War Horse - Oscar Nominations 2012

War Horse is a 2011 war epic motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. It is based on both War Horse, a children's novel set before and during World War I, by British author Michael Morpurgo, first published in the United Kingdom in 1982, and the 2007 stage adaptation of the same name. The film is currently in contention for six Academy Awards and five BAFTAs. It was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. War Horse is scheduled to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in April 2012.

The world’s most successful filmmaker likes to work in couplets, making two films in a given year, a fluffy one and a serious one (it began with his one-two punch in 1993: Jurassic Park, which transformed the special-effects industry, and Schindler’s List, which won him an Oscar); War Horse is the sober-minded yang to Tintin’s carefree yin – but a ‘serious’ Spielberg film works within certain parameters. War Horse is a good film, but it lacks an organising principle – or, more accurately, it vacillates between three organising principles.

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. The first unofficial reviews by bloggers started appearing online the day of the first preview screening, 1 November 2011, with a review appearing on Ain't It Cool News on 3 November.Although there was an embargo on official reviews of the film being published before 21 December 2011.