The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men is based on the true story of an unlikely WW II platoon which had been tasked to rescue works of art which had been stolen by the Nazis and to return them to their rightful owners. While this film is no Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List, it is unabashedly heroic and without cynicism. The characters are well drawn and human. There is comradeship, humor, and pathos. Definitely worth seeing. 

The Olympics

 

I am not a sports fan at all.  Perhaps it is because I was always the last person chosen for any team other than the spelling bee team. (I didn't blame them for not choosing me for the team; I knew that if any ball of any size came toward me, I just tried to get out of its way so it wouldn't hit me.) The attraction of watching or playing sports has always eluded me. 

So every other year we have the Summer or Winter Olympics where nations vie with each other to host the games. They spend a gazillion dollars to build villages and arenas for the athletes, journalists, and tourists who attend.  Since wasting money is what governments seem to do all the time anyway, this is not surprising but it does seem to be a shame that they don't spend the money to improve infrastructure or provide a better life for their citizens.  Anyway, what I find hard to understand is why the athletes spend their lives doing one thing, honing their skill hour after hour, week after week, year after year. It seems terribly boring to me. So after the competition, we crown the victor. Fine but then what? Do you spend the rest of your life doing endorsements for sports equipment? And what about the competitors who have spent years of their lives and all their parents' retirement money but came in 4th or are disabled by accidents or damage from overuse? Doesn't seem like a reasonable use of time or money to me. But then I'm not a gambler. 

All that being said, I do like to watch the figure skating. The music is beautiful, the costumes are usually lovely, and it seems to be as close to flying as humans will ever get. 

Paris after Midnight

We went to see it Saturday evening and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The story delves into the way that people look back onto another era as a golden age.  Some see the 1950's as a better time and others look at the Victorian age as a golden time.  I know people who think this way but I certainly don't.  I can't see why any woman would want to live in a time where there was no birth control or no antibiotics, where women could not pursue advanced education or a profession, where she had to have her husband's permission for financial matters.  No thanks.

If you want to see a good movie--beautiful Paris and an interesting story--Paris after Midnight is a nice evening's entertainment.

The Good Wife

I am absolutely hooked on The Good Wife. What a great show! The characters are multi-dimensional and the situations are real. (I do however have a problem with how thin and perfectly coiffed everyone always is though.) Each episode leaves you wanting to find out what happens next.