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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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From what I've read, Spielberg is in heavy Bogdanovich mode with War Horse, and the movie is less about any hypothetically real experience and more about his recreating worlds of movies he liked, from John Ford's romanticized look at old England/Ireland to his own Saving Private Ryan.
Also, I'm just not a horse guy. I've never cared for movies about horses (or dogs or whatever). Just can't imagine getting into this movie. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:37 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| David Denby's review of "War Horse" in the current New Yorker isn't encouraging (comparing it unfavorably to the play), but the NY1 reviewer on TV ranks it as the best film of the year. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:31 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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All this wringing of hands over going to see a movie. It's fucking Spielberg! His films are must-sees as far as I'm concerned, whether they have horses in them or bedbugs or ocelots or a smelly dog with mange.
I'm loyal to the film makers who thrilled me, moved me or changed my life in little or big ways. Among those film makers are (I'm sticking to American or U.K directors in this list) Spielberg, Scorsese, Hitchcock, Terence Malick, Nicolas Roeg, The Coen Brothers, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Nicolas Ray, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, John Waters, John Casavettes, Monte Hellman, Tim Burton, Ken Russel, Michael Powell, Elaine May, Lynne Ramsay, Neil Jordan, Bruce Robinson, Richard Lester, Stanley Kubrick, Dennis Hopper, Roman Polanski, Bob Raphaelson, Abel Ferrara, Woody Allen, Larry Clark, John Carpenter, Ida Lupino, Herschell Gordon Lewis, George Romero, Robert Downey Sr., The Kuchar Brothers, Melvin Van Peebles, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Don Siegel.... |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 3:46 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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the movie is less about any hypothetically real experience and more about his recreating worlds of movies he liked, from John Ford's romanticized look at old England/Ireland to his own Saving Private Ryan.
That's one of the pleasures of being an artist, taking ideas from wherever you got em and transforming them into something personnel while still retaining the spirit of the source material. Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. It evolves. Artists hand down concepts, energy and style from one to the other. It's a brotherhood/sisterhood that celebrates our collective consciousness. Art without antecedent is what you see on ancient caves, childish renderings of animals. The arts have grown through a kind of mutual appreciation society, particularly in contemporary film and music. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Except when you recycle them unimaginatively. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| And what handwringing? I don't want to see the movie and I explained why. The only Spielberg movie I liked in the past twenty years was Munich, and it didn't hold up on second veiwing. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:20 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Anyone is entitled to dislike any movie they want to dislike, but as far as I'm concerned, anyone who truly dislikes Schindler's List is lacking on some level. The same would apply to earlier Spielbergs Jaws and E.T., and now War Horse.
I think Minority Report and Munich are also great movies, but can understand someone not liking them. For the record, there are a couple of Spielberg movies I detest (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Lost World: Jurassic Park) and some others I don't care for very much, but I still try not to miss any Spielberg movies. (I succeeded in missing The Terminal, since I knew going in I would hate it.)
Anyway, to sum up: War Horse is one of the great ones. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:23 am |
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What a good way to start the new year. Joe picking apart a movie from his set perspective  (though without seeing it). Something I might do in my mind but would also have a a bit of doubt about the reviews I'd read and my thoughts about a movie I haven't seen. Marc hectoring about avoiding movies done by directors you admire and then providing an impressive list of his admired and enlightening directors. Billy, contributing with the movies he loved and one's he didn't plus ones he avoided because he was sure he wouldn't like them, by a director he admired who had started these exchanges.
Good stuff and an excellent example of our diversity.
Saw The Terminal once in the theatre and once on TV. I liked it. A sweet movie. Had forgotten it was one of Spielberg's movies. Seeing as it was New Years eve last night; I saw Always on New Year's eve way back when and I liked that one too, though I don't think it got a lot of praise. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 11:12 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Forgot about the other Spielberg movie I missed on purpose, the third Indiana Jones movie. I absolutely loathed every IJ movie except Raiders, which ranks in the top five SS movies for me. Never have sequels been so disappointing as the IJ sequels. Therefore I skipped the most recent one, since the trailer promised more of the same boring stuff as the previous ones. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| The final Indiana Jones movie was definitely just for the fans. I enjoyed it, but it went on too long, striving too hard to match the joie de vivre of the first one. But it had its moments, and it had John Hurt. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The third Indiana Jones movie was very good, but I can't stand Temple of Doom or Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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Marc wrote: I enjoyed The Adventures Of Tintin quite a bit. Though I was disappointed in the lackluster 3D. I was expecting Spielberg to do wonders with the technology but he didn't.
There was only a dozen people to see the film at an early evening Christmas day screening. It deserves to find an audience but looks like it will be one of the big domestic bombs of the year. It did well in Europe where Tintin is a brand name.
We saw this yesterday afternoon in 2D. Thought about the 3D then remembered your comment here. The story worked well and it had a nice flow to it. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:57 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: Jeremy--I cried more at War Horse than at any movie I've seen since 1954 when, at the age of 14, I saw Gone With the Wind for the first time, started crying a third of the way through and didn't stop until the end. With War Horse, I forget exactly when I started crying, but the same thing happened. Non-stop until the final credits. And I still wouldn't call it a tearjerker. It gets all its tears without undue manipulation. It's just a flat-out great movie, one of Spielberg's two or three best ever.
Spielberg has a way of generating tears on a feel good/sad/emotional level. The last movie of his that did that for me was Schindler's List, which still remains a powerful, yet moving, yet most brilliantly directed film of the last 20 years for him.
War Horse is on my list soon. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:19 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Sorry, I think Schindler's List was a phony, saccharine movie, gimmicked up to get the exact audience response it wanted. And as if a Holocaust movie needs to work to get people on its side! Walking out of the movie, I turned to my friend and said "I didn't feel the need to cry." She replied "I know, the soundtrack did my crying for me." |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 6:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| But I loved Gary's post. |
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