Dunkirk

History lessons were a long time ago for me, but one of the one-or-two things that I remember learning about was the battle of Dunkirk. For those of you who can’t remember your school days, the short version of the battle of Dunkirk is that during WWII on 26 May 1940, Allied forces landed on the beach in France only to be surrounded by the German army. The subsequent defence and evacuation of the Allied soldiers (Operation Dynamo) is one of the most widely known battles of the war, and now acclaimed auteur Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, Dark Knight) is bringing this story to the big screen. And this is a good thing, because he has a knack for the spectacle, and a solid CV of making big money. As such Warner Bros have reached down into their deepest pockets and spent a large fortune on this movie. How much exactly? Don't know, but it's a lot. $5 million-on-one-plane-alone type money. And studios don't spend that kind of bank on a movie that isn't a remake these days unless they're pretty damn sure it'll be a success.

And they haven’t stopped with expensive props either, the casting department seem to have got their share. Cillian Murphy (Inception), Tom Hardy (Baaaaane), Kenneth Branagh (Shakespeare) and Mark Rylance (BFG) co-star. There was even enough money left to let Harry Styles (New Direction) have a go at acting, although whether he sinks or swims if you’ll pardon the pun is yet to be known. Throw in long-time Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer to provide the score, and Hoyte van Hoytema’s stunning skills with cinematography and it certainly seems like Christopher has all his ducks in a row.