Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln had an extremely tumultuous career as President of the United States. The Civil War and emancipating the slaves, culminating in his assassination. He was a man of many stories and loved by many and this new (albeit early) frontrunner for Oscars nails it on the head.

Lincoln is far less of a biopic than it is merely a period drama of his accomplishments in the last months of the Civil War, but as a period drama it is stupendous. Take Steven Spielberg, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, and the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis and combine them and you will get one of the greatest takes on a president ever made.

Opening in true Spielberg fashion, we are tossed right into the middle of Civil War at its peak. After an opening similar to Saving Private Ryan we meet the man, Abraham Lincoln (Day-Lewis). With many people against him, the movie follows how he helped end the Civil War and free the slaves.

Want to know what it felt like to live during 1865? See this movie. The art direction, costume design, and dialogue is how I imagine it was during this time. 

Daniel Day-Lewis became Lincoln, as he does with most of his roles. It is incredible to watch. It feels almost like watching a play where Abraham Lincoln is playing himself on stage. Sally Field as his deranged wife is astounding. I believed her emotion and felt like she actually was going crazy from losing a child. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tommy Lee Jones are perfect in the roles they play. 

With an odd amount of humor, unfortunately not joining the movie until a good 45 minutes in, James Spader's character and his other cronies are hilarious and provide some uplift and laughter to an otherwise slow movie. Without them I probably would have fallen asleep.

As a period drama this is an awesome movie, but as always seems to happen, slow movies will get lots of Oscar attention. I'm not saying that it doesn't deserve the nominations, but as of right now I don't think it should win best picture. Day-Lewis and Field are definite front runners for Best Actor and Supporting Actress. It will be quite the showdown in these categories this year. I hope anyway.

9/10