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A USA Today review of “Dunkirk” is under increased scrutiny from industry peers for warning viewers that it lacks women and minorities. Social media ridicule followed the publishing of writer Brian Truitt’s reaction to director Christopher Nolan’s latest film, a World War II tale about Allied soldiers attempting to survive while pinned down by German adversaries. The columnist gave the film a glowing review while saying its lack of diversity “may rub some the wrong way.”

I just got back from seeing Dunkirk and I was impressed. Speaking as a military historian it seemed accurate enough for a film that is quite clearly stated to be a fictional account with fictional characters not a docudrama. I was worried that a modern treatment might head towards the politically correct or the overly mawkish, but, it delivered what I was hoping to see. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag...

Could someone remind me how old President Donald Trump was at the time of the real life evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940? Oh, he still wouldn't be born for another six years? Really? However, this did not prevent Rolling Stone movie reviewer Peter Travers from invoking his name in a negative way from out of nowhere in the middle of a review of what looks to be an outstanding film, "Dunkirk." First let us look at the positive aspect of Travers' review when he focused strictly on the movie before taking his cheap shot at Trump. Before he came to...

Christopher Nolan's new film follows soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France as they're surrounded by the German army and evacuated during the eponymous World War II battle. Dunkirk is an impressionist masterpiece. These are not the first words you expect to see applied to a giant-budgeted summer entertainment made by one of the industry's most dependably commercial big-name directors. But this is a war film like few others, one that may employ a large and expensive canvas but that conveys the whole through isolated, brilliantly realized, often private moments more than via sheer spectacle, although that is...

Before the pushback comes: (a) I know it's from those unreliable lefties at the BBC (2) the Brits offend me as much as anyone. That said, it was a huge surprise to watch a pc free, honest portrayal of this period of history. Surprise!!! They're even treating Churchill fairly, perhaps better than Halifax.

An iconic Second World War fighter aircraft which crash landed as it tried to rescue Allied troops has taken to the skies for the first time in nearly 80 years. The Mk 1 Hawker Hurricane thundered through the skies after taking off at Elmsett in Suffolk following a £2 million restoration project and some 25,000 hours of highly-skilled labour. In May 1940, the Hurricane of 245 Squadron took off from Kent with Pilot Officer Kenneth McGlashan at the controls, before being shot down on a Dunkirk beach. But now the distinctive sound of the P2902 with its Merlin engine is...

Starring Tom Hardy, newcomer Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles, it is one of the most highly anticipated blockbusters of the summer. And fans got a sneak peek of Second World War epic Dunkirk as they saw the One Direction singer's character Alex get caught in deep water when his boat sinks. The trailer, called Trapped, shows Harry and Fionn helped to safety on a boat.

t's one of the most hotly-anticipated blockbusters of the summer, particularly due to the involvement of a certain One Direction star. And fans got a glimpse of Harry Styles in action in the dramatic new trailer for Dunkirk on Friday. In one scene, the 23-year-old is seen swimming desperately towards one of the rescuers before grabbing his hand.

A huge fire, apparently started deliberately, tore through the Grande-Synthe migrant camp near the northern French city of Dunkirk late Monday, reducing it to “a heap of ashes”, the regional chief said. Firefighters said at least 10 people had been injured in the blaze at the camp, which was home to some 1,500 people, mostly Iraqi Kurds, living in closely packed wooden huts. “There is nothing left but a heap of ashes,” Michel Lalande, prefect of France’s Nord region, told reporters at the scene as firefighters continued to battle the flames which were visible from several kilometers away. “It will...

From filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Interstellar,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy) comes the epic action thriller DUNKIRK, in theaters July 21, 2017.

The first trailer for Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated Dunkirk has been released. The 56-second-long preview is shot in dull tones and focuses on the bleak, raw nature of the French coastline in 1940. A score which mimics an ever-quickening heartbeat ramps up the tension, reaching a climax as a boat packed full of allied troops recoil in fear at the sound of incoming German bombers flying above them.

Hollywood has pulled out all the stops for the silver screen recreation one of the biggest operations of World War 2. On Thursday 325 extras lined up on the beaches of Dunkirk, in the exact spot where 76 years ago this week 338,000 British, French and Belgian troops were evacuated in Operation Dynamo. Director Christopher Nolan assembled his men alongside a few cardboard cut-outs to bolster the troops, as he continues shooting his epic new movie which stars the likes of Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance and One Direction singer Harry Styles.

'About 50 small boats involved in the evacuation of allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in World War Two have set sail from Kent to mark the 75th anniversary of the rescue. The craft, escorted by RNLI and Royal Navy vessels, are heading to the French town for official commemorative events. Operation Dynamo between 26 May and 4 June 1940 saw hundreds of boats of all types rescue 338,000 troops after they retreated from Nazi forces. A return takes place every five years. The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) has organised sailings across the English Channel since 1970...

Politics is often like war. Unfortunately, politicians, the media, and the voting public seldom have the same degree of realism and discipline with which professional soldiers fight wars. You can indulge your emotions and base your decisions on wishful thinking in politics in a way that you are not likely to when your own life is on the line in battle. One of the most dramatic and heartening events of World War II was the miraculous evacuation of British troops trapped on the beaches of France in 1940, at Dunkirk. And its lesson is still relevant today. The British troops...

The Miracle of Dunkirk: 70 years on In what is still called 'the Miracle of Dunkirk' the story is told of how over 300,000 British troops were snatched from the beaches of France in an operation that was so fraught with dangers that success can only be attributed to a miraculous combination of circumstances. by David E. Gardner MAY 1940 was a time of grave crisis for the British Empire and for the whole civilised world. On 10 May Hitler had launched his blitzkrieg against the Low Countries and France. By the end of the second week in May...

In the early days of May 1940 German panzer forces overran Belgium and France, trapping the bulk of the British army against the sea – effectively creating what could have become the greatest military disaster in British history. But God heard the prayers of the people of England, and soon many of those same people participated in what has become known as 'The Miracle at Dunkirk.' There are many places to read about this historical event – but too often most accounts leave out the strong evidence that the ‘Hand of God’ played a large part of the story. That...

Just in case the election hasn't turned out the way you'd hoped, here's a story to warm the cockles. It is an inspirational tale of triumph over perversity, heartening proof that bureaucratic intransigence can be beaten. What follows is the culmination of a determined ten-year campaign to erect a permanent memorial to the crews of the small ships which took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. A former merchant seaman, John Everett, who lives on the River Thames, wanted to honour the achievement of Douglas Tough, a boat builder, who commandeered more than 100 vessels and led them...

NEW YORK -- Through cinema history, audacious, lengthy tracking shots have captivated filmmakers and movie buffs who marvel at their grace and choreography. In the middle of Joe Wright's critically acclaimed ''Atonement,'' a 5½-minute shot unfolds as Robbie, a British World War II soldier (James McAvoy), comes upon France's Dunkirk beach, where the final point in the British retreat from the Germans is portrayed as a grim circus of defeat and chaos. In the Ian McEwan novel from which the movie was adapted, the scene is described in just a few pages. McEwan writes: ''It was a rout and this...

SAN DIEGO - Police donned riot gear and used smoke and tear gas to break up a hostile crowd throwing bottles and cans during a huge, alcohol-fueled Labor Day beach brawl, authorities said. Sixteen people were arrested and face charges of fighting and being drunk in public. No officers were injured. When lifeguards went to treat a man who had been punched and kicked on Monday, people in the area pointed out six or seven men they said were responsible for the fight, authorities said. At that point, a new brawl broke out, prompting lifeguards to call police for help....

Rear-Admiral Bob Timbrell, who has died aged 86, was a young Royal Canadian Navy officer still at the gunnery school on Whale Island, Portsmouth, when he was summoned from his class and told to take a boat to Dunkirk in May 1940.Aged 20 he was given command of Lord Astor’s motor yacht Llanthony with a crew of six Newfoundland woodsmen, two London bus mechanics and an RN petty officer whose equipment consisted of a First World War pistol, an uncorrected magnetic compass and a minefields chart.Having taken on board barrels of fresh water for the troops waiting to be evacuated...