Why I Will See The Monuments Men

Is it just me, or has George Clooney been gone for the last little while? With all of these newer and fresher actors to try and keep track of, I’m always comforted when a familiar face comes across the newest movie trailers.

So when I saw the trailer for his new film, The Monuments Men, and saw more than a few familiar faces, I knew that Christmas has come early this year. While I can’t guarantee that this film will be amazing, I will definitely be going to see it for a number of reasons.

Some of my favourite movies are the ones that explore ideas that I’ve never known about or considered. Even though there are plenty of “based on a true story” movies out there that stray far from the truth, the fact of the matter is that those ideas were still inspired by something. Regardless of how true it actually is, the idea of these men and their mission even existing in a time of destruction is one worth seeing. We have seen the soldiers, the nurses, the doctors, the survivors, the fallen and the dead. As far as I know, we haven’t seen this.

There is no humour that can be divined from life in the trenches. None of it is really humorous or funny. In fact, when you think about it, it can be incredibly depressing. But nobody wants to see only the negative sides. People want to see the hope. They want to see those people like Oskar Schindler who make a difference despite the circumstances, where soldiers like Private Ryan can be saved. The Monuments Men sounds like one of those kind of movies — men who are willing to risk their lives and save the beautiful things they can amidst the destruction and chaos of war. And by focusing on those beautiful things, by focusing on the positive, they can find moments worth smiling about. Not enough to cause fits of laughter, but enough to conjure glimpses of humour, to make us smile despite the fact that the world might just be falling apart.

George Clooney is a man you can pair with just about anybody, add to any team, and have a potential formula for success. Clooney always surrounds himself with people that balance him, people that he can play and feed off of, people he can have chemistry with. This cast looks no different. Plus, some of us have missed seeing some of these familiar faces on a regular basis across our movie screens. George isn’t the only one who we’re happy to see. Where has Bill Murray been for the longest time? And why has no one given this man an Oscar yet? Up until Argo earlier last year, John Goodman has been eluding us too. It’s good to see him back in action. With Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Hugh Bonneville to play off of, George practically has a chemistry lab of acting talent at his disposal. It should be something worth seeing.