REVIEW: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

MOVIE
Mission Impossible:
Ghost Protocol

CAST
Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner,
Paula Patton, Simon Pegg

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
December 21, 2011

DIRECTOR
Brad Bird

STUDIO
Paramount Pictures

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 13 minutes






STARS
***1/2












REVIEW:

In South Jersey on New Year’s Day 2012, the weather was so warm that I could wear shorts if I wanted to. I swear to you it felt like summertime had come on the first day of January, when it should be freezing out. In some ways, I'd say that "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' is the cause for this. 'Ghost Protocol' is one of those rare examples when a movie takes all the fun of a summer blockbuster and throws it into a winter release. Back in late April, a little known movie called 'Fast Five' came out and surprisingly enough it turned out to be the best 'Fast and Furious' movie in the entire series. While I have not seen all of the 'Mission Impossible' movies, I have seen the first one and was confused immediately when the credits started. 'Ghost Protocol' however is fast, fun, and really big in scope. If there is one movie where you want to turn off your brain at some parts and have it engaged in others, then this is the perfect movie to do that with. Anyone who goes to see this movie will have a lot of fun with it, some more than others. For me, this is a really good action spy movie that had me intrigued for all of its 133 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: (Courtesy of Moviefone.com)
Academy Award-winning director Brad Bird (Ratatouille) makes his live action feature directorial debut with the fourth installment of the massively successful Mission Impossible series. The Kremlin has been bombed, and the blame has fallen on the IMF. As a result, the president initiates Ghost Protocol, and accuses Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of placing the bomb in an attempt to incite a global nuclear war. Now in order to clear the IMF of terrorism charges, Ethan assembles a new team to uncover the truth by using every high-tech trick in the book. But this time they're on their own, and should they be caught, the entire world could be plunged into a nightmare from which there is no waking up. Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg co-star.

Tom Cruise is a very good actor when he makes the right choices. Recently, he hasn't been so successful in any type of movie he makes, despite his most recent film 'Knight and Day' being surprisingly enjoyable. He returns to his Ethan Hunt roots in this movie, and my gosh is he great. Cruise throughout the movie looks like a complete badass, especially during some of the spectacular action scenes. His portrayal of Hunt in this film has a sort of charisma and charm that engulfs you, while at the same time giving some convincing drama with Hunt's personal life that ties in with 'Mission Impossible III.' (I know this from the original trailers of the J.J. Abrams directed film) If this movie isn't considered to be the comeback for Cruise, then I can't see what Hollywood's problem with him is. I didn't find this out until after the movie came out, but it turns out that Cruise himself did all of his stunts in the film. If he is brave enough to climb the outside of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, then I don't know what else he can do to get the attention of audiences worldwide. Maybe he needs a great cast behind him, or at least alongside him for the entire ride. Luckily the makers of this film are already one step ahead of the plan.

'The Hurt Locker's' Jeremy Renner, the undeniably sexy Paula Patton, and the funny Brit Simon Pegg make up the new team, and they are all brilliant. Renner is great because he knows how to play it cool and be an awesome action-tier when the time is called. Simon Pegg is the funnybone of the film, though the comedy isn't used to the extreme, which helps the audience remember that this is an action spy film with moments of comedic relief. Paula Patton is the best of the three because A.) she is incredibly gorgeous and B.) she is a part of some of the coolest fight scenes in the movie, one involving a Russian villain. In the 2010 film 'The A-Team,' the four guys who make up the team all work together to each shine in their own way. Tom Cruise may be the biggest name on the poster, but this movie wouldn't have been so fun without the talents of the three other team members.

If there is one flaw I can distinctly remember from this film, it's the villains of the film. Since the IMF team has gone rogue, there are two sides of villains who are after them: the typical villains who want to take over who knows what, and the guys who think they are helping the problem but are really delaying what the good guys are trying to accomplish. One of the guys in the latter category says some line to Tom Cruise involving the name "rogue leader" multiple times throughout. By the time the guy said "rogue leader" a second time around, I whispered to my friend that it was only just getting dumb and annoying. As for the typical devious villains, I see no purpose why they want to take over the free world. Sure it's explained thoroughly by the villains themselves, but why exactly do they want to succeed with their plan? Did the world somehow tick them off so much that they want to take over the world? Anyways, those are my problems. I've heard people kind of just go with the villains and their over the top plot. Let's just get back to the good stuff.

The director of this film, in case you haven't read anything about this film, is Brad Bird. Mr. Bird is a first time live action director with this film, with his previous work being 'The Iron Giant,' 'The Incredibles,' and 'Ratatouille.' If you just so happen to see this movie without seeing his animated films first, you would believe that he is a natural behind the camera. The action sequences are so well orchestrated that they immerse you into all of the fun that's going on. Bird chose to shoot some of the film's sequences with IMAX cameras, and even just seeing it in a regular movie theater makes you feel involved in something huge. With Brad being successful at his first live action directing attempt, I now have even more faith in 'Finding Nemo' director Andrew Stanton, who's directing the March Disney release 'John Carter.' I tip my hat to you, Mr. Bird, and I hope that your next attempts into non animated filmmaking are all as successful as this one. However next time, please don't show clips from the entire movie during the opening credits sequence.

'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' is as much fun as you'll have at the movies in early 2012. There's no sentimental heart, hilarious comedic scenes, or over the top gore. It's just an action packed, thought provoking movie that is non-stop fun throughout. Sure things may get a bit over the top at parts, but isn't that what movies like this are for? We, the people go to these movies to have loads of fun, and we get that here. The cast is surprisingly great, Tom Cruise especially. Brad Bird seems to know what he's doing on live action filmmaking, which is always an awesome sign. Many people thought that this movie wasn't going to be so good and become forgotten in a matter of weeks. Look at it now, a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a film on many of You Tube critics' top 10 lists. I'm not in love with this movie as many others are, but surely enough this is a sleek and cool action spy thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat for the entire time. All you need now is some hot weather and a big pool to swim in, and we can call this time of the year "Summertime in the Winter." Either that or global warming, you choose.




PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

The Grey


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Ghost Rider:
Spirit of Vengeance


Titanic 3D


The Avengers


Rock of Ages


G.I. Joe:
Retaliation

REVIEW: The Descendants

MOVIE
The Descendants

CAST
George Clooney,
Shailene Woodley

RATING
R

RELEASE
November 16, 2011

DIRECTOR
Alexander Payne

STUDIO
Fox Searchlight Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 55 minutes





STARS
****










REVIEW:

If director Alexander Payne, well known for films like 'Sideways' and 'About Schmidt,' decides to come out of a six year long hiatus and make a film starring George Clooney, then expect it to be in the running for many top awards. That is the case with the new film 'The Descendants,' but the only difference is that this film doesn't disappoint on any levels. Clooney plays Matt King, a lawyer whose family owns a huge, yet untouched 25,000 acre area in Hawaii on the island of Kaua'i, and he is the sole owner of the land. His family wants to sell the land, but he's too frustrated to even think about it. What's stressing King's life much more is that his wife is in a coma and his oldest daughter has made a complete mess out of her life. King is trying to cope with the fact that his wife's coma will never be lifted when his oldest daughter shares a very disturbing secret: his wife was cheating on him with a man of real estate business. Ever since the film's premiere at the Telluride Film Festival back in September, non-stop praise has been circling this film and the love has been ever growing. For those who have been on the fence on whether or not this film lives up to the hype, take it from this 14 year old that it certainly does. You will laugh, and you will just feel your heart sink to your stomach. 'The Descendants' is a marvelous dramedy that has the power to captivate anyone who goes to see it.

George Clooney will without a doubt get a lot of awards consideration in the next 2 months. His portrayal of a father still piecing together why his wife would cheat on him feels both authentic and real. There is only one other Clooney film I've seen in my lifetime and he had nipples on his suit. This man deserves some serious award recognition for his performance, maybe even a win. Sure Brad Pitt's narcissistic baseball manager performance was great, and Jean Dujardin's entirely silent performance is fantastic, but Clooney is the only actor this year whose character can make you feel bad about the way you've treated people in your own lives. If any actor can do that to me, then they have my support during awards season.

The real shining star of this movie is Shailene Woodley, who plays Clooney's messed up daughter Alex. I went into this film with an open mind on her because I have never seen a single episode of the show that made her famous, 'The Secret Life of the American Teenager.' After this film was over, the first thing that came to my mind was indeed Woodley. It's not because she's attractive, (although she is, I must say) it's because her performance is so damn good. There has been Oscar talk for her performance in this film, and my god is it well deserved. Her character in the film resembled the anger and frustration every teenager has when they're struggling not just with family, but with personal things as well. She is the perfect yang to Clooney's ying, though it all does turn around in the end as expected. Woodley is what I like to call the Hailee Steinfeld of 2011, which means that she has all the potential to win the Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, but unfortunately won't because of age discrimination. Still, her performance in this film feels so real and authentic, and on top of it all is sublime.

This film is a great example of when an entire cast, both lead and supporting, are all fantastic in their parts. A newcomer named Nick Krause plays Alex's mysterious boyfriend Sid. There are moments in this film where you will just stare in shock at what is pouring out of this guy's mouth. You'll wonder to yourself, is this guy an asshole or just a hopeless idiot? That is why the character works so well for the film, and somehow everyone turns to actually like him in the end. Beau Bridges plays one of George Clooney's cousins on the Hawaiian Islands, and he is very good in the 2 scenes he's in the film. Judy Greer is in the movie for three scenes, and she too is very good. Matthew Lilliard, Shaggy from the live action 'Scooby Doo' movies even makes an appearance for one scene, and he surprisingly is really good. Overall, everyone in this film add up to a fantastic ensemble cast, which happens to be run by George Clooney and his fantastic acting chops.

To be fair, I have never seen any Alexander Payne films before, so this was my first go around with his work. Luckily I made the right decision to check this movie out for many other reasons. It's that time of the year where people start pointing fingers to what films will eventually win the top prizes at such ceremonies as the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards. For the past couple of months, I have been rooting for 'The Artist' to take home all of the gold when February comes. After seeing this movie, I'm not entirely sure what should be declared the best movie of 2011 in the end. This is a poignant, funny, and irresistible movie that has the ability to hold an entire audience's attention for two hours, despite a couple of slow parts. It's not the happiest movie or the funniest movie you will ever see. Hell, it's not even a movie for every audience out there. However, the talent of the actors, along with Payne's visceral and real vision of a typical Hawaiian life sucks you in and makes you think about the problems going on in your life. (If there are any) For a truly authentic and real experience at the movies in 2012, you may want to go with Alexander Payne’s ‘The Descendants.’ If you come out of this not having any reflection on your personal life, do you even have a conscious?


 

PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

W./E.


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A Dangerous Method


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MINI-REVIEW: New Year's Eve

MOVIE
New Year's Eve

CAST
A bunch of Oscar winners,
A bunch of other actors

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
December 9, 2011

DIRECTOR
Garry Marshall

STUDIO
Warner Bros. Pictures,
New Line Cinema

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 57 minutes




STARS
**1/2









REVIEW:

There's a moment during the ending (blooper) credits of 'New Year's Eve' where Carla Gugino pulls from Jessica Biel's open cervix a Blu-Ray and DVD copy of the 2010 ensemble rom-com 'Valentine's Day.' While this was indeed the funniest part of my experience when seeing this film on Christmas Eve with my family, I saw this as a metaphor of what this film really was: a sequel to 'Valentine's Day.' In this ensemble flick, directed by 'Valentine's' helmer Garry Marshall, a crap load of stars are all in NYC celebrating, well, read the title it's not that complicated! Half of the people from the last film are actually in this, believe it or not! To be honest, going into this I was expecting something just so stupid and terrible that I would be aching to get out of the theater ASAP. However I stuck to my critic instincts and stayed in my seat. As shocking as this may sound, 'New Year's Eve' is not a terrible movie. On the contrary it is a very stupid film, with some of the oddest twists and the dumbest clichés I've seen all year.


This movie has good actors and bad actors who all do their jobs just fine, despite their performances being over the top most of the time. This film is also filled with some of the most common clichés you'll ever see in a movie. There is even a sequence (I kid you NOT!) where Lea Michele (the 'Glee' chick) starts singing a song and Bon Jovi (on the other side of NYC) starts singing the exact same song to the same tune. I even whispered to my sister during that scene "I didn't know we were watching an episode of 'Glee,'" because that's exactly what that scene could be called. Actually, this movie rips off a lot of other movies but makes it in a way where it's sort of touching and kind of funny. There are even these romantic twists at the end of the movie that made absolutely no sense at all, yet they were somewhat interesting. The one thing from this movie I can still hate on is the makeup on Abigail Breslin and Michelle Pfeiffer, which looks horrendous. They're stories suck, but it's the makeup I'm ripping on. Other than those things, this movie is hard to put a mark on, so let me put it to you this way: 'New Year's Eve' is the dumbest, yet funniest crap I've seen in 2011.

Sure everything going on was stupid as f***, but I had a decent time and enjoyed hearing my family laugh. Prestigious critics were meant to hate this movie, because they were nitpicking it throughout. I was even nitpicking it for quite some time. Then my brain turned off, and I had a decent time. This movie will soon be forgotten by many, but at least I had some fun and enjoyed it much more than 'Valentine's Day.' Nothing is smart about 'New Year's Eve,' but audiences will sure enjoy it for what it's worth. I tried to hate the crap out of this film, but it was kind of hard for me. Don't worry; this is not going to be on my top 10 of the year. I liked it enough to not hate it entirely. The fact that this is better than 'Valentine's Day' alone should interest people. However if you do see this movie, please don't see it on New Year's Eve, because that would be just so stupid on all levels.







PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Extremely Loud
and Incredibly Close

One for the Money

The Vow

Gone

What to Expect
When You're Not Expecting

The Lucky One

The Five-Year Engagement

REVIEW: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

MOVIE
Alvin and the Chipmunks:
Chipwrecked

CAST
The Chipmunks/Chipettes,
Some Funny Comedians

RATING
G

RELEASE
December 16, 2011

DIRECTOR
Mike Mitchell

STUDIO
20th Century Fox

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 27 minutes






STARS
*1/2









REVIEW:

There are kid oriented movies, and then there are films like 'Hop,' 'The Smurfs,' and most recently 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.' These are the types of films that are called kids films, but they are really used to make audiences dumber and get a whole crap load of rotten cash. I can admit that I liked the first 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' movie, having some fun music, decent humor, and three likeable characters. In 2009, I sort of liked 'The Squeakquel,' but now I can see that it is one hell of a horrible movie. It's now the end of 2011 and audiences are being "treated" to what's probably going to be the final film in this now trilogy, 'Chipwrecked.' Just how bad is this movie you may ask. Let me put it to you this way: my 10 year old sister fell asleep for half of this movie, and it's less than 90 minutes long! This movie is better than 'The Squeakquel,' but this is still a bad film. People of Earth, why are you paying for these dumb films when you can be going to see better family films like 'The Adventures of Tintin' and 'We Bought A Zoo?' 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked' is a bad family film, and just another example of how dumb audiences are getting, as well as how stupid studios can be to get a little bit of money.

Those Chipmunks must do nothing but make terrible movie references, with only little kids or dim witted parents actually laughing at them. 'Indiana Jones,' 'Cast Away,' and 'James Bond' are among the many movies to get ripped to shreds by these helium sounding fur balls. It's hard to watch movies you really enjoy get beaten to the punch by the tiniest rodents that will ever grace the silver screens of the world. Every time someone would talk to a basketball with a face, or say a stupid line like "My Precious," I scratched my head and whined to my sister about the reference. Well she got annoyed by my whining, so it all worked out in the end. Isn't that what big brothers are for? It wasn't even just the movie references that annoyed me; the songs that they sang were even more dumb and unnecessary. They sing songs from 'Vacation' to 'Whip My Hair' ("Tail" in this situation) and they were all so annoying. There is even a scene where these three snobbish ladies pick up a dance fight with The Chipettes. What else more is there to say about that? Cheap rip offs of great songs, terrible movie references, and horrendous jokes are what to be expected in this mess of a film.

If the humans in these 'Chipmunk' films can actually take talking/singing chipmunks seriously, then the entire world should believe that the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are real beings. I get that kids are supposed to believe that these are real and likeable characters, but what is the point? Alvin you know is going to screw the fudge up, Simon will be the smart one, and Theodore is the cute one. Don't expect a lot out of The Chipettes, because they're the feminine versions of The Chipmunks. I never thought about this until now, but I just realized that The Chipmunks and The Chipettes are the reason why 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' and 'Jersey Shore' exists. If you're a kid out there reading this and don't know what those shows are, GOOD! Don't even look them up unless you expect your mom to put a huge "dunce" cap on your head. Theodore I do give props to for making me hang my lip out and say "Aaaww" to the screen. Other than that, The Chipmunks and Chipettes are the most annoying animated creatures to ever be put into a bad movie series. Speaking of bad animated characters, the live action characters were just as annoying.

Jason Lee is not a good actor when it comes to standing next to a bunch of animated creatures. It's like Ben Stiller taught Lee how to overreact all the time, and he called that "proper acting." Every time a line spewed out of his mouth, my head started throbbing and my soul was getting pissed off. I'm sure Lee is a funny guy, but what was his agent smoking when he signed a three movie contract with a bunch of animated rodents. The same thing goes with series baddie David Cross, who is now a washed up producer still looking for revenge. Cross was actually the best thing to come out of this movie, yet at the same time I felt bad for him. In a recent interview, Cross stated that his Chipmunk contract is up and there are no more Chipmunk films to come with him in it. This is a step up for every actor who's in this movie, because this series is awful.

Of all of the actors in this film who are awful, SNL alumni Jenny Slate gets my award for worst actress of the year. She only lasted one season on SNL, and I hope her abilities in this film aren't the proof. After all, she did write and star in the highly acclaimed 'Marcel the Shell' YouTube videos. She apparently is trying to spoof Tom Hanks' character in 'Cast Away' (see why the movie references suck?) and she combined that with a psychotic woman hungry for money. To be honest, I think she might have been on a lot of drugs during the making of this film, which explains her mediocre acting. I bet she is a very funny person, but being in a 'Chipmunks' movie does not help with that. Overall every actor who graces their face in this film should feel bad that they were involved with this series.

The man sitting in the director's chair this time around is Mike Mitchell, who directed 'Sky High' and 'Shrek Forever After.' I liked both of those films in some way, but he has seriously gone down many notches for directing this smelly piece of crap. Nothing in this movie is intentionally funny at all. In fact, all of the funniest parts to me were funny because I felt bad for everyone who was involved. There are so many better family movies out there, yet kids like to see this crappy series, as well as other CGI/live action hybrid movies. How do you think 'Garfield' even got a sequel back in 2006? That's because kids aren't critics. They would enjoy seeing pixie fairies get blown to bits by the smurfs, and that would be considered a "kid classic" when they're 38 years old. 

I understand that this movie wasn't made for my audience demographic, but neither was 'Winnie the Pooh' and 'Kung Fu Panda 2.' See my riff here? Of all of the intentional kid’s movies this is by far the dumbest one to have come out. At least 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' had Jim Carrey to hold on to. (But that still didn't help that awful movie) If you want to take your kids to a movie before 2011 is up, don't go to this one. 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked' is an unholy mess that will have anyone over 8 squirming in their seats or as sound as a cloud. My sister and I are the living proof of this, so do I have to say much more?

 


PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Star Wars Episode I:
The Phantom Menace 3D


The Lorax

The Pirates:
Band of Misfits

The Three Stooges

Mirror Mirror

Madagascar 3:
Europe's Most Wanted

REVIEW: War Horse

MOVIE
War Horse

CAST
Jeremy Irvine, Joey the Horse

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
December 25, 2011

DIRECTOR
Steven Spielberg

STUDIO(S)
DreamWorks Pictures,
Touchstone Pictures (Disney)

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 26 minutes





STARS
****










REVIEW:

I've been telling many of my acquaintances that 2011 may be the equivalent to 1993 for director Steven Spielberg. Not only did Spielberg win Best Visual Effects at the Oscars for 'Jurassic Park' in '93, but he also won Best Picture for the acclaimed holocaust drama 'Schindler's List.' Replace 'Jurassic Park' with 'The Adventures of Tintin,' and replace 'Schindler's List' with 'War Horse,' based on both the 1982 British children’s novel by Muchael Morpurgno and the 2007 Tony Award winning play. 'War Horse' tells the story of a horse originally named "Joey" by his owner Albert, who is sold to fight in World War I in 1914. The film depicts both the horse's journey over Europe throughout the war, and, in the film's final 70 minutes or so, Albert's struggle to fight in the war and possibly get Joey back home. Only three movies this entire year had me on the edge of crying in my seat, and this one had me on the edge of bawling my eyes out! 'War Horse' is Steven Spielberg's return to his true form after his average works (except for 'Catch Me If You Can') from the previous decade. This is a triumphant movie that deserves to be seen by all generations.

Let me just tell you now that the sole character of the film is Joey, the horse.  No human in this film has a bigger role than the horse (played by two horses actually) himself.  In fact, the only other character in this movie who has the most screen time at the biggest part with Joey is Albert, played by newcomer Jeremy Irvine. Irvine is fantastic as Albert, despite coming off with a shaky start. The first time you see Albert, you sort of get the impression of him as being this eager teen who loves to follow baby Joey around. It's when his dad buys the horse that you see the true emotion of the character and how in love he is with the horse. Don't expect any awards to come for Irvine, but he does have the potential to really go the distance. As for Joey the Horse, the two horses they used for him are great. I think the Oscars should create an award exclusively for animal actors, exactly like the Palm Dog at Cannes. Joey the Horse is not even in the leagues of Uggy the Dog from 'The Artist,' but the horses playing Joey are able to give us the same emotions as any A-list actor could in a heartfelt performance. Anyone who goes to see this movie will undoubtedly fall in love with Joey and cry when he gets himself into peril. These two leads give audiences a love story to root and cheer for.

It's hard to really say who is the sole supporting actor to Jeremy Irvine and Joey the Horse, because the cast in this film acts more as an ensemble rather than depicting main leads from supporting actors. The ensemble cast includes David Thewlis of 'Harry Potter' fame, Tom Hiddleston of 'Thor' fame, and the always great Emily Watson. All of the supporting players are fantastic in this movie. Each character in this movie was properly designed to care for Joey and guide him to safety. Yes, that even includes the Germans he was with for a time. My favorite of the ensemble cast was a teen actress named Celine Burkens. I saw her as being the exact opposite of the persona of Hailee Steinfeld's Mattie Ross in last Christmas' surprise smash 'True Grit.' Burkens plays a sweet, angelic girl who wanted to care for Joey and the friend that accompanies him. I would have liked to see more of her character, as well as her grandfather who's played by French actor Niels Arestrup. Still, the entire ensembles of both German and British background all help this story come full circle for Albert and Joey.

I doubt many realize how important photography is in both films and pictures. You have to have the right exposure in order to make a picture something magical and worth as my photo teacher says "hanging on your wall." The cinematography in this movie is spectacularly gorgeous. Every single frame of this film is shot so beautifully that they might as well be called pure works of art. I even whispered to my father in the middle of this film "this movie looks so beautiful." The final 5 minutes of the film are shown to the audience in all reds, yellows, and oranges that I at first thought was a problem with the film reel. Then I realized why the last 5 minutes were shot that way, but I can't exactly share it because it goes into spoiler territory. Going back to what my photo teacher said, I would put about 80% of the frames of this film on my wall, because nobody can shoot a movie on such a wide and visceral scale than longtime Spielberg cinematographer Janusz Kamiński.

Going back to the ensemble thing, there wasn't exactly a main character (apart from Albert and Joey) rather than an entire ensemble of people who become in contact with this extraordinary horse. Joey goes from Albert to fight with the British in WWI, and then he goes to the Germans to fight in the war, and so on. I felt that this was a very smart story technique because it showed us the audience both sides of the war from the point of view of Joey the horse. Spielberg showed us that each side of the war has a reason for fighting, and each side may not be as evil as you'd think. Both the British and the Germans were fighting so they could win WWI, not because of prejudice or anything like that.

In some ways this is a message to all people fighting for something in the world: you can always befriend an "enemy" despite personal differences in culture or life in general. I haven't seen the play of 'War Horse, nor have I read the 1982 book, but let me tell you that the film is structured so it plays out like several short stories taking place during WWI and stars Joey the horse. It kind of reminded me of the acclaimed book 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' which was also constructed like many short stories. I have no idea whether the book or play played out like it did in the film, but for me this was the strongest thing about the film, because we're able to view the stories of several different characters and how Joey changes their lives.

Christmas has a lot of competition when it comes to movies. You have highly anticipated films like 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and 'The Adventures of Tintin,' as well as lesser known flicks like 'We Bought A Zoo' and 'The Darkest Hour.' Of all of those films coming out, none of them compare to the emotional power of 'War Horse.' You don't need heavy gore to show the intensity of a situation, unlike 'Dragon Tattoo.' You don't need cutesy comedy to satisfy an audience for over two hours, like 'Zoo' does.  You also don't need a corny and unnecessary use of 3D, unlike the other two movies. All you need in order to fully enjoy this movie is an open mind, a properly positioned butt in your movie theater seat, and the willingness to cry in certain scenes.

The cast in this film is phenomenal, the script and story could not have been written better, the cinematography is award worthy, and the editing helps the short stories flow into each other with grace. I cannot stress to you how in love I am with this movie. I keep telling my buddies at school how great this movie is, and they just say in sarcasm, "Oh yeah I would really go see a movie about a horse." To them I say you're missing out on something great. If there's one movie this holiday season that both resonates and stays true to your heart for days after seeing it, that film is Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse.'





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John Carter