Monuments Men
- Fundamentals, reception.
- American/German live action feature length film, 2014, PG13, 118 minutes, drama.
- IMDB: 6.1/10.0 from 47,192 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 70 million USD.
- Rotten Tomatoes: 32% on the meter; 46% liked it from 64,600 audience ratings.
- I watched this on iTunes streaming.
- Written and directed by: George Clooney.
- Starring: George Clooney as Frank Stokes, Matt Damon as James Granger, Bill Murray as Richard Campbell, John Goodman as Walter Garfield, Cate Blanchett as Claire Simone, Jean Dujardin as Jean Claude Clermont, Hugh Bonneville as Donald Jeffries, Bob Balaban as Preston Savitz, Dmitri Leonidas as Sam Epstein, Justus von Dohnanyi as Viktor Stahl, Holger Handke as Colonel Wegner.
- Setup and Plot
- Frank convinces James, Richard, John, Jean Claude, and Donald to form the Monuments Men, a group dedicated to finding art looted by the Nazis and returning it, if possible, to rightful owners. Most of them are middle-aged, but have to go through boot camp. They are not instantly respected by regular army.
- There are several detective stories to follow, and there are losses in war. They find a number of salt mines filled with art works. The Nazis also destroy a good bit of it, and the Russians 'liberate' a fair chunk of it themselves. Their support from the military grows when they discover a huge cache of gold bullion.
- Some of their last finds were of sculpture, which they find in a castle in Germany. James' interactions with Claire, a combination collaborator, resistance fighter, art historian, and cataloger, yield a manifest that helps them later on.
- How much of the obstruction by the Nazis and the Russians can they overcome?
- Conclusions
- One line summary: Beautiful story of recovering art from Nazi looting in WWII.
- Five stars of five.
- Scores
- Cinematography: 10/10 Wonderfully shot.
- Sound: 8/10 Good to excellent.
- Acting: 10/10 Quite good performances by a stellar cast.
- Screenplay: 10/10 Nice story telling.
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