Just watched Warhorse here. I have to say that I was really swept away. Amazingly retro, totally unfashionable, ridiculously sentimental, and gloriously unrealistic! But any film that portrays what seems to be Dartmoor as if we're watching Gone With The Wind - even down to the fiery red sky, everything backlit, over-scored, with a horse and a boy and soldiers returning from a long war ... Well screw it! I'm manipulated and loving every minute of it.. I suspect only Spielberg could get away with this. Joy!
7 Comments
Smartartz
1/2/2012 11:54:07 pm
The response to this movie is split cleanly down the line of those who have seen the stage show, and those who haven't... Every single person who has seen the amazing puppetry in the NT show tends to hate the sentimentality of the movie, but those who haven't are more open to it. I thought the stage show was completely extraordinary so I'm dreading the movie.
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Matthew
1/3/2012 12:07:43 am
The stage show sounds wonderful. Yes, I suspect you really won't like the movie. I found myself both cringing at the cheesiness and swept away at the same time. It was a very strange emotion. Like Hugo (to a degree) Spielberg seems to have made this for himself ... The difference is how different he is to Scorcese.
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Smartartz
1/3/2012 01:20:13 am
The Stage show is simply breathtaking, because inanimate puppets are given life through the most extraordinary puppetry... and somehow that life seems MORE real, so you completely invest in the animals as characters. If the show comes to SF you should make a point of seeing it, it's completely unique.
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Matthew
1/4/2012 02:00:57 am
Sounds wonderful. I'd be interested to know how the movie came about.
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Smartartz
2/12/2012 10:59:20 pm
Went to see this last night. Eugh. I'm so sentimental I can cry at a hovis ad, but this just left me feeling marginally nauseous, without even the hint of a tear in my eye. I actually wanted them to shoot the bloody horse, look after some PEOPLE and be done with it. Whereas the stage show had me weeping near uncontrollably. This movie was like being mugged - emotionally. And what was with the whole Gone WIth The Wind riff? Wha...? The Manchester audience sat baffled and unmoved. You could hear a muttered shrug of 'it were ok. Looked very nice.' on the way out.
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Matthew
2/14/2012 02:28:18 am
I'm surprised you even went to see it and made it to the end of the movie. As for being moved, like I said, I was most definitely cringing as I was being manipulated - and that's new for me. Afterwards, I just felt affection for the old warhorse who'd made it.
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SMartartz
2/14/2012 06:29:46 pm
Try Chronicle for a fresh take on an old theme. The surprise hit of the season it's number one in the UK Box Office with barely a whisper of pre publicity.
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