A War Movie with Culture !

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2014)

Although this is a strange War movie , let me say a number of pro's in favour of George Clooney being a great Director . He has always reminded me of Clark Gable , a great actor from 1925-59 , but he never seemed to reach that potential . So he has filled that niche of screen playboy for the last 25 years . Yet , he has finally shown us that all his movie experience was worthwhile in this superbly directed movie . And I hope to see many more of his directions in the future . Well I personally compared the Monuments Men , with Argo by Ben Affleck who is another actor with excellent directional skills , and seems to be in the same boat here . Now about the movie.. it is an involving story , based on fact , but the real Monuments Men were actually younger than the actors , or certainly seemed to be . George has packed the movie with well known American performers such as his old movie buddy , Matt Damon , along with John Goodman (also in Argo) and Bill Murray . Popular British actor , Hugh Bonneville , and popular French actor , Jean Dujardin , are also in the movie . Cate Blanchett provides an outstanding performance as Claire Simone , the former spy -French Liaison with the Allies . Dimitri Leonidis was also a standout in the movie as Private Epstein , the former German-Jew helping the Monuments team . Other notable appearances were Zahary Baharov as the competitive Russian Commander Elya . Justus von Dohnanyi as the shifty SS Commander , Victor Stahl . And Holger Handtke as the unrepentant Colonel Wegner . Overall , a movie that held my interest and empathy throughout !