SHREK THE THIRD

This threequel picks up with Shrek (Myers) now married to Princess Fiona (Diaz), becoming the next King and Queen of Far, Far Away. But when his father-in-law, King Harold, falls ill, it is up to Shrek to find a suitable heir with the help of his likeable friends Donkey (Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Banderas).

As the first Shrek hit $484 million in the box office in 2001 and the second $920 million in 2004, Shrek the Third won’t be the end of the beloved series — a fourth installment is expected to be released in 2010.

Revenge is too sweet for Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his gang of con artists, now joined by former nemesis Terry Benedict (Garcia). Their “just cause” for this outing: taking on the Godfather himself!

Yes, Al Pacino plays ruthless casino owner Willie Banks, who double-crosses Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), Ocean’s friend, prompting the gang to team up once again to see if they can break into Bank’s highly secured safe in their biggest heist ever.

Past and present readers of Marvel’s comics will rush to see this sequel featuring the most enigmatic anti-hero in the history of fiction: The Silver Surfer (Jones). While the family of superheroes tries to unravel the mystery of this intergalactic invader, their old enemy Dr. Doom (McMahon) is also preparing for the opportunity to strike back.

Yippee-ki-yay, John McClane goes to Washington! In the fourth installment of the action-packed series that created a genre of its own (lone hero versus a group of baddies), Bruce Willis returns to the role that made him an international superstar. This time, LA cop McClane (Willis) attempts to stop a techno-terrorist from shutting down the nation’s computer systems on the Fourth of July.

This psychological thriller mixes old plot elements from both Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and James Mangold’s Identity (2003). When an estranged couple’s car breaks down on a remote country road, they are forced to spend the night at a seedy motel run by an odd but seemingly harmless proprietor (Whaley). In their filthy, threadbare room, the couple finds a cache of homemade snuff films. Once they realize the blood-soaked videos were shot in the very room in which they’re staying, David and Amy know they will be the sadistic filmmaker’s next victims unless they find a way to escape.

Based on William Joyce’s book A Day with Wilbur Robinson, this new Disney sci-fi adventure follows brilliant young Lewis, who invents a machine called the Memory Scanner to help him find his mother.

Unfortunately, his invention is stolen by the Bowler Hat Guy and his diabolical constant companion, Doris. Lewis has all but given up hope when a mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson whisks our bewildered hero away in a time machine so they may together track down the burglars.

In Ahlam Haqiqa, Maay (Dalia El-Beheiny) sees her best friend’s dreams turn to living nightmares.

When DJ (Columbus Short), a troubled kid from Los Angeles, moves to Atlanta to attend Truth University, he discovers “stepping,” an age-old style of dance now performed in African-American fraternities, where teams beat out complex moves and create rhythmic sounds using just their bodies. DJ’s raw talent and hip-hop inspired moves quickly place him at the center of a fierce rivalry between two fraternities.

Strangely enough, director White’s previous outing was the straight-to-video slasher threequel I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer!

For the first time in years, brainless comedies seem set to lose their deathgrip on the nation’s cinemas as moviegoers gear up for the marathon summer season, running this year from the end of June through the last week of September.

Although veteran comedian Adel Imam and successors Mohamed Saad, Mohammed Heneidy and Ahmed Helmy are currently wrapping their annual comedy fests, this summer will see a complete overhaul of Egyptian filmmaking — in production budgets, newcomer casting and, above all, film genre.

In addition to numerous ensemble teen dramas (see “Screen Scrambles,” May 2007) including Elaqat Khasa and Khalij Ne’ma, it seems that the genre of choice for new screenwriters and up-and-coming directors will be the psychological thriller.

Two years ago, Malaky Eskendriyya (Private Alexandria) was the only film among 30 major releases that tackled this genre with great commercial success, raking in LE 9 million at the local box office. This despite the fact that the movie was nothing more than a rip-off of Richard Marquand’s Jagged Edge (1985), with the role of the female lawyer, played by Glenn Close, rewritten as a heartthrob lawyer played by Ahmed Ezz.

In the local version, Ezz defended Ghada Adel (in the role played by Jeff Bridges), the wife accused of murdering her husband. This ‘sex-change’ was contrived by screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy, who went on to adapt Rain Man (1988) for this year’s mediocre El-Torbini.

Hefzy’s latest project, 45 Days, which is due out May 30, sounds somewhat more original. The screenwriter’s plotline is loosely based on the story of Ahmed Helmy (not to be confused with the comic actor), the “Safah El-Mohandiseen” (Mohandiseen Stabber) who stalked the upscale district during the 1990s.

Directed by greenhorn Ahmed Youssri, the film stars Ahmed El-Fishawy who plays Ahmed Ezz, a troubled teenager accused of murdering his wealthy parents (Ezzat Abou-Ouf and Ghada Abdel-Razek). After his arrest, he is sent to a psychiatrist (Hesham Selim) who has just 45 days to delve into his mind and decide whether the youth should be treated as a mental patient or be hanged as a murderer. 45 Days was screened at the Thirteenth Tetouan International Festival of the Mediterranean Cinema held March 24-31 in Morocco.

Ahlam Haqiqa (Real Dreams) marks more debuts, this time for director Mohamed Gomaa and his screenwriter Mohamed Diab, whose second screenplay El-Gezirah (The Island) is currently in pre-production with Ahmed El-Sakka and Heind Sabry as stars and Sherif Arafa in the director’s chair.

Ahlam Haqiqa stars Hanan Turk, who plays Mariam, a confused painter married to loving and understanding businessman, Ahmed (Khaled Saleh). At night, Mariam has dreams of her little daughter who was killed along with Mariam’s former husband in a car accident, leaving her in turmoil with her best friend Maay (Dalia El-Beheiny) as her only support.

Suddenly, Mariam’s dreams take a new turn as she starts to see herself killing people around her. The dreams soon become reality when the people around her begin to die off one by one. Police officer Emad (played by Fathi Abd El-Wahab) is in charge of investigating the strange murder cases. Ahlam, out June 12, will be the last chance for viewers to see Turk without the veil.

It will also be their last look at veteran actress Magda El-Khatib, who passed away shortly after shooting her handful of scenes.

More psychological thrillers are also coming our way with the soon-to-be-released Sheraa 18 (Road 18) starring Ahmed Farouk Falawkas, Amr Hassan Youssef, Donya Samir Ghanem and Maais Hamdan. Featuring the debut of writer Omar Shama and director Hossam El-Gohary, the film takes place in Cairo’s tiny Maadi suburb and unfolds with the murder of a teenage girl (played by Hamdan) whose friends become the prime suspects in the investigation.  et