War Horse

War Horse

On my 'Hiddles 39th Birthday' post I already mentioned that every year on his birthday, I do try to watch a movie/series in which Tom Hiddleston has a role in. Last year I had watched a part of The Hollow Crown and the year before that I had watched Midnight In Paris. This year I watched War Horse and thereby I've broke the chain of watching something of him that I hadn't seen yet, because I have seen War Horse once. Although, that was long before I've discovered the Thor/Avengers movies, so I couldn't remember much about Tom's role. So perhaps you can say I've now watched War Horse from a total different view! I really do like to write reviews/blogs about films, so I thought let's do a blog about a Tom Hiddleston movie!

Even though I'm talking about a film from 2011, in case someone who hasn't seen this film yet and is planning to, I'll warn: There are spoilers below. 

Years ago I had already experienced War Horse as a breathtaking film and seen from the fact that war related films are not so easily forgotten and because I have a weakness for animal films, parts of War Horse were still very present inside my memory. War Horse is the story of Joey, the horse seen as a Wonder Horse and the relationship that has developed between him and a young man named Albert. After several threats of taking the horse done by a horrible man named Lyon when the father faces trouble in paying their monthly payment for the farm they are living in, the father decides to sell Joey to the army who are seeking horses for World War I. Albert arrives too late, Joey is already sold to Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), who admits he totally underpaid for a well trained horse as Joey is, but he just hadn't had more to offer. During the whole film Joey manages to touch the hearts of many human he crossed paths with, Tom Hiddleston's character is the first one who separated the Wonder Horse from one of the concerning humans. 

Now I make it sound like Nicholls is just as horrible as Lyon, who I mentioned earlier. He definitely is not! (See the GIF on the side, I see the opposite of a horrible man. 😇)

The GIF where Tom Hiddleston takes off the hat and makes the average woman faint, is where he promises Albert to take very well care of Joey and if he can, he would even bring back to horse after the war is over. Scenes between Joey & Albert I found very touching, the same is to be said about Joey's following 'owners', starting with Captain Nicholls who plainly has sympathy for Albert. We get to see him making a drawing of Joey, meant for Albert. Just like Tom (I adore the pictures with him and the horse, and see the bonus picture at the end of this blog!), Nicholls has heart for animals, so despite of the circumstances, Joey still is in good hands.

Tom & Benedict

I knew that War Horse had been the first film Tom Hiddleston & Benedict Cumberbatch both portrayed in. War Horse, a film set in times of war, was the beginning of a still standing as strong as a rock beautiful friendship between Tom & Benedict. Also I very much enjoyed the first scene that Loki and Dr. Strange..- uhh.. Captain Nichols and Major Jamie Stewart shared. Two great actors who put their heart and soul into the character they are portraying.

After seeing Infinity War I've came across of a meme once that showed Loki arriving in heaven, meeting up with other decreased Hiddleston characters. One of them was Captain Nicholls, so besides that I already had guessed it, I knew his faith. I just totally didn't expected to see it happen so soon in the movie! I really thought Tom had some more screen time. This once again proofs that he doesn't need much screen time to stand out! 

Both Topthorn (Steward's black horse) and Joey were fallen into the hands of the German. This ends with a beautiful evening 'shot' as we see the wicks of the mill distracting the view of another cruel war act, created with other kinds of 'shots' that I wouldn't refer as beautiful.. But luckily, in the next scene the horses are looking in the beautiful innocent eyes of Emilie, their new next young owner. Seeing her hiding the horses into her bedroom, training Joey in the hope of learning him some tricks, is one brighter part of the movie. Although her story too has a sad history. Emilie lives on her grandfather's farm and her parents are (recently) decreased. She also suffers from a illness but as stubborn and brave as she is, she's determined to ride Joey! And she does so but you do see it coming, all good things do come to an end. Here another innocent, pure heart breaks into a million pieces when both the horses are brutally taken away from her.

Another thing I definitely like about animal related films is the developing relationship among animals. Mostly it starts with some hostility during the meet but in the end that has made a huge turn. (Well okay, this movie didn't had a lot of hostility among the two horses, perhaps for them there was enough war around them already..) War Horse really has some stunning shots in where the friendship of Joey and the black Topthorn (Hey, there's Thor in the name) was to be seen. True friendship is wanting to sacrifice yourself for the other and Joey definitely had no doubt in doing so. 💔🐎

Here's a list of animal-related movies that have touched me to:

• Two Brothers
• White Fang
• Call of the Wild
• Homeward Bound
• Life of Pi
• Lion King/Jungle Book
• Bambi
• Dolphin Tale
• Hachi
• 101 Dalmatians, Lady & The Tramp, Frank & Frey
• Black Beauty
• A Dog's Purpose
• We Bought a Zoo
• Dolittle Movie
• A Dog's Way Home

And many many more.

Just like about Loki, I can go on and on about this film. I mean, the no man's land scene and the truce Joey had created. Wow!

It's really in the details and films who are able to have beginning-details return later/in the end, mostly do something to me. They really get me. One strong detail is the regimental pennant Albert attached to Joey during saying goodbye. It later touched Tom Hiddleston's hands (😊), was used in the training done by the young girl Emilie and finally made it's way..- (Just look the film again because it's worth the watch until the very end!) In the beginning of the film Albert had learnt Joey to come to him when he made an owl sounded-like whistle. Not to mention I had experienced those scenes as highly funny when seeing Joey run over everything like a dog would do to get to his owner. When Albert did this again during the end of the movie when he heard about a Wonder Horse while he was being treated for his eyes, try to keep your eyes dry.. Really hard right?

And here's the bonus Tom Hiddleston I mentioned as a closure of this blog post!

World Animal Day

World Animal Day

Isn't it animal day all day?

It's World Animal Day. A day that still is a very popular thing among the media, which isn't bad because who doesn't want to see all those cute animal pictures on the internet? I bet for most animal keepers it's animal's day for their pets everyday!

So it is for our dogs as well. I don't think our Labrador nor our old Poodle/Maltese (during times he's awake) will notice any difference today. They are being spoiled with love everyday.

I had already dropped two puppy faces in the picture above, let‘s show a little more of our dogs! The happy faces* we see when coming home now + the faces (in grey) we still see in our memories everyday! 

The picture above is the cover of a photo-book I made a while ago. In the book I had collected almost all photo's I've had of our dogs + I scanned in the photo's of the two dogs I grew up with, who aren't with us anymore. 

I think sometimes we can learn from our pets. It‘s amazing how they are appreciating the small things. A balloon, a ball or even a cloth.. I‘m not saying we should walk around with a cloth all day, but sometimes we should just enjoy the little things in life a bit more.

A thing about animals, they do not ever show us someone they are not. They don‘t pretend to be different so that they can fit it. They are always themselves, no matter how crazy that is. We have a labrador who‘s the sweetest thing but also a big coward haha. He won‘t do what the dog below does, almost touching a cow! 

A few days ago I dreamt that Bonnie was still alive. She would have been 30 by now. There are miracles but not like that haha. In a way the dream is true because in our hearts they remain to stay forever, in there they are still alive. And I also do believe that they will never leave us anyway. In my Loki story I named my lead female character after this sweet guardian Angel of mine. I‘m publishing this story on Wattpad and today I've added a new chapter called: 'The Healing Pool'.

Here‘s a small part of the chapter:

Whole chapter here: Wattpad: A Loki Novel Chapter 3

Avengers + Animals

The person I got this blog dedicated to (You know that‘s Tom Hiddleston) also has a huge heart for animals which he often shows us. I think for Bobby, it‘s Animal Day all year long too! Here are some photo's (no pap pics) of Tom (+ three other Avengers!) with animals:

Let‘s not forget about out favorite animal Avenger! Rocket the Raccoon! (No Thor, it‘s not a rabbit. No Loki, it‘s not a skunk. No Tony, it‘s not a squirrel (refs to a story I‘m writing..) )

& Goose!

‘We should let Rocket run pass him over and over, so Loki starts to feel dizzy and starts counting. Isn‘t that how they get little kids to sleep? By counting rabbits?’ Thor was thinking out loud. 

‘A: Where are you seeing a little kid in Loki?, and B: It‘s counting sheep, not rabbits!’ Tony answered. 

‘Rabbits, sheep.. All the same to me,’ Thor shrug.

Stephen shook his head. ‘I‘m glad the raccoon hasn‘t heard any of this.’

Loki: ‘That alien cat just ate my Tesseract! Why weren‘t you guys paying attention?’ he shouted.

Now all eyes were pointed at the cat. ‘He‘s bluffing to distract us. Probably just an illusion,’ Thor responded but Stephen already had walked towards the cat. Then he picket the meowing cat off the ground, which proved Thor‘s theory wrong. 

‘Its belly is indeed glowing,’ he stated. 

Now Thor saw it too and checked the cat‘s nameplate. ‘Goose. You sweet kitty kitty cat!’ When Thor petted him, the cat started to purr. ‘Tony, did you ever own a cat?’, he asked.

‘No, not that I know of. He could just have brought it here?’ he said while hinting towards Loki.

‘Look at him. He has never seen it before. His face clearly gives that away!’ Thor mentioned. 

Tony dropped a sarcastic little laugh. ‘The guy who, just an hour ago, released an army of unearthly terrifying monsters, now is afraid of a cat? Now, that blows me off my chair!’

‘Now what, wait until he poops it out?’ Thor wondered, frowning. ‘The stone than I mean, the Tesseract- well perhaps is a bit-‘ Thor faced trouble in finishing the sentence, as his mind made the mistake of picturing the event already.

‘Hairball,’ Stephen quickly said. 

* Due privacy reasons I have not added all of my dogs names.