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Until, one evening, he meets lovely, mysterious Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz), who says she’s also 12 “more or less.” She’s just moved into the apartment next door with a creepy older man (Richard Jenkins) whom Owen assumes to be her father. Filled with adolescent rage, traumatized Owen usually plays by himself in the courtyard outside of the bleak housing complex where he lives with his distracted, soon-to-be-divorced mother (Cara Buono). Set now in 1983 in dreary, wintry Los Alamos, New Mexico, the story revolves around a lonely, timid 12 year-old, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is mercilessly tortured by the school bully (Dylan Minnette) and his buddies (Jimmy Jax Pinchak, Nicolai Dorian). I’m delighted to report that he not only keeps the subtle suspense taut but also adds some imaginative sequences involving a local police detective (Elias Koteas) that serve to amp up the tension. As satisfying as it is stimulating, “Secretariat” will make you stand up and cheer.Ģ010 Susan Granger’s review of “Let Me In” (Overture Films)Īs an avid fan of the Swedish horror film “Let the Right One In,” I was curious how Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”) would adapt this vampire thriller.

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On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Secretariat” is a sentimental, inspiring 9. And what the movie doesn’t tell you is that, after he died, it was discovered that Secretariat’s heart was about twice as big as a normal horse’s, the largest of any Thoroughbred on record. You can even glimpse the ‘real’ Penny Tweedy as part of the crowd at Belmont. The stallion’s 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes is still believed to be the greatest horse-racing performance of all time, often listed among the Top 100 sports feats of all time by any athlete. Great movies transport the audience and this one had me cheering in the grandstands for the 1973 Triple-Crown winner. Every day, wranglers carefully painted the real Secretariat’s three distinctive white “socks,” facial white stripe and star on each of the horses. If you liked “Seabiscuit,” this is the film you’ve been waiting for.įive different horses play Secretariat: four Thoroughbreds and a quarter-horse. Scripted by Mike Rich, directed by Randall Wallace and photographed by Dean Semler, it’s stunningly successful both as uplifting, crowd-pleasing entertainment and a peek into sexist world of Thoroughbred racing.

John Malkovich is magnetic and the supporting cast includes Fred Thompson, James Cromwell, Scott Glenn, Nelsan Ellis and real-life jockey Otto Thorwarth as Secratariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte. But Big Red, as he was called, needed an experienced trainer, so she recruited initially reluctant Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), an eccentric, cantankerous French Canadian.ĭiane Lane buries herself deep inside the character, conjuring up an incandescent image of a powerful, passionate, competitive woman who displays great courage and dignity mixed with raw, barely contained emotion. Through the toss of a coin, she became owner of an incredibly promising, chestnut colt, a potential champion. In 1969, Denver housewife/mother Penny Chenery Tweedy (Diane Lane) agreed to take over her ailing father’s Virginia-based Meadow Stables.

“Secretariat” comes charging onto the screen with all the trappings of a rip-roaring yarn. 2010 Susan Granger’s review of “Secretariat” (Disney)