Posts tagged Hitler
“The Monuments of Men” Hitler’s Museum
Feb 12th
“Hitler’s Museum”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE MONUMENTS MEN is based on the men of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the United States Army during World War II, as depicted in a fine new movie by George Clooney.
Based on the 2009 book by Robert Edsel, the men with special knowledge about art were recruited by the Army and charged with finding and retrieving works of fine art that had been looted and stolen by the Germany Army and to try to return the pieces to their rightful owners.
Clooney plays Frank Stokes, tasked with assembling the experienced men, and in 1944 we see him meeting James Granger, an art restorer and museum director played by Matt Damon, and asking him, “You want to get in the war?”
Also on the team are Bill Murray as an architect, John Goodman as a sculptor, Bob Balaban as a curator, Jean Dujardin as a Frenchman, and Hugh Bonneville as an Englishman, all with interesting back stories.
So, the men all go through rudimentary basic training, because they will be close to the front lines and in the midst of the fighting, even as the war is winding down.
They are told that they are fighting for their culture and their way of life, and they learn that Hitler has ordered that all the stolen art is to be destroyed by the Nazis if he dies or if Germany loses the war.
A running joke has Granger believing that his ability to speak French is much better than it really is, and he is sent to Paris, where he meets Claire Simone, played by Cate Blanchett, a Frenchwoman who was forced to help the Nazis catalogue all the pieces of art that they had stolen in and around Paris.
The team has enough trouble on their hands with fighting the Germans and discovering where they have hidden much of the artwork, but now the Russian Army is moving in from the east, and the Russians want to take whatever art they can find as reparation for all the losses that they have suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
The story has both comic elements and tragic elements as the team tries to retrieve the artwork that Hitler wanted in order to supply his own personal museum.
THE MONUMENTS MEN resonates to this day.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Monuments of Men – Movie Trailer
Feb 6th
Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements. From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. The screenplay is by George Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney.
“Hot Tub Time Machine” Party Like It’s 1986
Apr 7th
Party Like It’s 1986
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE has a title that either sells itself or turns people away, which is unfortunate, because if you see it, as I was forced to do, you will discover that you will enjoy it much more than you expected to.
You will also laugh much more than you expected to.
John Cusack, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry play three best friends named Adam, Nick, and Lou. When Lou has an accident that could be interpreted to have been a suicide attempt, they all decide to take off for the weekend and go to Kodiak Valley ski resort, where they once spent a memorable weekend over 20 years ago.
Tagging along with them is Jacob, Adam’s nerdy teenage nephew.
They are shocked at how much the town has changed and become run down, but they check into the hotel anyway and get the same room that they had stayed in the last time, where they had some of the best times of their lives.
The bellhop, played by Crispin Glover, has only one arm, and thus he isn’t very efficient in getting their luggage up to the room. But after he does, Lou says, “Let’s have some fun! Let’s create a memory!”
The first thing they do is they all jump into the room’s hot tub, which has also seen some better days, or more likely nights, and something weird happens.
The next morning they go skiing, and the first thing they notice is that all the skiers are wearing bright, colorful ski clothes. Then they see a television set with President Ronald Reagan giving a speech, and the word “Live” is written across the screen.
Yes, they are back in 1986 and living the same weekend that they had spent there before. However, they look just like they do currently to the audience, but to the other people and in mirrors to themselves, they look 20 years younger, except for Jacob, of course.
Jacob is freaked out and convinces them that they have to do everything exactly the way they did before, or they might make Hitler president.
Yes, that is funny, but not logical, and there is a running gag about how the bellhop lost his arm.
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is funny, not logical, and makes you want to party like it’s 1986.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”