Lincoln

Lincoln goes straight into my list of all time favourite films, maybe even to the top of the list, it really is something special. It is a brilliant, brilliant movie and right now I can't think of any that have given me so much pleasure on so many levels. I will obviously need to see it again just to be sure I did witness something great, but it needs to be seen twice anyway, it's so good. You just don't get that much pleasure out of cinema that often so it would be a sin not to take full advantage of it.

Daniel Day Lewis' performance is one of the greatest acting performances I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I can't think of any other performance that was quite so powerful, so convincing, so overwhelmingly, astonishingly extraordinary. He just is Lincoln, and you just believe in him. We are seeing two great men on screen, Day Lewis the actor and Lincoln. You just know that Lincoln was exactly as Day Lewis portrays him, you feel you have to believe, and I sure do.

The voice is incredibly well done, his walk, his stooping gait, the way he holds himself, drops his head, and then you see him age right in front of your eyes. Extraordinary. How he does it is a mystery, which is I guess just how it should be.  His relationship with his wife, whom one time he calls Mrs Lincoln , when they argue about their son going off to war and are both grieving for their younger son, is beautifully portrayed. As is his relationship with various congressmen, especially Tommy Lee Jones who gives a great performance as the radical socialist politician, Thaddeus Stevens. Their is one scene with the two of them which I found very convincing, and had to take Lincoln's side even though he was asking Stevens to compromise. We don't know until the actual day of the vote on the thirteenth amendment if he does or not, but during the debate he Tommy Lee Jones delivers one of the best put down speeches you will ever see.

That's enough about this movie for now. Go and see Daniel Day Lewis deliver a towering performance, one of the best you will ever see. Thank you to Spielberg for directing his best ever film. I think back to the day many years ago when I took Iain and Anna to see ET, so I'm hoping they will both now see this film and maybe think back to that day, and wonder and be amazed at how far you have come.

And incidentally it's not often I disagree with the Good Doctor, but he gives Lincoln only three stars, or maybe three and a half at most, and he makes Zero Dark Thirty his film of the week. Just so wrong Mark, I hope you and I are not going to fall out over your reviews, which recently have been just not up to scratch.

It's a shame for Tarantino that Lincoln is out at the same time as his film Django Unchained, which I saw a few days before and thoroughly enjoyed. Totally different kind of movie, both dealing with slavery but in very distinct ways. Tarantino is back to his best with this movie, as good as his early stuff, which is a relief all round, as couldn't put up with more of the Kill Bill variety. As one would expect, lots of blood is spilt, but very tastefully done and always seems justified, or almost. Christoph Waltz gives a tremendous performance, and is rapidly becoming one of my favourite actors. If you haven't seen him in Carnage, you should do so. Great performance.

Anyway thats all for now. I've been taking a short break from my blog for past few weeks but will be back to regular posts now. Hope you didn't miss me too much and sorry if you've been looking for non existent posts recently. Back now and with more news later.