Monuments Men {some people liked, some people didn't: edited title}

Cafe Society
41

If this was a misfire, it’s his first significant one as director. While none are great, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Ides of March and Good Night and Good Luck are all quite well-made (while Leatherheads was slight but fun) and none as tedious-sounding as MM is sounding (I hope to get to it eventually but haven’t yet).

42

I’ve seen the latter two and I think Good Night and Good Luck is a good film ( though I’m not as enamored with it as some critics ) and Leatherheads was pretty much exactly as you described it. But this one felt far more paint-by-numbers in its writing than those. YMMV, obviously.

I don’t think Clooney is bad, just like I don’t Monuments Men was bad. But I do think I’d describe his writing and directing, based on what of his work I’ve seen to date, as more competent and journeyman-like than transcendant. Which isn’t a tremendous put down in my book, but IMHO he is no Joel Coen.

43

My husband and I went to see this tonight when our other plans got snowed out. We both enjoyed it; we thought maybe people were having issues with the pacing, but we enjoyed ourselves. It’s not any of the actors’ best work, but so what? It was a well done movie covering some important pieces of the war effort that most people don’t know.

44

Well I saw it. I wish I hadn’t read the article that I posted earlier in this thread, b/c I could not get away from the sing-songy, inform-you-of-your-feelings, overbearing score. It really exposed the flaws in the movie, which were Legion. Even without it though, this was pretty clunky. I’m a huge fan of Clooney as a filmmaker - I have enjoyed all his films listed here - so here’s hoping this was a simple misstep, and not a sign of things to come.

45

I saw it today (with tickets that I won; go me!) and I enjoyed it. It did have something of a rote war movie feel to it, but it was telling an important story that would be unfamiliar to most of its audience, so I can live with that. I especially liked the parts with Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett, and I particularly liked that they didn’t end up in bed together.

46

I saw it and liked it. I don’t know why it got so much negative press and opinions from viewers. It wasn’t great and it wasn’t terrible, and maybe that was the problem.