Review: The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is less of a heist film and more of a casual stroll through a war museum.

Towards the end of World War Two, with Allied forces pushing into Germany and the Russians also bearing down on Europe, one officer forms a small unit of scholars to go into dangerous areas and recover priceless art stolen by the Nazis during the occupation.

George Clooney both stars as our lead and directs the film, and honestly he might want to consider sticking with the acting.

That's not to say the film is without merit. As a story it is worth telling; I am sure that many people will be unaware of Hitler's possessive nature towards all European art and sculpture, or how valuable these treasures really are to society as a whole. I commend the film for having the decent budget, production value and stars given to such an overlooked aspect of the war.
Also being set after the major events in the war is quite unique; our characters reaching the Normandy beaches long after the fighting has ended, had a certain quality to it.

But... it really isn't as good as the sum of its parts, and the film becomes a muddled, cliche bore.

Clooney's film has some really unpleasant editing choices. Scenes come and go so quickly at times that we cease to feel any reason for them, or are oddly thrown in while another scene unfolds. Sure you can do this to add tension, but here it is done so many times (and with a multitude of date stamps, as if paranoid we will forget this is set during 1943!)
There are a lot of names in this film, but not a whole lot to do with them. The comedy elements are often forced, at least when in subsequent scenes characters are being killed off!
Did we really need Bill Murray's character making his own beef jerky, only to require a tooth removed because of eating it?

I went into the film with reduced expectations, yet I still felt the film was poorly executed and without clear focus. Make the film about finding lost paintings and rescuing them from a desolated Europe, or make a comedy about it. You can't easily have both. Why waste time with half-hearted character development (Do you think the horse would like a cigarette??) and show us the story. No, I didn't feel anything for any of the characters; the film simply didn't tell me anything about them. Not really. The one soldier's death which becomes a means to rally the others together... I barely even knew the guy! He was in the background while Damon and Clooney pretended the film was Ocean's World War Two.

Ach. It had good intentions, and it is obviously a subject Clooney personally wanted to do, but god is it forgetful. It would work as a forty-minute television documentary, not a star-studded feature film.

  
Additional Marshmallows: Damon's character James had a funny schtick about being unable to speak French though. Subtitles and all.  

Review: Lincoln

Steven Spielberg is probably the only man who could take a subject matter as dry as politics and as well known as Lincoln's victory over the 13^th amendment and make it worth watching for over one-hundred and fifty minutes.

Daniel Day Lewis gives a powerhouse performance as the United States sixteenth President as he deals with the political minefield and personal sacrifices to push his new amendment to abolish slavery. This times difficulty with the persistent American Civil War which has claimed too many lives. Lincoln is in a losing battle; he wants the war ended and slavery abolished in the same stroke... whereas many of the critical voters wish only for the war to end with the compromise of retaining slavery.

As you can see from the lengthy synopsis there, Lincoln is a heavy, heavy film. The Civil War itself acts merely as a backdrop and persistent danger and drive for the President's actions, the majority of the film focuses on his personal battle of words with the men responsible for ending the war and bringing about a better future. The film demands your attention constantly, but Spielberg's deft hand allows for Lincoln's mannerisms and lighthearted stories to lighten the heavy dialogue frequently.

Day-Lewis is fantastic in the role. He is both wise and solid as a worn oak tree, yet human and determined as a man truly selfless and honest. A great sense of gravity is given and allows the audience to see a powerful idol in humanity's history. All supporting roles are substantially filled, as they should be in a Spielberg picture, and no one appears weak or unnecessary. The film moves at a slow but constant pace.

It is dry, it is extremely dialogue heavy along with self-assessing scenes that make sure the audience isn't left behind by the politics, but to stick with it is to learn a personal strife and struggle at a critical time in America's history.

Perhaps not worth a cinema visit per se, but definitely worth a watch!

Additional Marshmallows: Kudos to Spielberg too for making so many of his compositions alike to oil paintings; the lighting and use of shadows makes lounges and rooms murky and deeply solemn.