Shale
...is a Chamber Royal.
Join date : 2010-09-27
Location : Miami Beach
Posts : 9699
Rep : 219
 | | Subject: War Horse Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:34 am | |
| War Horse
Movie Blurb by Shale
December 25, 2011
This is one of those epic movies that follow the protagonist thru many episodes of a life story. The protagonist is Joey, a horse. The movie opens at his birth in a field, in a beautiful, pastoral British countryside, being watched from afar by Albert (Jeremy Irvine). Albert takes an interest in the young colt and tries to befriend it with apples.
Later Albert's father (Peter Mullen) who drinks a bit, overbids for the horse at auction. His wife (Emily Watson) is furious but Albert is delighted and soon there is a special bond between a boy and his horse.
Albert & Joey
Unfortunately, dad about sold the farm to buy the horse and as often happens with farmers, misfortune hits. With their farm about to go into foreclosure, dad sells the horse to the British Army as WWI breaks out.
Joey is Sold to the Army
The officer procuring Joey is sympathetic to Albert's loss and vows to take good care of Joey. But, WWI was brutal, vacillating from modern destructive machinery to soldiers with bayonets fighting like medieval combatants. And, in 1914 they still had a cavalry that charged into the jaws of death.
Cavalry Charge
I won't go into all the experiences and travails of Joey and Albert in this epic story. But it is a very visual Steven Spielberg movie that to me was reminiscent of movies of my past. Altho it is a period setting, the movie itself had a 1940s feel to it, yet everything is fresh.
The subject is war and there are some dreadful scenes of the actual carnage, of trench warfare and charging into machine gun fire, but very little actual killing. Cavalry horses charging with riders in one scene and in the next, horses running wild without riders. You know what happened you didn't have to see it. There are other scenes with blocked views of the actual killing that are so amazingly shot they are distracting. Again, the kind of filmmaking that we saw in the '40s. Even the ending reminds me of Technicolor on a matte painting.
I really enjoyed this movie. | |
|
JWF
…is an Up 'N Comer.
Join date : 2010-03-02
Posts : 203
Rep : 4
| | Subject: Re: War Horse Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:59 pm | |
| What is all the fuss!
In "War Horse" Steven Spielberg once again returns to one of his favorite genres: War. The plot follows a young man Albert (Jeremy Irving) and his horse Joey, before, during and after WWI. The unusual friendship, allegiance and bravery that develops.
The movie is told from a different slant then the book/play, which was more from the POV of the horse.
Personally, I found the film to be too conventional, mainstream, predictable, over-the-top Hollywood. Yes, it was beautiful to look at and great horse acting. An attempt to be a family movie that is sprawling, ambitious and touching. Unfortunately, I found important parts to be pure corn and unbalanced. There was very little sub-text. Joey's long journey of tragedy, and in some cases good-will, eventually was overkill.
Spielberg could have cut 25 minutes off the reel. It took forever to get the war started. The ending was right out of "Gone With The Wind"
There are some critics claiming this is a Spielberg masterpiece. If so, what does that make "Schindler's List" or "Saving private Ryan". This is not one of his conquering films.
B
Jack | |
|
Hitskin.com
Calendar
