Lincoln

It must be Oscar season.  Lincoln was fantastic.  I’m not a huge Steven Spielberg fan but I love history and I love period pieces.  I also love Daniel Day-Lewis.  Give me such an all-around phenomenal movie like this, and I’m a very happy girl. 

I went in with very high expectations.  I usually try not to do that because movies rarely tend to be as good as you think they will be.  Maybe that’s just me.  Day-Lewis carries us through what could have definitely felt like a long movie if not for such good pacing.  Kudos to Spielberg for his part in that as well.  Sally Fields blows us away with her razor-tongued, mad Mary Todd Lincoln.  Scene after scene as another reputable actor bursts onto the scene you almost audible say, “He’s in this too?!?!” 

Rick Carter’s production design beautifully takes us back to 1865 when the white house was a skeleton of what we’ve come to know. Joanna Johnston’s costumes continue to solidify where and when we are in history as we watch this amazing story unfold in front of us.  Obviously we know how this story is going to end, but it is so engaging we hold out hope that time will not come.  We see the fragile family and political life Lincoln so expertly navigated.  Is there anything this man wouldn’t take up?

Tommy Lee Jones is a major standout as Thaddeus Stevens.  As the recipient of Mrs. Lincoln’s harsh words, he takes a page from her husband’s book and plays the consummate politician.  He plays his character with such knowledge and understanding that I fell in love with Mr. Jones as an actor all over again.  I believe period pieces like this are a much harder job for actors.  You better bring you’re A game or everyone is going to know if you didn’t do your homework.  Not that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was bad he was just….there. 

Gulliver McGrath’s Tad Lincoln was another standout.  The way he follows Day-Lewis in their scenes and interacts-I’m in.  Can’t wait to see what he does next.  James Spader and John Hawkes are thoroughly enjoyable.  Nearly everyone in this is a true delight to watch. 

A short review for such a long movie, but I have nothing else to say except it was very well done.