Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Monuments Men

This is topic The Monuments Men in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-21-2014, 02:09 AM:

Interesting history lesson about an aspect of World War II that I had never heard anything about before.

It isn't particularly action-packed, but it's worth watching to learn something. It's a change from the usual blast-em type of war movie.

I don't know how much of a crowd it's going to draw here, though.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 02-23-2014, 06:11 PM:

I have read some books on stolen art by the Nazi, it is a pretty interesting topic. What turned me off from this movie is that they delayed it from a December release and word is that it is slow paced.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-23-2014, 08:23 PM:

A release delay CAN be a red flag but in this case it was a smart move. It would have gotten lost in the December crush and would have grossed less than it has. Regardless it's the same movie it would have been in December so why not give it a chance?

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-19-2014, 05:09 AM:

In my opinion, this movie was just OK... somewhere between 6 and 7 out of 10. A lot more could've been done with this interesting topic.

The main distraction was that the bunch of high profile actors and director seemed to have too much fun with themselves and lost their focus on providing a compelling story.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 05-27-2014, 01:24 AM:

quote: Marcel Birgelen
A lot more could've been done with this interesting topic.

I finally saw this on a Redbox rental and I agree, there was so much more that could of been done with the story, the Nazi stolen art themes are very interesting, sad to see such a wasted effort.

Posted by Richard P. May (Member # 3598) on 05-27-2014, 09:23 AM:

I finally saw this via "on-demand" a couple of days ago. It's about what I expected - a competently made movie, but nothing "monumental".
I sort of liked the conventional style of movie-making. Stars who are all competent actors, no wasted time with a useless romance, and straight forward story line. It didn't strike me until a while later, but I don't think there was one word of foul language. Maybe this was because the characters were supposed to be more mature, or maybe the writers just proved it isn't necessary.
I've seen a lot of worse films!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-27-2014, 09:38 AM:

Titanic was originally slated for a Summer 1997 release, but was pushed back to December because of things that needed to be improved in post production. Lots of people were spreading doom and gloom stories, warning this would be another Waterworld, and pointing to the delays as a sign of proof it was an impending box office disaster.

Of course, when the movie was released it went on to break box office records and win a bunch of Oscars.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 05-27-2014, 05:30 PM:

Maybe I didn't pay enough attention, but did I somehow miss the connection between Titanic (1997) and The Monuments Men (2013)? [Wink]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-27-2014, 06:05 PM:

For whatever it's worth, The Rape of Europa from 2006 is the definitive documentary on this subject. I haven't seen Monuments Men, but I can pretty much guarantee tha the earlier film is a more fascinating treatment of the same material.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 05-27-2014, 07:23 PM:

I watched THE MONUMENTS MEN on a Blu Ray from Netflix and enjoyed the movie very much. I have always loved Art and was always aware of the Nazis steeling art objects from museums, churches and private collectors but did not know of the effort the Allies made to recover all of the stolen items. I must not make an effort to watch THE RAPE OF EUROPE that Scott had recommended and will try to see if it is available on DVD from Netflix.

-Claude

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-03-2014, 01:53 PM:

A good one about the Nazi's stealing art is John Frankeneimer's The Train.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 07-03-2014, 10:47 PM:

it's technically: 'The Rape of EUROPA" (which BTW, is excellent)

just got the bluray of 'The Train' from Twilight Time (it's 3,000 unit 'limited edition' is quickly selling out - so if you want it, buy it now before it's gone).