Vera Brittain's memoir of a woman's experience during World War I seems perfect for a modern-day historical drama. Well, perhaps "suitable" would be a better word. Or maybe "correct" — entirely appropriate, but without too much gutwrenching or heartbreaking. Headstrong young Englishwoman (an interesting if not quite compelling Alicia Vikander) defies societal expectations and attends Oxford, only to leave so she can become a nurse during the long national nightmare that reaped the flower of a generation. All the elements are there, and it gets rather better once the blood and mud start mixing in the trenches. And some things really work: the peacetime pastoral bits are suitably gorgeous, Kit Harrington's poetry recitation is remarkably unsilly, and the filth and horror of combat nursing is not downplayed. In short, it looks and sounds right, but feels wrong. Or at least, not enough. (2015) — Matthew Lickona