Trailer of the Week: "The Monuments Men"

The trailer for “The Monuments Men” was released this week and gives us a glimpse of an interesting angle on World War II.

What We Love: George Clooney wrote, directed and starred in this movie, and since we love George Clooney we will have to give it a shot. To make it even more appealing, he’s bringing the “Ocean’s 11” band back together by casting Matt Damon alongside himself as the two key characters in the film. We also love the idea behind the movie; that while fighting to overthrow Hitler, the United States Army was also running a covert damage control operation in the event that we succeeded. It’s interesting.

What We Don’t: The film has the potential to be a little boring. Unless you’re an art history buff, the most appealing part of this movie is Clooney and Damon, and Clooney is running around with some goofy mustache, so really it’s only Damon. But hey, maybe there’s more to the film than meets the trailer viewer’s eye—they do sneak a quick shot of a kiss in there at the end, giving us hope for some romance to take the edge off the art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CreneTs7sGs

34th Street is an independent, student-run arts & culture magazine. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.

Donate

‘Iron Lung’ and the Rise of the YouTuber Film

Iron Lung shows how a creator with a large online audience turned a low budget game adaptation into strong box office revenue through fan driven promotion and social reach. YouTube creators build direct audience ties, run production pipelines, and mobilize viewers to support projects across media platforms. The film’s performance signals a shift where online personalities compete with studio backed releases through community scale and digital marketing power.

Beauty, Blood, and Blockbusters

Paul Feig adapts Freida McFaddenu's The Housemaid into a spectacle; one with just a little more shock value.

‘Wicked: For Good’ is for the Theatre Kids

Wicked: For Good closes its story without awards recognition but with clear creative conviction. The film’s reception reflects a mismatch between its intentions and critical expectations. Designed as the second half of a continuous narrative, it prioritizes character depth and long-term emotional payoff over accessibility. In doing so, For Good succeeds less as a crowd-pleaser and more as a film made for those already invested in the world of Wicked.