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Wael Khairy
Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:
Wael Khairy is an Egyptian film critic writing for a number of international publications. He was named by legendary film critic, Roger Ebert, as one of the reason we live in the golden age of film criticism in a Wall-Street Journal article. Ebert then hired him as foreign correspondent and he's been writing for him ever since. Wael has been writing reviews consistently on Ebert's website for over ten years now and counting. He has also written several reviews and essays in two World Film Locations books published in the UK. Khairy's work was even featured on The Criterion Collection website. He also regularly reviews films on cinephilefix.com, and previously contributed to The Spectator’s arts blog. He has discussed various film topics on Nile Fm and BBC Radio.
Publications:
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Kinds of Kindness (2024) |
The film delves into the ways individuals navigate between personal autonomy and societal norms or external influence. In true Lanthimos fashion, he pushes these themes to exaggerated, yet darkly humorous, extremes. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Aug 04, 2024
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The Brink of Dreams (2024) |
Bergman once beautifully expressed that "when film is not a document, it is a dream." Here, we have a film that beautifully merges both elements. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jul 23, 2024
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The Village Next to Paradise (2024) |
While the cinematography and the performances were impressive, they could not fully compensate for the film's pacing and narrative structure. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jul 07, 2024
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The Substance (2024) |
I've never seen so many people storm out of a cinema during its final thirty minutes. But these weren't your typical walkouts. They didn't hate the film, it was more likely the fact that they couldn’t handle it...the most batshit crazy film of the year. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jun 25, 2024
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The Girl with the Needle (2024) |
Visceral, gothic and unapologetic, ‘The Girl with the Needle’ is a visual symphony of true terror. Even the most ordinary shots become mesmerizing through careful framing and stylized lighting. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jun 04, 2024
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Megalopolis (2024) |
In ‘Megalopolis’, we learn that the architect can manipulate time by making it stop. As I watched the film, I wished I had the ability to skip time, or at least reverse it, so I could avoid witnessing one of cinema’s greatest artists fall short. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Bird (2024) |
When ‘Bird’ finally does spread its wings, it soars well above other coming-of-age features. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted May 25, 2024
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Angle (2023) |
By exposing untold stories of what was happening behind the scenes of Kurt Angle’s most iconic moments, Perry adds a layer of depth to Angle’s remarkable achievements. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 23, 2024
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The Babadook (2014) |
Here’s a horror film that strays away from cheap thrills, and taps into something real; true human fear, grief, anxiety, and depression...the more I thought of The Babadook, the deeper it sank into my psyche.
- The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Apr 22, 2024
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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) |
...a film that is just as much about the film industry itself, as it is about the pursuit of happiness, and our ridiculously desperate need to be admired, recognized, and respected by people that shouldn’t really matter to us. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 15, 2024
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Winter Sleep (2014) |
...one of the greatest films ever made. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 15, 2024
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Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) |
“Werckmeister Harmonies” presents itself as a cosmic vision of creaturely vulnerability to the inescapable atrocities that come with time. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Mar 31, 2024
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Under the Skin (2013) |
By envisioning a world where the consumers get consumed, the film calls for a reconceptualization of human and nonhuman relationships. “Under the Skin” denies human exceptionalism and supremacy. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Mar 21, 2024
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Dark Water (2002) |
...the real horror in Dark Water has nothing to do with the ghost, and everything to do with losing one’s own parent or child. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Mar 04, 2024
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Saint Maud (2019) |
In Saint Maud, post-traumatic stress disorder is not told, it is felt. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Mar 04, 2024
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Haxan (1922) |
“Häxan” is the most fascinating horror documentary I’ve ever seen - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 20, 2024
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Belladonna of Sadness (1973) |
What starts off as erotic hallucinatory psychedelia ends with a powerful message about female solidarity...beneath all the horror, the torture, and the violence, you’ll find a cry for revolt against various forms of inhumanity. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Feb 20, 2024
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Listen to Me Marlon (2015) |
...the best-documented film on not only the greatest and most influential actor to walk this planet, but on acting itself as an art form. Riley paints Brando’s words with corresponding visuals that perfectly encapsulate the meaning behind the spoken word. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jan 24, 2024
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Ex Machina (2014) |
“Ex Machina” works as a study of what it means to be conscious/human...I’m convinced more than ever that we are in the midst of a British New Wave in science fiction cinema. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jan 03, 2024
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Voy! Voy! Voy! (2023) |
Roger Ebert used to say that when we go to the movies, and the film really works, we momentarily forget about the outside world. In that respect, “Voy! Voy! Voy!” was quite the great escape, both literally and figuratively.
- RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Dec 18, 2023
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On the Waterfront (1954) |
Even though there's not a single scene where sluggers dance around within the confines of a ring, Kazan's film is in fact a boxing film in disguise. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Dec 07, 2023
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Arrival (2016) |
The film not only discusses complex theories about time, but also exemplifies it by creating a circular sequence of events. Embarking on the mounting steps of Villeneuve’s hypnotic structure is assured to leave viewers spellbound. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Nov 20, 2023
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Lilya 4-Ever (2002) |
The film left me completely devastated and Oksana Akinshina’s performance is absolutely heartbreaking....“Lilya 4-ever” was so powerful it helped reshape laws within society. This is as important and urgent as cinema gets.
- The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Nov 20, 2023
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Whiplash (2014) |
Here the classroom is the battlefield and dropping a drumstick feels just as devastating and crucial a moment as a grenade falling between your feet. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Nov 06, 2023
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The Grey (2012) |
"The Grey" explores man's most frightening questions...if there's an afterlife or if "dead is dead"...our fear of heights, flights, drowning or dying alone. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Nov 06, 2023
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The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) |
The photographic images in this film are on par with the greatest paintings ever made. The warm lighting and earthy texture within each perfectly composed shot are so vivid, rich and layered, you could almost smell the scent of soil as it rains... - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Oct 22, 2023
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Macario (1960) |
I was immersed in the beauty of Mexican tradition and culture. It also happens to have one of the greatest “last shot” twist endings ever committed to film.
- The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Oct 22, 2023
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Godzilla (2014) |
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla is a beast of a film, and while it does brush its thick tail close to greatness, it is not without its flaws. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Oct 08, 2023
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In Bruges (2008) |
With "In Bruges." it feels like Martin McDonagh opened a window in a room where the air has been recycled endlessly. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Heat (1995) |
Michael Mann's "Heat" ranks right up there with the best of the crime genre from "Rififi" to "The Godfather". In fact, it is the single greatest Los Angeles crime epic of all time. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Aug 29, 2023
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Das Boot (1981) |
...enough nerve-wracking suspense to make your heart pound against your chest like depth charges rupturing a submarine's hull. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Jul 30, 2023
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The Look of Silence (2014) |
...at the end of each interview, Rukun reveals his identity to the former killers. The camera captures the most extraordinarily reaction shot, the look of silence. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jul 30, 2023
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The Act of Killing (2012) |
"The Act of Killing” is unquestionably the most innovative piece of documentary filmmaking to come out this decade. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jul 30, 2023
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Enter the Void (2009) |
...unlike anything you have ever and most likely will ever see. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jul 05, 2023
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Cairo Station (1958) |
Chahine is judging an entire system by forcing us to see that city through the eyes of a psychopath. It is extremely difficult for a director to handle a picture from both a macro and micro perspective, but Chahine manages to pull it off beautifully. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jul 05, 2023
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Moon (2009) |
the film is rich with philosophical ideas grandeur in scope...it presents them in a tightly focused and efficiently structured psychological thriller - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jul 05, 2023
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The Young and the Damned (1950) |
...this film was the main inspiration behind “City of God”, and I can see how. It is just as brutal, if not more so. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jun 20, 2023
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The Lighthouse (2019) |
...you can almost taste the sea-salt and smell the stench of booze in the air. Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse” is a sea yarn full of sailor superstitions; it could be the most haunting film about sea-lore ever made. Save it for a cold stormy night. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jun 20, 2023
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Shutter Island (2010) |
Teddy Daniels walks the dark empty hallway of a mental institution. The tiny flame of his match goes off. He lights another one. A couple of minutes later a man behind bars tells him “Don’t you get it? You’re a rat in a maze.” So is the viewer. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Jun 20, 2023
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May December (2023) |
...even though the dialogue is sharp witted and searingly discomforting, I do believe the film is flawed. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jun 20, 2023
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Perfect Days (2023) |
Koji Yakusho delivers a heartfelt performance that could very well be the best of his career. Compassionate but never succumbing to sentimentality, Yakusho’s presence brings a gentleness that left me hanging on every line. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted Jun 11, 2023
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La Chimera (2023) |
Like her previous work, the past and present, life and death, as well as humans and spirits exist synchronously. Rohrwacher again challenges normative storytelling by queering with cinematic time, blurring the line between reality and fantasy. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted May 30, 2023
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About Dry Grasses (2023) |
Slow, reflective, and heavy on dialogue, the film beautifully delves into the ethics of morality. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted May 27, 2023
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Goodbye Julia (2023) |
The opening scenes in Khartoum are filmed with the tension of a ticking time bomb, but as it approaches the second and third acts, it stumbles and treads familiar ground. - The Cairo Scene
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| Posted May 27, 2023
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Maverick (1994) |
"Maverick" is the kind of old-fashioned western comedy we rarely see nowadays. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Apr 20, 2023
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Death in Venice (1971) |
“Death in Venice” is a film about humanity’s slow transcendence into nothingness and everything. It exists in the space between life and death, between youth and old age, between ignorance and wisdom. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 20, 2023
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Canoa: A Shameful Memory (1976) |
This brutal film is a complex psychological study of group hysteria, mob mentality, and religious fanaticism. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 20, 2023
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Yi Yi (2000) |
Yang has graced us with a thought-provoking film about the uncertainties awaiting us in the span of a lifetime. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Apr 20, 2023
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Do the Right Thing (1989) |
Over 30 years later, Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” remains more relevant than ever. - RogerEbert.com
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| Posted Mar 31, 2023
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Shame (2011) |
Steve McQueen’s painful cinematic display of loneliness in the city features acting of the highest caliber. - The Cinephile Fix
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| Posted Mar 31, 2023
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