Sometimes, there will be days when you find yourself enjoying a wonderful piece of art. At its conclusion, there is no doubt there is nothing that compares to the feeling of witnessing fine film. NOTHING.
Most of the time, the only way to describe it is:
"If it looks like shit. And it feels like shit. Then it's SH$&!
LINCOLN
I imagined a film that would give the viewer a true 1864 feel - a film that would raise the bar for period pieces. With a crazy civil war taking place pitting americans versus americans, the director had been given a blank canvas with unbound possibilities. Spielberg is the MASTER of war film. It was when I witnessed the normandy beach scene in "Saving Private Ryan," when I first though to myself that I could never be a filmmaker. In Lincoln, Spielberg goves us one cheap, sloppy scene that shows soldiers duking it out as if it was Wrestlemania;s main event : a battle royal.
The composition of the congress is another valuable element and with respect to this, the directoe "D," shows us how laborious his efforts were in securing a convincing cast. At least he tried. Here are the problems:
• What is up with D-Day? Remember him from ANIMAL HOUSE? I am sorry, but he was a poor choice to cast in this film.
• Why not shoot more scenes similar top the fine "Grant" scene. This was one of only a few beleivable scenes within this motion picture. D could have used more Jefferson Davis (The President of the Confederacy), even a brief glimpse of ANdrew Johnson- the only President to be impeached! I mean, if not now? When? It is such a special momnent within our country's history, and it gets tossed aside like a box of Stouffers frozen meatloaf in the freezer section of the food way. How about gioving the audience a view of the many differently named Senatros, and some of the supporting yet critcial memebers of the legilsature. There is alot thgat could have been accomplishged. INstead, we get Davis Stratharin going back and forth about pitching the 13TH AMENDMENT.
• Lincoln could have been put in a few moements that were not 100% mellow. Why not film an aggressive southern senator busting Abe;s chops, confrontng the PREZ, challeneing him? THen we could see how magical DDL's acting is. Rather, we get a young bopy second guessing Abe, and Abe holding his hand (which is one of only sa few memorable moements.
• They should have called this film "The 13th Amendment," because that is what this film centered on. A piece of paper on which the 13th amendment had been wrotten. This filnm is not about Lincoln, ity doesn't produce any quality scenes on the cicil war, and the casting og the legislature disappoints, but only half as much as how they were used - only to serve as bodies psuhing the 13th amendment.
The Tommy Lee Jones Factor: With Heath Ledger passing, TL Jones jettisoned up the rankings of best living actors. Even though Tommy has filmed some embarassing crap ( don;t ever watch "Man of the House - especially the roller skating scene - you will lose all respect that you have for Tommy Lee jones as an adctor - and an individual). there will hardkly ever be a film that achieves a score under 6 with TL Jones in it. He is that good - and his presence can make a film great - that is that.
With TLJ having the right look for a civil war period piece, you would have to be a complete manure for brains to fudge his make-up - and or make the decisions that were made about the wig he wore. We could have had TLJ fitting in "perfectly" with the time - but no - they give huim a dark black wig - without one strand of gray hair. It looks like a joke. He lookis like a woman. Such a distrubing decision has contrubted to the extremelyu poor and stunningly disappointing score this film received.
DDL once again works his magic - there is no one that can make a character come to life that DDL. However, as I state abovem he was nbot placed in any uncomfrortable settings. The chracter;s range was non-existent. We see him reflecting upon old stories, asking questons, quoting long scripted statements... it just feels like a waste of resources. The director really showed how bad he can be. Thi sfilm was a catastrophe and should not even have come close to being considered fotr an best film award. Thanks to the acadmey, the foreign press and other industry pro's fer being intelligent enough to see this film for what it really was : thrown together fast, and the haste shines through with the finished product.
LINCOLN: 4.3007
The Collection
Interesting horror film with an intriguing villain who picks a cool maks to kill with. The first set of kill sa the club evidnece a smart screenplay. I like the kentucky harvester clipper mowing through the club followed by a jam sandwich floor type. I didnp;t get to see what the villain looked lke because I turned the film off due to off-putting shooting style and lighting quality. I did think it had potential and I still like the villain. I look forward to renting it again and being able to chronicle a full-scope score. For now, this figure represents an accurate apprasial.
The Collection: 5.0009
