The Monuments Men

George Clooney leads an all-star cast in an action drama about a WWII platoon tasked with the secret mission of returning Nazi art to its rightful owners and saving thousands of years of human culture before it is destroyed. The film is based on a true story of a team of seven curators, museum directors and art historians who risked their lives to save priceless art from vanishing forever during the Nazi era. While the premise sounds interesting enough, the execution left something to be desired according to reviews. While most panned the movie, some gave it credit for its good intentions and intended message.

This was not enough to earn it more than a 34% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however, with the likes of film.com calling it: “A frustratingly flat film that drifts from moment to moment with a curious lack of urgency and an overbearing sense of self-importance.”

ReelViews said: “The movie does a good job of illustrating why protecting art from the Nazi scourge was important but it’s far less effective fleshing out the personalities of the people who did the protecting.”
Still, a cast that includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin with an interesting plot deserves two hours of your Thursday evening.

Showing at: Galaxy , Galaxy Cineplex , Stars Cinema , Family Cinema , Golden Stars

About Last Night

The movie is a modern remake of the 1986 romantic comedy, starring Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Regina Hall and Joy Bryant. The original, which starred Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, was based on a David Mamet play titled, “Sexual Perversity in Chicago”. The plot follows two single men in Chicago as one of them meets a girl at a bar and his one-night stand turns into a committed relationship.

Initial reactions were largely positive and while some said the film lacked the subtlety of the original, its raunchy humour more than made up for it. Some critics pointed out that the 2014 version had more substance and beefed up “the girl-side element of the story”. Peter Travers from Rolling Stone said the film had the edge of all the date movies for Valentines; “that edge is mostly Kevin Hart,” he wrote. Even the negative reviews excluded the comedic talents of Kevin Hart and Regina Hall and highlighted a good balance in the film between romance and comedy.

With a 76% fresh rating, About Last Night seems like one of the safest bets showing today, but it is a pity that it is only currently available in one cinema.

Showing at: Golden Stars