The Monuments Men should have been a slam dunk. A passion project for writer/director/star George Clooney, the film features a stellar cast, excellent production values and tells a compelling story about World War II that eschews the usual bullets and bloodshed jingoism in an effort to make larger points about how the destruction of a society's culture is even more insidious than the murder of its people. Clooney's detractors love to point out that he's a Liberal (heavens no!), but even the haters will have to admit that George's bleeding heart is in the right place here.
