HBO-HD East: Seabiscuit 8pm EST

[Sean Mota]

Summary: Proving that truth is often greater than fiction, the handsome production of Seabiscuit offers a healthy alternative to Hollywood's staple diet of mayhem. With superior production values at his disposal, writer-director Gary Ross (Pleasantville) is a bit too reverent toward Laura Hillenbrand's captivating bestseller, unnecessarily using archival material--and David McCullough's familiar PBS-styled narration--to pay Ken Burns-like tribute to Hillenbrand's acclaimed history of Seabiscuit, the knobby-kneed thoroughbred who "came from behind" in the late 1930s to win the hearts of Depression-weary Americans. That caveat aside, Ross's adaptation retains much of the horse-and-human heroism that Hillenbrand so effectively conveyed; this is a classically styled "legend" movie like The Natural, which was also heightened by a lushly sentimental Randy Newman score. Led by Tobey Maguire as Seabiscuit's hard-luck jockey, the film's first-rate cast is uniformly excellent, including William H. Macy as a wacky trackside announcer who fills this earnest film with a much-needed spirit of fun. --Jeff Shannon

 

[The Stone Man]

I watched it and recorded it last night. It is so interesting to get other people's perspectives on this movie. A lot of people said it was sad, and that they cried during it, but I think it is an UP movie where the underdog comes out on top. My wife loves horses and we had a great time watching it together.

 

[Dvlos]

I thought this was a movie I was going to hate, I absolutely do not like horse racing at all, I thought this movie was going to instantly pull at your heartstrings in an obvious and cheesy way, put that all together, and I thought I was in for a serious hatefest of a movie. With that in mind, I must say this movie features so much horse racing but all it is, is the thread that binds this movie together. You have the lives of three men that have been shattered. The owner who loses his son, Red Pollard the oversized jockey who lost his family, the solo horse trainer no one took seriously, and the horse no one in their right mind would believe in.

All these broken elements start coming together wonderfully, in a time where a hero was needed, these pieces while seperated where nothing, together formed an icon that they believed in, as well as the general public wanted to believe in. This movie is a definate up-lifting movie, and pulls on most everyone's desire to believe in a legend that's greater than life itself.

Movie was not in OAR, I rented Seabiscuit last month and have to say that the visual quality was pretty good in 1080i. Some pixelation/macroblocking in 2 or 3 scenes. The DD 5.1 sound of the horses pounding around the track is excellent with a decent subwoofer. I highly recommend catching this film.

 

[The Stone Man]

Dvlos--your review sounds professional. Good one, man.