MOVIE REVIEW
I attended the 5. 40 pm screening of the Monuments Men at the AMC Bowles Crossing 12 movie theatre. I bought my ticket at $5 because the theatre offers great discounts for weekday screenings. I chose the Monday evening screening because I was certain that the movie theatre would be less crowded than the weekend. An almost empty theatre would allow me to savor the ambience and study the interaction between the movie experience and the environment. Monday night screenings are also not popular with rowdy teenagers who usually come to make noise and misbehave in the theatre.
The movie, Monuments Men, is an action thriller movie directed by George Clooney. It stars Matt Damon, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin. The movie is based on a non-fiction book of the same title; The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History written by Robert M. Edsel. The story revolves around a group of tasked with finding and salvaging all stolen art works in Germany before the complete destruction of Hitler and his regime towards the end of World War II.
The audience was largely composed of adults with a few children most of the accompanied by adults. In my estimation, the theatre was slightly more than 50% full. This was an impressive turnout for a Monday screening of such a technical movie. I could see several audience members with pens and paper meaning for some this was an educational film because it was the cinematization of real events that occurred during World War II.
The story depicts seven middle aged men composed of artists, curators, art curators and museum directors to rescue the world’s precious art treasures that had been looted by Nazis in various countries during World War II. The goal of the team was to recover these invaluable pieces of history and return them to their original owners. The recovery is not performed in one major heist but several small encounters with the Nazis. The movie is classified as a thriller, but there is not enough action to excite the viewer. However, the movie does a good job in educating the viewer what World War II and the Nazis could have cost the world had these art pieces not been recovered.
The AMC Bowles Crossing 12 theatre is rarely crowded even during the weekends. AMC staff and friendly and will drop whatever they are doing to offer you assistance. The theatre is visibly clean with the carpets and paint being spotless despite daily usage by patrons. Screening hall has comfortable red leather seats that recline at the touch of a button for more comfort. The surround sound is excellent and viewers can opt for additional listening devices. They also offer excellent beverages and fresh popcorn at fair prices; I particularly enjoyed the diet water.
I enjoyed the viewing experience particularly because the events were based on a true life story. I appreciated the fact that there were men, brave enough to sacrifice their lives to salvage invaluable art pieces despite not being trained military men. The AMC theater enhances the experience for me because of the wide screen presentation that brought the story to life, the excellent sound that clarified all conversations and sound effects and the comfortable reclining seats which made the 118 of viewing very comfortable.
