Home
Today's Pick
Reviews
Top 5
Categories
Contributors

Posts Tagged ‘WWII’

Carl Kozlowski

‘Inglourious Basterds’ Review

by Carl Kozlowski

Take a ruthless Nazi leader who can order the deaths of a Jewish family with the same dispassion with which he requests a glass of milk. Mix his story with that of a Jewish woman who flees the slaughter of her family only to grow up and discover an opportunity to kill Hitler himself. Add in a cocky American Lieutenant named Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who leads a secret mission in which each of his men are ordered to scalp 100 Nazi, and you’ve got the combustible mix of lead characters who cross paths with explosive results in Oscar-winning writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, “Inglourious Basterds.” 

Bringing together his usual strengths as a director of intense performances from sterling casts, an amazing score pasted together from classic scores of past films, incredibly sharp and catchy dialogue and a warped time frame that that will throw viewers through a satisfying series of loops, Tarantino has easily made his best film since “Pulp Fiction.” Coming off a humiliating misfire with 2007’s “Death Proof,” which was half of the box-office disaster known as “Grindhouse,” Tarantino has admitted that he felt the need to double down on his strengths and prove that he was just as relevant and inventive as ever.  (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Aug 18th 2009 at 8:55 am in Reviews | 111 Comments

Gold Star Mothers

Gold Star Mom Angelia Phillips: Happy 100th Birthday Mr. John Finn

by Gold Star Mothers

You may not know who Mr. John Finn is, but you should. He is one of the true heroes who live among us. Today Mr. Finn turned 100-years-old. To simply live to that age may, to some, be an accomplishment in itself but to know who this man is and what he has done should amaze and humble you even more.

On Dec 7th 1941 many Heroes were made. John Finn received the Medal of Honor for his bravery on that day. He says he doesn’t deserve it and simply holds it for all the others who fought and died that December day. I disagree. On that December morning John held his position firing on the enemy for over two hours even though he himself had been hit 21 times. Several of his wounds were serious. Once the skies were quiet he sought medical help only after being ordered to. He then returned to help rearm the remaining airplanes at Kanoehe Bay. Because Kanoehe was hit five minutes before Pearl Harbor, many believe that John Finn is the first man to earn the Medal of Honor during WW2. But when you sit and listen to his stories he will tell you of his men, not of himself. Even at 100-years-old his mind is sharp and he loves to share his stories with those who will listen. And if you get the chance to meet Mr. Finn, listen to his stories for they are truly amazing. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 at 5:48 pm in Military | 45 Comments

Victoria Jackson

Troopathon 2009: It Means, ‘I Love You’

by Victoria Jackson

The Military
by Victoria Jackson

Thank you for being so unselfish to fight for freedom for me.

I admire your devotion and bravery.

I think of you often and every time I see a flag

I ask God to protect you and then I brag,

“THE U.S.A. HAS THE BEST MILITARY IN THE WORLD!”

Thank you.

Dad on his car (1950).

Dad on his car (1950).

My Dad was in the army at the end of WWII.  He didn’t have to fight.  He was lucky, the war was just ending.  He was stationed in Japan.  He worked on his handstands.  He could hand-walk up and down stairs!  He must have had a lot of Japanese girlfriends because the only words he remembers are “Watta-kushi-wa Ana-tyo Aishimasu.” (spelled phonetically). It means, “I love you!”

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , ,
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 9:23 am in Military | No Comments

Leigh Scott

Troopathon 2009: Gratitude from a ‘Dandy Lad’

by Leigh Scott

I’m one of the few men in my family not to serve in the military.  I am proud to say that I am not proud of this distinction.  I regret not showing the valor of my Uncle Walter, who was captured by Germans, escaped, then allowed himself to be recaptured in order to spring some high level Resistance fighters from a concentration camp.

I feel less of a man because I did not lead my platoon through a leech infested swamp in the Pacific as my Uncle Lawrence did.  I feel like a wuss because I did not, as my Uncle Zig did, capture an entire division of German soldiers.

My father was an Army sniper, his father was a member of the last active Cavalry unit, my other grandfather developed missile guidance systems.  Cousins, uncles, great uncles, great-great uncles all served our country or currently serve.

Yet, despite this amazing bravery, this amazing willingness to self-sacrifice, the men in my family rarely talk about it.  No bragging.  No boasting.  No condescension to the other “dandy lads” in the family like myself who have never had the honor of wearing our nation’s uniform. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , ,
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 8:23 am in Military | One Comment

Charles Winecoff

Troopathon 2009: The Only Soldier I Ever Met

by Charles Winecoff

I never met a real soldier.  My family didn’t know much about the military.  We fancied ourselves more artistic and sophisticated than that.  As a boy, I lived in terror of the draft, afraid of my 18th birthday, when I would have to register with the Selective Service (or they’d come and get me).  And all I ever heard at home was how the Vietnam War was maiming and disfiguring our beautiful young men – all for nothing.

World War II was different.  Even my family remembered it almost fondly.  Soldiers back then seemed like the real thing, thanks largely to the patriotic black-and-white movies of the 1940s – still played repeatedly on our rabbit ear TV.  Hard to believe, but once upon a time, Hollywood actually pitched in to the war effort – stars like Bette Davis, John Garfield, Carole Lombard, Betty Grable, even Marlene Dietrich, all went out of their way to boost the national morale. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 7:22 am in Military | 2 Comments

Orson Bean

Troopathon 2009: Heroism Was Expected

by Orson Bean

I did my teen-age years in World War II. War news was a constant. We kept the radio on in our house to hear Edward R. Murrow broadcasting from the rooftops of London, describing the blitz. Newsreel photographers, flying with Allied bombers over Europe, delivered raw footage to waiting planes at Heathrow Airport. The planes, flying dark rooms, would take off for America and fly overnight to New York. Technicians would edit and develop the film during the trans-Atlantic flight and Movietone News would have the footage ready for showing in movie theaters within hours. “Imagine,” we’d marvel. “These pictures were taken only two days ago!”

My high school pal Parker Swan and I would go to the Translux Theater in Boston which featured non-stop newsreel coverage of the war. When bombings of German cities were shown, we’d cheer. After V-E day, when the battle moved to the Pacific, newsreels featured G.I.s using flame throwers to dig Japanese soldiers out of their caves on Iwo Jima and Wake Island. When the enemy came screaming from his dugout, Parker and I would cheer. I sold newspapers, The Globe and Herald, in Harvard Square by the entrance to the subway station. When the A-bomb, about which we had been told nothing, was dropped on Hiroshima, the headline read New Kind of Bomb Devastates Japanese City. Everyone was elated. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Jun 25th 2009 at 5:21 am in Military | 5 Comments

Burt Prelutsky

The Man Who Would Be God

by Burt Prelutsky

A while back, I heard Obama bragging about his first few months in the White House.  When he claimed he had done as much in that period as any president in history, my initial thought was for the first time in his life he was being modest.  Frankly, I think he’s done more, much more, and I only wish that some of it had been good for America.

He’s taken over car companies, banks and lending institutions.  He’s printed so much currency that he’s the envy of counterfeiters and con men everywhere.  He’s buried the nation in so much debt that children born 40 years down the road will be greeted with a slap on the butt and a lien on future earnings.  For good measure, the Community Organizer in Chief has created more czars than the Romanovs. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Jun 17th 2009 at 6:43 am in News, Politics | 5 Comments

G.I. Film Festival

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

by G.I. Film Festival

Imagine being sent to the front lines in World War II.  Not to destroy the enemy, but to record the war with your pen and paint brush.  In Art in the Face of War, eight WWII veterans recount the experience of their lives as war recorders in a documentary directed by David Baugnon.   Ignoring their fear and shaking hands, these brave men embraced their skills and found the creativity needed to record an accurate portrayal of what was occurring overseas.

–


These war artists served in all theaters of operation and in all branches of the U.S. Military, including the once-secret Army division known as The Deception Corps. Their powerful imagery – some done on the spot, some done years later from haunting memories – will enlighten, challenge, even amuse, showing that war is hell but also that creativity can still exist, even in the face of utter destruction.  (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 4:33 pm in Entertainment, Military, Video | 4 Comments

Burt Prelutsky

A 12-Step Liberal Recovery Program

by Burt Prelutsky

Most 12-step programs start out by requiring that people understand that they’re powerless over their addiction and that only by turning their lives over to a Power greater than themselves can they be restored to sanity.  Far be it for me to suggest that I am that Power, but clearly someone has to step in and try to rescue these poor liberal souls.  Even the most harebrained among them deserves that much.

First, though, they have to acknowledge that Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Dick Durbin, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and Charles Schumer, are not moderates, but, rather, leftists with a Socialist agenda.  Furthermore, they must recognize that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, CNN, the three major networks, the news magazines and the New Yorker, are not objective in their reporting of political events, and neither are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher, in their commentary.  If these entities and individuals are not on the payroll of the DNC, they certainly should be.  They certainly put in longer hours than Howard Dean. (more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | | Bookmark and Share

Tags: , , , ,
Posted Mar 6th 2009 at 2:42 pm in Media Criticism, Political Humor, Politics | 69 Comments