Posts tagged Movie Trailers
“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.
“Nebraska” Quirky Little Comedy
Feb 5th
“Quirky Little Comedy”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
NEBRASKA stars Bruce Dern in an award-winning performance as an old codger who is convinced that he has won a million dollars, because he received a letter in the mail that says he did.
Unfortunately, we have all received such letters, which say something like, “You may have already won one million dollars!”
So, when the movie opens, we see Woody Grant shuffling along the highway outside Billings, Montana, where he lives when a policeman stops him to find out what he is doing.
The policeman asks, “Where you headed?” and Woody points ahead of him in the direction he was walking.
The policeman says, “Where you coming from?” and Woody just points behind him.
Will Forte, who was a regular cast member on “Saturday Night Live,” plays David, Woody’s son, and when David comes to pick up Woody, he is told that Woody said he was walking to Nebraska.
You see, the headquarters of the marketing firm that sent Woody the letter is in Lincoln, and Woody believes that if he just shows them the letter, they will give him the one million dollars.
David drives Woody home, and Kate, Woody’s wife, is not sympathetic at all, saying that she never even knew that Woody wanted to be a millionaire, but if she had a million dollars, she would put Woody in a home.
David believes that Woody just needs something to live for, and so somewhat reluctantly he calls in sick at work and agrees to drive Woody to Nebraska just to prove that Woody didn’t win anything.
And so begins a road trip, with a stop along the way in Hawthorne, Nebraska, where Woody grew up and still has friends and relatives living there.
Well, the people in Hawthorne misunderstand the details of Woody’s trip, and the story goes around town that Woody won the lottery and really is a millionaire.
All of a sudden now, many people start pestering Woody and David, saying that Woody owes them money from the past and they want to be repaid.
One of them is Ed Pegram, played by Stacy Keach, who used to be Woody’s business partner and whom Woody believes owes Woody something.
NEBRASKA has a nice little surprise ending, and this quirky little comedy directed by Alexander Payne will make you pleased you saw it.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”