The Grand Budapest Hotel is a 2014 comedy-drama film written and directed by Wes Anderson. Ralph Fiennes leads a seventeen-actor ensemble cast as Monsieur Gustave H., renowned concierge of a fictional European mountainside resort. When Gustave is framed for the murder of a wealthy dowager (Tilda Swinton), he embarks on a quest for fortune and a priceless Renaissance painting with his recently befriended lobby boy (Tony Revolori). Thematic analysis focuses on the function of color as a storytelling device and the film's exploration of fascism, nostalgia, friendship, and loyalty. The Grand Budapest Hotel was based on Anderson and longtime collaborator Hugo Guinness's vision of a fragmented tale of a character inspired by a mutual friend. Filming took place in Germany over ten weeks, in the regions around Berlin and Saxony. After premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2014, the film grossed more than $172 million at the global box office. The Grand Budapest Hotel was released to highly positive reviews, and won four Academy Awards for music and technical achievement.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Budapest_Hotel
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1850:
United States senator Daniel Webster delivered a speech advocating compromise on slavery, which proved to be unpopular with abolitionists in his home state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster
1871:
José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, began a four-year premiership as Prime Minister of the Empire of Brazil, the longest in the state's history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Paranhos,_Viscount_of_Rio_Branco
1941:
The German submarine U-47, one of the most successful U-boats of World War II, disappeared with 45 men on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-47_%281938%29
2009:
Dissident Irish republican campaign: Two off-duty British Army soldiers were shot dead by Real IRA paramilitaries outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massereene_Barracks_shooting
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
nervous: 1. Easily agitated or alarmed; edgy, on edge. 2. Apprehensive, anxious, hesitant, worried. 3. Relating to or affecting the nerves. 4. (archaic) Having nerves; nervose. 5. (obsolete) Showing nervous strength; sinewy, vigorous. 6. (obsolete) Of a piece of writing: forceful, powerful. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nervous
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
In whatever state of knowledge we may conceive man to be placed, his progress towards a yet higher state need never fear a check, but must continue till the last existence of society. --John Herschel https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Herschel