Journal Entry for Monday, Jan 9th

War Horse Today we decided to see the new movie War Horse by Stephen Spielberg. The main backdrop for this movie is a sweeping canvas of rural England during the time of World War I. It begins with the friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. They are forcefully parted when his father ends up selling him to the army to save the family farm. The story then follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of everyone he meets until it reaches an emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. His journey provides a vivid and graphic depiction of the First World War. The movie is technically superb with some great cinema photography and a series of superb war scenes. In the end it becomes an emotional drama that tugs at your heartstrings. Even though it's long (at 2-1/2 hours) and the premise is fantasy, it is extremely well made with some superb acting. Connie really liked it and wanted to give it 5-stars; I felt that a weak 4-stars would be more accurate. Let’s compromise and give it 4-1/2 Stars. After the movie we had dinner at Ventano’s, one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Connie had the Chicken Francese, battered chicken breasts coated in egg batter & parmesan Parmesan, lightly sauteed & topped with a light lemon butter sauce. I had the Dinner Special, sea scallops and shrimp on a bed of linguini tossed in a spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic cream sauce. Both were outstanding with enough left over for tomorrow night’s dinner.