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 52: We Bought a Zoo

Week 52! NOOOOOOO, ok, we will see another one, sort of like being pregnant, they say it's 9 months, but really it's 10. They say 52 weeks in a year, we say 53.

So, Christmas Day we loaded up the families (minus 2) and headed down to the Plaza to see a movie. Sort of trying to make it a little more exciting than going to our regular theater. Christmas lights, theatre with an escalator (cheaper by about 15 bucks!)

The key players in this movie were Matt Damon, (the dad) Scarlett Johansson (the zoo keeper), Colin Ford (older child) Maggie Elizabeth Jones (younger child), and Elle Fanning (13 year old zoo helper). The story line follows the title, a family of 3 buys a home that happens to be part of a Zoo. This movie is based on a true story, I like true stories so was happy this was our Christmas movie.

All in all I enjoyed this movie. My husband did happen to notice there was a little more "swearing" than he thought appropriate for a PG movie. I do agree, but regardless I thought the movie was good. I like Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson was okay, nothing outstanding. Maggie Elizabeth Jones stole the show really. She was super darn cute! She is a 7 year old, but really seemed younger which made her more cute. If you saw "Footloose" she played in that as well. Wouldn't be surprised to see her more in the near future.

This movie was touching, had some good humor and a good family show. My 8 year old was "in love" with the romance of this movie. She couldn't hard contain her "AHHH" for the romance that happened between Elle Fanning's character and Colin Ford. She is a hopeless romantic like her Mama.

All in all and good family movie. See it together and appreciate the family you have.

See you for our LAST review of 2011~ It's a good one!

Week 52: We Bought a Zoo

Any normal person might think this is our last post in our quest to see a movie a week in 2011.  After all, it is week 52.  Well, as it turns out it is not.  We just saw our last movie yesterday and it wasn't this one.  How can that be you ask?  Well, if you recall January 1st was a Saturday.  We went to a movie that day and called it week 1.  Technically it probably wasn't week 1.  But alas, that's what we did so we managed to defy the western calendar and actually have 53 weeks of movies this year.  Not to mention a few extras.  As far as movies are concerned it's been a pretty darn good year for us.  Now that the accountant in me has justified week 53 I'll continue on.

This past weekend we saw We Bought a Zoo for week 52.  We chose this one to satisfy all the family needs since we made this one an all family event.  Christmas day movies are the best.  Going to a movie on Christmas has always been a tradition in our family.  Anyone else?

This may not have been my first choice of a movie to see but I was interested in seeing it.  I love Matt Damon for one.  And two...well I love Matt Damon.  How can you go wrong with that?  This movie is about a guy who is working through the loss of his wife and decides to move his kids to a new place to get a fresh start.  They end up buying a house that includes a run down zoo.  They put in a lot of money and hard work to get it open again and of course learn some life lessons on the way.  Pretty much a nice wholesome story. 

Matt Damon was of course good and so was Scarlett Johansson who played the main zookeeper.  I'm not sure that the two had the best chemistry but it was okay.  The kids were played by Colin Ford and Maggie Elizabeth Jones with another role played by Elle Fanning.  They were all good especially Maggie Elizabeth Jones.  She was so cute it was hard not to consider her the standout. 

Overall I thought this was a cute movie.  It had funny and touching moments and a good story.  I'm not sure I would say it's one of my favorites but good entertainment for a night.  The kids seemed to enjoy it but it was a little slow for my six year old. 

To Sum it up:  A warm, fun story with heart.

Bonus Review: Happy Feet Two

Last week we had the opportunity to see a prescreening of Happy Feet Two.  Russ and I decided to take the kids.  Rhett has gone to a good amount of movies now and does pretty good.  This was Piper's first movie.  We figured a free movie was the best way to test out her interest.  And it was 3D so it added a little extra flare to the experience.

None of us had seen Happy Feet so anything that may have referenced the first one was lost on us.  But we weren't confused about much which I'm sure is the intent with a kids movie.  This one was chalked full of well known voices.  Some of them were Robin Williams, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Pink, Sofia Vergara and Elijah Wood.  Is that the thing to do now with an animated movie?  It seems like nowadays there is always someone famous doing the voice of the characters.  I find myself paying way too much attention to the voices trying to figure out if it really sounds like that person.  Why, I don't know.

Like most animated movies, this one had a good message.  The message in this one was to work together and being different is okay.  Good concepts unless you have a son like mine who knows that when it comes to animals it's the survival of the fittest.  An elephant seal isn't going to help a baby penguin and a puffin isn't going to be accepted as an animal their not.  But putting facts aside, this was a fun movie with dancing and music and humor.  What more could you ask in a kids movie?  The 3D was pretty cool.  There were only a few scenes where it seemed really worth it but the kids had fun with the glasses.  Not sure it would be worth it to pay extra for it though.  2D would probably be just fine.

Overall, kids enjoyed it and only got a little restless towards the end.  Piper did pretty darn good for her first movie.  I think she enjoyed the Diet Coke, popcorn and glasses best of all though.

To Sum it up: Great voices, fun dancing and just enough to keep the kids engaged.     

Week 5: True Grit

This week was True Grit. I'll admit that this movie wasn't one I was super excited to see. I heard it was good but it seemed like it might be boring. Westerns really aren't my thing. Well, I'm sure glad I was very pleasantly surprised. One thing I will say though is it was a little graphic so it's probably best if you don't have a weak stomach when you go to this movie.

Jeff Bridges was perfect for the role of Rooster Cogburn. I couldn't imagine a better person to play that role. He was so convincing as a drunk that there were times I honestly couldn't understand what he was saying.

Hailee Steinfeld was really good as well. I thought at first that I would get annoyed with her know it all attitude and proper english but she really grew on me. She, also, was perfect in that role.

Somehow I forgot or didn't realize Matt Damon was in this movie. I'm a huge Matt Damon fan and generally like most movies he's in. I loved him in this one. I don't think anyone can pull off that kind of "serious" humor like Matt Damon. Him and Jeff Bridges really played off each other well.

Overall, wonderful movie and I can now see what all the hype is about. And best of all we got to go with our hubbies this week. That's always a treat.

To Sum it up: witty, gritty and a little gory.