This past week was an opportunity to see Lincoln. I was looking
forward to this, knowing full well that I was going to see
performances and not gun fights and killing. This movie outlines the
last few months of Lincoln’s Presidency and his desire to end slavery
(Amendment to the Constitution) as well as end the Civil War, which
seemed to be diametrically opposed goals. If you free the slaves you
will lose the will by the South to negotiate a truce. This is a
political story really and the haggling and bartering and flat out arm
twisting that happens in politics. The players (all but Lincoln
really) are forgotten but the historic accomplishment is not. There
are tremendous supporting actors here (notably Sally Field as
Lincoln’s Wife and Tommy Lee Jones and a political opponent).
Together they form the basis for much drama in passing this Amendment.
Daniel Day Lewis has easily secured a Best Actor nomination here and
he is very effective. He is very cerebral and like anyone’s
Grandfather tells poignant and important stories to make his point.
He has some of his own people to sway the vote and in that role James
Spader is excellent. Lincoln realizes the importance of the
Amendment of course and that he can have his cake AND eat it too.
Good story telling in a story that moves along. Much the same length
as Skyfall, I did not feel it as much sitting in the seat. Do you
need to see this in a big screen? No. Does it help? Sure. But it
is worth watching as we head into Oscar time.
I have seen the trailer for Life of Pi more than once and on the face
it it (without having read the book – Canadian author BTW) it looked
cheesey. However the Ebert review was glowing and it called the movie
one of the Best of the Year. I may have to go check it out. I may
even have to check out and read the book. We’ll see. I have so many
books on the go that I need to finish a few. I saw Lincoln on my own
in a full theatre, which surprised me a bit with Skyfall and Breaking
Dawn in adjacent theaters. TOTALLY different crowd though!!
Mondays With Robbie 