Lincoln

When I went to see Lincoln, I thought, as the title suggests, that the film was going to be about the President, but it wasn't. The Thirteenth Amendment would have served as a better title, as the film focused on Lincoln's efforts to pass this amendment at the end of the Civil War. My problems with the film don't stop at the title. Although I like the camera work the color palette of the film was drab at best. Lots of grays and browns which serve its purpose I suppose to recreate the time period but it made it less pleasing to the eye than it could have been. The plot was the main problem source. The film didn't seem to know where it was going or at least that's how I felt while watching it. Lincoln didn't even get to say his Gettysburg address but had it recited to him. It took a while to get to the main point of the film and there were too many tangents along the way to result in a coherent film.

The one saving grace was the great actors who never seemed to stop coming. I knew Daniel Day Lewis was going to be amazing as always but I didn't realize who else was in it. This was a good role for Tommy Lee Jones and his character, especially the final reveal at the end of the film which added a nice little twist. James Spader, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David Strathairn were all good but I really enjoyed Lee Pace even though he was a "bad guy." It was such a different role for him compared with Pushing Daisies.

I might have enjoyed the film and not have found so much fault in it had I been in a better mood. Someone in the audience were clapping and cheering on the house members as they voted to end slavery - as if they thought it was never passed or was in danger of not being passed. It'll still get Oscar nods so I guess Spielberg did his job.