Seabiscuit

[Johann]

I saw it so I'll review it.

Seabiscuit is actually a great film. The cinematography is gorgeous, the color jumps off the screen. A lot of effort went into this movie and it shows. As people here have mentioned before, the horse racing scenes are probably unmatched. The editing of the racing was a little too fast for me- I would have liked the filmmakers to hold a little longer on some shots- shots that were particularly striking. The sound of horses hooves' pounding into the ground reverberated throughout the theatre. Great sound.

William H. Macy is entertaining as always. His radio announcer could have a movie all to himself.

Tobey Maguire earns his paycheck, as do Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper (who's the best thing about this movie).
Textbook filmmaking. If I loved horses, this might be the holy grail.
(Although I felt we didn't see enough of "the biscuit"- it was almost all Maguire, Bridges and Cooper!)

The director Gary Ross should be proud of his accomplishment. He made a crowd-pleaser that people will love for many generations.
Seabiscuit is a true story, and you can't get a better translation.

[JustaFied]

Somewhat surprised by your positive review.

I rented this movie last week, and I couldn't get more than about three minutes into it. From the opening credits, the sentimental, tug-at-the-heartstrings music started and wouldn't stop. Then we saw some scene with Jeff Bridges (aka "The Dude") with a closeup of an overly earnest look on his face, then cut to a scene of Chris Cooper on his horse out in some pristine mountain valley. The music got louder and I couldn't take any more. It seemed like it was going to be 2 more hours of hokey, uplifting, Americana bullshit, and I wasn't in the mood.

But maybe I should have stuck with it longer. After all, it was nominated for Best Picture, right?

[Johann]

In all honesty I think I was in a fantastic mood when I saw it, and thus my review is positive.

It's got that "swelling, sweeping, dances-with-wolves" music, true, but hey, I actually liked it. There is a lot of humour in it, and who doesn't like Jeff Bridges? He's The Dude!

But I won't be buying the DVD, I can say that. It was great to see on the big screen, but I have no plans on seeing it again in my lifetime.

[JustaFied]

Yeah, I must have been in an overly cynical mood when I saw it, maybe would approach it differently at a different time / setting. It seemed to me that the movie would consist of the following stages:

1) Earnest man (Bridges) owns or buys horse to enter in race;
2) Bring in Trainer (Cooper), a somewhat eccentric man, who, like the horse, is hard to tame;
3) Add Jockey (Maguire), a scrappy, little guy with a big heart and lots of determination; and
4) Exciting race where this underdog trio wins. Uplifting story.

Probably wasn't that simplistic. At least hopefully not. And, it's true, every time I see Jeff Bridges (aka "The Dude") in a movie now I keep waiting for him to say, "Far out, man, far fucking out!".

[Johann]

You nailed it with your 4 points.
No need to see it, man!

Watch The Dude instead!

"Not on the carpet, man!"