The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Star Wars fans, you have permission to officially freak out. yes, the latest entry into the epic franchise has arrived in Cairo cinemas, but alongside some other films worth checking out, including the world’s first ‘painted film’, a couple of wily veterans showing their comedic chops and a modern re-imagining of classic children’s book, The Story of Ferdinand.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

What’s it About? The second film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy finds Rey joining Luke Skywalker on an adventure with Leia, Finn and Poe, as they explore the mysteries of the Force and discover a few secrets from the past along the way.

The Good: Star Wars fans are a hard bunch to please, but if The Last Jedi can continue the rich vein of form that The Force Awakens set in motion, then they’ll have nothing to complain about. With its brilliant new cast members now settled in their roles and this looking like a faithful addition to the Star Wars annals, we’re onto a winner here.

The Bad: Despite overwhelmingly positive first reviews, some have criticised the film’s inability to shake-off the seemingly sterile tone that was set by The Force Awakens, while with no particular narrative innovation, some have even called it glorified fan service that doesn’t ever really do anything interesting other than touch on the franchise’s recurring themes.

Loving Vincent

What’s it About? As the world’s first ‘fully painted’ animated feature film, Loving Vincent is a biographical dramatisation of the turbulent life of one Vincent Van Gogh.

The Good: Created by 125 painters, each and every single one of the film’s 65,000 frames is an oil-on-canvas painting, which is a remarkable feat that’s worth seeing even if for only that reason. What’s more is that they’ve stayed faithful to Van Gogh techniques.

The Bad: There’s always a danger that, with films that have such a distinct visual gimmick, the script suffers or doesn’t get the tender love and care it needs – and this seems to be the case here. While early reviews and festival audience reactions have been positive, many have pointed out to several narrative flaws.

Just Getting Started

What’s it About? Once on opposite sides, an ex-FBI agent and former mob lawyer put their differences aside in order to take down the mafia in this action-comedy.

The Good: Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones and Rene Russo are a veteran trio that can deliver the goods and though none of the three can ever be called comedy actors, but have shown that, with the correct writing and chemistry, they can incite at least a few giggles in what is one of those undemanding, easy kind-of watches.

The Bad: It doesn’t really get any more unoriginal than this. While producers will have banked on the star power of its leads, this Midnight Run-inspired film doesn’t really look like it has anything new to say or show.

Ferdinand

What’s it About? After being mistaken for a violent, feral beast, the actually quite kind and innocent Ferdinad (a bull), is taken from his home and imprisoned. But determined to return from whence he came, he teams up with a rag-tag group of equally misunderstood critters in order to escape.

The Good: It all looks like clean, innocent fun, with affable WWE star, John Cena, voicing the lead character, from the studio that produced animations such as the Ice Age franchise, Rio and Robots. There’s a clear arc and story that should be engaging enough.

The Bad: The problem with the Ice Age franchise, Rio and Robots is that they pale in comparison to say, Dreamworks’ or Pixar’sbest, and have always lacked the depth and intelligence of animations such as How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Toy Story, Finding Nemo and the likes. There’s nothing that suggests this is going to be any different.

To find out where and when you can catch these films, as well as the week’s other releases, in the capital, check out the Cairo 360 Cinema Guide.