Pads & Panels

Title: War Horse

Format: 4-Disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Lee Hall, Richard Curtis

Starring: Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Jeremy Irvine

Studio: Touchstone Home Entertainment, Dreamworks Pictures

Film Rating:

Blu-ray Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Film

War Horse is unique in that it essentially tells the story of a war from the perspective of an animal used in war. It features a number of human characters, the most prominent of which is Albert (Jeremy Irvine), the son of the owner of the horse Joey sold off to the cavalry, but ultimately the story is about the horse and what it endures in the midst of this human war.

But despite the promising premise and the acclaim it has received, War Horse is a disjointed, overly long film that lacks direction and more so focus in its execution, leaving viewers with a film that puts forth a lot of effort but fails to hit its mark. It boils down to a lot of action and moments, but the only lasting impression I had was one particularly amusing grammar joke made in the midst of some self-awareness that the Germans in this film speak English, but with accents. (more…)

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Title: Super 8

Directed by: J.J. Abrams

Written by: J.J. Abrams

Starring: Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso, Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

When Steven Spielberg was in his absolute prime of blockbuster filmmaking, he took children in films like E.T. and Jurassic Park and put them in situations way over their heads, fantastic situations that played on our extraordinary imaginations as children, turning them into realities more bombastic than seemingly anyone else could have ever created.

Others followed suit with the likes of Goonies and Gremlins, creating the classics of a certain generation, movies that with seeming ease tapped into the very core of the childhood experience and turned it into something beyond our wildest dreams. Super 8 (produced by Spielberg), is for all intents and purposes J.J. Abrams’ (Lost, Star Trek) take on a Spielberg classic, and while it may not quite hit the mark, it’s damn entertaining in its attempt. (more…)

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