Movie: The Monuments Men

I can safely say I’ve got beyond the ‘won’t see anything with Clooney in it’ phase. Actually, the habit broke when I saw Michael Clayton at the cinema while celebrating my birthday in San Francisco  in 2007. My local cinema had three little rooms and there wasn’t much on.I still cannot bear to watch anything with that Pitt bloke though.I’ve since seen some really good films and just loved The Men who Stare At Goats, which is what I kept thinking of all the way through this!It’s the second world war and Europe’s art and heritage is at stake as Hitler and his men pillage all the work they want and burn all the (modern) art they don’t like. Lt. Frank Stokes (Clooney) puts together a team from across the world that has both an art background and can fire a gun. Well, he let the second criteria go; they are more likely to put their life on the line for a piece of important art or monument than anything else.It is near the end of the war but that doesn’t mean lives are not at stake but in keeping with the nature of the movie, bloodshed is more implied than seen. The end does mean the Nazi’s will deliberately trample anything that is of value to its enemy and the job of the Monument Men to prevent this and steal the art back.It’s a great idea for a film with the right balance of tension and humour to keep it moving nicely along. Better than expected especially with an international cast including John Goodman and Bill Murray.7½/10Smile factor 8/10 Coffee rating Espresso