The Monuments Men not so Monumental

Opinion

By Alyssa Ayers 

Husky Herald Reporter

   The Monuments Men hit the box office February 7, 2014 earning $127,919,000. The film had a star studded cast among them being; Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, and George Clooney, who also directed the film.

   This movie is based on the mission of allied forces of art historians during World War II tasked with protecting artistic masterpieces from Hitler and the Nazi before the famous art and other culturally important things get destroyed by Hitler and his forces. This was going to be no easy task as the pieces were behind enemy lines in the thick of the war.

   This was not a bad movie, but I would not put it in the top favorites either. There were some good parts to the movie, most were too short for most liking, and then the story line was sort of boring.

   There were also some scenes that are comical whether on purpose or not but they were still silly.

   The acting from the cast was good too, but viewers just didn't feel the urgency or importance of their mission during the movie. One of viewer’s favorite scenes from the film without giving any spoilers was when George Clooney’s character was interrogating a Nazi.

   Also a downside to this film was they never really made the audience care about the characters, to make them feel invested and see this band of brothers going to war to rescue this super important art work for future generations, but that just did not really come across the screen.

   It could have gone more in depth with the story line and all of the details of what truly happened in real life. This was a shorter film than some, being 118 minutes long. 

   Although there are downsides to this film, it was generally liked that this was about a true story. This film is educational as well because it described different situations that happened in the history of our country.

   Overall I would recommend The Monuments Men, it was a decent film, and it may not be a must see, but it’s a good one if you haven’t seen it yet. The overall rating of this movie is a 3 out of 5.

"Runner Runner" Making People Walk To The Theaters

Opinion 
By Alyssa Ayers

Husky Herald Reporter

   Runner Runner, directed by Brad Furman, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, hit the box office October 4, 2013, raking in $7,706,712 opening weekend. That was a major flop compared to Gravity that opened the same weekend and made $55,785,112. To me this flop was justified by the film quality.

   The film stars were Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake, and Gemma Arterton.

   To be short and sweet the film is about a Princeton Grad student, Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake), who gambles his savings away on an online gambling site, hoping to win money to pay for tuition. He does research on the gambling site he was on and figured out that he was cheated by the site.

   He goes to Costa Rica to confront online gambling tycoon, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), and gets pulled into the lavish lifestyle that comes with the good and the bad.

   In my opinion Runner Runner is an okay film. It has a somewhat interesting story line with a little twist at the end. But to be honest it did not hold my attention throughout the whole 91 minutes it played.

   There were some parts that I feel were just time fillers and unnecessary. I’m glad I saw it, but I definitely would not watch it again.

   Do not get me wrong it was not all bad. There were some good situations and interesting relationships that developed throughout the film.

   If you were excited to see this movie and planned on seeing it in theaters I would suggest waiting until it comes out for rent. I just do not feel like it is worth a movie ticket to see in theaters.

   From some other reviews I have heard or read, it seems my conclusion that this movie was not very good is the same conclusion other people have come to as well.

   I wish this movie would have been better considering the actors that were in it. So again, if you are considering seeing this movie before it leaves theaters I would advise against it and suggest waiting for it to come out on DVD.
   Ultimately I would give Runner Runner three out of five stars.