Dunkirk (2017)
Genre: Drama
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Jack Lowden
Duration: 106 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd
Christopher Nolan, the director who reimagined The Dark Knight and explored deep space in Interstellar, turns to historic events for his latest film.
Newcomer Fionn Whitehead plays a scrappy, traumatised soldier fighting to survive in Dunkirk.Dunkirk recounts the evacuation by civilians and military of some 400,000 British and Allied soldiers stranded on the desolate French beach of Dunkirk, across the English Channel port of Dover, during World War II.
Unlike other war films that detail the violence of battle, Nolan opted to minimise the bloodshed. He instead revealed in an interview that he wanted to create "a different kind of suspense rather than gore and horror, because that causes people to avert their eyes”.
To achieve that effect, Nolan cuts between three perspectives – the battle in the skies, the armada of civilians sailing across the channel in small boats, and the stranded soldiers desperately trying to escape.
While the film stars big names like Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance, Nolan held open casting calls to find young new faces, led by 20-year-old newcomer Fionn Whitehead as Tommy, a scrappy, traumatised soldier fighting to survive. He is joined by 23-year-old singer Harry Styles, formerly of boy band One Direction, who makes his film debut in Dunkirk and has received praise for his performance.
The film received very positive reviews upon its release and dominated the weekend box office in the UK and North America.
Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Sreet Journal wrote: “Christopher Nolan has created something new in the annals of war films – an intimate epic.”
Nick De Semlyen of Empire magazine said: “A spare, propulsive, ever-intensifying combat thriller, Nolan's history lesson is both a rousing celebration of solidarity and the tensest beach-set film since Jaws.”
And the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “Dunkirk serves up emotionally satisfying spectacle, delivered by a writer-director in full command of his craft and brought to life by a gifted ensemble cast that honours the fact-based story.”
The $150 million budget film grossed $107 million on its opening weekend that started on July 21.
Ratings
IMDB: 8.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Empire: 5 stars
Captain Underpants (2017)
Genre: Animation
Director: David Soren
Voices of: Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele
Duration: 102 minutes
Class: U
KRS Releasing Ltd
The computer-animated superhero movie is based on the children’s novel series of the same name by Dav Pilke.
A new dim-witted but enthusiastic superhero, Captain Underpants, has just hit the big screens.The plot follows two overly imaginative pranksters, George and Harold, who spend hours in a tree house creating comic books. When their mean principal threatens to separate them into different classes, the mischievous boys accidentally hypnotise him into thinking that he’s a ridiculously enthusiastic, incredibly dim-witted superhero named Captain Underpants.
The film received generally positive reviews. Among others, Chris Agar of Screen Rant wrote: “Captain Underpants makes the most of its silly and ridiculous premise by injecting high amounts of energy and laughter into the proceedings,” while Jane Horwitz of the Washington Post commented: “Director David Soren does a wondrous job of reproducing, in animated form, the riotous comedic sensibility of author and illustrator Dav Pilke.”
Ratings
IMDB: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Empire: N/A