Skip to main content

Lincoln (2012)

There has been a lot of hype about this movie due to Daniel Day Lewis’ performance which is possibly going to earn him an Oscar. The film is based on a novel called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abrham Lincoln written by Doris Kearns Goodwin and focuses on the final four months of Lincoln’s life where is trying to have the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constituion which outlawed slavery and involuntary sertitude passed through the US House of Representatives.

The whole movie is about this and the struggles that Lincoln has to deal with because as well as trying to get this through the house, he has to try and end the civil war. These two things work well in trying to create some dramatic moments throughout the film. At 150 minutes in length the film can afford to take its time telling this story and does so. As a result it allows you to get involved in the characters and of that period and understand why this was such an important in American History. Spielberg has a track record with important historical moments. I think Schlindler’s List is one of his best films and I thought that whilst Munich had its moments, wasn’t as good. Lincoln benefits not only from good performances but also from a good screenplay.

Daniel Day Lewis’ performance was superb with some of the speeches he gives to be fantastic and mesmorising. At times I got so involved in the movie that I forgot it was it was Day-Lewis in the role. He looked exactly like Lincoln and even though we don’t know what he sounded like, the voice seemed to suit the movie. Sally Field is also very good and does well as the first Lady. The character has issues and Field plays it perfectly. Tommy Lee Jones is one of those actors that you can trust to come up with a superb performance and here he continues that. He plays Thaddeus Stevens who comes across as a nice guy and we find out why at the end which I must admit I didn’t see coming.

Other good performances include Hal Holbrook as Francis Preston Blair and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Lincoln’s son. It seems to be impossible to watch a film with him in it.

If I had to pick an issue with the film it is that it deals with Lincoln’s death to rapidly. A large chunk of the movie is dealt with getting the amendment passed and then it feels like the next moment he has been assinated. I would have liked a bit more to this bit to have a greater sense of his loss. That said that is the only thing that I can find fault with and its not a major one which shows just what a great film it is.

Lincoln is a fanstastic film that has some outstanding performances as well as some truly wonderful directing. Spielberg knows how the tell a story and he manages to do it in this movie. One of the critiscm’s that I had heard before seeing this movie was that John Williams’ music is overbearing, well to be honest I thought the exact opposite. The music worked well and I think this may be the best movie of the year and if it wins the Oscar then I wont be too surprised.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

I really enjoyed the first Jurassic World film, yes some of the things were a bit silly and it was a bit of fan service but I still enjoyed it and thought it worked quite well. The second one took a bit of a dip in quality and the whole idea that there is a secret lab underneath a massive house did seem a bit silly. It did end with a cliffhanger and the potential for this final could have been about how we were dealing with the dinosaurs. This final part of the trilogy (whether it's the final Jurassic film is doubtful) was delayed because of the pandemic although how much of that is why this film was a huge disappointment is probably going to remain a mystery. The main problem with the film is that it feels like three movies in one. You have the Claire/Owen storyline then there is the original trio’s storyline with the return of Dodgson and then the meshing of the two. This means that it feels like they are throwing a lot at the wall to see what sticks. Dodgson is portrayed as some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Elio (2025)

Elio is a film that seemed like it could be a lot of fun based off the trailer which is a mistake as a trailer has more often than not made a film to look better than it is. The trailer didn’t suggest that Elio had lost his parents (deceased parents is such a typical Disney move) and he now lives with his aunt who works on an air force base. He gets interested in space and then wants to be abducted by aliens and gets his wish and ends up in the communiverse with a variety of different aliens. This includes a warmongering Lord Grigon. Elio is mistakenly thought of as the leader of Earth and soon finds himself trying to broker a peace with Grigon. In the middle of all this He makes friends with Glordon who is the son of Lord Grigon. Elio plans to use Glordon as a bargaining chip and when he comes to pick up fortis then things go wrong and that is when the plot really kicks in. The animation is your typical Pixar sort and it’s nice and can work in any type of story. It’s weird to think th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hallow Road (2025)

Hallow Road stars Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys who are Maddie and Frank who are woken up in the middle of the night by their daughter Alice (Megan McDonnell) who has been in an accident and the movie is basically Maddie and Frank driving to the location talking to their daughter and it all takes place in the car.  The film is basically led by Pike and Rhys. Maddie wants to call the police and use a sympathetic police officer to help their daughter and yet Frank wants to take the blame and this leads to conflict between the two. One of the reasons why the film works in the way that it does is that these two work well together despite their characters being polar opposite. The fact that the film takes place inside the car apart from the opening couple of minutes and the final few minutes and still manages to be entertaining and gripping shows how good the performances were and also the writing. Credit has to go to director Batak Anvari for keeping things ticking along and never le...
Post a Comment
Read more