War Horse

kuntasensei

Kinda' surprised I couldn't find a thread on this by searching. Anyhoo, I had 12 people over to watch the War Horse Blu-ray in my theater... and I gotta say that for 7.1 audio, this is one of the most impressive tracks you will find. Sound designer Gary Rydstrom's return to Skywalker Sound from Pixar is such a welcome change, because he's responsible for some of the most enveloping surround tracks in history. War Horse is no exception. Got a killer subwoofer? This movie will put it to the test!

I was feeling brave last night, so we watched it at -10dB from reference. When the explosions hit, you could feel the pressure change in the room! Plus, the directionality of this track is outstanding. Definitely a demo-worthy flick, even if it is middle of the road as far as Spielberg movies go. Still, I enjoyed it, and I'm sure I will be watching it again in the near future.

Slinger182

Hmm never even thought this would be work out for my system. I'll definitely check it out.

On a side note there seems to be a lot more movie review threads lately. Which I like a lot but it reminds me of a couple years when there was that one guy around here that would write crazy and long reviews all the time. I think he got banned or something. Just something that came to me the other day reading another movie thread.

kuntasensei

Well, I think people are discussing movies... but not typing up long structured movie reviews like wanna-be critics. As long as no one starts using this forum as a dumping ground for cutting-and-pasting stuff they're posting on 20 different sites to puff up their own ego, we're good.

As far as War Horse being a workout for your system, familiarize yourself with the work of Gary Rydstrom. The guy has seriously done most of the sound mixes that you know as reference material for home theater. Finding Nemo, Minority Report, Toy Story 1&2, Monsters Inc., A.I., The Haunting, A Bug's Life, Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park 1&2, Backdraft, Terminator 2... and since his return to Skywalker Sound, War Horse, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and the upcoming Pixar movie Brave. You can always count on a Rydstrom mix to have perfect surround usage and serious deep-trolling bass when the content dictates it. If he does a mix, you can bet it will be a joy to hear on your rig.

fatchowmein

Saw it at the theatre. Good, well done movie. Predictable. Long. Some excruciating WWI scenes. Reminds me a bit of The Red Violin except it's a horse instead. Wife cried. I should go pick up the Blu-ray.

andyszabler

War horse was the one of the best film by 2011 year. It is a horror and thriller film. I can watch this film, i like this film. This film's Director by Steven Spielberg and writers by Lee Hall, Rechard Curits.

Polkie2009

I keep hearing wonderful things about this great movie and I can't believe it didn't win any Academy Awards. WTH???

kuntasensei

It was nominated for plenty... but let's face it, Hugo was amazing. Let's ignore that stupid silent movie nonsense, shall we?

mufsoman

We watched this movie over the weekend and agree this was one of the better movies I've seen recently. Great story, brief but touching character development, humor, grit, (too) realistic war action, etc. Only part I didn't like too much was some of the human qualities they overlayed onto the horses....but that was minor.

bobsauto49

Watched this movie with my wife last nite! Excellent movie,hard to watch at times,cause you feel for the horses,but very well worth watching!

gdpeck

I watched this over the weekend and really enjoyed it, so thanks for the recommendation kuntasensei. I felt like it was more of a War movie than a Horse movie, and I really liked how the situations of the horse were overlaid with the individual stories of the human characters in the movie. It was a great way to portray the horrors and effects of war. As stated, the sound in this movie was outstanding. Explosions, tank and artillery rumbles, etc were powerful, and I especially like the parts where Jeremy Irvine's character was whistling to the horse offscreen to call him, and then the horse would run across the screen to where the call came from. That was a really cool directional sound effect, that really added to the enjoyment of the movie for me.