I n this new thriller, star trio Karim Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed Galal and writer Belal Fadl deliver their fourth consecutive effort following box-office hits Abou-Aly, Wahed Men El-Nass (One of the People) and Mahatet Misr (Egypt Station). Abdel-Aziz plays Adham, a young man raised in a corrupt family of drug dealers who starts down the same path. But when he falls in love with a beautiful singer (Nassri) who doesn’t know his history, he decides to change his way of life — making him a living target. Shooting for Khareg An El-Qanoun was put on hold for several days after Abdel-Aziz narrowly survived a car crash returning from a vacation in Thebes with his wife Haidi Sorour.

W ritten by the screenwriter du jour Youssef Maaty, this is a political comedy that tries to present a view of the Egyptian presidency from backstage. Talaat Zakareya plays the title character, the Egyptian president’s cook, who over time has developed a kind of friendship with the leader. Winning the president’s trust, the cook becomes the main informer about the people’s happiness as well as sorrow. During the shooting of his final scenes, Zakareya fell ill and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He is currently being treated for a viral infection of the brain in Paris but plans to return to Cairo to attend the film’s premiere.

T his ensemble drama (See Egypt Today September 2007’s “Stolen Scripts,” page 34) focuses on the lives of four girlfriends who were separated for several years, then reunite only to relive their early romantic involvements. Joumana Mourad plays novelist Mona who has failed to sustain all her past relationships, Ola Ghanem is Amira, who is in love with a married man, and Mira is a singer who is seeking true love in the entertainment world. Singer Ihab Tawfik provides the song “Khelf Khelaf” (Vice Versa) for the soundtrack, which also features Mourad in her first singing attempt.

W e will all need to commit to a heroic suspension of disbelief when sexy Lebanese singer Rola Saad takes the role of a medical student who falls in love with her teacher, portrayed by the eternally hard-tempered Magdy Kamel. This is the central plotline of El-Ghorfa 707, Rola’s cinematic debut — certainly a move intended to compete with her rival Haifaa Wahby by venturing in the Egyptian film industry. Backstage, writer and co-producer Dr. Samira Mohsen and first-time leading man Magdy Kamel became Rola’s acting coaches in her first acting experiences. It was rumored that, during the six weeks of shooting, Saad went through more than 50 dresses for her pivotal scenes.

I t seems that young actress Maay Ezz El-Deen has become a specialist at portraying multiple roles in her comic ventures. After last year’s Ayazon in which she plays three different characters (a bellydancer, a policewoman and an overweight woman), she plays two roles in this new film. She is Ashgan, the microbus driver who is mistreated by her out-of-work husband (Maged El-Kedwany) and also Maha, the rich young woman who is bored with her aristocratic routine. The two girls accidentally meet and decide to switch places.

W ritten by Nasser Abdel-Rahman, Chaos arrives in Egyptian theaters after making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, then traveling to London to critical acclaim from audiences and critics. The new movie is a sprawling, dark comedy about love, corruption and revenge on the streets of an old neighborhood in Shoubra. Mena Shalaby plays the idealistic Nour, who is hopelessly in love with Sherif (Youssef El-Sherif), the son of her boss (Hala Sedky). But their romance is sabotaged by their neighbor, Hatem (Khaled Saleh), a corrupt police officer, whose misuse of power and authority grows to violent proportions.

Next month, veteran Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine will celebrate his 82nd birthday. He fell ill during the chaotic shooting of his 44th film, leading his longtime protégé, filmmaker Khaled Youssef, to come onboard and co-helm the movie.

But Chahine, who walked the red carpet in Venice with Khaled Youssef and the cast of Chaos, quipped to Italian reporters that he is still younger than Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, who also had a film at the festival despite being 98.

T his year, filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez team up to present a double-feature of thrillers, Planet Terror and Death Proof, that pay tribute to the B-movies of the 1970s, which were usually screened back-to-back in downtown theaters known as “Grind Houses.” In Planet Terror, married doctors William and Dakota Block (Josh Brolin and Marley Shelton) find their graveyard shift inundated with townspeople ravaged by gangrenous sores and a suspiciously vacant look in their eyes. Among the wounded is Cherry (Rose McGowan), a go-go dancer whose leg was ripped during a roadside attack. Premiering at the most recent Cannes Film Festival, Death Proof introduces us to Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell), a former Hollywood stunt driver who became a serial killer targeting showbiz women with his “death-proof” car. When he moves from Texas to Tennessee looking for women from his past, girlfriends of his early victims decide to turn the tables on him once and for all.

I n 1978, the late Syrian-American filmmaker Moustapha Akkad produced the first Halloween film, which later became a prolific and profitable franchise. This success later afforded him the budget to produce and direct prestigious films like Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert (1981), starring Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn in the title role. Halloween was the cinematic debut of Jamie Lee Curtis, who followed in the footsteps of her mother, Janet Leigh of Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), to become the teen scream queen of her own generation. After seven more installments in the series over the past three decades, heavy metal musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie shot this graphic remake of the original with a cast highlighted by cult horror veterans. The story follows masked serial killer Michael Myers as he chases his baby sister, Laurie.

T his is the third cinematic adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s classic novel. The story is set in the 1920s as young English newlyweds Dr. Walter (Edward Norton) and his wife Kitty (Naomi Watts) are relocated to Shanghai. While the husband gets attached to his research, Kitty falls in love with English diplomat Charlie Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter uncovers her infidelity, he accepts a job in a remote Chinese village that has been ravaged by a deadly epidemic and takes her along.

W riter-director duo the Farrelly Brothers (There’s Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber and Me, Myself and Irene) take on this Oscar-nominated 1972 comedy by acclaimed playwright Neil Simon (The Odd Couple, The Out-of-Towners, The Good Doctor). Ben Stiller plays Eddie, who meets Lila (Malin Akerman) and decides to marry her after only one week of dating. But while they are honeymooning in Mexico, Eddie meets another beautiful lady (Michelle Monaghan) and realizes that she could be his real soul mate.

R eprising their roles from seven-time Academy Award nominated Elizabeth (1998), Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush return to continue the story of England’s legendary queen. In the late 16th century, Elizabeth (Blanchett) finds her throne challenged by Spanish King Philip II and his powerful army determined to restore England to Catholicism.

F ans of Jerry Seinfeld and his eponymous long-running sitcom will pour into theaters to catch this new CGI-animated film that the comedian co-wrote and produced. Having just graduated from college, a bee by the name of Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) finds himself disillusioned with the prospect of having only one career choice: honey. As he ventures outside the hive for the first time, he breaks one of the cardinal rules of the bee world and talks to a human, a New York florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger).