In the past week I have seen three political\/historical movies of varying levels of “enjoyability.” Most interesting was how they did not at all match my expectations.<\/p>\n
I first viewed George Clooney’s new World War II vehicle,\u00a0The Monuments Men<\/em>. I had high hopes for this movie, having been interested in the subject (the return of artwork stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners) for many years. I have seen many documentaries on this theme, perhaps too many, as the first half of the film I noticed historical inaccuracy after historical inaccuracy. I also didn’t realize going in that the movie is a comedy. It is. Sort of. Regardless, halfway through the film I put all this aside and just enjoyed the movie as a story, and I was in fact pleased by the end. At least a B plus (marks off for my being too excited walking in).<\/p>\n At the other end of the spectrum is\u00a0Lee Daniels’ The Butler<\/em>, a film I expected to hate and refused to see in the theatre, but thoroughly enjoyed at home on DVD. Unlike\u00a0The Monuments Men<\/em>, which is probably 50% fiction and 50% fact,\u00a0The Butler<\/em> is 99% fiction. No matter. It’s a great story, and is not as soppy and politically correct as I feared. Fondly likened to a black version of\u00a0Forrest Gump<\/em>, I recommend it strongly.<\/p>\n And finally there is Bill Murray’s\u00a0Hyde Park on Hudson<\/em>, a “movie” about Franklin Roosevelt’s relationship with his cousin Daisy and the king of England (the relationships are in no way similar). I’d say this one is about 90% fiction, but that implies that there is any kind of story here at all. There isn’t. And this was one of the worst movies I’d ever seen. It makes\u00a0Broken Flowers<\/em> look like\u00a0Casablanca<\/em> and Ghostbusters<\/i> look like\u00a0Citizen Kane<\/em>. Though I suppose the less said the better. Just… don’t. That is all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the past week I have seen three political\/historical movies of varying levels of “enjoyability.” Most interesting was how they did not at all match my expectations. I first viewed George Clooney’s new World War II vehicle,\u00a0The Monuments Men. I … Continue reading