DUNKIRK Review — VALERIAN Review — Two Great Directors, One Masterpiece

by Lisa Johnson Mandell

DUNKIRK Review — The Most Significant and Original War Movie in Years

Beautiful and intense from start to finish, Christopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk is not what you’re expecting. It’s more lyrical than linear, try to hold on too hard and analyze its terse dialogue and intimated plot, and it will slip right by you. It’s a riveting film you watch unfold right before you eyes.

From the very beginning, Nolan dives right into the point where Germans have managed to push 400,000 allied troops to the edge of the continent, on the French beach at Dunkirk. We join long queues of soldiers waiting patiently to be transported by ships across the English Channel in order to live to fight another day. If you feel like they’re all sitting ducks at the mercy of the German Luftwaffe, there’s a reason for that.

We follow officers, enlisted men, pilots and the ordinary British citizens who took their own private boats out to bring their boys home, when the military clearly failed them. Look for extraordinary performances by Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, Harry Styles (yes, that One Direction Harry Styles), Mark Rylance and Fionn Whitehead, among others.

You may come away wishing you knew more about what happened before and after Dunkirk, and if so, you can certainly look it up. But while you’re in the theater, you’ll be completely enraptured by what you see and experience on screen. This is filmmaking at its finest.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour 47 Minutes

Valerian Review — The City of a Thousand Planets Both Delights and Disappoints

Expectations were high for this movie. With a budget of an estimated $180 million, it’s the most expensive indie ever made, and French director Luc Besson (Taken, The Fifth Element) has staked his career and bank account on it.

Visually, he does not disappoint. The alien worlds he creates are nothing short of spectacular, and their inhabitants range from glorious and delightful to gross and horrifying. So far, so good, right? That’s exactly what we want to see in an epic sci-fi pic.

With such attention to visual detail, I will never understand why Besson chose to skimp on a sloppy, annoyingly cliche script, and cast a couple of extremely inexperienced and maladroit actors in the leads. Dane DeHaan and Cara Delavigne were SO, not ready for their closeups, although they may well be once they mature a little, and appear to be older than 17.

Fun performances by Ethan Hawke, John Goodman, Clive Owen and, surprisingly enough, Rihanna, who one of the film’s highlights, just can’t make up for the painful screen time the leads get. If you just plug your ears when they appear, you’ll be blown away by the special effects.

Rated PG-13

1 Hour and 57 minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

DUNKIRK Review — VALERIAN Review — Two Great Directors, One Masterpiece