Movie Review- Monuments Men

Turning historical books into movies is down right dangerous. History nuts are bound to see the movie, and that is great for the box office returns, but not always great for us history nuts.  Usually two camps form when those of us who love history see movie trailers for histo-flicks. One camp is book first. The other, movie first.  Usually, I profess reading the book before seeing a movie, but there are some inherent risks with this approach. One risk is that the movie is better than the book (gasp!). The second is worst than the first; the movie takes a completely different direction than the book. Monuments Men is one of those movies.  Get this straight, it was a fair movie (I will save my remarks for later), but for those us (meaning me) who took the book first route, it was a bit painful.  

Movie Review: Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

If you are anything like me, Nelson Mandela is sort of a blond spot in your historical knowledge. Well the entirety of Mandela's career is a blind spot. Sure...it is easy to see him as the white haired, leader of South Africa that most of us do, but how many of us know all that much about his early career?Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom takes you back to the early days of his career right through his election in 1994 as President of South Africa. This picture was well cast, directed, and produced.There seems to have been nothing spared in the way of authenticity to the time periods and places. More than anything though this movie is one of the first on Mandela that gives you a decent idea of the man; warts, and all. I think it is well suited for the classroom, or for simple enjoyment of a good story