War Horse Archives

War Horse on Blu-ray/DVD Digital Download and On-Demand April 3rd

March 24, 2012 by Momstart 21 Comments

War Horse, which received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, comes out on Blu-ray and DVD April 3rd. Disney is releasing WAR HORSE on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Download and On-Demand on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. From Legendary Academy Award®-winning motion picture director/producer Steven Spielberg, this critically acclaimed and Academy Award®-nominated epic adventure tells the story of the extraordinary journey of courage and friendship as seen through the eyes of one unforgettable horse named Joey, and his miraculous journey to find his way back home.

I saw this movie back in December and really enjoyed it. I loved how it captured the heart of the horse and the terrible aspects of war without really showing the gore of the war. Joey was fantastic, of course I hear there were about 15 Joeys. They were all fabulous. Then of course all the actors were fantastic too. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that the actor (Tom Hiddleston) that plays Loki in The Avengers was also in War Hose. Someone told me that about 10 times and I never got it until I made the connection myself. Because he looks completely different. Tom played Captain Nicholls. The soldier that took Joey to war.

I interviewed Emily Watson and just loved her. Emily felt the movie was filmed beautifully and as an anti-war film you really get the idea that that particular war was pointless. 4 years of carnage and so much loss of life and a terrible miss treatment of animals. Steven Spielberg captured all of that beautifully without making you watch all of the carnage. She played Rosie Narracott the mother of Albert.

Now Albert plays a very central role in the movie War Horse. He becomes the owner of Joey at a very early age and believes this horse is capable of great things. He does everything he can to prove it too, even enlists in the war to prove it.

War Horse Synopsis:

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” is one of the great stories of friendship and war— a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is currently on Broadway. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

2-Disc Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD)

Includes:

· “War Horse”: The Journey Home

· An Extra’s Point of View

Bonus Features:

Bonus features include a special 60 minute documentary (named “A Filmmaking Journey”), created by Spielberg, that offers a never-before-seen inside look into the making of WAR HORSE, a behind the scenes look at Spielberg’s Award-Winning “Dream Team” – the film’s scoring session with five-time Oscar-winning composer John Williams, a look through Producer Kathleen Kennedy‘s lens as she shares photos she took during the filming and recounts her discovery of “War Horse.”

We received a sample.

War Horse Movie Review & Exclusive War Horse Clip Featuring Emily Watson & Jeremy Irvine

December 19, 2011 by Momstart 7 Comments

With a cast line up of Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Niels Arestrup, Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irvine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Kebbell, and the amazing director Steven Spielberg, War Horse turned out to be a beautiful masterpiece.

Up until watching the movie I thought this movie was going to be completely about the war and how this horse fit into the war. The war seems like a back story to me, yeah, there is a war and it was quite a devastating war with so much bloodshed. The gentleman’s war was gone. I’m not usually a fan of war movies but I really enjoyed the emotional journey that War Horse took me on. I laughed, I cried and I thought OMG is this really going to happen. But nothing was too much. Steven Spielberg managed to go from one scene to another without showing you the gun shots. You knew they happened but you didn’t have to see it. In one scene two young boys were shot for desertion, but a windmill was turning and when they were shot the windmill blocked the action and when the windmill passed again you saw them dead on the ground. We also missed the birth of Joey. We saw from Albert’s eye, as Joey was being born he watched from behind a fence and you could tell when it happened by his sudden reaction.

War Horse is based on the Broadway production where the story is told from the horses perspective and the movie started out without words. Just music and pictures of the land and Joey. Joey was a smart horse. Albert’s dad bought Joey at an auction when he was supposed to be looking for a pulling horse. Joey was not meant for work. Albert’s dad spent too much money and it ended up where everything that family owned now rested on Joey’s ability to learn how to plow a field. Joey did it and there was hope for the family again, but then the crop was washed out by rain and they had to sell the horse to keep their house. Albert was furiously depressed to find out his father sold his horse and ran to town to beg for his horse to be returned. A war officer bought him and promised that if he could he would return Joey to him one day.

Joey touched so many lives in his four year journey during the war. He was on the English side in the beginning with the first soldier that bought him, then when the German soldiers killed all the English soldiers with machine guns Joey became a German work horse. He pulled carts and was used by the two boys I mentioned above to escape the war. They were killed on a French families’ farm and a little girl fell in love with him. The Germans came back across their land and took the Joey away from her. There he became a war horse again. This time he was used to drag those huge artillery guns. Horses died daily doing this job. It was really hard to watch. The horses were so badly mistreated. Joe escaped and then found himself in the middle of a battle field and he got caught up in the barbed wire. Ohhhh, it was another scene that was very hard to watch. Guess who joined the war, Albert did. Albert was also very brave and never gave up on finding his horse. But Albert was injured and I want you to find out how the rest of the movie goes by getting yourself to the theater to watch it.

Although some of the scenes in the movie were hard to watch, the filmography was creative, well placed and made the movie amazing. I really liked watching War Horse and can’t wait to see it again with my husband.

Behind The Movie War Horse: An Interview With Steven Spielberg

December 14, 2011 by Momstart 27 Comments

I really wanted to meet and interview Steven Spielberg myself, but I know everyone else involved with War Horse did too. He’s an important man with a very busy schedule so I understand how he had to be selective with who interviewed him. So I watched this interview and will share some of the highlights with you, and suggest that you watch the interview as well. It’s almost an hour long but so interesting and informative to watch.

An interview with Steven Spielberg.

Thoughts and Highlights From The Interview With Steven Spielberg:

The horses were choses by trial and error. Abraham and Finder were the main two horses. Finder did most of the work but both Finder and Abraham bonded the best with all of the actors. The other horses used were specialty horses, a jumper or a runner.

Steven Spielberg mentioned that they were very fortunate with Joey. The horse at times seemed to understand what was going on in the scene and he added to it with his own expressions. It was unbelievable and amazing to see myself on the screen how this happened and to hear from Spielberg that it was the horse that made that magic on the screen.

I’m really impressed listening to Steven Spielberg on his opinion of the age of children and who can see this movie. He said it’s not for little kids but parents know their child best and what their children’s viewing habits are. I know for my kids, they get terrified in a theater when the lights get dark and the music and sound is intense so I couldn’t take my children to this. I wouldn’t take my children, they are 3 and 4. It’s a war movie, use your judgment.

Ok, I have to say the more I watch of this interview the more I love Steven Spielberg. He spoke about the war but not in “unspeakable terms”. There is so much of the movie where you don’t see what happened in the war but you KNOW what happened in War Horse.

In the interview he mentioned what the single most challenging technical sequence. The single most challenging technical sequence for Steven Spielberg of the movie War Horse was when Joey went through No Man’s land. No horse was injured at all in the movie and it was so hard to make this scene. They did it at night and they were up all night and it was just quite a challenge. Here is a look at the No Man’s Land scene:

Steven also talks about how much he enjoys working with musical composer John Williams. For War Horse John Williams created three different theme piano sketches and he said he “was a goner, three handkerchiefs right there”. They also work together on where there should be and where there shouldn’t be music. I never thought about what goes behind the soundtrack before, but I have noticed how in very few movies how a moment of silence is one of the most powerful moments in the movie. I also found it interesting that he’s so flexible with the script. The script changes daily, even the actors might influence a change in the script, while filing the script went through about 25 changes. I’m just fascinated, I highly suggest you listen to this interview if you have any interest in War Horse or in Steven Spielberg and how he creates a masterpiece.

War Horse Arrives in Theaters Christmas Day.

Travel and Expenses, and photos were provided by DreamWorks.

Behind the Movie: Scholastic War Horse Teaching Guide

December 14, 2011 by Momstart 3 Comments

WAR HORSE is based on the young adult novel by Michael Morpurgo, first published in 1982. While the film is rated PG-13, it’s a great way to educate older children. I saw War Horse over a week ago and I really can’t wait to see it again. I found it very well made as it presented World War 1 to me in a way that it had never been presented to me before. Scholastic has created a War Horse Teaching Guide and I suggest that you check It out.

You can download these worksheets at Scholastic War Horse.

Scholastic also created a children’s version of the story War Horse. It’s a very quick and easy read.

Behind the Movie War Horse: Interview with Emily Watson

December 12, 2011 by Momstart 18 Comments

Emily Watson, English actor was asked to play the role of Rose Narracott in the movie War Horse. Before she considers any role she looks at her children’s schedule. Is there a holiday, she considers how long she’s going to be gone and where she’s going, how far away will she be from her family. She said when here children were younger it was easier because she could keep them with her but now has to leave them in school. In fact, she missed the first day of shooting War Horse so she could be home for the first day of school. I can’t blame her, I would want to be home for that too.

She said she just loved the scenery of where the movie was filmed. She said they filmed in the most beautiful part of England. “It’s in the southwest, in the county of Devon which is very fecund and rich and it’s a real, very traditional …..in the middle of it is this moorland called Dartmore where you can stand on it and you are not be able to see any sign of human habitation whatsoever. With these ancient outcrops of rock so that, that was pretty special to be there.”

Emily felt the movie was filmed beautifully and as an anti-war film you really get the idea that that particular war was pointless. 4 years of carnage and so much loss of life and a terrible miss treatment of animals. Steven Spielberg captured all of that beautifully without making you watch all of the carnage.

Emily was also asked about how she liked working with Steven Spielberg. She described him as a director with a lot of experience, “a lot of incredible technical feats and he’s a great action director, but he’s still very focused on performance.” And I have to say that everyone’s performance in War Horse made it an amazing and educational movie to experience.

Because of how important being a mother is to Emily Watson, I really loved Emily. I asked her what advice she would give to other mothers and she said that mother’s shouldn’t be so hard on themselves. Being a mother is hard. As a mother you have to make sure that you take a break and get some sleep. I felt like she was speaking directly to me. I’m always second guessing myself and worrying that I’m doing it wrong. From one mother to a mother, just let it go and move on. Believe you are a good successful mom providing for your family.

A little bit About Emily Watson:

Watson’s status as a leading actress in major Hollywood productions was cemented in 2002 with her roles in Red Dragon (2002), the third installment of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lechter series; the futuristic Equilibrium (2002); and, most notably, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love (2002), playing opposite Adam Sandler. While returning to the stage in 2002 and 2003 on both sides of the Atlantic, Watson has expressed interest in again working with Anderson. Emily Watson lives in London, England, UK, with her husband, Jack Waters.

All travel and expenses were covered by Disney and DreamWorks.

A Glamorous Red Carpet For War Horse

December 9, 2011 by Momstart 7 Comments

I must admit that being in the presence of Steven Spielberg was jaw dropping. I just felt like I was in the presence of greatness, I mean everything he has accomplished and many of my all time favorite movies have his name on the project somewhere. He’s fantastic and I loved how he introduced the cast to all of us before beginning the movie.

We would have met Joey too, if it wasn’t for the fact that there were 14 of them and Steven didn’t want the other 13 to get jealous.

It was a night of glamour for my friends and I too as all of us had the opportunity to get all dressed up. Before we even left the hotel I took photos of as many of the bloggers as I could and had a friend take a photo of me. I can’t remember the last time I had the opportunity to get this glammed up. While I was at the premier I felt like people thought I was someone famous. I actually had people come up to me, telling me how much they loved my dress and how spectacular I looked. It was a wonderful and humbling experience.

And you know all of Hollywood was in New York for the War Horse Premier, check out these War Horse Red Carpet Premier photos. In fact, let’s play, name that star! Please leave me a comment and tell me who is who?

Disney and DreamWorks Took care of all my travel expenses.

World Premier of War Horse Wordless Wednesday with Linky

December 6, 2011 by Momstart 14 Comments

Bloggers Amazing Race New York: The Race To War Horse

December 5, 2011 by Momstart 25 Comments

This is the most amazing experience, stressful at times but something I’ll always remember. Yesterday was the world premier of Steven Spielberg’s movie War Horse. It was an amazing movie. Each character in the movie took me down a different emotional journey. I even experienced an adrenaline rush, but that, was the journey to get to the movie.

We all met down in the lobby to get in our vans at 4:30, for a half mile trip to the Lincoln Center. The world premier of War Horse started at 6:00. When we got outside we found there was only 1 van able to hold 14 people other than the driver. There were 20 bloggers not including Marshall (our PR rep) so you do the math. 14 of us got on the van and we waited for the other van to show up. We waited and waited and waited, and then finally the other van came so we got the green light to get moving.

We started moving and 15 minutes later started actually worrying that we weren’t going to make it. Because we only moved 1 block, not even a block, it was more like 3 feet!!! We asked the driver and he said as soon as he gets to the other block traffic will speed up. NO WAY! I never believed him. Oh and I forgot to mention that we called the PR rep and told him we weren’t moving and he said he was already there. The other van had pulled a u-turn and got to the theater in 3 minutes. We told our driver to do a u-turn and he yelled something back at us that wasn’t quite as nice as a simple no. So we moved at our turtle speed and he turned and we still weren’t moving very quickly. We got to a street that he could turn on and then we found a police officer that said we can’t turn. He blocked our path and said to keep going. We went another block and that street was blocked off too. Frustrated I started asking how far it was to walk. The girls pulled up the GPS and said we’re getting farther and farther away from our destination, a few blocks had turned into a mile. We were going the wrong way! Jeana said, “I want to get off” but no one moved, not even the van. She said it again, then she said, “Seriously, I want off: and she started climbing over people. I wanted to get off too, our van driver protested saying we did not want to walk that far. Almost all of us piled out of the van anyways and guess what? We had to start running! In our glamorous attire and high heals we were running in the streets of New York.

I turned around to find that we lost some bloggers along the way, Crystal and Jeana, I asked Kas where they were and she said, they went another way. Then I suddenly thought to myself, are we going the right way? Again I started asking people to pull up the GPS, and yelled at the girls in front of me to find out if they knew where they were going. They both said no! So we stopped for just a second because we wanted to keep moving. We got the GPS up and off we went again in our heels Someone decided to take a pedi cab and as soon as we stopped one, I jumped on. The Pedi-cab only seated 3. So our group split again. Now we had the girls in the van, the girls still on the street who ended up getting a taxi, and the girls on foot.

Knowing I had a $20 in my pocket. Another blogger said she had cash so I figured we were good for the pedi-cab. It was nice to be off my heals. I started looking for my $20 and I couldn’t find it. Turns out the other blogger only had $31. Ahh, next step was breaking the news to the pedi cab driver. I told him, You might want to stop, we can’t pay you. Hmmm, he said it’s 20 per person just to stop now, I said, yeah we don’t even have that. He kindly finished out the block and said this is the street you want, go down this street and turn left on 57th. We took off running again because we only had 8 minutes to make it to the premier at this point.

As we were getting closer we were stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to change and we ran into an actor who asked us where we were going so dressed up and in a hurry. We told him what we were doing and he said he was going to the same place. I wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation and I didn’t even realize he was an actor none of us did until much later in the evening. We finally get across the street and start looking for the entrance to the Lincoln Center, I was just looking for Marshall (our PR rep). I saw him and started running towards him and he saw me too and he smiled. I was thinking I hope everyone made it since he was smiling. When I reached Marshall, he said, don’t worry you’re not eliminated you’re the second group to arrive in the Amazing Race. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to crack up laughing or have a stress break down. I decided it was funny! The three groups that abandoned the van got there at about the same time. The ones that ran the whole way got there first, my group got there second and the taxi group got there third. The van got there a little after six, but guess what…

All that worrying about getting there on time and the premier didn’t even start until 6:30pm, a half our late in typical Hollywood fashion! But be sure to check back later this week for my recap of the actual premier with photos from the red carpet. As for now, I still need that foot massage after all that running!

Getting Red Carpet Ready at Northgate Simon Mall

November 29, 2011 by Momstart 10 Comments

Yesterday, I should have stayed home and worked all day. I really need to get some posts scheduled for my trips this weekend and the next. But instead I spent the day getting ready for my trip to New York. I’m walking the red carpet again, this time with DreamWorks and the movie War Horse. So instead of buying a dress, I bought a coat, but I found such a good deal, that I ended up getting a dress and a coat. So where did I spend my day, I spent the day walking the halls of Northgate Mall. I had a snack, my hair done and found some fabulous clothing.

If you keep up with me on Facebook, I posted both of these coats and asked you guys for some help in picking out a coat. The one vote I had was for the red one and I didn’t see that vote until after I purchased the black one.

I bought a new coat because my current coat is not a dress coat. I really thought having a nice dress coat would be better, plus ever since I saw my sister had a nice black dress coat I wanted one too. While I was there and enjoying my kid less time I looked at dress too.

I think the only reason I ended up getting a dress was because I got the coat for $37.00. Amazing I know, you would think that all the sales would be over, but just because black Friday came and went doesn’t mean you won’t find a good deal. You’ll find fantastic deals at Northgate Mall in Seattle.

I got my hair cut at Regis and you know I bought a coffee and the best part was I just enjoyed my experience today in the mall without kids.

This is not a compensated post but I am a Northgate Mall Ambassador.

DreamWorks War Horse Seattle #TweetDrive 2011 Swag Bag Sponsor @SeaTweetDrive

November 27, 2011 by Momstart 3 Comments

I love working with Disney and Dreamworks and I’m super excited about walking the red carpet next weekend with Steven Spielberg. Well, he’ll be taking photos for the media while I’m walking the red carpet with 20 of my best blogging buddies. But good news SEATTLE!!! War Horse is coming to you too!

I have War Horse Screening tickets to give to the first 100 people that show up for the Seattle TweetDrive December 1 2011 at 5:30 at the Hard Rock.

Screening Date: Wednesday, December 14

Screening Time: 7:00PM

Location: AMC Pacific Place (600 Pine St, Seattle)

Join us on Thursday December 1st for a Kick-off to the Holiday season party at The Hard Rock! "Price" of admission to this fabulous party is a new toy for Treehouse! Last year, we gathered 330 toys. Can we break that record this year?

Come for the Tweetup at 5:30; stay for the music at 8:30.

The Seattle Tweet Drive is part of a national event, Holiday Tweet Drive, taking place in 36 cities. We’re collecting toys for Treehouse. Treehouse serves over 5,000 foster kids annually.

In conjunction with the Seattle Tweet Drive, MySeattleNightOut.com will hold the finale of an 8-week Jammin’ Challenge at 8:30 p.m. Come for the Tweet Drive; stay for the music! If you arrive after 8:30pm, admission to the event is a new toy for Treehouse or a suggested cash donation of $15.00. Seattle Wave Radio Jammin’ Challenge will give one lucky and talented local artist or band an opportunity to play on-stage with some of the “greats” in the Seattle music scene at Play it Forward, the All Star, Icon Jam with Music Aid Northwest on Jan 14, 2012.

Follow @SEAtweetdrive on Twitter, and please use #TweetDrive when tweeting about the event.