HORSE IT INTO YA CINEMA! (WAR HORSE)
If, in the next few days, someone moans that they just don't make movies like they used to, drag them along to see 'War Horse'.
Steven Spielberg's movie is so old fashioned in pace, tone and style that you keep expecting Elizabeth Taylor or Roddy McDowall to turn up.
Adapted for the big screen by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall from the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, 'War Horse' begins with a bidding war at a horse fair but ends up eventually in a more brutal battlefield at the Somme.
In the first skirmish in a Devon village, tormented Boer War veteran Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) outbids local landowner Lyons (David Thewlis) for a magnificent looking horse.
Narracott's determination to land the majestic but apparently unsuitable animal pushes his family to the brink of eviction but a wonderful bond is soon struck up between the horse and the tenant farmer's son Albie (Jeremy Irvine).
In a film which slavishly follows a five act structure, Spielberg initially focusses on the Narracotts' struggle to keep Lyons at bay, as Albie and the horse he christens Joey defy the odds by ploughing a rocky field.
After nature deals the family a particularly cruel blow, Spielberg's movie cranks up another gear with the outbreak of World War One and the sale of Joey to an Army Captain (played with tremendous compassion by Tom Hiddleston).
Joey is transported to the battlefields of France where he soon ends up in the hands of German soldiers and then the idyllic setting of a fruit farm under the care of a young French girl Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her grandfather (Niels Arestrup). However he soon returns to the horrors of the front.
The fate of the horse and those he encounters enables Spielberg to return to the terrible brutality of war - territory which he essayed so memorably in 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan'.
But the obsessive bond established between Joey and Albie is also reminiscent of the relationship between Elliott and E.T. in 'E.T. - The Extra Terrestial'.
However 'War Horse' is not an exercise for Spielberg to simply retread old ground.
Like his contemporary Martin Scorsese in 'Hugo', the 65-year-old uses his movie to pay homage to his cinematic heroes and there are visual echoes of the movies of John Ford, DW Griffith, Victor Fleming, Stanley Kubrick, Tony Richardson, David Lean and the great French director, Robert Bresson.
As in Scorsese's movie, film buffs will revel in the visual references to such classic movies as 'Paths of Glory', 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', 'How Green Is My Valley' and 'Gone With The Wind'.
Fans of Richard Curtis will also be struck by the sombre depiction of First World War trench warfare - something viewers of his 'Blackadder Goes Forth' comedy series were spared.
But the movie is particularly reminiscent of Bresson's heartbreaking 1966 movie 'Au Hasard Balthazar' which in a similar episodic way dealt with the ups and downs in the life of a maltreated donkey as it passes through the hands of several owners.
Coming hot on the heels of the National Theatre's phenomenally successful stage version of 'War Horse' on the West End and Broadway with its huge horse puppets, Spielberg is too long in the tooth to know he would never credibly get away with such a device.
With real horses, real explosions, real squalor, the director nevertheless cannot mask on the big screen the sentimental nature of Morpurgo's story and there is no doubt the film will be attacked in some quarters for being like popcorn - too corny and sweet to be wholesome. However, he gets away with it - thanks to some gorgeous cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, some smart pacing, beautiful art, set and costume design and spectacular battle sequences which propel the viewer back to the era of the classic Hollywood movies of the 1940s and 50s.
Spielberg is aided and abetted by composer John Williams' stirring score and a clever use of sound - not least in the first battle sequence as Benedict Cumberbatch's stiff Major Stewart makes a stirring speech amid the sound of rustling trees.
With the stunning imagery of British soldiers hiding in wheat fields and, later on, horses straining in the mud to pull German artillery towards the frontline, Spielberg brilliantly contrasts the majesty of nature with the cold, thundering menace of modern war machinery.
The director is boosted by a cast that is uniformly excellent (no pun intended) - not least Peter Mullan as Albie's hard drinking father, Emily Watson as his defiant wife, Thewlis, Hiddleston, Buckens, Arestrup, Cumberbatch and, of course, Jeremy Irvine as Albie.
There is also something delightful about seeing some of Britain and Ireland's finest character actors turning in strong performances in minor roles - Liam Cunningham as an Army doctor, Gary Lydon (his fellow cast member from 'The Guard') as Devon farmer Si Easton, Toby Kebbell as a Geordie soldier and Mike Leigh regular, Eddie Marsan as Sergeant Fry. Even Omagh's hugely underrated Gerard McSorley turns up briefly as a market auctioneer.
In an era of fast moving, wisecracking rollercoaster movies with their one dimensional characters and eye for a fast dollar, there is something heartwarming about an old fashioned Hollywood picture that takes time to develop a bond between its characters and its audience and which also revels in its regional English accents.
The movie is worth the price of the ticket alone for Kaminski's stunning visuals at the end.
And as a former agricultural correspondent, I have to say hats off to Spielberg for being one of the few directors who could turn horse ploughing into a thrilling cinematic spectacle.
After the disappointment of his 3-D computer generated 'Tintin', Spielberg has made a welcome return to human filmmaking with a stirring and unapologetically emotional piece of horse play.
It is a welcome addition to a career which has yielded many great movies and confirms why he remains the greatest showman in the Hollywood studio system since Alfred Hitchcock.
('War Horse' opened in the Movie House and other cinemas across the UK and Ireland on January 13)
Steven Spielberg's movie is so old fashioned in pace, tone and style that you keep expecting Elizabeth Taylor or Roddy McDowall to turn up.
Adapted for the big screen by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall from the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, 'War Horse' begins with a bidding war at a horse fair but ends up eventually in a more brutal battlefield at the Somme.
In the first skirmish in a Devon village, tormented Boer War veteran Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) outbids local landowner Lyons (David Thewlis) for a magnificent looking horse.
Narracott's determination to land the majestic but apparently unsuitable animal pushes his family to the brink of eviction but a wonderful bond is soon struck up between the horse and the tenant farmer's son Albie (Jeremy Irvine).
In a film which slavishly follows a five act structure, Spielberg initially focusses on the Narracotts' struggle to keep Lyons at bay, as Albie and the horse he christens Joey defy the odds by ploughing a rocky field.
After nature deals the family a particularly cruel blow, Spielberg's movie cranks up another gear with the outbreak of World War One and the sale of Joey to an Army Captain (played with tremendous compassion by Tom Hiddleston).
Joey is transported to the battlefields of France where he soon ends up in the hands of German soldiers and then the idyllic setting of a fruit farm under the care of a young French girl Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her grandfather (Niels Arestrup). However he soon returns to the horrors of the front.
The fate of the horse and those he encounters enables Spielberg to return to the terrible brutality of war - territory which he essayed so memorably in 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan'.
But the obsessive bond established between Joey and Albie is also reminiscent of the relationship between Elliott and E.T. in 'E.T. - The Extra Terrestial'.
However 'War Horse' is not an exercise for Spielberg to simply retread old ground.
Like his contemporary Martin Scorsese in 'Hugo', the 65-year-old uses his movie to pay homage to his cinematic heroes and there are visual echoes of the movies of John Ford, DW Griffith, Victor Fleming, Stanley Kubrick, Tony Richardson, David Lean and the great French director, Robert Bresson.
As in Scorsese's movie, film buffs will revel in the visual references to such classic movies as 'Paths of Glory', 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', 'How Green Is My Valley' and 'Gone With The Wind'.
Fans of Richard Curtis will also be struck by the sombre depiction of First World War trench warfare - something viewers of his 'Blackadder Goes Forth' comedy series were spared.
But the movie is particularly reminiscent of Bresson's heartbreaking 1966 movie 'Au Hasard Balthazar' which in a similar episodic way dealt with the ups and downs in the life of a maltreated donkey as it passes through the hands of several owners.
Coming hot on the heels of the National Theatre's phenomenally successful stage version of 'War Horse' on the West End and Broadway with its huge horse puppets, Spielberg is too long in the tooth to know he would never credibly get away with such a device.
With real horses, real explosions, real squalor, the director nevertheless cannot mask on the big screen the sentimental nature of Morpurgo's story and there is no doubt the film will be attacked in some quarters for being like popcorn - too corny and sweet to be wholesome. However, he gets away with it - thanks to some gorgeous cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, some smart pacing, beautiful art, set and costume design and spectacular battle sequences which propel the viewer back to the era of the classic Hollywood movies of the 1940s and 50s.
Spielberg is aided and abetted by composer John Williams' stirring score and a clever use of sound - not least in the first battle sequence as Benedict Cumberbatch's stiff Major Stewart makes a stirring speech amid the sound of rustling trees.
With the stunning imagery of British soldiers hiding in wheat fields and, later on, horses straining in the mud to pull German artillery towards the frontline, Spielberg brilliantly contrasts the majesty of nature with the cold, thundering menace of modern war machinery.
The director is boosted by a cast that is uniformly excellent (no pun intended) - not least Peter Mullan as Albie's hard drinking father, Emily Watson as his defiant wife, Thewlis, Hiddleston, Buckens, Arestrup, Cumberbatch and, of course, Jeremy Irvine as Albie.
There is also something delightful about seeing some of Britain and Ireland's finest character actors turning in strong performances in minor roles - Liam Cunningham as an Army doctor, Gary Lydon (his fellow cast member from 'The Guard') as Devon farmer Si Easton, Toby Kebbell as a Geordie soldier and Mike Leigh regular, Eddie Marsan as Sergeant Fry. Even Omagh's hugely underrated Gerard McSorley turns up briefly as a market auctioneer.
In an era of fast moving, wisecracking rollercoaster movies with their one dimensional characters and eye for a fast dollar, there is something heartwarming about an old fashioned Hollywood picture that takes time to develop a bond between its characters and its audience and which also revels in its regional English accents.
The movie is worth the price of the ticket alone for Kaminski's stunning visuals at the end.
And as a former agricultural correspondent, I have to say hats off to Spielberg for being one of the few directors who could turn horse ploughing into a thrilling cinematic spectacle.
After the disappointment of his 3-D computer generated 'Tintin', Spielberg has made a welcome return to human filmmaking with a stirring and unapologetically emotional piece of horse play.
It is a welcome addition to a career which has yielded many great movies and confirms why he remains the greatest showman in the Hollywood studio system since Alfred Hitchcock.
('War Horse' opened in the Movie House and other cinemas across the UK and Ireland on January 13)
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