Monuments Men

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 118 Minutes










Click below to watch the Monuments Men trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Monuments Men, a World War II allied squad is put together by George Clooney to rescue national art treasures captured by the Nazis.

Written, Directed, and Produced, as well as starring George Clooney, and based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter, Monuments Men is based on the true story of a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, and art historians Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, along with others such as Dimitri Leonidas and Parisian curator Cate Blanchett to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of Western civilization culture from the Nazis.

This film is more of a sentimental drama instead of your typical war movie. As a result, while there are consequences of war, it is not as graphic as your typical war movie. There are very few battles depicted and had more of a suspense feeling than actual action in the film. Having a group of out of shape, middle-aged art historians that Clooney put together as a military unit generated most of the laughs of the movie. While I had heard of Hitler confiscating art treasures all over Europe for his own use, such as his proposed Fuhrermuseum - I had no idea there was a task force created and tasked by FDR to rescue these works of art before I heard of this movie. Of course, there was a resistance for Clooney's squad by the allies as being unimportant compared to the lives of the soldiers fighting for their lives. For me, what made the movie is of Clooney's speech that art is the exact reason that we are fighting - for our culture and our way of life. As well as Damon's question of a collection of pictures and what they are and Blanchett's answer that they are of people's lives.

While there might be comparisons to to the movie Kelly's Heroes, which was also based on a true story, Monuments Men dealt more with art than with gold bullion.

This is an incredible cast, and I was glad to see that Clooney got Bob Balaban cast in this movie. I have been a fan of Balaban's since Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is too bad that Balaban did not have a larger role, as I thought his character was perfect for Balaban. Having George Clooney's father, Nick Clooney in a cameo was a nice touch.

I have to concentrate that the movie is called Monuments (plural) Men. We saw Monuments Men at a more upscale theater because the theater was central to all of us. Before the showing, the usher described the movie to the audience. He joked that the movie starred just about every working movie actor working in Hollywood at the time. As it was, the movie had an incredible cast starring in it. Just before we went in to watch the show, I saw some friends of mine coming out of the theater. "What are you seeing?" "Monuments Men." "Great movie!" We all agreed after the movie was over, that Monuments Men was a great movie.

Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 118 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

42

Warner Bros.

Rated PG-13

Running time: 128 Minutes



Click below to watch the 42 trailer.



In Warner Bros. 42, World War II is over and America's baseball players return home from the war to the game of baseball. Brooklyn Dodgers team executive Branch Rickey/Harrison Ford wants to increase attendance - by bringing in a black player, Jackie Robinson/Chadwick Boseman.

Based on the true story of Jackie Robinson and the part he played in American history, and written and directed by Brian Helgeland, this biographical movie basically showed Robinson's/Boseman's 1946 season with the Montreal Royals in Panama and Robinson's/Boseman's first season as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1947. I am rather surprised that this is only the second theatrical biography of Jackie Robinson - with the previous one, The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950 which stared Robinson as himself. Although some of the material was created for dramatic purposes, such as Pee Wee Reese's line about the Dodgers someday wearing the number 42 - which in reality was actually said by Dodgers outfielder Gene Hermanski in 1951 - I felt that I got to know Jackie Robinson and got a glimpse of what his life was about. It was incredible to see what an all around great player Robinson/Boseman was, and Boseman went through weeks of baseball training to prepare for being such a great player. With Birmingham, Alabama's Rickwood Field - the oldest surviving professional baseball field in the U.S. - being used in the movie, the baseball stadiums felt very authentic for the time period. It was great to hear about and see such famous names of Dodger baseball, such as Leo Durocher/Christopher Meloni and Pee Wee Reese/Lucas Black in the movie.

Because there was a huge crowd for the Negro League Baseball players, Rickey/Ford wanted to bring that crowd to Major League Baseball. Granted, Rickey/Ford had a great respect for the talent of the Negro players and really wanted to bring that talent to the game and breaking the baseball color barrier instead of being that interested in the money. To see Robinson/Boseman signing the contract to be a Brooklyn Dodger was a great moment to see for me.

The prejudice at that point of time after WWII was intense. You can kill for them, but you can't play for them. Certainly the Dodgers did not want Robinson/Boseman playing for them, let alone the entire baseball league. The most graphic display of the Major League's prejudice was the Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman/Alan Tudyk's treatment of Robinson/Boseman. I had never knew that the Dodgers had a petition going that they would not play with Robinson/Boseman. Considering Robinson's/Boseman's supposed temper, which was why he got court-martialed while he was in the Army, I was expecting to see Robinson/Boseman to be seething most of the time while playing baseball and trying to hold in his temper. I felt that Robinson/Boseman was too laid back in the movie while everyone was insulting him. Actually, I felt that there was more tension shown with Robinson/Boseman in the trailer than what there was shown proprotionately in the movie. Robinson's/Boseman's court-martial was only just mentioned in the movie and they did not go into it. The story of Robinson's racist court-martial is more covered in the TV movie The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson.

Seeing Robinson's/Boseman's wife Rachel Robinson/Nicole Beharie encounter a White's Only restroom for the first time emphasized the difference between their California home and the rest of the country. It reminded me of my Asian Filipino cousin's travels in the Southeast with her white American husband.

What got to me was how much of a hero Robinson/Boseman was to the black kids, which was incredible - while the prejudice of a white kid in the stands was disturbing to me and my boss, who saw the film before I did. Actually, the movie made me think of the red tagged You're Black, They're White segment in the raunchy film Movie 43 that in a sense represents blacks in all sports. As black sportswriter Wendell Smith/Andre Holland has told Robinson/Boseman, "you are not the only one with something at stake here."

I must admit when I first heard of 42, I was thinking that the movie was the answer to the ultimate question from Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. While I knew of Jackie Robinson and is a hero of mine, I never knew his number. Now, I can not forget Robinson's jersey number - even though Adam's number 42 has no connection to Robinson's number 42.

It was great Jackie Robinson Day at the end of the movie and to hear during the end credits Count Basie's song Did You See Jackie Robertson Hit That Ball from 1949 which reached number 13 on the music charts.

Click below to watch another trailer of 42.



Click below to watch behind the scenes of 42.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

RED TAILS

Twentieth-Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running Time: 125 Minutes



Click below to see the trailer of Red Tails.



Inspired by True Events, in Twentieth-Century Fox's Red Tails, a squadron of Negro fighter pilots must fight bigotry - as well as the Germans during World War II.

Executive Produced by George Lucas, and based on the book Red Tails: An Oral History of the Tuskegee Airmen  by John B. Holway,  Red Tails is set on their Eurpoean home air base in Italy as the pariah squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group of the Tuskegee Airmen from the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, must fight to get respect for being the first African American military aviators. They wanted to fight for freedom, just like all the other Americans. The Tuskegee Airmen also have to fight the boredom of being based one hundred miles from the front lines. Breaking ground by fighting bigotry at both the highest levels of the Pentagon - with the belief that African Americans can not have the relevant combat skills to go to war, especially when news about the Tuskegee Airmen's lack of performance gets leaked out  - and from their fellow military officers on the ground. These airmen go from attacking targets like trucks on the ground - "traffic" - to eventually fighting for their lives as they engage in air combat with Germany's most advanced fighter plane, the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

When General Gerald McRaney asks if Colonel Terrence Howard's men can protect McRaney's bombers from being shot out of the sky, Howard tells McRaney if he can get his men new planes, instead of the broken down Curtiss P-40 Warhawk planes they have now, they can protect McRaney's bombers. When the Tuskegee Airmen get the new P-51 Mustangs, Howard has the planes tails painted red - thus the Tuskegee Airmen become the Red Tails. The Red Tails soon become the bombers best friends. While the B-17 Bomber - otherwise known as "The Flying Fortress" which is a heavily armed plane which flew in wedges of 18 and 36 planes, and with half the crew as gunners with a firepower of a dozen or more high rate 50 caliber machine guns - the bombers were still an easy target for the enemy fighters as the bombers have to fly a specific flight plan to reach a ground target. As a result of being such easy targets, many bombers were lost - until the bombers had fighter escorts like the Red Tails, who were very successful in practically all of their missions as the Red Tails triumphed over adversity.

The film seemed to be uneven. I was expecting the formation of the Tuskegee Airman program. Instead they are already in place, but are being used for routine boring patrols. The stories on the ground seemed to be more like a soap opera, but not as bad as that. There was more focus on David Oyelowo's relationship with Italian girl Daniela Ruah than with most of the other characters. The movie is similar to the TV show Black Sheep Squadron, which was of a similar misfit squadron with an impressive war record. The ariel footage from Black Sheep Squadron seemed more real to me as I believe - but can not recall since it has been years since I saw the TV show - that the footage from Black Sheep Squadron came from 16mm gun camera footage. With all the CGI visual effects, the planes during the dogfights in Red Tails did not seem as believable to me. Gun camera footage from Oyelowo's plane in his various combat engagements is what is shown as projected from the 16mm film projector in the Red Tails mission briefings. When a pilot is captured later in the film and brought to a German Stalag, that aspect of the movie became more like the TV show Hogan's Heroes.

Half the background music was too modern - too synthesized - when compared to the period of the movie, at least what I noticed during the end credits. And when the Red Tails went out on their first real mission, the music was not as inspiring as I would have wanted as martial music is supposed to be. Having the Red Tails fight the new late entry to the war, the German Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters, was interesting as I usually think of the Korean War as having the first combat use of jet fighters. I was expecting film star Cuba Gooding Jr. to be more prominent in the movie, especially as he was in command of the airbase while Howard was off at the Pentagon - but once Howard returned to the base, all of the leadership went back to Howard and Gooding Jr. became a background character behind Howard. While there were some German subtitles, especially when German fighter pilot Pretty Boy Lars van Riesen is on screen, I would have liked to have seen Italian subtitles in the movie as well since they were in Italy - especially when Oyelowo is courting Ruah.

As a historical film, it is nice that the movie Red Tails came out in time for Black History Month.

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual situations. Running Time: 125 Minutes

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

J. Edgar

Warner Bros.

Rated R

Running time: 137 Minutes



In the true story of Warner Bros. J. Edgar, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - J. Edgar Hoover, Leonardo DiCaprio, dictates his life's story to varous Federal agents.

Based on the true story of Hoover's life, and Directed and with Music by Clint Eastwood, this film is a very dramatic history of both J. Edgar and the FBI. It is amazing how much forensic proceedures J. Edgar developed in both library research and criminal science. These proceedures were very critical in the solving of the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping case. The film makes references to various criminal related cases the FBI was involved with, such as the notorious gangsters as well as the Charles Lindberg baby kidnapping. Throughout the 20th century, these cases of the FBI helped make J. Edgar a national hero. The private files J. Edgar supposedly kept of various political figures, including Presidents also made J. Edgar notorious and a person you did not want to make a political enemy of.

When a bomb explodes at the home of his boss, J. Edgar (DiCaprio) becomes driven throughout the rest of his life in dealing both with radical groups, as well as the subversives against America, and also in dealing in criminal science - such as having criminal's fingerprints being registered and centralized at the FBI. J. Edgar is soon made Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has a career that lasts half a century and eight Presidents. The film goes back and forth between the mature characters of the present, and their younger selves. J. Edgar struggles in gaining respect for the Bureau, in that he has strict standards for his agents, getting proper jurisdiction and funding for the Bureau during Congressional Hearings - as well as getting loyalty and respect for himself. As a result, J. Edgar's biography "The Untitled FBI Story" is rather embellished with stories about J. Edgar.

The film also deals with J. Edgar's relationship with his mother Judi Dench, and his "daffodil" relationship with agent Clyde Tolson, Armie Hammer. While I knew of this relationship from various studies, the relationship was subtly played in the movie. Although it is interesting J. Edgar originally wanted a relationship with his new secretary Helen Gandy, Naomi Watts. However Watts only wanted a business relationship with J. Edgar. As a result, J. Edgar becomes uncomfortable with girls, and has a different relationship - although the FBI continues to deny any such portrayals of J. Edgar. It is ironic of having Armie Hammer in the movie when Armie Hammer's great-grandfather, tycoon Armand Hammer, was suspected by J. Edgar Hoover of having Soviet ties.

There was definitely an older crowd for this movie in the theaters. I am not sure if that is because of Clint Eastwood, or that the older crowd is more familiar with J. Edgar Hoover. Most probably it is because of the relationship the older crowd has with J. Edgar despite the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio. J. Edgar was the reason I saw the movie. I would not be surprised if DiCaprio is nominated for an Oscar for his performance in this movie.

Rated R for langauge, violence, and sexual situations. Running time: 137 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

Moneyball

Columbia Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 133 Minutes

















Click below to watch the Moneyball trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Moneyball, the major league baseball team Oakland A's general manager Brad Pitt tries to build a winning World Series team in 2002 by building a team of misfit ball players using statistics.

Based on a true story, this is not your typical baseball film in that the film is about the "Business" of baseball instead of about the players "playing a 'children's game.'" The players in the film are treated like commodities instead of athletes as Pitt uses the player's statistical skills to build a winning team the A's can afford instead of paying for expensive talent. In a world where big franchises can afford to pay millions of dollars to get players, that is an intriguing business decision when you only have hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for your players - or using baseball scouts searching for talent. The sports analysts like Bob Costas get on Pitt for using this experimental system on baseball - but totally ignore, or are at least are unaware, that Pitt is operating under a very small budget to produce a World Championship team. Pitt had also been the product of a talent search, which did not turn out well. This is one reason why he is going with this approach.

It was nice to see Jonah Hill play an adult role for once as Pitt's statistical assistant responsible for Pitt's entire team strategy. This is also one of Pitt's best roles and I would not be surprised at talks of an Oscar nomination. The writing by Aaron Sorkin definitely helped Pitt's performance. Several of the actors playing ballplayers has had baseball experience, which adds realism to their roles - especially as the team heads for the playoffs, although the film does not spend that much time in the ballpark.

I do not see why the movie is Rated PG-13. I do not recall any language and the only violence is when Pitt throws furniture around when he is angry. There are locker room scenes, but I do not recall anybody being really undressed. The rating kills an additional audience that would relate to Pitt's daughter Kerris Dorsey when Pitt is at home. The movie is over 2 hours, which makes the movie drag at the end of the film. A couple of scenes at the end of the film could have been deleted and made the movie tighter.

Rated PG-13. Running time: 133 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.