Sundance 2012 Movie Review: “The Raid”

Brutal and exhilarating, one of the best action films in years.

Article first published as Sundance 2012 Movie Review: The Raid on Blogcritics.

The Spotlight section at the Sundance Film Festival generally features films that have already made their premiere and have distribution. We can all give a huge thank you to Sony Pictures Classics now for nabbing up this martial arts film at last year’s Toronto Film Festival that’s now cocked and loaded to blow our minds. I love the genre, but lately, there seems to be an onslaught of these and the technical side of things has been greatly slipping over the years. While everyone seems far more interested in trying to become the next Jackie Chan or Jet Li (here’s looking at you Tony Jaa). But now, without further ado, we can also thank director Gareth Evans for stepping up to the plate.

The premise is extremely simple. A SWAT team is embarking upon a raid of an apartment complex run by the evil Tama (Ray Sahetapy). Rama (Iko Uwais) is just one of the members of the tactical team sent in to take Tama down. He leaves his pregnant wife at in bed and tells his father that he will do whatever he can to bring home his brother, who just happens to be under Tama’s rule, along with Tama’s right hand men, Andi (Doni Alamsyah) and Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian). Once the SWAT team’s cover is blown, it becomes a fight to the death, floor by floor, to take down Tama and his band of badass henchmen at any cost.

While the story itself is as simplistic as it sounds, what Evans has managed to bring us is the most gloriously brutal and entertaining action film to be seen in years. There is some amazing stunt and camera work on display here. With a mix of “Die Hard,” “Old Boy,” “Unleashed,” and “A Better Tomorrow,” this film is a huge leap forward from Evan’s last film “Merantau.” Not to knock that film down, but here we have a guns blazing, fist-flying, stunt-filled action spectacular. If there was any movie I’d tell you to go see first, if I know you love a good action film, it would definitely be “The Raid.”

Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Movie Review: “Joyful Noise”

Far from joyful, just plain noisy. Ryan Murphy, get your lawyers on the phone.

Zero stars
118 minutes
Rated PG-13 for some language including a sexual reference
Warner Bros. Pictures

Article first published as Movie Review: Joyful Noise on Blogcritics.

As if 2012 wasn’t off to a bad enough start, with theatergoers enduring early January's “The Devil Inside.” If you thought things couldn’t get any worse than that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you another piece of evidence as to the term “dump month” with “Joyful Noise.” As it turns out, Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah are not a match made in heaven when it comes to dueling choir members in this film set in the backwoods of Georgia. But if you think they are, this film is for you. I seriously fear any film this year that winds up being worse than this. I'll admit that I actually like both Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah. Unfortunately, this is far from the days of “9 to 5” and nowhere near “Chicago.”

To make a very long “story” short, in Pacashau, Georgia, G.G. Sparrow (Parton) has just buried her husband, Bernard (Kris Kristofferson). He was the show runner of their town’s beloved Divinity Church Choir. The members of the choir have aspirations to make it big and win the “Joyful Noise” competition. Now the church, lead by Pastor Dale (Courtney B. Vance) has decided to hand over the reigns to Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah) against G.G.’s best interests.

Vi Rose’s daughter Olivia (duckbilled Keke Palmer) thinks that to win they should try to incorporate hipper music into their antics. Soon enough, G.G.’s grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan) shows up, falls in love with Olivia, and teaches Vi Rose’s son, Marcus (Jesse L. Martin), how to control his Asperger’s by playing T-Pain’s “I’m in Love with a Stripper” on the piano. But now Pastor Dale thinks it costs too much to send them to Los Angeles to win the big competition so G.G. and Vi Rose must come together to make everything work out in the end.

What writer/director Todd Graff has managed to craft here is a film that seems entirely made up of deleted/alternate/extended scenes. Not one transitional scene is on display. Everything literally just bounces around from one thing to the next and with many scenes dragging on for an eternity. There’s even a scene that’s obviously cut from an earlier scene used later as if it’s a whole new day taking place within the film (pay close attention to what characters are wearing). Graff also thinks that a wacky subplot involving choir members Earla (Angela Grovey) and Mr. Hsu (Francis Jue), where she kills him after a night of premarital sex due to his high blood pressure, is just the kind of padding an already far too long film needs.

Why spend nearly 10 minutes showing the choir’s competition at regional's then skip their own performance to show them all on the bus ride home complaining that they lost? Why did they lose? Did Dolly pop a boob? Did her face unstitch? Thankfully, we’ll never know. Unless those scenes show up on the Blu-ray release. If the fault lies with editor Kathryn Himoff, she needs to be run out of Hollywood for cobbling together an even worse film than she was originally handed. I can’t even imagine what the film was like before she got her hands on it. And we all know that Dolly’s getting old, but that’s no excuse for filming the entire movie in soft focus. Plus, she still looks like a Muppet version of herself.

I seriously have no idea who this film is made for. I know a lot of people like to turn their brains off to watch some flicks, but this one requires a lobotomy to comprehend. During an argument between Vi Rose and Olivia, the scene drags on so long you forget what they’re even fighting about. All you know is that the music is trying to cue you in that it’s supposed to be emotional and their tears are trying even harder to sell it. But, buy into you should not. Additionally, you should avoid buying a ticket to “Joyful Noise” at any cost. At one point, Pastor Dale talks about how he “didn’t make this economy,” but if this is the kind of entertainment folks are spending their money on, then maybe it’s deserved to some degree.

Photos courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Preview: January 2012

Welcome to Hollywood's wasteland.

Article first published as Movie Preview: January 2012 on Blogcritics.

It’s that time of the year again. Yes, the “dump” months of Hollywood are back. And they aren’t looking any better than before. While one particular film may have already earned back 35 times its budget, that doesn’t mean it’s worth your money. I guess the worse the reviews the more interest audiences have, unfortunately. Let’s take a look at what the studios are slinging our way this January.

January 6

Only one wide opening hit theaters and it made a ton of money. We can warn moviegoers all we want, but that still didn’t keep them away from “The Devil Inside.” I seriously hope to see this fall off the radar rather quickly as word-of-mouth spreads faster than the body jumping demon does through the last ten minutes of this mess.

January 13

Mark Wahlberg stars in “Contraband,” what should hopefully be the weekend’s #1 film. A remake of the Icelandic film “Reykjavik-Rotterdam,” Baltasar Kormákur (star of the original) makes his Hollywood debut in the director’s chair. Wahlberg stars as a former drug smuggler setting out to protect his brother-in-law from a Panamanian drug lord. Brother Robert Wahlberg is along for the ride with a not-so-bad supporting cast consisting of Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons, Diego Luna, and Kate Beckinsale (in the first of two films for her this month). While Marky Mark looks like he’s got an itch to scratch on the poster, here’s hoping for a nice surprise.

Meanwhile, director Todd Graff continues to mine the new niche he seems to have found for himself with this week's “Joyful Noise.” After his directorial debut of “Camp” at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, his career path is starting to look a little rocky. He may have bigger stars in the likes of Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, but this film just looks like the geriatric version of “Glee.” While I do tune in every week to catch up with the talented kids of McKinley High, everything makes this film look like the travesty it’s bound to be.

If you are wise, you will skip “Joyful Noise” and choose to see Meryl Steep’s latest Oscar bait portrayal as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher instead. Rejoining her “Mamma Mia!”director Phyllida Lloyd, I can assure you they’re bound to garner Steep yet another Best Actress nomination. “Beauty and the Beast” also opens in 3D as Disney continues their new trend of re-releasing their greatest hits collection, even if this one’s been available on Blu-ray 3D since October. Is it really worth paying to see in theaters when you probably already have it in your collection? Probably not, but I digress.

January 20

Speaking of milking cash cows, the vampires and lycans are at it again in the fourth “Underworld” film, this time subtitled: “Awakening.” Too bad Kate Beckinsale has returned for her third part of the dead in the water franchise her husband, Len Wiseman, has built. Admittedly, I was kind of excited for these before the first film was released. But what looked like a monster mashed “Matrix” turned out to be just another series leaning towards fans of the other god-awful Sony owned “Resident Evil” films. At least Beckinsale is far more fun to watch in her skin tight leather than Milla Jovovich could ever dream in her chop-suey edited, CGI breast-enhanced, fight scenes. Four screenwriters and two directors later, this still doesn’t look any better than the last three.

On the positive side of things, we do get a new Steven Soderbergh action thriller with “Haywire.” Heavily touted as the big screen acting debut for MMA fighter Gina Carano, let’s hope that Soderbergh brings along his independent film sensibilities to add some panache to the chaos that’s bound to ensue. Armed with a great supporting cast in Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Mathieu Kassovitz, not to mention Michael Douglas and Ewan McGregor as villains, maybe he can wind up bringing us this year’s “Hanna.” Having a script from Lem Dobbs, a man who knows his way around a good story (“Dark City,” “The Limey,” “The Score”), only seems to improve those chances.

In the meantime, two more action-oriented films are also heading our way. First, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard (as Col. A.J. Bullard) take their fight to the sky in Lucasfilm’s “Red Tails.” TV director Anthony Hemingway makes his big screen debut aided with lots of computer effects to enhance his story of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program during World War II. On the flip side of things, Ralph Fiennes’ John Logan (“Rango,” “Hugo”) scripted take on William Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” finally hits theaters. Even with a cast consisting of Jessica Chastain, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, and Fiennes himself as the titular character, it’s more than likely that standout Vanessa Redgrave is who shall be garnering our attention come time for the Best Supporting Actress announcement.

January 27

As 2012’s Sundance Film Festival begins to wrap up this weekend, festival alumnus Joe Carnahan seems to be going back to basics. While his last two Hollywood outings have been extremes in excess, he’s got a friend in Liam Neeson (“The A-Team”) who’s pitted against the elements in “The Grey.” While those elements may be a pack of wolves, I’m sure the snowy Alaskan wilderness will give him its due as well. Also in action news, Sam Worthington is a “Man on a Ledge” while a diamond heist takes place across the street and Elizabeth Banks tries to make sense of his motives. And finally, another dump month, another Katherine Heigl calamity makes its way to the big screen. This time it’s “One for the Money” as she plays bounty hunter Stephanie Plum in the debut of Janet Evanovich’s number-titled novels.

February, thankfully, seems to pick up a little bit as we inch closer and closer back to our beloved blockbusters. But in the mean time, choose wisely dear readers, it sure is a typical January out there.

Photos courtesy Universal Pictures, Screen Gems, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Movie Review: “The Devil Inside”

The only scary thing about this is getting the INXS song stuck in your head.

* out of 5
87 minutes
R for for disturbing violent content and grisly images, and for language including some sexual references
Insurge Pictures

Article first published as Movie Review: The Devil Inside on Blogcritics.

Oh January, what hath thou wrought upon us now? As if we needed not only another exorcism film, you pair it up with the found footage genre? While it used to be considered a subgenre, there are way too many films out there now for it to be a “sub” anything. The last one I bore witness too was the abysmal “Evil Things,” and while I’ve never been a huge fan of these films, they certainly can work. Give me “The Blair Witch Project” or “Cloverfield” any day. But alas, the annual dump month has now given us its latest opus operandi with “The Devil Inside.”

You'll feel exactly the same way.

Poor William Brent Bell, when your only previous film happens to be about a killer video game (“Stay Alive”) you don’t give your audience too much hope. And no matter how many creepy stills you send out to plague film news sites you better have at least a passable movie to back them up. Filling it with TV actors and trying to convince viewers you filmed on location in the Vatican just makes things even harder to buy. Leave it to Paramount Pictures to launch their new micro-budget branch possibly thanks to the success of their “Paranormal Activity” franchise. But even still, I’d rather sit through any of those over this mess.

On October 30, 1989, police receive a phone call from Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) who informs the local dispatch she has just killed three people. Police investigate what appears to be either an exorcism gone awry or the world’s deadliest hazing. The murders are of course all over the news and her motive is left hanging in the wind. Cut to November 26, 2009 and we meet Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), Maria’s daughter. She wants to know what happened to her mother that night, why she was whisked away to a Rome insane asylum, and can’t help but worry that it could happen to her as well.

Isabella travels to the Vatican with her trusty sidekick documentarian Michael (Ionut Grama) to unravel the secrets of her mother’s sordid past. After attending a single class at the local exorcism school Isabella quickly befriends Fathers David (Evan Helmuth) and Ben (Simon Quarterman). The two let Isabella onto their little secret that they’ve been investigating supposed possessions on their own and performing exorcism to gather evidence to convince the church that these people need some serious help of the religious kind. Ben tells Isabella that she can learn more in five minutes during a real exorcism than she can after months of class. So sure enough, the quartet embarks on a mission to try to help Maria after Isabella witnesses the release of a woman named Rosa (contortionist for hire Bonnie Morgan).

It’s one thing for a mass of critics to walk out groaning about a feature as flaccid as this, but it’s another thing altogether when the credits role and your audience boos the screen. Yes, even a sold out audience couldn’t even tolerate this dreck. The New Year is definitely upon us and with that it means sifting through the Hollywood disasters of January and February. Thankfully they shouldn’t all be as awful as this and there’s also the annual Sundance Film Festival to look forward to. In the mean time, you may want to steer clear of this one as the only scare it manages to dredge up is of the cheapest kind: a barking dog, that probably knew what kind of movie he was in and just wanted to make sure something tried to scare “The Devil Inside” all of us.

Photos courtesy Insurge Pictures

Movie Review: “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

The law of diminishing returns need not apply to the “Holmes” series.

**** ½ out of 5
129 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material
Warner Bros. Pictures

Article first published as Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows on Blogcritics.

While I may not have liked anything director Guy Ritchie had directed between his smashing debut of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and his 2009 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes,” it wasn’t for lack of interest. I found “Snatch” to be full of contempt, aside from the squeak toy imbibing bulldog and Brad Pitt’s Pikey accent. But the less said about both “Swept Away” and “Revolver” the better. Yes, Ritchie’s Madonna years are finally far behind him. While I still need to give “RocknRolla” a second go, it still seemed to bring a sense of direction for Ritchie and return him to his roots. And if his “Holmes” sequel, “A Game of Shadows,” is of any indication, he’s here to stay.

With a bigger budget and a far tighter script (courtesy of Michele and Kieran Mulroney), Ritchie and stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law have proven Warner Bros. have a mighty viable property on their hands. While their beloved “Harry Potter” series has come to a close, it’s nice to see them putting some effort behind a series for the more adult filmgoer. While most sequels tend to try to continually one up the last, it’s a rarity in Hollywood to broaden, deepen, and build upon what’s come before. With a few new cast members along to up the ante as well, it would appear that the “Sherlock Holmes” films can only continue to improve. I’m sure the two years it took to release a follow up shows a little dedication to the craft more than simply aiming for a cash grab.

It’s 1891 and Dr. Watson (Law) is hard at work on his latest Sherlock Holmes (Downey) adventure novel. Tension has been rising between the French and Germans, and things don’t seem to be gaining any help due to a slew of bombings. Of course, Holmes has pieced together some evidence connecting the bombings to a few circumstantial deaths thanks to a new diet of alcohol, tobacco and cocoa beans. But it’s not until after his beloved Irene Adler’s (Rachel McAdams) “services are no longer required” of the dastardly Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) that it becomes clear that Holmes may have finally met his match.

After a spectacular fight sequence fending off an assassin attempt of gypsy fortune teller Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace), Holmes must band together with his dear Watson who just wants to enjoy his honeymoon. Meanwhile, keeping the newly Mrs. Watson, Mary (Kelly Reilly), safe is Holmes’ brother Mycroft (the always welcome Stephen Fry). After one of cinema’s most hilarious weddings and a grand train adventure through Brighton, Holmes and Watson set out to track down Simza who may hold the key to finding Moriarty through her brother, Renee. Now the game is set for Holmes & Co. to track down Moriarty before he manages to cause an all out war between France and German while getting some vengeance in the process.

Everything works even better here than in the first film which I was particularly fond of. The action is better if not necessarily bigger. The story is nowhere near as convoluted as you’d expect yet holds some grand surprises. The laughs are more genuine and Downey’s cockney riddled accent has even been smoothed out. Yes, things are far greater than they seem in the land of sequels this weekend. While at first I was worried about the quick cut Tony Scott-stylized fight scene that opens the film, it seems like that was only to get you immediately back into the world they created the first time around. Now we get bigger set pieces where you get to really see what’s going on thanks to some stunning cinematography and editing thanks to Philippe Rousselot and James Herbert. And Hans Zimmer’s 2009 Oscar-nominated score makes a welcome return as well.

Also at the top of their game of course are Downey and Law. Their rapport is quite clear and they seem to really enjoy playing their wits against each other. Stephen Fry tries to steal the show from everyone but it’s Rapace who really stands out here and proves her turn as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Lisbeth Salander, was no fluke. Rapace is surely making a name for herself stateside and hopefully her talents remain fully utilized with her next Hollywood outing in “Prometheus,” Ridley Scott’s upcoming return to his own “Alien” franchise. If the franchise continues to bustle about the way it does here than I say that “A Game of Shadows” proves that the real game of keeping the series fresh is what’s truly at foot.

Photos courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Review: “Young Adult”

Mean spirited and hilarious. See it before it's gone.

**** ½ out of 5
94 minutes
Rated R for language and some sexual content
Paramount Pictures

Article first published as Movie Review: Young Adult on Blogcritics.

As I stated in my review of “Horrible Bosses,” I love my dark comedies. This may not be the first type of film that springs to mind when you think of the second pairing of “Juno” cohorts, director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody, it’s a welcome change. While Reitman and Cody are both spending their careers growing and evolving, it’s the exact opposite we get from Charlize Theron’s character of Mavis Gary in “Young Adult.”

While Reitman seems to be on a projected path to do no wrong (see “Thank You for Smoking,” along with “Juno” and “Up in the Air” being nominated for Best Pictures), Cody still has yet to prove herself. But if “Young Adult” is any indication of what’s to come, we can still expect the best from her yet. Not everyone was a huge fan of “Juno,” and I am in a huge minority who didn’t hate “Jennifer’s Body,” but this film is a different beast entirely from either of those.

Mavis Gary lives in “The Minneapple,” (aka Minneapolis, Minnesota) where she ghost writes a YA, er… young adult...series called Waverly Prep. Her agent is trying to help her out by offering her one last hurrah to finish the now canceled series with book #178. Life proves to have taken its toll on the divorced author who begins obsessing on what could have been when she receives a baby announcement for her old high school beau Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). Buddy is happily married to Beth (Elizabeth Reaser), who plays in a band full of mothers and he’s very fulfilled with his life choices. But Mavis has hopes of other plans as she returns to her hometown of Mercury to try to win him back and beat his odds together.

Yes, Mavis is a little crazy. And so is Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), who works at a local dive as bookkeeper and still lives with his sister Sandra (Collette Wolfe). Matt has his own crutch in life (literally), after a high school hate crime left him with shattered legs and a crooked penis because the jocks assumed he was gay. Matt sees right through Mavis’s self loathing and insanity while everyone else around her thinks she’s back in town looking to invest in some real estate. Now, with the help of Matt’s homemade bourbon and a lot of Maker’s Mark (“up” anyone?), Matt and Mavis set out on a course of self discovery and maybe, just maybe, a tiny bit of retribution.

Films filled to the brim with despicable characters up to no good generally don’t do quite as well as those with central characters surrounded by a gawking supporting cast. Thankfully, Reitman and Cody try to give Mavis a little hope, and Theron is able to handle her character with the right kind of hilarity and pity that she deserves. Her Mavis comes off as a cross between her Oscar winning turn as Aileen Wuornos in “Monster” and her recurring Rita from “Arrested Development.” Just because she looks so good for her age doesn’t mean she’s all there.

While everything this time may not be aiming for a little gold statue, it’s nice to see a film tonally leaning towards “Death Becomes Her” or “Death to Smoochy.” Even the original score by Rolfe Kent has an underlying menace that many may not pick up on, but sounds like the most menacing rom-com score ever put on film. So far, it seems as though Reitman stands as the only one who can do justice to a Cody screenplay, although she gets to try her hand with her own material next. And maybe they should just continue working together indefinitely as “Young Adult” proves yet another winner in the companionship.

Photos courtesy Paramount Pictures

Movie Review: “War Horse”

A Spielberg double whammy for your year-end pleasure.

**** ½ out of 5
146 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence
DreamWorks SKG

Article first published as Movie Review: War Horse on Blogcritics.

Grand. Sweeping. Epic. These are all words used to probably describe something a little more old fashioned than what we’re used to these days. Even more so when it comes to Steven Spielberg lately, who actually hasn’t even released a film in four years. While his last feature may have been rather polarizing (“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”), he’s taken a lot of heat over the last few years and has laid claim to a new Hollywood catch phrase called “nuking the fridge.”

Back in the old days of the true Hollywood epics (“Gone with the Wind,” “Ben Hur,” “The Ten Commandments,” etc.) these adjectives were heard on a regular basis. Today they’re nearly unheard of. Sometimes something may seem epic when really it’s just getting confused with being way too long. Leave it to Spielberg to harken back to both the glory days of old fashioned cinema, along with his own unique vision. While he may seem more caught up in the sci-fi of technology as of late (“War of the Worlds,” “Minority Report,” “A. I.”) “The Beard” is back with his big screen adaptation of the Tony Award winning stage play of “War Horse.”

Originally a children’s novel written by Michael Morpurgo, it was adapted as a stage play by Nick Stafford. Performed with puppets, which only brings to mind “The Lion King,” I’m sure it’s a rather magnificently interesting presentation. I think the best way to see the material truly brought to life would be through the film where you can get up close and personal with Joey. Joey is of course the title horse who is born in 1914.

As a thoroughbred, Joey is drunkenly bought at auction by Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) against everyone else’s good graces for his farm. We are told thoroughbreds do not make for good use on a farm. Joey also, before, was being eyed by Ted’s son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine), out in the wild. Now that Ted has spent all of his rent money on Joey, his landlord Lyons (David Thewlis) gives Ted until the autumn to come up with the rest. Albert assures Lyons that he can break Joey and they will plow their field to harvest turnips. After the whole town shows up to see if Albert can really break Joey, it takes a fluke rainstorm to show everyone what Joey can do.

After yet another rainstorm ruins their crops, Ted is forced to sell Joey to the Army as England is on the verge of war with Germany and he needs to make good on his rent. Albert tries to enlist but is too young. Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston, “Thor”), however, assures Albert that Joey will be taken under his own wing as his personal horse. After Joey is taken off to join the ranks, where Joey strikes up a bromance with Topthorn, Albert is left to farming wondering if he’ll ever see Joey again.

Going into “War Horse,” I’ll admit that I had no idea that the story was actually about Joey. And let me tell you, the film really wouldn’t work any other way. Oh sure, they could have used it as a way to intertwine two connected stories between Albert and Joey, but the film is also about war to a large extent. And since Albert isn’t old enough to fight for country yet, it’s Joey who is taken off to fight the good fight. This is when you realize that we are following Joey’s war torn trials and tribulations. Even if it means that anyone connected to the horse through the war seems bound for death.

Screenwriters Lee Hall (“Billy Elliott”) and Richard Curtis (“The Boat That Rocked,” “Love Actually,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”) have provided Spielberg with a screenplay of old school proportions. Even if this is Spielberg’s first foray into digital editing, Michael Kahn is still in tow, who’s been along for the ride on every Spielberg venture since all the way back to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” While Spielberg may have used various cinematographers for his earlier work, Janusz Kaminski has been behind the lens ever since “Schindler’s List.” While some may hate the blooming whites or washed out look of most of their films, Kaminski finally makes things look like an older Spielberg film with a more natural, if not sometimes more digital, appearance.

Special consideration goes out to the cast who of course give their all. I mean, who wouldn’t when you’re in a Spielberg film, right? Especially Jeremy Irvine, making his film debut. But as great as Irvine is, it’s the horse, or horses, playing the part of Joey who really steal the show. Films about animals tend to get taken over by the human story (think “Seabiscuit,” “Secretariat”), but here we get to really see Joey’s story come to life and get a great animal performance. Sometimes I think animals give far better performances than humans anyway. When it comes to horses and dogs, they really take the cake as you can generally tell what they may be thinking. And in the case of “War Horse” it’s a damn good thing; otherwise, it’d just be “Saving Private Ryan’s Stallion.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that with Spielberg at the reigns.

Photos courtesy DreamWorks SKG