Warhorse

[Lefty]

What's the verdict here, folks?

After hearing all about this Speilberg tear-jerker my bride & I went to see it expecting to be entertained and duly tear-jerked.

We must be jaded because neither of us were thrilled. Those WWI trench warfare Vickers & Maxim machine gun flick previews lured me in. One trusted movie reviewer termed it Saving Private Seabiscuit.
We were disappointed. I'm not sure why but we left the theatre feeling like we missed something.
We liked Seabiscuit & are suckers for good old-fashioned dog & pony sad dramas with happy endings but this film lacked umphh. It was more like Eeyore finding Pooh than a Warhorse reuniting with his long lost whomever. Tell me that I'm not jaded........

What did you guys think?

 

[Karen Lips]

I loved War Horse. I have seen it twice, once with my husband, and once with a friend. We thought it was the best movie we have seen in a long, long time.

 

[Glorybound]

I've not seen it, but I did post a youtube of the trailer on this site. The movie looks to be amazing, heart-wrenching, with unsurpassed cinematography and editing that only Steven Spielberg could accomplish. I hope to see it one of these days and I don't expect to be disappointed, in the least. But, since I've not seen it yet, that's about as far as I'm able to comment.

Lee

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

For us, "Saving Private Seabiscuit" is an apt description! We enjoyed the story and were spellbound by the cinematography, particularly the beauty of the landscapes and the spectacular and heart-wrenching scene of Joey running blindly through no-man's land and becoming ensnared in the barbed wire. We became curious about the story and searching it on-line found some related information that was equally fascinating about the horse puppets in the stage play that was the basis for the film. Here's one article, and there was also some amazing video whose link I'm not able to find quickly right now, but when I find it I will post it too. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/t...l=1&adxnnlx=1326632688-i1THIwCgG3CjsqMPzYXpOA

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Here's the link to the video of the amazing, life-size puppets created for the stage version of War Horse:

 

[Glorybound]

Thank you for your posts, Loyalty, very descriptive and informative.

Lee

 

[Claude Bauer]

My wife and I saw it and found it to be an interesting story well told. True, it's a family friendly war movie, but they managed to convey much of the horror of WWI warfare without copious amounts of blood and gore. The cinematography, direction, scenery, casting and acting were all first rate. Of course, I had to chuckle when the French girl named the horse Claude.

[Warning: if you haven't seen this movie, read no further.]

One scene they did particularly well was the big English cavalry charge against the German camp--rather than showing firsthand the effects of men getting shredded by machine gun fire, they showed scores of riderless horses leaping over the enemy's front rank. They let your imagination fill in the rest. It's an effective technique. The scene ends with a chilling aerial view of the carnage, underscoring the absurdity of sending mounted troops with drawn sabers against machine guns and rifles.

Another powerful scene was the Germans using the horses to drag a huge artillery piece to the top of a ridge. Then there was the very sad sub-plot about the two teenage German deserters. Also, I fully expected the farmer's teenage granddaughter to be Albert's love interest, but they resisted that obvious angle--once again underscoring the cruelty of war, she died too. And the conversation between the German and the English soldiers who were cutting the horse from the barbed wire was priceless.

Yes, the movie was sentimental, but not every war story has be like Platoon to make an impact. I will watch it again when it comes out on pay per view.

 

[Nathanb1]

What's the verdict here, folks?

After hearing all about this Speilberg tear-jerker my bride & I went to see it expecting to be entertained and duly tear-jerked.

We must be jaded because neither of us were thrilled. Those WWI trench warfare Vickers & Maxim machine gun flick previews lured me in. One trusted movie reviewer termed it Saving Private Seabiscuit.
We were disappointed. I'm not sure why but we left the theatre feeling like we missed something.
We liked Seabiscuit & are suckers for good old-fashioned dog & pony sad dramas with happy endings but this film lacked umphh. It was more like Eeyore finding Pooh than a Warhorse reuniting with his long lost whomever. Tell me that I'm not jaded........

What did you guys think?

Uh.....guess you're jaded.

 

[Jon G.]

The general wants to see it and I absolutely don't like WWI movies so we''ll be going this week sometime.