Thursday, February 27, 2014

ANOTHER MOVIE NIGHT



“Go see The Monuments Men,” said the message from Hallie. “Don’t read reviews, don’t talk to anyone. Just go see it.”

“But we’re watching the Olympics,” I wrote back. And I didn’t like to confess that we would be watching the Olympics for as long as they continued. We set the DVR to record each and every Olympics program, and with each day we were falling further behind.

Mike might have “fast forwarded” through the figure skating and ice dancing but tolerated it for my sake. On the other hand, I had to leave the room during “short track” speed skating which I found tedious to watch. In fact, I left the room quite a bit during the Olympics because I don’t celebrate the Olympic spirit when athletic endeavors might result in disability or even death. Athletics is one thing; taking deliberate chances is another. Also, as fascinating as races might be, I can’t remember the outcome, and that makes it a waste of time.

Anyway, Hallie followed-through on her suggestion the last week. “Have you seen The Monuments Men yet?” she queried.

“We’re still watching the Olympics,” I wrote back, hoping that I was keeping a certain tone of incredulity out of my voice.
 
Well, the Olympics have been over since last Sunday, but we still have programming to watch. I think we’re both tired of it, though. We’re beginning to watch other programs.

And last night, we did see The Monuments Men, which we enjoyed. Anytime the storyline is World War II, you know it will bring out issues and you’ll see the demise of characters you care for, but the theme of this movie was the importance of art to the history of a people and to civilization in general. The movie shows that much was saved through the efforts of a few men who cared. But, sadly, we know that so much was also displaced or destroyed.

By the way, there were about twenty cars in the theater parking lot and four of us watched this movie. I would not like to own this movie theater. We’re probably lucky that The Monuments Men was even shown in our community. KW

[The pictures depict the February sky over the last several weeks here in the Lewis-Clark Valley.]



4 comments:

Hallie said...

I hadn't even really considered the loss of art during WWII, so that was interesting in and of itself. The friends that we saw this movie with are a couple that we see comic book action movies with). I didn't know a THING about this movie, so when it started, I had a few moments of confusion before loud whispering to Nick, "IS THIS NOT A SUPERHERO MOVIE???" It was simply delightful to not be watching a superhero movie. I heard that critic reviews weren't great, but I really enjoyed it, so poo poo to the critics!

Amazing photos!

Kathy said...

And when you think of the landmarks that were destroyed through warfare, including cathedrals and beautiful stained glass windows, that contributes to the loss.

It's so true that if you like a movie, it doesn't matter what the critics think.

Chris said...

I'm glad to hear all this about the movie because we both commented to each other that it looked good. And not too scary?

Kathy said...

There's a little suspense and a little sadness, but there has to be a story, after all. And over all, it's a good story with actors you know.