2014 Movie Preview: #6 - The Monuments Men

Release date: February 7

Plot summary: Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, "The Monuments Men" is an action-thriller focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.

My take: So we once again have a 2013 repeat here. Given the quality of the cast and the intriguing nature of the story, I refuse to believe that there are problems with the film. Instead, we will just all have to be patient until it finally arrives in theaters. Once it does, I know I'll be right in line to check it out.

Moving Monuments

From EW.com

George Clooney told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday that his World War II drama The Monuments Men would not meet its scheduled Dec. 18 opening and will instead hit theaters in early 2014. A representative from Sony Pictures, who is distributing the film, confirmed the news to EW and stated that the film would be released sometime in the first quarter of 2014, but no release date has been set.

“We just didn’t have enough time,” Clooney told the paper. The movie, which Clooney directed, produced, and stars in, boasts an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, and Cate Blanchett and was considered an awards hopeful. According to the report, when Clooney arrived in London to work with composer Alexandre Desplat on the score, he and producing partner Grant Heslov realized they were in trouble.

“If any of the effects looked cheesy, the whole movie would look cheesy,” Clooney told the Times. “We simply don’t have enough people to work enough hours to finish it.” He added: ”All we’ve ever said, from the very beginning, is that we wanted to make a commercial, non-cynical piece of entertainment.”

The Monuments Men isn’t the first film to drop out of the late 2013 release schedule — others have included Sony’s Foxcatcher and The Weinstein Company’s Grace of Monaco, both of which have been pushed to early 2014 as well.

This is rather disappointing news for me considering this was in my Top 5 most anticipated films for this year. Then again, Clooney's current film, Gravity, was originally supposed to come out in 2012 and it's done all right with its delay. So I guess we just have to now play the waiting game.

RBR: Hanna

This one totally caught me off guard and in a good way, which rarely ever happens. This is a engaging and well-made thriller that feels fresh even if the set-up isn't entirely new. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Hanna, a young girl who has lived her entire life in the wilderness with her father, played by Eric Bana. Out in no man's land, she learns how to hunt and fight, which come in handy once the government begin hunting the two of them down. As Hanna gets chased, the film doubles as a action film and a coming of age story. In both the fight sequences and the quieter moments director Joe Wright is very clever with the way he lets the scenes unfold. A soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers also energizes the film. The shots are brought to life even more by some terrific performances, particularly by Blanchett and Ronan. The ending is disappointing, however, for a couple of reasons. It doesn't really answer all of the questions that were posed throughout the film and the twists and reveals that are given are not really that surprising. Still, this is likely a movie that went overlooked by many when it was in theaters and it would be worth your time to seek it out now on home video. I was pleased to see that my reservations about the film were unfounded. I'm not surprised often by the quality of a film, so when I am, I appreciate it even more. Rating: ****