Monday, November 15, 2010

Secretariat

Movie name: Secretariat
Year of release: 2010
Director: Randall Wallace
Stars: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Nelsan Ellis, Margo Martindale, Dylan Baker, Dylan Walsh, James Cromwell, Fred Dalton Thompson, Scott Glenn, Nestor Serrano, Kevin Connolly, Eric Lange, Drew Roy, Amanda Michalka
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:Randal Wallace is best known for having written the screenplays for "Braveheart", "The Man in the Iron Mask" and "Pearl Harbor", though as a director he has a few films on his resume as well. "Secretariat" follows the story of Penny Chenery, a housewife in Denver, who due to the death of her mother is forced to come back to her family's horse farm to help her dad and secure the financial stability of the farm. When Penny decides to race a horse whom she won in a toss, she secures the services of trainer Lucien Laurin to help her get some victories. Penny and her horse "Secretariat" end up becoming the underdog, the one no one expected to win, but who ends up winning races and people's hearts.
Randall Wallace treats this story quite conventionally, opting for a very traditional and family oriented film. None of these elements that he shoots in this film are particularly new, namely the underdog who beats all the odds, but thanks to the wonderful Diane Lane and the always great John Malkovich, the film ends up having some energy and spark, in what would otherwise be a very standard film. The Disney studio usually releases films very much like this with a certain frequency, but certain casts make all the difference - this is the case. Not an exceptional film, but still worth watching.

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