THE MONUMENTS MEN: Forced, forged and forgettable! Historic Disappointment!! [2.5/5]

In the midst of World War II, when Hitler- the Fuehrer was busy slaughtering humanity, demolishing civilization and bull-dozing every pillar of culture here and there, a group of art-readers, historians and curators decides to locate and save the sculptures, paintings and art-materials captured in the war. Now this is based on a real story and it does sound an all exhilarating experience to relive-revive and retold on screen in a greater manner but sadly, written & directed by George Clooney THE MONUMENTS MEN dies a death of a promising idea gone lost in between. Despite being crispier in duration of the film, it looks forced, forged and forgettable event, in cinema at least.

Lt. Stokes [played by Clooney himself] forms a squad of 7 art-lovers well-known for their experiences with art and certainly not with the war to search for stolen artworks in the war field. Like most in any mission, the troop includes a couple of grumpy, fighting for nothing old men [Bill Murray and Bob Balaban], one heavy, plumpy, stout man [John Goodman], one ever-smiling young man [Jean Dujardin] and a quite somber man with vision [Matt Damon]. The more disorganized team looks, the more thrilling experience it would promise to the viewers, that’s the unsaid rule of any mission oriented plot. THE MONUMENTS MEN had it in concept but soon they land on the ground level, Clooney fails to hold the plot together. The shattered screenplay couldn’t shift focus from talking endlessly about how important it is to save those artworks to the real action on real location.

With a list of clean performers on board, beautiful cinematography, grandeur look, high-end production value, Clooney sets the atmosphere for a perfect war crime thriller but writing doesn’t support well in creating any recognizable nail-biting moment for instance. Scenes swing from one to other not much in concern to make story forward but establishing the actors and giving them a sustainable job. Humor is tried but doesn’t meet its desired end at most. Matt Damon trying his hands on different languages and every time people advising him stick to English only is one joke that gets repeated at regular. Luckily, that doesn’t go with Bill Murray and Bob Balaban. They are the only of the lot who gets maximum number of impressive scenes and some real comic ones. Cate Blanchett looks her part.

Overall, where most Hollywood films have proved themselves in extracting the inhuman catastrophe of war and the heroic efforts to save mankind to its maximum and on a larger canvas, George Clooney’s THE MONUMENTS MEN fails to grip, grasp and grab preferred attention. It is a disappointment and an average heist movie with lesser number of hi-points. Avoid it even if you’re a hardcore fan of every actor in the brigade! [2.5/5]                     

GRAVITY: 3D gets a new dimension! And we, a chance to live our dreams to be in space! [4.5/5]

Days are not quite out of sight when the human race will have residential colonies on extraterrestrial zero-gravity space stations but in its own time. And till the time, when advanced science & the technology constantly making headways in getting breakthroughs achieve that, we have another power to experience what may suggest the future in its own way…the vision to create, replicate, reproduce and design the ‘dream-come-true’ ultramodern set-up into another brilliant piece of art never less than the predicted and the expected one.

For Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi thriller GRAVITY (3D), adjectives like breathtaking, heart-pounding, awe-inspiring, spine-chilling, nail-biting are not merely some words mentioned in the phrase book but an experience at large. Or else you can say that these words look just plain simple formation of random alphabets when the jaw-dropping visuals of GRAVITY happen to you in the most extraordinary way that has never been tried before. It’s ‘out of the world’ in literal and every sense.

In an unpredictably splendid scenic celestial beauty, when the crew of a space-shuttle undergoes with a critical accident caused by destruction in another satellite, 2 crew-members find themselves detached from their space-stations to float around in the vast environs of zero gravity world. Oxygen level is dropping down persistently. Connections to the base are lost. Hopes are the only survival instinct. Undying Spirit is the only way out. But aren’t these the rules of earth they have left long way down?

Filtering GRAVITY to extract one hero, to credit its success in the name of, will not be an achievable choice. Camerawork that makes you believe what all you see is never done in a comparatively tiny little studio covered in green, is absolutely picturesque and mesmerizing. Watch out for the opening sequence of a 10-12 min long one shot and you will be submerged into thoughts that how could they even think of it. Visual effects and the 3D technology have really gone beyond expectations. They don’t just make you jump or cringe into your seats for the sake of it but they grab & grasp you firmly to enjoy every bit of it like you are in there in all of your flesh and with your entire soul.

Oscar award winner Sandra Bullock earns all your emotions to be with her character in all good and bad times. Her commitment to excel is very much visible through her emoting muscles and in physical appearances also. George Clooney plays an ‘out and out’ charismatic astronaut who, even in the worst case scenario, doesn’t lose his calm and the pleasurable flirtatious attitude. Don’t miss the softer moments between them…of love ‘in no air’.

After Stanley Kubrick’s philosophical sci-fi drama ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’, this is the most astonishing 90-min long trip to space, no one should give a miss. I am not sure how many of us will make it to the futuristic space-colonies in their lifetime but here’s a chance to live your dreams like never done before. Watch it in IMAX 3D if you have the privilege! [4.5/5]

Special Note:

Don’t forget to cheer when you hear a crew-member at space-shuttle singing ‘mera joota hai Japani’!