Speaking of United States Presidents...

...Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, and Daniel Day-Lewis' Lincoln is real good. Possibly a you-know-what piece, even. My review at MSN Movies. 

Comments

[Grant L]

Great review, with only one correction: shouldn't "It's his prudent council.." be "counsel"? Or am I just ignorant of that usage of "council"?

[Glenn Kenny]

No, "council" is used properly, as in "advice" but I guess by writing "It's his prudent council" I could be seen as referring to Seward in relation to Lincoln, but what I'm saying is that Seward's seemingly prudent advice is that Lincoln wait things out.

[Josh Z]

I believe that Grant is still correct. "Counsel" is advice or the act of giving advice. "Council" is a group of people who act in an advisory or legislative capacity.

[Glenn Kenny]

Thanks. I don't know what else to say. This has been a busy overheated time with a lot of personal concerns that I haven't discussed because I just consider it unseemly. I suppose I have been even more mistake prone than usual. I'm going to leave it at that.

[Tom Block]

Isn't "a busy overheated time" redundant?

[Brian Dauth]

What if one is running around in a snowstorm wearing only a t-shirt and gym shorts?

[James]

A what? A period piece?

[Tom Carson]

Wot, not one mention of Jackie Earle Haley? For those of us geek enough to know this or that about Confederate Vice Presidents (meaning one), that scene is killah.

[David Ehrenstein]

I saw it last night and cannot agree with you in any respect. It's "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln: The Movie." And I daresay the automaton at Disneyland that replicates Lincoln is a lot livelier than Daniel Day Lewis.

It's all about how slavery was repealed -- with African-Americans occasionally allowed to slide into the dark-mottled-with-patches-of-light compositions (pretentious and tiresome in the extreme -- as if it were a crime to fully light a shot) Slavery may be over along with Jim Crow but clearly Speilberg got these players from "Rent-a-Negro" as they are nothing more than cardboard.

Sally Field is fine as alwayst, but it was exceedingly hard to resist the temptaton to take a nap during this thing -- cerain to bore high school students draged their by teir history teachers in perpetuity. "White Elephant" Art" precisely as Manny Farber described it -- in all it's puffed-up pseudo-glory.

[billythrilly]

Does anyone else get the feeling David Ehrenstein's posts have so many spelling mistakes because he's always choking on his own rage as he types them?

[David Ehrenstein]

It's 7:14 and I need another cup of coffee.

As for my "rage" go shove it up Dinesh D'Sousa's flaccid ass.

[David Ehrenstein]

My Two Cents

http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2012/11/08/abraham-lincoln-oscar-hunter/

[Nikki@jamaicansayings]

So many movies have come out recently on Abe Lincoln. I wanted to see one that was actually a sci fi film.

The only thing that interests me about the current film, when compared to the others, is that Johnny Quino actually seems to have gotten a decent role this time. I'm tired of seeing him made to play a stereotype.

[MDL]

What do you know, David Ehrenstein and Rex Reed are in agreement on this movie. Ha. I jest. Most of the critics seem to like the film. Looking forward to it - fake beards and all.

[Oliver_C]

I'd say Dinesh D'Souza's ass is sore enough already (metaphorically speaking).

[J. Priest]

"It's all about how slavery was repealed -- with African-Americans occasionally allowed to slide into the dark-mottled-with-patches-of-light compositions (pretentious and tiresome in the extreme -- as if it were a crime to fully light a shot) Slavery may be over along with Jim Crow but clearly Speilberg got these players from "Rent-a-Negro" as they are nothing more than cardboard."

I still liked the film, but I think Ehrenstein brought up a valid point. The African-Americans in "Lincoln" are not much more than context, and they certainly don't feel as realized as other supporting figures in the picture. You can't single out "Lincoln" - this is a common problem with a lot of historical depictions of this nature. Spielberg's other films have been subject to similar complaints, but you see this all the time elsewhere, even in documentaries.

[kdringg]

Ehrenstein offers very little film criticism here other than stating the African-American characters are cardboard. He then uses a HIGHLY RACIST comment about where the Berg got them from.

Weak.

Out-smarting the film by listing artistic choices you clearly would not have made(e.g. lighting) is not quite acceptable film criticism now is it?

I clicked on your review hoping for some film criticism but what did I find? A bunch of YouTube clips from other Lincoln films sprinkled with a few sentences.

Seriously?

Don't you have to critically asses WHAT IS ON THE SCREEN and not what YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE MOVIE?

[J. Priest]

Re: the use of African-American characters, the NY Times just published an op-ed that delves more into the issue:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/opinion/in-spielbergs-lincoln-passive-black-characters.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&hp&pagewanted=all

[David Ehrenstein]

I'm just an ANGRY NEGRO kdringg

And that ain't the half of it -- now that Tony Kushner has weighed in

http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2012/11/15/abraham-lincoln-shirt-lifter/

[Thomas Prieto]

Did anyone else think that the lighting, composition, color palette, etc. were reminiscent of 19th century American paintings? Specifically, I was thinking along the lines of Thomas Eakins and Emanuel Leutze. My knowledge of 19th century American painting is rather slim, so please feel free to correct me. Thanks!