2014: Week 10: The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men

Genre: Drama, Biography

Main Players: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Jean Dujardin, Hugh Bonneville, Bob Balaban

General Gist: A group of unlikely men seek out stolen art during WWII in hopes of saving what the Nazi's are trying to destroy.  Based on a true story.

Tiff's Take:
There's nothing better than a good George Clooney/Matt Damon movie.  They have such great chemistry together.  Paired with a good movie and they are fantastic.  I was hoping that this would be one of those movies but I was slightly disappointed.

All the actors did well and George and Matt were their normal wonderful selves but the movie itself was a little slow.  I'm not sure if it was the screenplay or what but it didn't feel like it had much direction.  It was also missing some pizazz or emotion or something.  Things happened too matter of factly that you almost didn't care if something happened to one of the characters.  And it was sort of easy to forget that they were plopped down in the middle of a war.  There wasn't a sense of urgency or level of intensity.

Aside from that though, it was really interesting.  (Slow and interesting at the same time?  A little bit of an oxymoron.)  The idea of what these men were trying to do was really fascinating.  This is something you don't often hear about when you learn about WWII.  For that, I enjoyed it.  But if it wasn't such an interesting topic with phenomenal actors then I don't think this movie would have really gone anywhere at all.

Tiff's Rate: Matinee

Deb's Take:
I disliked history growing up.  I didn't like my history classes, I was often bored with the facts and because of that I know very little about history, (to a fault).  In the last few years I have grown to love history because I began studying it in a more interesting way.  I like the stories behind the history.  The meat and potatoes.  My husband says I had the wrong teachers.  I think so.  Now, I know this movie is hyped up on Hollywood, but what I liked about it was that it taught me some history I didn't know.  The story was so fascinating to me.  World War II and the doings of Hitler are so intriguing.  SAD..but intriguing. 

I agree with Tiff that this movie wasn't so much about he actors.  They all did good, and I know the group of them was more of some of the "top" players, but really, the story had me engrossed more than the actors.  They did a good job, but I wouldn't say they were what made the movie, the story itself made the movie.  The movie would have been good to me no matter who played the parts.  I wasn't as underwhelmed as Tiff in this one, I don't remember feeling like the movie was slow, but I agree there wasn't much emotion or intensity.  I don't know how close to the real story this movie came, but I enjoyed learning something I didn't know before.  Although this wasn't a huge winner for me, I can't say it was a loser.

Deb's Rate: Matinee

Preview: We finally got to see 12 Years a Slave and a bonus movie with the kids.

Week 49: The Descendants

Boy, Deb's right.  We are behind on our posts.  Here's to knocking two out the same day.  Note that this reveiw has slight spoilers so if you want to see the movie first that might be a good idea. 

We saw The Descendants for week 49 with George Clooney as the main character followed by his daughter played by Shailene Woodley.  As Deb said, this movie was mainly about the relationship between these two characters.  The story is about a guy, George Clooney, who's dealing with the impending loss of his wife who was in a boating accident and also dealing with selling property that's part of this big family trust.  So there's sort of two different stories going on. Oh, and it was set in Hawaii which threw in an interesting perspective.

In the first story with his wife, he's working through this process of saying good bye and trying to manage his two daughters.  In dealing with his oldest daughter's anger towards his wife he finds out that his wife was having an affair and was thinking about leaving him.  A good chunk of the movie is about him dealing with this revelation.

This movie has a heavy feel with serious topics but not a lot of drama.  And there was a lot of comic relief in just the right places.  It reminds me of 50/50 a little bit in the sense that if an "average" person was thrown in this situation this is how they might actually deal with it.  It didn't feel hollywoodized.  (I just made that word up.)  With George Clooney as the main guy you might not think it's possible to imagine an average guy with an average family but there were times where he actually did seem like an average guy.  I mean, it is George Clooney after all so of course you won't forget that but he intentionally wasn't as dashing in this one.     

I did think it was a good movie and one worth seeing but I was surprised in my lack of emotional connection with the characters.  I felt distanced from them when normally I'm sniffling right along with Deb.  I think this is mainly because of my personal hatred and dysfunction when it comes to infidelity and all things cheating.  Or maybe I just wasn't in a sappy mood.  Either way, it didn't touch me as much as some movies do.  But I think it probably would to the average person. 

To Sum it up: Serious topics, perfectly timed humor and good "almost made you forget the actor" acting.

Week 49: The Descendants

Ok, so our posts are running a week behind, but we ARE going to the movie, which is most important in my world.

We got to do a "Two sisters, A Mom and A Movie" this time around! We were hard pressed to find something out there we wanted to see, but after some looking around stumbled across this gem. Yes, it was a gem!

This movie follows two basic story lines, one about a family who's mother/wife is ill and the family is trying to cope with the choices that need to be made to stay afloat emotionally. This is intertwined with a story of the father/husband of this family, trying to make a decision about selling some land that is in his trust.

George Clooney plays the lead role along with Shailene Woodley, who plays one of his daughters. Really, most of the movie centers around these two and their interactions. I am always impressed when I see Good old George on the film. He seems so at ease. In fact, at one point in the movie he was suppose to be kind of "geeky" or maybe more "average" and it seemed out of character, he just is too laid back and in control that to be out of control was sort of off. Not to say he didn't do a good job, but you just know it's not him.

Shailene did an exceptional job as a 17 year old girl. She was pretty darn close to what I think so many 17 year olds probably act like. I know she plays on a TV series, but I read where this was her first role in a movie. Yep, she's good!

I think what I most liked about this movie was that I cried and I laughed. A movie that does that can't be anything but a winner in my emotional book. I like to laugh and cry..tap into both ends of the spectrum and confuse the mind with how it really feels.

Mostly, just a great movie to go to with my mom and sister! Thanks for the great night Tiff and Mom.

See you for week 50! only 2 left..so sad :(

Week 42: The Ides of March

For week 42 we went and saw The Ides of March. I'll be honest.  This easily could have been a movie I overlooked.  Political movies aren't really by favorite.  But I heard it was good and nothing else was really jumping out us.

The story is about a presidential campaign and the "workings" behind it.  The main character, Stephen, played by Ryan Gosling is sort of the PR brains behind a campaign for a presidential hopeful played by George Clooney.  He's young and dedicated to the candidate but finds trouble along the way and gets to see how things really work.  This movie gave a very interesting perspective into politics.  I always wonder why a politician can't stick to their views and beliefs and just do what they think is right.  This movie gives a glimpse into why it seems like it is never possible.  There are too many ulterior motives behind everything.  And I thought it was funny that of all the things going on in this movie the one thing that gets the guy in trouble is a woman.  What is it about men who just can't resist temptation even when there is so much at stake?  I'll never understand that. 

As far as the movie itself, it was a little slow moving.  I felt like 80% of the movie was building up to this climax and then when the climax hit the movie was over.  It was a little strange.  Although, that being said, it wasn't a bad movie.  It was interesting but it wasn't super exciting.  As far as acting, Ryan Gosling did a terrific job.  The movie was basically all about him.  Everyone else was just support.  Even George Clooney. 

To Sum it up: Lots of dynamics, a different way to view politics but a little slow going.

Week 42: The Ides of March

Well, I looked up The Ides of March, because I didn't know what the title of this movie meant. Basically there are a few significant historical happenings that developed into the Ides of March. Literally it is the Roman Calendar day that corresponds with our March 15th. Another significant happening was that Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC. The title of this movie seems to most closely correspond to the Roman consular year, since the elected Roman consuls took office on the Ides. So...now I know why this movie was titled as such, and so do you. :)

So, this movie wasn't necessarily a movie I had any intentions of seeing. The main reason...it's political, and I am politically ignorant, with no desire to become knowledgeable. I know, it's a sad case for an American to admit, but it's true, politics make me crazy. None the less, this was the movie we attended this week.

If I was political, I think this movie would have been exceptional. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, and Philip Seymour Hoffman did exceptional as the dirty, game playing, backstabbing, race you to the top men of politics. (Have I mentioned before I don't like politics...) Really, the storyline was pretty believable, but how can I really say? I don't know politics, so many it just followed the storyline of what I believe politics to be. Each man played their parts well, they seemed like politician, then again, I think actors and politicians can be one in the same sometimes.

I guess what I am getting at, I didn't necessarily enjoy this movie, I don't understand or "get" the political games, so I didn't really like watching it in movie form either. If you like politics, go see it and let me know what you think..I am interested in hearing what you have to say.

See you next week!