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A great start to the monthlong crackdown across Lebanon planned by the ISF and Lebanese Army!

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MAMNOU3! is a Lebanese web-series about the day-to-day inner workings of the country’s censorship bureau. This is probably the best way to challenge this bureau’s decisions and make fun of them. It’s a great idea and Mustapha from the BeirutSpring convincingly tells you why.

There are already ten episodes filmed and prepared that will be released soon. You can check out more about Mamnou3 on their website [Here] and Facebook Page [Here].

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Al-Jadeed TV on Monday evening said that unknown masked men attacked its headquarters in the Beirut area of Wata al-Msaytbeh, hit a number of security guards and burned tires on the television station’s property.

The television station also said that the army’s intelligence service arrested one of the assailants, identified as Wissam Alaeddine.[NowLebanon]

Picture of Wissam Alaeddine, one of the suspects in the attack.

All pictures courtesy of Zak Yahya

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I saw the part where they started arguing and Michel leaves but then I switched to football. It was weird because Michel is a funny guy but it felt like he went too far this time. However, someone told me it was all set up and he came back towards the end of the show. That’s a bit silly and desperate from MTV and Mona Abou Hamze to be honest.

The sad part is that what Michel was saying or hinting at has some truth to it. It’s definitely not Madeleine Matar’s songs that bought her the new Porsche Panamera. I have further details but I’d rather not share them.

Picture by Hady

Picture by Hady

VIP seats: Picture by Sophie

Here are some early pictures of the ABC Grand Cinemas opening yesterday. The VIP seats look awesome. I wonder how much a VIP ticket will cost though.

The new ABC Dbayeh

Roadster Diner posted this morning that Grand Cinemas Lebanon ABC Dbayeh will be opening on June 13!

I don’t know much about this new cinema complex but according to the below banner, you will be able to enjoy champagne, caviar(huh?) and popcorn while watching a movie. I am guessing there will be prestigious VIP seats or lounges.

Picture from Gino’s Blog

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The Alloush vs. Chaker fight inspired a Greek neo-Nazi MP to attack two female leftist deputies during a live TV debate.

Thank you Gianni!

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Instead of being laughed at and kicked out after his first performance, this guy made it to the semi-finals of MBC4′s Arabs Got Talent show. My eyes are still hurting from watching him yesterday.

If you want to know more about him, you can check his interview [Here]. Apparently, he can’t sleep without listening to Lady Gaga and he got death threats after he performed.

Before I begin my review, you should know that Tannoura Maxi has been banned officially from theaters following a request by the Lebanese Catholic Information Center. I am of course against this ban because 1) it’s cultural terrorism and 2) the movie didn’t disrespect the Church nor Christianity in anyway.

Moving on to the review, let me just say in few words that Tannoura Maxi is like a badly prepared Tabbouleh. It has all the basic ingredients for a fine Lebanese Tabbouleh but some ingredients are put in excess, while others are missing and inappropriate ingredients are added. I personally found the movie long and boring, the plot a bit silly and unrealistic (despite being inspired from a true story), the characters dull, and the whole sex and religion themes very badly expressed.

Despite all that, I can understand why some people might like it from an artistic and poetic point of view. Indeed, the movie is very nicely filmed and has special features unseen before in a Lebanese production. The visuals and art direction are beautiful, especially the close-ups on pretty things and nostalgic items. I particularly loved the part where they play the old Ray-o-Vac ad. Nevertheless, all those positive aspects are not really appealing to the average or non-artistic viewer which pretty much explains the overwhelming negative feedbacks Tannoura Maxi received so far.

Digging deeper into the movie, and given that it’s inspired from a true story on how the director’s parents met, here are few things that I thought were inaccurate or did not like:

1- No one wears high heels to go to the well or “3al 3ein” as they say in Lebanese villages.
2- Women were way too overdressed for masses in the movie. That’s not accurate specially that most of them live in the village and are not coming for a visit and we are at war.
3- The music played in parties and on weddings is weird and has almost nothing to do with old traditional Lebanese songs. Unless I am missing something, this music is new to me.
4- I’ve been to masses in many villages and never heard women talk loudly and in such an offensive way about others. It was way too exaggerated and offending to Lebanese women and Lebanese in general.
5- Public signs of affection were not common in villages, even during war time. They are not even that common in the cities in Lebanon. Oh and Priests didn’t dirty dance and kiss at the time.
6- The scene where the priest is cutting some wood and showing off his muscles is really bad.
7- There’s at least 10 minutes of footage where the main character is walking towards the church, her house or to the well and you only hear the clacking noise of high heels. That’s where I felt like walking out of the theater.
8- I didn’t really understand the role the mentally challenged characters played in that movie. They are given way too much importance but it’s like the director focused more on how good they were playing their part rather than make it a significant one.
9- There’s a whorehouse in the village. Show me one village in Lebanon that has a whorehouse or had one back in 1982.
10- I did not sense a real connection between the various scenes of the movie. It’s like you jump from one scene to the other.
11- The monologues are confusing and seem out of place. There’s way too many as well.

In regards to the movie themes and controversial scenes:
1- Director Joe Bou Eid is portraying the Lebanese Forces as being thugs and criminals while Leftists are the good guys. I don’t care who’s wrong or right historically but taking sides does not send out the right message to younger generations.
2- The scene where the LF guy is the only one dancing with an Arak glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other is pure cliché and unoriginal. Leave those clichés to Comedy shows ya Joe!
3- The two key characters in the movie barely talk to each other and all of a sudden have sex and get married. When I first heard him talking about the movie on TV, and saying that it depicts how his parents met, I thought I was in for an original story. However, the movie makes it look as a one night stand where the girl got pregnant and had to marry the guy.
4- The sex scene did not occur in the Church but in a convent. It’s still a holy place but I still don’t think that’s a valid reason to ban the movie.
5- The movie shows the priest as a weak and vulnerable person, one not worthy of becoming a man of God, and does not really insult the Church or Christianity. There’s nothing wrong with falling in love with a girl and stirring away from priesthood, but going against your own beliefs by sleeping with the girl and then marrying her the next day is not something I would go out and tell, or at least not tell in the way Joe Bou Eid did.

There’s one review on IMDb by Sarah Zebian which I agree with and pretty much says it:

Poor story-line, poor scenario, poor performances.

The movie is full of eye-candy. Very little else, except quick-wins like the Rayovac commercial, the traditional dough-making scene, etc, obviously added in to trigger nostalgia without having any real role. Close-ups of the main characters and colorful scenic shots, despite their beauty, are excessive and quickly turn into a nuisance – a failed attempt to overshadow the lack of substance in the movie.

The love story fails to come across as genuine – as the rest of this movie. The two main characters never utter a word as far as I noticed! Generally, presumptuous and a waste of time!

On a last note, I understand that we should be supportive when it comes to Lebanese movies but I think we should point out a bad movie when we see one. Moreover, I strongly believe Lebanese directors need to come out with original ideas and stop digging old civil war stories.

IMDb Rating: 7/10 (From 56 users only)
My Rating: 4.5/10

Last time a Lebanese movie caused controversy and got banned in Lebanese theaters, it turned out to be a lousy one.

Tannoura Maxi is not yet banned despite several calls to do so but apparently does not deserve all that attention because it’s not that good according to what few friends have told me while others portrayed it as being wonderful. Added to that, despite scoring 7 over 10 on IMDb (by only 49 users), the reviews are overwhelmingly bad.

Despite all that, I plan to watch it out of support for Lebanese Director Joe Bou Eid, but it would be nice to hear some reviews or comments from those who already watched it.

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It was the summer of 82, when a priest, about to be ordered, was exhausted by temptations and an arrogant girl felt passionately in love… A sifted memory and a personal history of a narrator who tells with nostalgia and poetry the meeting of his parents until their marriage. [IMDb]

The Church apparently didn’t like Joe Bou Eid’s movie and saw it offending to priests and Christianity. It’s simple though: If you don’t like it, don’t go watch it because banning it will not get more people to Church.

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At Ro Ro’s Chicken — a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood — the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened. We’re told the same thing happened a few years back when a baba ghanouj joke was featured in “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” [Link]

Boubouffe (Achrafieh) should consider opening a branch in LA soon. This place has the best Shawarma you’ll ever taste.

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And here’s Lara on the beach! [YouTube]

Via +961

Picture from NowLebanon

Things are not looking very good at the moment for LBCI’s Chairperson and CEO Pierre El Daher as Prince Walid Bin Talal seems determined to sideline him and isolate LBCI. PAC ltd (the company that employs most of the LBC staff), LBC SAT, LBC America and LBC Europe are all under Bin Talal’s control now. In fact, Bin Talal owns 85% of LMH (Lebanese Media Holding), the company that owns all the companies listed above and that was founded in 1997 by Sheikh Pierre El Daher and Saudi Businessmen.

397 PAC employees were sacked earlier this month, LBC SAT was shutdown in Lebanon by the Ministry of Telecommunication few days ago and LBC Europe was shutdown temporarily in Europe.

Added to that, The Lebanese Forces party is suing Daher over LBCI’s ownership, which would leave him with practically nothing if he were to lose this lawsuit. All in all, I think everyone’s at fault here and I can only hope that Daher will reach some sort of agreement with Bin Talal and the LF because no one will emerge as a winner from this dispute.

Sheikh Pierre El Daher in the middle. Picture by L-F.com

If you wish to read more on the matter, you can read this nice article by NowLebanon [Here].

[Picture by @monasaliba]

Check out this priceless post by Habib Battah on the Beirut report.