“Dunkirk” (Drama/History/Drama: 1 hour, 47 minutes)

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles and Tom Hardy

Director: Christopher Nolan

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and strong language)

Movie Review: Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight” 2008 and “Inception” 2010) is the director and writer of this intriguing World War II set screenplay. It is an engaging movie. It has good acting, nice visuals and a noble narrative. However, plentiful action scenes allow little time to know the characters. The result is a narrative of actions to know characters. It works in a Hitchcockian manner. 

Alfred Hitchcock had a way of letting you get to know characters through their actions. It is a gamble but Nolan uses such theatrics to progress this historical story set during World War II. Nolan’s focus is narrow, focusing on the 1940 evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, and France. The German army has the Allied Forces surrounded and isolated on the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France.

The cinematography is tranquil for war drama. Director-writer Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema invite audiences in this manner. They offer views that make their locations romanticized visuals. The movie leads moviegoers into war in an artistic manner.

Nolan is a storyteller. He places his characters in situations and lets the situations develop his onscreen personas. It is masterful screenwriting. The story determines characters, which is good considering the film is an adaptation of actual events. 

Multiple characters strive to fight and survive the horrors of war. Their efforts are noble, and Nolan allows audiences to explore several soldiers and civilians lives through turbulent situations by making the characters people and not actors playing people, making it easier for audiences to relate to hardships faced by those in middle of a battle. 

Despite a chance to know the characters’ names barely, the heroic tale is the heart of the film. One may not know the characters enough to care about them individually, yet their actions to complete their task are worth following. The concept drives the movie.

Grade: B (Dunkirk serves as a noteworthy setting for this fine film.)

“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (Science-Fiction/Action: 2 hours, 17 minutes)

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne and Clive Owen

Director: Luc Besson

Rated: PG-13 (Violence, suggestive material and some language)

Movie Review: Luc Besson movies are rarely boring but their stories are typically dumb as with 2014’s “Lucy.” One of his better movies was “The Fifth Element” (1997), which “Valerian” is similar in style. 

The problem is “Valerian” tries to jam too much into one movie, making it a jumbled mix of brilliant computer-generated imagery and action sequences yet a pitifully unconvincing story. 

Alpha, a vast metropolitan space station is home to a thousand species from various planets. An unknown force threatens that station. Special operatives Major Valerian (DeHaan) and Sgt. Laureline (Delevingne) have orders to identify the unknown threat but their investigation leads to greater galactic implications.

Based on the comic book series “Valérian and Laureline” by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, the movie is beautiful visually, and its attractive young leading stars are mesmerizing. Each scene is eye candy that makes a less than tangible story endurable. 

DeHann and Delevingne are talented actors, but their youthful appearances are part of the less convincing parts of the movie. Although the young actors are fun to watch and provide good performances, they appear to be high schoolers and not special government agents.

Like all of Besson’s movies, they are enjoyable because of plentiful action and an abundance of visual effects. These items usually distract from a poorly written script. The same holds true here.

Grade: C+ (An energetic adventure)

“Girls Trip” (Comedy: 2 hours, 2 minutes)

Starring: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish

Director: Malcolm D. Lee

Rated: R (Crude and sexual content, pervasive language, violence, nudity, and drug-alcohol material)

Movie Review: While laughs are present in this adult comedy, the humor comes at the expense of crude humor. 

The story follows four friends since college (Hall, Latifah, Smith and Haddish. They are unknown as the Flossy Posse. The women travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival. 

Their relationships are renewed. The sisterhood has fun and finds romance in the Big Easy. “Let the good times roll” has a new meaning when the Flossy Posse arrives.

Malcolm D. Lee is the director of past movies such as “The Best Man” (1999) and “Undercover Brother” (2002). Those movies made him a household name. “Girls Trip” will be remembered because of unsophisticated comedy scenes. It pushes the limit of comedy. 

Some of the moments are funny. Others are stereotypical moments seen in many African-American screenplays: bad relationship breakup where the man is an adulterer, the overuse of profanity and people engaged in overly expressive catfights.

Again, this is an adult comedy, but many of its formulaic themes are childish material. We may laugh but we should not be complacently pleased with this unoriginal toilet humor.

The movie does have a good message about relationships near its end, which are the better well-acted parts by a feminine cast of beautiful black women. Hall, Latifah, Smith and Haddish show their true talents the last quarter of this movie. They pause with the adolescent comedic material to provide engaging characters. Audiences just have to wade through unsophisticated humor to get there.

Grade: C+ (These girls make New Orleans blush.)

“War for the Planet of the Apes” (Action/Drama: 2 hours, 20 minutes)

Starring: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Amiah Miller and Steve Zahn

Director: Matt Reeves

Rated: PG-13 (Violence, gore and thematic elements)

Movie Review:

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (Director: Rupert Wyatt, 2011) and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (Director Matt Reeves, 2014) were great films. They played as action and dramas, where the apes are brilliant dramatic characters. 

“War for the Planet of the Apes” is just as an enriching. The apes become become more riveting. They are easily more likable than humans in this screenplay, and that drives this good, entertaining feature.

Caesar (Serkis) continues to lead and protect his people, although torn by the past events that nearly destroyed the newly evolving apes. After the Colonel (Harrelson), leader of a military faction known as Alpha-Omega, kills some apes important to Caesar, the apes’ noble leader ventures to exact revenge on the Colonel. Caesar has been benevolent toward humans but his internal instincts for revenge drive a darker side of Caesar.

Serkis is brilliant as Caesar. He brings great dramatics to the role. He more than carries the movie with his grand portrayal.

It is common for all of the ape characters. They are all compassionate beings. The Bornean orangutan Maurice (Karin Konoval), the inadvertently comical bad ape (Zahn) and Rocket (Terry Notary) are all very well-written characters who add an adventurous dramatic solidness to this narrative. They are part of a series of well-written characters.

Human roles are engaging, too. Harrelson is very cunning as a malevolent leader. Amiah Miller is charming as a child actress. She does much without vocalizing any words.

While the story is intriguing, the characters make this riveting entertainment. Their actions in the narrative are worthy of a more than two-hour runtime. Action may exist, but it is merely a backdrop for a story of rich characters. Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield,” 2007) helms all, the story and characters, nicely for what appears a definitive conclusion for the “Planet of the Apes” franchise.

Grade: B+ (The apes still provide a good cinematic experience.)

“The Big Sick” (Romantic Drama/Comedy: 2 hours)

Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Adeel Akhtar and Ray Romano

Director: Michael Showalter

Rated: R (Profanity and sexual references)

Movie Review: Based on a true story, “The Big Sick” is a gratifying romantic comedy. It provides likable characters in a very moving in a manner brilliantly executed. Cultural and ethnic differences offer tribulations and comical moments for the characters, but audiences receive a good amusing screenplay.

Kumail Nanjiani, playing himself, is a Pakistani comedian who meets an American graduate student Emily V. Gordon (Kazan). Despite reservations and Kumail’s cultural traditions from a traditional Muslim family, the two becomes a couple. 

Just after their relationship ends, doctors place Emily in a medically induced coma. Kumail stays by Emily’s side along with her parents, Terry (Romano) and Beth (Hunter). As Kumail spends time with Emily’s parents, he remembers why he loves her. 

Nanjiani and Gordon’s romance makes for a worthy movie. The two screenplay writers make it a surprisingly engrossing romcom produced by Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” 2005), whose movies are usually childish, and Barry Mendel.

Michael Showalter (“Hello, My Name Is Doris,” 2016) ably directs this comedy. Some moments drift into the trivial, comedy, and some bits are formulaic romance themes. Yet, Nanjiani and Gordon’s retelling of their romantic history offers enough fresh material to make it invitingly enjoyable. 

Grade: B+ (It grows into an agreeable amusing comedy.)

“Wish Upon” (Horror/Thriller: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Starring: Joey King, Ryan Phillippe and Ki Hong Lee

Director: John R. Leonetti

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and disturbing images, gore, thematic elements and profanity)

Movie Review: “Wish Upon” has an appealing story, but it quickly turns into clichéd horror theme. It feels like something seen before. A shame since it has some good concepts. However, it contains a minuscule amount of frightening moments.

The movie follows the plight of a 17-year-old daughter Clare Shannon (Joey King). She is a high school student not having the best of days. Her changes when her father, Jonathan Shannon (Phillippe), gives her an old music box that grants its owner seven wishes. Clare begins making wishes unaware her new toy has deadly consequences per wish.

King, Phillippe and Lee try their best to keep the screenplay afloat. Their efforts are mighty but the story tries to be too smart with surprises. In writer Barbara Marshall’s attempt to create an intelligent script — an appreciated try on a purely mental level — she forgets to make this creatively scary. 

Grade: C (Wish it were better …)