I know there’s another thread, but I do not wish to post in a thread with such a negative and over-the-top Subject Line.
I liked it. It’s a great story, one that needs to be told to a modern audience. While not perfect, this was decently well-told and also well-acted. It has a great cast. Besides George Clooney (who often gets undeserved flack, but he can act, very well, as he’s proven time and time again), there’s John Goodman, Bill Murray, Matt Damon, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin and Cate Blanchett, among others.
It has an odd structure that audiences aren’t used to seeing too often. It leans more to a series of vingettes hopping around to the different characters (who are rarely if ever at the same place at the same time) and checking in on what they’re doing. I know some people will have problems with the episodic nature of the movie, and yes, it has been done better in other movies, but it worked for me. They could neither include everything that ALL the Monuments Men got up to nor tack on a “plot” that tied one or two main characters together forgetting the others. It was a tough balance and they did the best they could.
The movie’s not brilliant but the story of the Monument Men is a fascinating story that’s practically unknown to the general public and I’m glad someone told it. Even by a liberal.
It’s funny how in Yahoo and other Comments sections, it seems that teabagger types are going out of their way to sabotage this movie simply because of who directed and stars in it. Something they most likely wouldn’t be doing if were directed by anyone else, except maybe Sean Penn. I imagine they’d be falling all over themselves to praise it if it starred Bruce Willis. IMO deliberately trying to sabotage a movie about an interesting and important piece of the World War II story seems a bit unpatriotic.
The sheer amount of negative hyperbole I see is both astonishing and amusing. So it’s not an instant classic. So it won’t be listed as one of 2014’s best. Instead of “meh” reactions I see outright hatred for the movie and everyone in it for no apparent reason. It certainly doesn’t “suck ass” and at the very least should be given credit for bringing the Monuments Men’s story to a wider audience.