Reel Advice: Monumental

Is there anything George Clooney can't do? I mean, other than settle down and find a nice woman (or man) to marry. Activist and LGBT rights supporter, style icon, heartthrob, actor, director; the list goes on. With The Monuments Men (Columbia/20th Century Fox), Clooney is once again in front and behind the camera, as he was with Good Night, and Good Luck and The Ides of March, to name a couple.

Based on a true story about art expert Frank (George Clooney), leading a platoon he recruited for their various areas of expertise, into Nazi occupied France and other locations, to save priceless art collections stolen from museums and private collections, destined for the walls of failed artist Adolph Hitler's Fuhrer Museum.

Clooney gives the rather serious story some of that Oceans 11 flair, which lightens the burden of the subject matter. On the whole, the film feels old-fashioned (in the best sense of the term), right down to its musical score (by Alexandre Desplat). There is very little cussing and literally no sexual activity. This is a buddy movie aimed at the heart strings.

Among Frank's recruits are James (Matt Damon), who is sent to meet with Claire (Cate Blanchett), a French woman accused of being a Nazi collaborator due to her close work with despicable Nazi general Stahl (Justus von Dohnányi). But there's more to Claire than meets the eyes and Blanchett could be an early contender for 2014 Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Comical Richard (Bill Murray) and Preston (Bob Balaban), based on queer arts impresario Lincoln Kirstein, are teamed up and move from disdain to genuine respect for each other, especially after they survive a potentially deadly encounter with a German soldier. Murray also plays Richard's tear-jerking moment of seriousness with grace. Walter (John Goodman) and Jean Claude (Jean Dujardin) hit it off right from the start and grow even closer following a couple of harrowing (and ultimately tragic) events. Donald (Hugh Bonneville), a man grateful for the second chance given to him by Frank, takes on the personal task of finding and saving Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna and Child, bringing him face to face with the ruthless Colonel Wegner (Holger Handtke).

Heartwarming, if sluggish, The Monuments Men isn't as monumental an achievement as some of Clooney's other films, but it's a pleasant enough winter movie distraction, to get audiences out of the cold or heat, depending on where they live.

It's difficult not to fall in love with Gloria (Paulina Garcia), the titular character in Sebastián Lelio's Gloria . Garcia, who is reminiscent of the great Carmen Maura, one of gay filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's muses, gives a performance that transports the character of Gloria out of Almodovar territory and into the realm of Allen (Woody, that is).

Gloria, a middle-aged Chilean divorcee, with a grown son and daughter, loves the nightlife. She can often be found boogying at singles nightspots. At one such venue, she meets Rodolfo (Sergio Hernandez), a recent divorcee who has yet to completely sever ties with his needy and demanding ex-wife. Regardless, they give it a go. Their relationship, while overtly sexual, is handled with taste and respect. At first, it may be a little unusal to watch two people of their age bracket engaging in such intimate behavior. But it never feels forced or phony.

Unfortunately, the relationship is doomed from the start. Aside from being two vastly different people with an undeniable attraction, there is too much baggage getting in the way. When Gloria takes matters into her own hands and deals with them in her uproarious way, you can't help but cheer her on. By the time she takes to the dance-floor solo, during the film's finale, dancing with abandon to the `80s classic with which she shares her name, you will wish that you could join her.