Steven Spielberg's "War House" Presented to Veterans

DreamWorks Pictures Invites Veterans to Advance Screenings of Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In honor of Veterans Day, DreamWorks Pictures has contacted select veterans organizations in 50 cities across the U.S. to extend a special invitation for veterans to attend one of the advance screenings of Steven Spielberg’s epic adventure "War Horse." The feature film, which opens in theatres in the U.S. on December 25th, is a tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Morpurgo and the Tony Award®–winning stage play by Nick Stafford, “War Horse” is one of the great stories of bravery and friendship, brought to the screen by one of the greatest directors in film history.

Veterans groups interested in attending are invited to e-mail warhorseveteransinvite@yahoo.com and include the name of their nearest city for further information on screening dates, times and locations in their vicinity.

DreamWorks Pictures’ “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

“War Horse” stars Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Toby Kebbell. It is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, and executive producers are Frank Marshall and Revel Guest. The screenplay was written by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis and is based on the book by Michael Morpurgo and the international hit stage play by Nick Stafford, originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain and directed by Tom Morris and Marianne Elliot.

Review: "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" is Better Than the Original (Happy B'day, Renee Zellweger)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 237 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for some language and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Beeban Kidron
WRITERS: Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, Adam Brooks, and Helen Fielding (based upon the novel of the same title by Helen Fielding)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Jonathan Cavendish, and Eric Fellner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Adrian Biddle and Doug Propp
EDITOR: Greg Hayden
Golden Globe nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, and Jacinda Barrett

Bridget Jones’s Diary was a comic romance – a romantic film with a huge helping of humor. The 2004 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, is a romantic comedy – a thoroughly comic film that deals with romance. Taking place several weeks after the end of the original film, The Edge of Reason should find Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) happy, right?

She found her Mr. Right in Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) by the end of Diary, but as Edge begins Bridget discovers that the couple has huge cultural, social, and personality conflicts. Mark is a conservative who has poor people-hating, rich Tory friends. Bridget is full of insecurities, although Mark is supportive and (almost) tolerant of Bridget’s tiny jealousies. However, the trouble comes to a head when Bridget meets Mark’s leggy new intern, Rebecca (Jacinda Barrett). Rebecca is thin, oh-so-young, drop-dead gorgeous, and she always says the right thing at the right time. Fed up with what she perceives as Mark’s cold lack of concern about their future together she dumps him. Just in time, her old flame, old boss, and eternal cad, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), sweeps in and to become Bridget’s new co-worker. Their television partnership eventually takes them to Thailand in what becomes the worst vacation Bridget ever had. Will Mark come to her rescue… and rescue of their relationship?

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is one of the funniest movies of the year, the funniest movie Ms. Zellweger has done to date, and funnier (though not as romantic) than the original. Ms. Zellweger gives one of the finest comic performances in recent years; it’s part slapstick and part physical comedy (lots of pratfalls). Not only did she have to give near perfect timing on the delivery of her dialogue, but also her facial ticks and mannerisms had to perfectly fit the moment, which they always do in this film.

Colin Firth didn’t bring anything new to the second film, but he didn’t need to change what he did in the original film. His film persona is endearing (even when he plays the bad guy, as he did in Shakespeare in Love); Firth makes Mark Darcy as he must be – perfectly so to explain Bridget’s craziness about their relationship. Hugh Grant is cut from the classic mold of old Hollywood. He’s a star known for “playing himself.” He is however, vastly underrated, because of his skill in slightly modifying the same character (he plays every time) to flawlessly fit each new film in which the character appears. Virtually every classic Hollywood film star from Humphrey Bogart to James Stewart did this, and Grant’s spin on his film persona is another reason Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is not only better than the original, but also a standout comedy.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2005 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger)

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"Bridget Jones's Diary" Has Fun with Words

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 236 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK/France
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some strong sexuality
DIRECTOR: Sharon Maguire
WRITERS: Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, and Richard Curtis (based upon the novel by Helen Fielding)
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Jonathan Cavendish, and Eric Fellner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stuart Dryburgh
EDITOR: Martin Walsh
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/ROMANCE with elements of drama

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Celia Imrie, James Faulkner, Jim Broadbent, Felicity Montagu, Shirley Henderson, Sally Phillips, and James Callis, Salman Rushdie, Embeth Davidtz, and Honor Blackman with Julian Barnes

Renée Zellweger earned an Oscar® nomination in the category of “Best Actress in a Leading Role” for her performance in Bridget Jones’s Diary. Bridget Jones (Ms. Zellweger) is a 30-something, single British girl who decides to improve herself (i.e. lose weight) while seeking to find Mr. Right before she becomes an old maid (if she isn’t already that in her own estimation), so Bridget decides to keep a diary of her progress and her trials and travails. Her romantic endeavors eventually focuses on two men

There’s her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), at a publishing firm, and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who was childhood neighbor. Cleaver is a cad who lays ‘em and leaves ‘em, and Darcy is a sharp-tongue, embittered divorcee, who claims to have bad memories of Bridget as a child. Who will finish the film as Bridget’s beau, and will she make an ass of herself before she finds her man?

Although the film story doesn’t amount to much, Bridget Jones’s Diary’s script is witty and bawdy enough to cause blushing. Ms. Zellweger expertly plays the fumbling Bridget Jones, who has a penchant for running off at the mouth and saying the worst things at the worst times. Like her co-stars (especially Grant and Firth), she makes the most of the film’s dialogue; ultimately, it’s what the actors say that defines their characters. If they’d delivered their lines badly, they would have ruined the film; luckily the cast verbally dances around each other like Olympic fencers.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 4 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Jonathan Cavendish), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Colin Firth), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Renée Zellweger), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, and Richard Curtis)

2002 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Renée Zellweger)

Review: "Love Actually" is Christmas and "Valentine's Day"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 71 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Love Actually (2003)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA/UK
Running time: 135 minutes
MPAA – R for sexuality, nudity, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis
PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Coulter (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Nick Moore

COMEDY/DRAMA with elements of romance

Starring: Bill Nighy, Gregory Fisher, Colin Firth, Sienna Guillory, Liam Neeson, Thomas Sangster, Emma Thompson, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Nina Sosanya, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Rodrigo Santoro, Declan Donnelly, Lúcia Moniz, Billy Bob Thornton, Rowan Atkinson, and Colin Coull

A father deals with the recent death of his wife by focusing all his attention on his young stepson’s schoolboy crush on an American girl who may soon be leaving for home. A man is deeply smitten by his best friend’s new bride, so he deals with it by acting coldly towards her. An aging rock star attempts to briefly reclaim the spotlight by dueling with a popular boy “band” for the number one spot on the charts with a Christmas song, and he does it by being a vulgar buffoon, much to the chagrin of his manager. This is just a small taste of the delights in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually.

Who would think that the British could make a feel good film as sweet, life affirming, and romantic as anything a big Hollywood studio could? Who would think that that film, Love Actually, would end up being one of the five best films of 2003? This ensemble comedy/drama about eight couples and their love lives in the five weeks before Christmas is an absolute delight.

Although the multitude of movie stars and character actors would comprise a dream team for any ensemble film, the true star of the film is writer/director Richard Curtis. An accomplished writer of British TV (the “Blackadder” series) and film (Four Weddings and a Funeral and the adaptation of the novel for Bridget Jones), Curtis had a ready-made disaster on his hands, as Love Actually starts off a bit slow and there are so many subplots to follow. However, if the viewer is patient, he can watch as Curtis brilliantly and subtly weaves together a film of tremendous power. I was completely taken in by the poignancy, the comedy, and (what I describe as) light-hearted pathos of Love Actually.

Love Actually is so feel-good, but not too sentimental. It’s a love letter to love – love of lovers, spouses, friends, and family. And when it’s done this well, there’s nothing wrong with being sweet. Love Actually makes a bad day good and a good day really fun, and the soundtrack is slammin,’ too.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:


2004 BAFTA Awards: 1 win for “Best Performance for an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Bill Nighy) and 2 nominations for “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Richard Curtis, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Duncan Kenworthy) and best supporting actress (Emma Thompson)


2004 Golden Globes Awards: 2 nominations for best motion picture-musical or comedy and best screenplay-motion picture

Buy Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)