War Horse

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  A boy and his horse are separated during World War I, and we follow the horse's journey through the war.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Niels Arestrup, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Bnedict Cumberbatch, Celine Buckens, Toby Kebbell, Patrick Kennedy, Leonard Carow, David Kross, Matt Milne, Robert Emms, Eddie Marsan

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Stop!  I can see the little old church ladies now, watching this movie on TV and then telling their grandchildren, "Oh, wasn't that a nice picture?"  They are the only ones who feel that way.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  I laughed several times at how ridiculously improbable every other beat in the movie was-- starting with the way the boy acquires the horse.  Any decent screenwriter knows that you can't have more than one coincidence in a script.  This movie is built around them.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  Horse lovers might, but I'd like to prevent that by reminding them that horses don't really think like humans do.  That's just a movie device.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  I think it's time to give Spielberg the Lifetime Achievement Award, because based on the movies I've seen in the last two nights, he has clearly passed his peak.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  People regularly have giant reactions to absolutely nothing; reactions that last longer than the final shot in a soap opera scene.  How do I know this style is outdated?  All of the soap operas just got cancelled.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  It's 2 1/2 hours of melodramatic acting with melodramatic music, shot in exteriors that are lit like they are on a sound stage from the 1950s.  Need I say more?

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  There is one good scene in the entire movie, and I'd seen that one done before too. 

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: War Horse Trailer

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Easy Virtue

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Set in the UK in the 1920s, the prodigal son (Ben Barnes) of a rich family returns home with an older woman (Jessica Biel), whom he's already married, and who is American. And so his mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) sets to breaking them apart.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Charlotte Riley, Christian Brassington, Pip Torrens

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Based on a Noel Coward play, the fast paced farcical tone gets off to a good start, but about 20 minutes in, you realize that this movie has no plot, and the story element that would've made the catty goings-on more interesting is not revealed until 20 minutes before the end.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The dialogue is quick witted, but you might want to brush up on your proper English listening comprehension skills, because in some parts it is so fast and thrown away that you completely miss what they're saying.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Maybe, if you've ever had in-laws. But probably not.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Can you imagine how insulted Kristin Scott Thomas must have been when she found out she was going to be acting up against 7th Heaven's Jessica Biel? Apparently she put all that anger into this role, and it served her well because she has already won a couple of acting awards in Great Britain for this film.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Jessica Biel is pretty, but she's completely miscast as the older woman. Not only does she not appear to be older than her husband, but in real life, she's several months younger than Ben Barnes. The whole movie would have made a lot more sense if they had gotten Charlize Theron or Angelina Jolie. Another reason those actresses would've been more impactful, is that they wouldn't look so ridiculous trying to act next to top tier professionals like Kristin Scott Thomas and Colin Firth. On a positive note, I'd like to ask you all to look out for Kimberley Nixon, a fairly newcomer, who really does hold her own next to these old pros. I see a big career in her future.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Even though it is an adaptation of a play, and takes place primarily all on one giant estate, it never feels too small or boxed in to be a movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script, on the other hand, does not escape the play-to-movie transition unscathed. A play and a movie don't have the same format. In a play, the audience is more patient, and you can leave certain key plot points and underlying emotional motivations until the end. But in a movie format, the audience is accustomed to knowing why a character is being unreasonably cruel much earlier, so that they can feel deeply for both the villain and the victim, and experience the moral dilemma of choosing sides. If the screenwriters had introduced the pivotal plot piece twenty minutes into the film instead of twenty minutes from the end, they might have had a movie. But as it sits now, they have a very cinematic play.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/easy%20virtue/trailers

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