Oscar Watch: "War Horse"
"War Horse"
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan
Nominations: Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Mixing
"War Horse" is Spielberg's latest film, opening alongside "The Adventures of Tintin" before his eagerly awaited "Lincoln" next year. It also garnered a good number of Oscar nominations this year. I don't think it's Spielberg's best film by a long shot. With such successes in the war genre ("Saving Private Ryan" and its amazing d-day opening), historical masterpiece ("Schindler's List"), and more, it's hard for him to top himself. This film follows the adventures of a horse, owned and trained by a boy, and eventually sold to a WWI soldier. A series of hand-offs ensue, as he finds himself under care of a farmgirl, some other army hauling weapons, and finally, such in some barb wire.
The historical setting was nice, and the entire costume design, setting, and landscape was beautiful. The cinematography nomination was arguably earned, as the scenes filmed were very nice. The best was the trench battle near the film's end. However, I felt the movie did not have a lot of heart. I know the boy cared about Joey (the horse), but I didn't care about Joey. Nor about the various people the horse encountered in his life. I cared about them a lot more than that kid from "Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close," however, because he was just weird.
Art direction was also arguably deserved, because some of the scenes here were so picturesque and beautiful. The art direction combined with the cinematography made for some truly nice shots here. The film itself, the characters and the story, didn't live up to what I would've expected from Spielberg, though. I think the main reason is because the horse was the main focus; the humans were too brief in screen time to make a lasting impact. And the end was too coincidental and mushy for me.
The music was decent, and it had a John Williams-feel to it, at least the main theme did. Not my favorite work of his, either, and I'm not sure if it deserved a nomination. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" had a very fitting, nice soundtrack as well, and the often talked about "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" soundtrack was notably missing from Oscar's list. It seems Williams is synonymous with best soundtrack to AMPAS's ears.
Deserving of best sound? It's hard for me to honestly judge this category. But best picture? Definitely not deserved, in my opinion. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" were much stronger films in my opinion. I think Spielberg's name and the historical setting caught AMPAS's eye, not the actual story and characters themselves, which were quite lacking. I'm not expecting this film to take a lot of awards, if any, come oscar night.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan
Nominations: Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Mixing
"War Horse" is Spielberg's latest film, opening alongside "The Adventures of Tintin" before his eagerly awaited "Lincoln" next year. It also garnered a good number of Oscar nominations this year. I don't think it's Spielberg's best film by a long shot. With such successes in the war genre ("Saving Private Ryan" and its amazing d-day opening), historical masterpiece ("Schindler's List"), and more, it's hard for him to top himself. This film follows the adventures of a horse, owned and trained by a boy, and eventually sold to a WWI soldier. A series of hand-offs ensue, as he finds himself under care of a farmgirl, some other army hauling weapons, and finally, such in some barb wire.
The historical setting was nice, and the entire costume design, setting, and landscape was beautiful. The cinematography nomination was arguably earned, as the scenes filmed were very nice. The best was the trench battle near the film's end. However, I felt the movie did not have a lot of heart. I know the boy cared about Joey (the horse), but I didn't care about Joey. Nor about the various people the horse encountered in his life. I cared about them a lot more than that kid from "Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close," however, because he was just weird.
Art direction was also arguably deserved, because some of the scenes here were so picturesque and beautiful. The art direction combined with the cinematography made for some truly nice shots here. The film itself, the characters and the story, didn't live up to what I would've expected from Spielberg, though. I think the main reason is because the horse was the main focus; the humans were too brief in screen time to make a lasting impact. And the end was too coincidental and mushy for me.
The music was decent, and it had a John Williams-feel to it, at least the main theme did. Not my favorite work of his, either, and I'm not sure if it deserved a nomination. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" had a very fitting, nice soundtrack as well, and the often talked about "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" soundtrack was notably missing from Oscar's list. It seems Williams is synonymous with best soundtrack to AMPAS's ears.
Deserving of best sound? It's hard for me to honestly judge this category. But best picture? Definitely not deserved, in my opinion. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" were much stronger films in my opinion. I think Spielberg's name and the historical setting caught AMPAS's eye, not the actual story and characters themselves, which were quite lacking. I'm not expecting this film to take a lot of awards, if any, come oscar night.
posted by DarthDooku at
7:05 PM
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