Lincoln

Hollywood is so lazy at times. They find an idea that is successful or even moderately successful and bleed it dry! There are too many examples to list here but just look at Gladiator. Russell Crowe wins an Oscar for doing what he loves to do in real life and that’s beating people up. Next thing you know we have a slew of awful wannabes in the form of Kingdom of Heaven (R Scott just collecting a check here) and Troy just to name a few. Both of which had bird chest aka Orlando Bloom in them and both of which also put me to sleep. Really?? Orlando Bloom had women swooning? This is almost as bad as when Mena Suvari was a sex symbol. Remember her? She was the 17 year old best friend of Kevin Spacey’s daughter in American Beauty. She wasn’t really all that cute but because she acted slutty and wanted a middle aged man this validated every wet dream during a mid life crisis that’s been had since the 1920’s. This is around the time we all agreed that 40 year old men marrying teenagers was creepy! I mean, I can see me falling all over Suvari because I’m not old, I don’t have a daughter, and I am from small town Texas where  marrying women who are barely of age is encouraged. But come on guys, it’s ok to still have your weird fantasies, just do so with your magazines in your dungeons. Which now have the PC name of “man cave”. 

Anyway, that rant totally got me off the point of Hollywood’s laziness. You had Baz Lozenger’s Romeo and Juliet which led to the overhyped Shakespeare in Love. You had the race to see who could get the first Alexander movie made.  And now there’s the latest trend of every movie needing to have a vampire or Abe Lincoln in it. Or in one case both! We just suffered through Abraham Lincoln :Vampire Hunter and now we have Steven Spielbergo’s version of Lincoln.
http://onlyfreshness.blogspot.com/2012/06/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter.html

If you want to see Daniel Day Lewis put on an acting clinic or if you just happen to be a slight history buff then this movie is for you. If you don’t fall into either of these categories and you are just looking to be entertained, then skip it.  This movie is about the final few months of Lincoln’s life and his battle to get the 13^th Amendment passed. It takes you behind the scenes of all the negotiating, debating, and politicking that was needed to get it done. Sadly, some of the discussions that took place in Congress then are eerily similar in tone and in behavior to what you still see today. So naturally this leads to the question of how accurate is the material. Well it’s based off of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book and most people have agreed that it’s fairly accurate. Also the strategy that Lincoln uses to try and gain votes is totally plausible and not overly dramatized by Spielberg; which he has a tendency to do.  The only problem is, this is the majority of the movie.  148 minutes of talking. 

The cool part is that the first 2 minutes of the movie, Spielberg gives you a Civil War fight scene that is just as gruesome and engaging  as Saving Private Ryan’s opening scene was. But after that, it’s kind of a snooze fest. You do get some insight into who Lincoln was when he wasn't delivering moving speeches. Apparently he was a funny dude who told great stories that everyone loved.  He felt like the modern day version Bill Cosby. You can tell he’s old and his storytelling takes a little longer than it should but he is still probably the smartest man in the room.  Everyone knows the great lengths Daniel Day Lewis takes in preparing for a role. And this was no different as stories of him never getting out of character have been floating around. He nails both Lincoln’s voice and the job of perfecting the mannerisms  and emotions of a man whose health is failing after bearing this huge burden of trying to unite a war torn nation, grieving the death of a son, and trying to pass one of the most important Amendments in our country’s history. 

Throw in the fact that his son looks like Heath Ledger for the majority of the movie and that has to be confusing for an old man. Seriously, Gordon-Levitt looked just like Ledger in The Patriot! Sally Field was hilarious in it. Younger people who don’t remember her will think that it’s a great performance but it’s really just her screaming and crying every chance she gets. Just like in Soapdish. Yes, I’ve seen that movie a thousand times and yes I’m straight.  Even though I liked this movie, I will give it a rating of kind of WEAK!