Skip to main content
Games Radar
  • Newsarama
  • Total Film
  • Edge
  • Retro Gamer
  • PLAY
  • SFX
Total Film The smarter take on movies
Subscribe
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Gaming Magazines
(opens in new tab)
Gaming Magazines (opens in new tab)
Why subscribe?
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12.99
(opens in new tab)
View (opens in new tab)
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Subscribe
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Magazines
    • Retro Gamer
    • Play
    • Total Film
    • Edge
    • SFX
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. Movies

Movies to watch this week at the cinema: Dunkirk, City of Ghosts, and more

By Total Film Staff
published 17 July 2017

  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • Comments
Out on Friday July 21

Out on Friday July 21

Some plane brilliance from Christopher Nolan. Matthew Heineman profiles a brave group of Syrian citizen journalists. Mick Rock narrates his own wily docu-portrait.

Yes, here's this week's new releases. Click on for our reviews of Dunkirk, City of Ghosts, Monster Island, Victim, Scribe, and Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock.

Come back later tonight for our review of Dunkirk!

For the best movie reviews, subscribe to Total Film (opens in new tab).

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Dunkirk

Dunkirk

A real-life retelling of a pivotal moment during WW2 might seem an unexpected choice for the writer/director/world-builder of original blockbuster fictions. Yet the classical, elegiac Dunkirk is still unmistakably a Christopher Nolan film. Like many of Nolan’s previous projects, it’s multi-layered, non-linear, precision-calibrated, epic in scale – and even boasts Bane himself rocking a shearling coat and shouting through a face-obscuring mask.

But while many of those clever, clockwork creations thrilled and confounded, Nolan has long been criticised for a certain clinical coldness. No such problem here – heartfelt and moving, Dunkirk may be teeth-clenching stuff, but it’s also the auteur’s most unapologetically emotional and accessible film to date… and it could be the movie to finally get him into the Oscar-winners’ circle.

Rather than take an impersonal God’s-eye overview of the events of May 1940, when 400,000 troops were pushed back by German forces to the beaches of Dunkirk to face death and defeat if they weren’t rescued, Nolan dissects his film into three separate narrative tracts. The respective strands cover land, sea and air – an approach that immerses you in the boots-on-the-ground reality for the blood-and-guts men (civilian and military) battling to change history.

After opening with a young soldier – with the aptronym Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) – escaping gunfire through the streets of Dunkirk only to arrive at the crowded, desperate beaches, those narratives unfurl in different times: the story of troops on the shore begins a week before the climax; the journey of Dorset sailor Mr. Dawson’s (Mark Rylance) sea-based rescue mission starts a day ahead; and the tale of two fighter pilots, Farrier and Collins (Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden), kicks off an hour before in the skies over the Channel.

As the stories weave in and out of each other, we see key life-threatening incidents (a downed Spitfire, a torpedoed ship, a sinking fishing boat) from different perspectives, with each replay informed by increasing investment in characters and a 360-degree understanding of the logistics at play.

The cumulative effect is both thrilling and devastating. We’re deftly shown the misinterpretations that fuelled troop hostility towards the RAF (unseen from the beach, it was assumed the fighter squadrons had simply abandoned their comrades) and the constant peril every man was in despite apparent deliverance. Think you’re safe aboard a naval medic ship? That a bailout went OK? That the proximity of help will save you in oil-slick water? Think again…

Playing as briskly and tensely as any escape thriller with mouth-agape-impressive in-camera effects, the movie constantly asks audiences to consider what they would do in a series of relentless, deadly situations while highlighting the acts of bravery, honour and kindness that exemplify the famous Dunkirk Spirit. 

A white lie to protect a shell-shocked soldier here, a last-ditch fight despite running on empty there, the faith of an ordinary father speeding to save a man in memory of his fallen son… small moments in the bigger picture that build to the ultimate show of British stoicism in a flotilla of little ships as Hans Zimmer’s insistent, Shepard tone score (driven by the sampled ticking of Nolan’s own wristwatch) gives way to the stirring strains of Elgar’s emotive ‘Nimrod’ variation – challenging viewers not to shed a tear. Manipulative? Probably. Flawlessly executed? Yes.

A true ensemble piece, Dunkirk’s cast may have little dialogue, and limited individual screen time, but all are (pardon the pun) uniformly excellent – yes, cynics, even that One Direction bloke. While the young guns provide the derdoing, the more seasoned cast bring the gravitas and feels. Special mention must go to Rylance’s delightful, nuanced patriot, Hardy’s dexterity in portraying emotions from behind an oxygen mask in the confines of a cockpit and Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearean naval commander – when, eyes brimming, he utters the word “home”, it’ll break you.

But they, of course, are not the stars of the show. What really makes Dunkirk so immediate, so visceral, are the period-correct vintage planes and boats fitted with innovative cameras to create literally breath-holding moments underwater, in the sky and on the sea.

Hoyte Van Hoytema’s beautiful, terrifying lensing – dizzying dogfights, suffocating sinkings and a cinematography-award moment when a Spitfire lands on sun-gilted sand – ensure that what could have been complicated and depressing is rendered with clarity. Thoroughly modern in its approach, yet classical in style, it’s a film that will appeal as much to Batman fans as WW2 scholars, and ultimately, the Academy come gong time.

THE VERDICT: Haunting, thrilling and emotional, Dunkirk is a prestige pic with guts and glory that demands multiple views. Especially in IMAX.

Director: Christopher Nolan; Starring: Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles; Theatrical release: July 21, 2017

Jane Crowther

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts

This compelling documentary from Matthew Heineman profiles members of Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a group of extraordinarily brave Syrian citizen journalists who have brought to the world’s attention the barbarity of Isis rule in their hometown of Raqqa.

City of Ghosts reveals the terrible price paid for the covert filming and reporting by these now exiled activists and their families.

Director: Matthew Heineman; Theatrical release: July 17, 2017

Tom Dawson

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Monster Island

Monster Island

Sweet-shop colours aside, director Leopoldo Aguilar’s derivative kiddy lark pales beside other monster toons.

Pivoting on a lad’s quest to find his monster identity, self-discovery parables like this need wit and invention, but Aguilar’s romp summons only wan echoes of Zootropolis (bull-horned cop) and Monsters, Inc. (inferior deodorant gag). For monster-sized growing pains, Trollhunters is better.

Director: Leopoldo Aguilar; Starring: Fiona Hardingham, Roger Jackson, Jenifer Beth Kaplan; Theatrical release: July 17, 2017

Kevin Harley

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Victim

Victim

Re-released for the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Basil Dearden’s 1961 drama played a significant part in that campaign.

Dirk Bogarde throws off his matinee idol image to play a barrister who takes up the cause of men blackmailed for being gay, and in doing so comes to acknowledge his own nature. A little over-preachy, but a brave statement for its time.

Director: Basil Dearden; Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price; Theatrical release: July 17, 2017

Philip Kemp

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock

Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock

Between his rock ’n’ camera-roll anecdotes and wily wit, photographer Mick Rock proves well-qualified to narrate his own docu-portrait, directed by Barnaby Clay.

Plump with torrid tales and deadpan one-liners, it’s a well-lived raconteur-mentary braided with revelatory stories and archive material; Lou Reed, David Bowie and more feature.

Director: Barney Clay; Theatrical release: July 17, 2017

Kevin Harley

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Scribe

Scribe

When Duval (François Cluzet) gets a job transcribing phone-tap conversations, he’s willing not to ask questions – until he overhears a murderous conspiracy. Thomas Kruithof’s debut is a lean thriller, using the empty apartment where Duval works as a metaphor for his complicity.

It’s also a throwback to paranoid ’70s classics such as The Conversation, right down to its preference for typewriters over digital tech.

Director: Thomas Kruithof; Starring: François Cluzet, Denis Podalydès, Sami Bouajila; Theatrical release: July 21, 2017

Simon Kinnear

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • Comments
Total Film Staff
Social Links Navigation
0

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, New Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Jack Shepherd. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

See comments
Load Comments
Recommended
New games for 2023 and beyond to add to your wishlist
  1. Hi-Fi Rush review
    1
    Hi-Fi Rush review: "An undeniably wild ride that shouldn't be ignored"
  2. 2
    Elgato Wave DX review: "An excellent choice for streamers looking for a high-quality dynamic XLR microphone"
  3. 3
    Herman Miller X Logitech Vantum review: "A well-designed and comfy ergonomic chair but one that lives firmly in the shadow of its sibling"
  4. 4
    Season: A Letter to the Future review: "As beautiful as it is quaint"
  5. 5
    Dead Space review: "A sublime mix of fresh, familiar, and freaking terrifying"
  1. Antonio Banderas in Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
    1
    Puss in Boots: The Last Wish review: "The cat's pyjamas"
  2. 2
    The Fabelmans review: "Spielberg's period drama evokes wonder"
  3. 3
    M3GAN review: "A lot of fun but short on frights"
  4. 4
    Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery review: "Almost as sharp as the first"
  5. 5
    Babylon review: "Damien Chazelle's immersive vision of Hollywood's golden era"
  1. The Last of Us
    1
    The Last of Us episode 3 review: "An early contender for one of 2023's best episodes"
  2. 2
    Poker Face episode 1 review: “Takes the hardboiled detective story to a new level”
  3. 3
    The Last of Us episode 2 review: "A more calculated entry that focuses on Joel and Ellie"
  4. 4
    The Last of Us episode 1 review: "Expands on the games – and often betters them"
  5. 5
    Vikings: Valhalla season 2 review: "Has lost some of its feverish intensity"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).

  • About Us (opens in new tab)
  • Terms and conditions (opens in new tab)
  • Privacy policy (opens in new tab)
  • Cookies policy (opens in new tab)
  • Advertise with us (opens in new tab)
  • Review guidelines (opens in new tab)
  • Write for us (opens in new tab)
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers (opens in new tab)

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.