Wonder Woman and Khorfakkan: 4 new UAE films opening December 17

What will you watch?

Wonder Woman 1984. Is there anything else on this weekend? From the cacophony of promotion you’d think Wonder Woman’s sequel was the only film this decade. Oh, why are we being sniffy? Frankly this is the only superhero film to which we have ever looked forward and can’t wait for this evening to roll around to take up our IMAX seats to once again loose ourselves in Diana Prince’s exploits. After the tremendous success of WW’s first edition (2017), we have been waiting with bated breath to see what they’d come up with next. From what we can tell, it has been worth the three-year interval. The brilliant Gal Gadot returns as the titular hero almost 70 years after we saw her thwarting German general Ludendorff’s attempt to destroy humanity with World War One. It is 1984 and the immortal has not aged a day despite the world changing around her. While working as an anthropologist she encounters Maxwell Lord, a wannabe politician who has happened across stones which grant wishes. Will they be used for good or evil? Rotten Tomatoes gives it 89%

Khorfakkan. This local epic, which every UAE resident should make an effort to see, opens with highlighting the resistance put up by the Khorfakkan’s inhabitants during a ruthless Portuguese invasion of the country’s Eastern Region over 500 years ago. The story continues to 27 years later when, on February 13, 1534, Portuguese commander Don Georges de Castro, launched a failed attack on the city once again as the residents of Khorfakkan successfully resisted his efforts.

Death of Me. An intriguing prospect if you enjoy traveling, and by intriguing we mean absolutely terrifying. Bringing to life every backpacker’s worst nightmare, married couple Luke Hemsworth and Maggie Q voyage to an exotic island where an annual ritual celebrating death is taking place. They partake in one of the potent concoctions being served. Cut to the following morning and the pair awaken with no memory of the night before. Checking the camcorder they find a two-hour clip of the evening’s events in which Hemsworth clearly murders Q, though she is still very much alive. When the duo find they cannot escape the island they must confront the terrifying situation. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 32%

Waiting for the Barbarians. With a cast including Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson you can be sure of more than a few stellar performances. Colonialists from an unnamed empire manage a frontier outpost close to the indigenous population or ‘Barbarians’, as they are known. When a colonel (Johnny Depp) turns up and begins using cruel tactics to interrogate the locals about a possible uprising, head of the outpost Rylance must choose between loyalty to his land or common decency. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 52%