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Leonard Maltin

War Horse—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • December 23, 2011 6:17 AM
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  • 22 Comments
I don’t like pigeonholing films, and I’ve never been fond of the term “chick flick,” but I’d be less than candid if I didn’t tell you that several women I know and respect (including my wife) were moved to tears by 'War Horse', while I was lukewarm about it. Normally, I’m a sucker for this kind of picture, which has a great deal of sentiment built into it—but I found its execution too blatant and—if I’m not making a pun—on-the-nose.

Anonymous—movie review

  • By Leonard Maltin
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  • October 28, 2011 4:15 AM
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  • 2 Comments

There are great moments in Anonymous, from its arresting opening scene (with Derek Jacobi rushing into a Broadway theater and striding directly onstage) to recreations of the first performances ever given of Henry V and Hamlet before a spellbound throng of groundlings. I, too, was captivated during those thrilling scenes, which is why it’s so frustrating that Anonymous nearly drowns itself in a sea of confusion.

Because no one wants to tell a story in chronological order any more, this saga hopscotches back and forth through three separate time periods (not counting the modern-day framing device with Jacobi). I know this because we see David Thewlis as Queen Elizabeth’s advisor William Cecil in three different makeups: as a middle-aged man, then older, then elderly. It’s easy to keep track of the Queen because she’s played in the two later stages of life by the magnificent—