1917 - 7/10

Compelling visuals and masterful technical filmmaking from cinematography to editing to sound mixing - all fantastic (although, some of the "invisible cuts" were blatantly obvious) The fact that it's based on Sam Mendes' grandfathers memoirs also makes it all the more compelling. But it has many drawbacks not the least of which is that the single cut style never stops feeling like a gimmick in this film - unlike in Birdman where you're absorbed into the story - so the film itself never stops quite feeling like a gimmick either. It also suffers from a lack of having much to say as the plot is a rather basic A B C plot with no surprises or messages to make you think in the least. Just a standard story with nothing new or original to say. Now, it tells that story well but it's not particularly compelling in any way if you've seen other more masterful war movies. To call 1917 a war film may not be entirely fair or accurate either as it feels much more akin to a thriller. But even then, it's not quite thrilling enough to be a thriller so perhaps just a war drama? It's a masterfully made film with very few technical flaws but with many, many storytelling flaws. Far from a bad film, but still almost just as far from being great - definitely good though, just unfortunately not much more than good.