I thought it was a bit too long (almost 2 hours and a half), action scenes weren’t that intense and I didn’t like the part where he hides in a house to fight the bad guys (I remembered Home Alone for some reason). We are used to Bond scenes in glamorous cities with sports cars and gadgets etc …
Last but not least, I thought I was watching a scene from Taken2 in the first part of the movie on the Grand Bazaar Rooftop except Daniel Craig is riding a bike while Liam Neeson was on his feet. Of course Skyfall’s action scene was much better and more exciting than Taken2 but It would have been better if they picked a new location, not the old worn-out Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
Aside from those minor critics, I love how Bond’s character is resurrected throughout the movie, the way the plot is built, the crucial role M plays in Skyfall (and the superb performance of Judi Dench), Ben Whishaw playing Q, the villain character and specially the mid-section of the movie in London and underneath it in the subway and MI6 new headquarters. More importantly, Skyfall is one of the most “realistic” Bonds, more of a “Jason Bourne” than a “James Bond” as some critics are saying. No more invisible cars, crazy stunts and out of this world gadgets.
All in all, Skyfall put Bond back on track after the last two editions, and provides the perfect transition to a new series of Bond movies, specially after the surprising end. It’s a must-see Bond and the best we’ve had in the past 10 years or more (since Golden Eye). I will not dig into further details as there are tons of professional and thorough reviews all over the internet that you can check.
My Last Valentine in Beirut is a new Lebanese movie, the first 3D film in Lebanon and the Arab world, that will be released on November 15, 2012. It is produced by Assaad Tarabay, written and directed by Salim El Turk. I watched the trailer but it doesn’t say much about the movie. I just hope they didn’t overdo the 3D part and focused on making it an interesting and appealing movie.
Anyway, I will be surely watching the movie and reviewing it as soon as it comes out.
I was surprised to see Leila Abdel Latif on LBCI last night as I thought Lebanese were no longer interested in such stupidities. I hope LBCI are not relying too much on her or on Michel Hayek to see if they will be winning their appeal in court against the Lebanese Forces party.
In one of her predictions, she claimed Najwa Karam is going to get married. I will add to that prediction that the guy will have Hitler-like mustaches.
Check your email and answer me ASAP in order to get your tickets and DeekDuke Vouchers!
UPDATE: Winner of the two extra tickets is Rachelle!
YOU CAN STILL WIN 2 TICKETS!
Since a lot of people have participated in this competition, I was able to get my hands on an extra pair of tickets. This will be an extra chance for those of you who lost in the draw. All you have to do is answer the three below questions and I will draw from the first 10 entries only:
1 – In Skyfall, what will James Bond be drinking instead of his usual Martini?
A French court Tuesday sentenced a Lebanese businessman in absentia to eight years in prison over a high-end prostitution ring operating at the Cannes Film Festival that had ties to a slain son of Moammar Gadhafi. The judge also slapped a 50,000 euro ($64,000) fine on Elie Nahas, a Lebanese who claimed to run a modeling agency employing young women recruited in South America, France and eastern Europe. [Link]
The prostitution ring was first discovered in 2007 and according to investigators, dozens of prostitutes had been recruited from the U.S., France, Lebanon and Venezuela, and the ranks included a Lebanese beauty queen and several successful American models.
Anyone has a clue who that ex-Miss Lebanon might be? Here’s a list of the winners of Miss Lebanon from 1995 till 2005:
1995 Dina Azar
1996 Nisrine Sami Nasr
1997 Joëlle Behlock
1998 Clémence Achkar
1999 Norma Elias Naoum
2000 Sandra Rizk
2001 Christina Sawaya
2003 Marie-José Hnein
2004 Nadine Nassib Njeim
2005 Gabrielle Bou Rached
Update: Answer is Lamitta Frangieh, who was crowned 1st Runner-up at Miss Lebanon 2004 but participated in the Miss World 2005 pageant. Read more [Here]. Thank you Rami!
On a last note, The French authorities might want to consider hiring Liam Neeson to capture Elie.
Update: Skyfall’s release has been delayed to November 1st in Lebanon but the avant-premiere’s date is still the same. The only difference is that, in case you win the tickets, you will be watching now an avant-avant-avant-avant-avant premiere lol!
The 23rd Bond Movie, “Skyfall”, will be officially released in Lebanese theaters on October 26 November 1st and promises to be one of the best Bond movies in years as the series celebrated its 50th anniversary. For that occasion, BlogBaladi will be giving away 4 tickets for Skyfall’s avant-premiere on October 26 at Grand Cinemas ABC Dbayyeh at 8 pm, courtesy of RoadsterDiner & DeekDuke.
So if you are a Bond fan and wish to attend the premiere, all you have to do is the following:
- Leave a comment on this post with a proper email address.
- Like BlogBaladi’s Facebook page [Here].
I will be drawing two winners at the end of the day, each receiving two Skyfall tickets and two DeekDuke vouchers worthy 30$ each!
Check out this cool challenge Coke Zero did to random train passengers to unlock the 007 in them for their chance to win exclusive tickets for the new James Bond movie SKYFALL.
Good luck to all!
NB: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since winner will be contacted by email. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.
We now have our own “Cops” show on MTV. I am surprised the ISF gave MTV permission to accompany them on raids and missions. I watched the first episode yesterday and this is by far the most interesting show on Lebanese TVs right now.
I have one worry though: All the criminals they are arresting should not be placed in Roumieh with all the scandals that have been unveiled there because they will probably be out the next day and all this hard work gone to waste. Lebanon needs a new Maximum security prison well monitored and guarded by professionals.
Not quite yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if she does one day. After all, it’s not everyday that all our politicians agree on one thing (unless it involves a substantial increase to their own salaries of course).
Speaking of Talk of the Town, I think it’s one of the most decent talk shows we have in Lebanon and I am glad it’s back with a new season.
I just read on LebanonDebate that Fetih 1453 was officially banned but I don’t see an official statement confirming the ban yet. I wouldn’t be surprised though if it’s taken out of theaters.
Why was it banned?
A number of activists on Facebook have been protesting at Sassine Square against the reformulation of the history of Constantinople in the film “Fetih 1453”, which, according to them, contains false historical facts and is “an offense to the Christian civilization”. [Facebook]
Am I for the ban?
Of course not. If you feel offended as a Christian, don’t watch it.
In fact, the only Turkish productions we should be banning are those stupid TV shows to which most Lebanese are addicted to these days.
The first two episodes of Homeland Season2, which premiered yesterday on ShowTime, take place in Beirut, but were filmed in Israel instead. Let’s wait and see how Beirut looks like according to Homeland producers.
