The Monuments Men

When Saving Private Ryan is the standard that you set the bar, a new war film needs to be that little bit special in order to stand out. Pre-release The Monuments Men had some promise in an untold, true story and the power of a star studded cast, bragging the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon and that guy from Downton Abbey but unfortunately, it fails to dazzle.

It is an original idea, based on a true story but fails to register as a classic due to the lack of conviction. The Monuments Men tells the story of 6 art lovers that seek to recover and return the pieces stolen by the nazis. In order to do this they join the forces and pose as soldiers who go behind enemy lines, risking their lives to save the masterpieces.

The plot is cute but one that does not have the gusto to be made

 into a feature length movie; in order to do so it needed a lot more character depth. We don't know who these men are and why they've been chosen to put their body and life on the line in the name of art. It felt as though the rickety story line had restricted the actors ability to put across a convincing performance, and therefore I can pick no one from the cast who stood out. Even when characters come close to death, your empathy is still tested because we know nothing about them.

There are hints of war-based comedy and some scenes with create tension for the watcher but not enough to give this film credibility in its field. I don't doubt that George Clooney & co. have the ability to make a convincing war film, but this production certainly lacked any direction and ultimately was not the right route to follow.

Tapped Out - Game Review

I've been playing Tapped Out for a year now and I feel like I need to share with you the love hate relationship that I have with this app. I downloaded it in the early days of owning a phone which could hold more than a ringtone so was naive in thinking that I had nothing to lose by accepting a free game. I instantly found that I literally could not stop tapping out but I wasn't quite sure why.

Essentially Tapped Out plays on the human beings desire for money, which you gain more of by playing more frequently. The aim of the game is to create your version of The Simpsons town and add characters to your collection in the process. This is all well and good when you're paying $1200 for the Krusty Burger or the Kwik-E-Mart but I have now reached the stage when buildings cost over $100,000, meaning I have to save up for a number of days before I can add to my town. As apps deviously do, it does offer ways round the longevity through buying (with real money) donuts, which allows you to speed up the process but I have not sunk to quite that level...yet.

In terms of gameplay, it is what is says on the tin. You tap and you wait... You tap and you wait. Tapped Out is extremely simplistic and is almost difficul

t to call a game because there is very little to do. Characters can undergo several different tasks, which fit their respective animated personalities. Mr Burns can hide nuclear waste, Snake can con money from old people but no matter what they do, the player is never involved with these activities.

I have struggled to find a positive aspect of this app and another of its major flaws is the maintenance it requires. It takes a long time to load into the game from the home screen and often contains minor glitches after updates, which annoyingly occur every few days. Another frustrating  problem I've found is the timing that the characters perform tasks to earn money. Some characters have tasks that last for 6 hours whereas some do not and I believe this is the agonising reason behind my addiction. The game is so cleverly made that it will drag you back to it whether you like it or not, in order to collect more fake money and drain more of your life away.

I've now spent too long on this game, which serves little purpose other than the right to boast to other Tapped Out players of your superior town. I think I'll soon find myself attending Tapped Out Anonymous as I'm hooked and I can't bring myself to delete it. Good luck