📽 AT THE MOVIES-

If you take everything you love (or love to hate) about the Fast and Furious franchise and double it, you’ll end up with Fast X (watch trailer, runtime: 4:31). It is, quite literally, a culmination of every installment before it, featuring cameos from seemingly every major and minor character ever credited in its predecessors. The movie is pure and distilled Fast and Furious fun, from its premise (you can save the world by driving really fast) to its dialogue (almost exclusively snappy one-liners). The plot revolves around the movie’s antagonist, Dante (played by Jason Mamoa), seeking revenge on Vin Diesel’s Dominic Torreto for events that took place five movies ago, though the filmmakers’ attempt to make Dante come across as an unhinged psychopath backfires, instead making him the most amusing character in a roster of stale personalities.

Passing the torch: The film also seems to follow Marvel’s current ethos in preparing to pass the mantle onto a younger generation. The opening scene sees a car doing donuts around trees in a parking lot — a pretty tame feat in the context of the Fast and Furious universe — until you realize that the person behind the wheel is Dom’s eight-year-old on-screen son, Brian, more commonly known as Little B. While the antagonist is vilified for committing murder, Little B is ironically high-fived for killing a group of henchmen, proving that you are never too young to commit vehicular manslaughter for a good cause.

WHERE TO WATCH- Race to find seats for Fast X atVOX Cinemas in Almaza and Mall of Egypt, as well asCairo Festival City. Don’t forget to stick around at the end for the post-credit scene.

Love Again made us feel a lot of things, but love isn’t one of them. There is something to be said for rom-coms: Their predictability can be comforting, the cheesiness can be charming, and you might find yourself shedding a tear at the inevitable reconciliation scene. Unfortunately, Love Again is not that kind of movie. Its opening scene sees Priyanka Chopra’s Mira watching her perfect partner John (Arinzé Kene) being killed by a drunk driver. What could’ve been a touching narrative about finding love while grappling with grief two years on (as the movie rushes into a timeskip) instead becomes a slightly creepy story about a man who used a grieving woman’s texts — to her late boyfriend’s work phone, which now belongs to Rob, played by scotsman Sam ​​Heughan — to track her down and make her fall in love with him.

Perhaps this movie’s saving grace is Céline Dion, who makes a cameo in the film and echoes our exact sentiments by saying that Rob has “the presence of a pair of used underwear.” The queen of power ballads delivers the charmingly cheesy, over-the-top acting we were hoping to get, cementing our feelings that all the movie did was get in the way of what could’ve been a perfectly good Céline Dion visual album.

WHERE TO WATCH- If this is how you want to spend an hour and 44 minutes of your time, you can find tickets at VOX Cinemas in City Center Almaza and Mall of Egypt, Cairo Festival City Cinema, and City Stars Cinema.

📚 FROM THE BOOKSTORE-

A tale of mass hysteria for the ages: Awardwinning writer Rivka Galchen transports us back in time to 1600s Germany, weaving a story about a community high on fear and aggression who embark on a witch hunt. Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch recounts a fictionalized narration of the real-life witch trial of Katharina Kepler, mother to renowned scientist Johannes Kepler, based on historical documents and infused with bits of sardonic humor. When the spunky and unapologetic 71-year-old village herbalist is accused of witchcraft by a disgruntled neighbor, her son Johannes reluctantly comes to her aid while worrying about how his professional reputation could be affected.

What happens: Unbothered by the rumors that threaten her life, Katharina’s unrelenting humor and sharp tongue color her interactions with the townsfolk, which ultimately determines her fate. Quick to pin their misfortunes on others, the townspeople point fingers at her for everything from minor inconveniences to the sudden deaths of family members. Almost defiantly, her famous son barely makes an appearance in the story, much the same way she serves as a footnote in retellings of his life. Galchen seems to be making Katharina’s subjectively more interesting life a focal point of the tale, rather than giving Johannes a more prominent role.

WHERE TO FIND IT-Diwan’s copies of this novel are currently sold out, but you can find the Kindle version of it onAmazon for USD 9.99 or ahard copy for USD 12.4 or USD 16.91.

🍴 HOT AND FRESH OUT OF THE KITCHEN-

An international fusion feast in Helipolis:Pablo & Abdo is both a dream come true and a nightmare for indecisive eaters. With a menu boasting 80+ food items and 40+ beverages, it’s nearly impossible to crave something and not find it. However, 120+ choices is… a lot to browse. The good news is you can slash 50% of the choices by asking yourself a simple question: Am I craving Mexican or Egyptian food? Not only are there classic options like tacos and hawawshi, fun fusion options are on offer as well, though not all of them are on theme.

A group affair: To experience as much of the menu as possible, we decided to go as a big group and order as much as we could stomach and dig in family-style. The buffalo chicken burger was a big hit — so much so that the last bite caused a ruckus only solved with a game of rock, paper, scissors. The shrimp dynamite was a close second, and might shoot to the top of your list if you prefer shellfish to poultry. While the hawawshi was the most divisive dish on the table, with some finding it a bit over seasoned, there was still nary a crumb left. For the health-conscious, we recommend the juicy and flavorful spiced grilled chicken.

The diner-style joint has indoors and outdoors seating, but no restrooms — which means you’ll need to cross the street to Coco Café if you need to use one. A resident pup also hangs around the outdoors area, so if you’re afraid of dogs, you might want to opt for the indoor seating option, though keep in mind there’s only a handful of booths available.

💵 Per person: EGP 200-300

🪑 Outdoor seating: Yes

🍺 Alcohol: No

🦽 Accessibility friendly: Yes

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