Lincoln

Is that the real Lincoln or Daniel Day-Lewis?  Haha!  Only Steven Spielberg would cast Lincoln so perfectly!

Confession:  I'm a Lincoln nut.  I was one of those guys who used to take the kids to Disneyland and go straight to the Lincoln animatron, where I could watch the mechanical figure wax poetic and bring me back to the days of strife in our country.  The kids used to say, when will this stupid Lincoln tour be over?  I've seen nearly every Lincoln movie made.  If I could go back in time, I'd want first and foremost to meet big, tall, troubled, Honest Abe.

So Spielberg and Daniel D-L had me at the get-go.  Between the extraordinary acting and creative, poignant scripting, this film really brings the great president to life.  We get to know the man who struggled so deeply with ethics and who tried to do the right thing.  We admire Lincoln's courage in opposing slavery and we feel his pain over the human suffering and loss of life during the long, bloody war.

No spoiler, so I won't tell much.  But the film focuses on a very narrow aspect of the Lincoln period, the last few months of the presidency, when Lincoln was trying desperately to pass the 13th Amendment that bans slavery.  We learn all about Lincoln the politician who garnered votes through back doors to achieve his ends.

A drawback:  Lincoln crazies like me want more.  I would have enjoyed a much wider look at the great leader.  I would have appreciated a detailed review of the Civil War.  I wanted a big history lesson!

But who can really criticize such a fine work of art?

My prediction:  Best Actor for Daniel D-L, Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones (as the  wonderful, sassy leader of the "Republicans"), and..... BEST FILM!

A+++++++    Yeah, about as superlative as this reviewer can get!

Flight

Hollywood has given us a long list of "airplane" movies, from John Wayne's classic The High and the Mighty (my sister and I would bawl every single year they'd show it on t.v.), to the farcical Airplane! series.

Flight, directed by the always-brilliant Robert Zemeckis, is not one of them, though many theatre-goers will sit down in a movie theatre expecting it to be.

Instead, it is a gripping story of sin, betrayal, redemption.  Put in the hands of the ever-skillful acting of Mr. Denzel Washington, we watch a man who is inadequately attempting his own metaphorical flight from what he is.  I will not elaborate here; you just simply should see it.

The story line is complex and intelligent, with a few surprises along with way.  The primary characters are multi-layered.  And I came as close to experiencing an actual plane crash as I ever care to.

The supporting cast will most likely earn Oscar nods (Kelley Reilly), for they truly SUPPORT in exemplary style, including, again, a scene-stealing John Goodman.

I really, really liked this film.  Mr. Washington, you should receive an Oscar nomination for your portrayal here, but don't make a place on your mantle just yet; I'm afraid there's an actor named Daniel Day-Lewis who will probably snatch hopes from you just because he chose this year to play President Abraham Lincoln.

Skyfall (James Bond)

Skyfall is a fitting title for a film that falls flat on its face...make that its back.  See James above?  He's flat on his back!  Run for cover, James, lest your Bond franchise begin to wane!

Am I not the most irreverent film reviewer on planet Earth?  Every single reviewer out there lauds this film.  Most call it the best Bond film ever.  I've seen nothing but the highest opinions of the film.

Do these gushing, sophomoric reviews tempt me to alter my opinion?  Yeah, maybe a bit.  OK, I'll try to be balanced.

First the good:  The series does need to move its characters forward.  We thus get a change in M, Bond's boss (which, without giving anything away, is the central thrust of the story).  I think you'll like the new M...I do.  You'll get a very weird change of profiles in Q, the master of Bond gadgets. More good:  Much less silly sexism than in the old days, with Bond cavorting about like a teen who has just come into puberty.  Bond is older and wiser.  He's a serious dude.   More multi-dimensional than the old days.    Even more good:  Javier Bardem is outstanding as the effeminate villain who has a joker-like quality about him, a la Jack Nicholson in Batman.  Javier might just get a best supporting role nomination for his work.  And Judi Dench, well, Judi is Judi...always fantastic.

On to the BAD:  The plot is so contrived that its laughable.  Oh, let's just meet up in the streets so we can have chase scenes!  Bond is way too old for the role.  If Ian Fleming could see his dashing young secret agent with a grey beard, he'd probably weep!  Q as a young kid is downright silly.  One of the Bond women is way too young to be a romantic interest, and the other, pretty and sexy, simply gets done in before she and James can get something going!  So James may no longer be a silly skirt chaser, but the film is so devoid of sex it's like living in Victorian times!  The weaponry is laughable.  In an age of high-tech automatic ARs and AKs, Bond's little Walther PPK (.380 caliber back in the Ian Fleming days, 9mm today) is like a BB gun.  Albert Finney's role as the old farm caretaker is a parody of itself.  Speaking of which: Why do all the bad guys face off with James in a remote mini-castle?  What ?  Huh?

Yeah, it's a mix.

See for yourself.

Great entertainment, no matter what....which might just be the bottom line.

Argo (and a bit of history)

Valerie, you're spot on in your review below about Argo.  You indicated that it's a nail-biter and a great film.  And you said that good ol' Ben is a better director than actor.  I could not agree more.

Like Valerie, I'd suggest that readers RUN out and see Argo.  It's a great history lesson.  And it makes us proud of some very brave heroes who saved lives back in the late 70s.

Just wanted to add an interesting bit of information.  I and others were very frustrated with the Carter administration, and this is a comment coming from a Democrat.  Carter was so lovey-dovey in his manner that the Iranians did not respect him.  Was it something about perceiving our president as weak?

Then the cowboy came along!  That's him above.  Ronald Reagan said and implied in his campaign speeches of 1979 that he'd get those hostages back...and pronto!  He spoke of NEGOTIATION THROUGH STRENGTH repeatedly.

Friends of Reagan quietly revealed his plan: he'd bomb Tehran daily until the hostages were returned.

Here was the result, and the quote is from the NY Times in 1980:

Reagan Takes Oath as 40th President; Promises an ‘Era of National Renewal’–Minutes Later, 52 U.S. Hostages In Iran Fly to Freedom After 444-Day Ordeal

Argo

I don't know what you were doing in 1979, but chances are, you were glued, for a time, to the Iran hostage crisis.  A lesser known, yet equally dramatic tale was unraveling at the same time, one that neither I, nor anyone I've asked knew anything about.

When the hostage take-over happened, six American Foreign Service personnel escaped and were hidden by the Canadian diplomat for months.

True to keeping my posts brief, I'll just say that the true life story of their ingenious, amazing, nail-biting rescue has been masterfully brought to film by Ben Affleck.  The boy isn't the greatest actor, but dang, he's been evolving into a major player as a director. 

This film has a strong cast, including Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad), and John Goodman.  the pacing barely allows the audience to breathe. 

A good, GOOD, solid movie, and its authenticity pays due reverence to those unsung heroes of American military life who risk all for no glory, as they are members of an invisible club.

Cloud Atlas

Can you read what's at the bottom of this image?  "Everything is connected."

Keep that in mind.

I am probably writing this blog too soon after having viewed this conundrum of a film, as we took a sabbatical from trick-or-treaters this year and went to see this instead.  MUCH more value-added.

I shall start with the math: 

     3 directors 

+ 15 major actors

+ each actor playing 5 or 6 roles

+ a plot spanning 6 historical eras

+ a film running 2 hours and 40 minutes (with not one moment of dragging).

= one head-scratching, soul-searching, mesmerizing tour de force that secondarily pays homage to the art of acting and whose protagonist seems to be the phenomenal make-up department.  

Based on an award-winning novel by David Mitchell (which I will promptly add to my Nook), it is most briefly synopsized this way:  "An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future."

Said of the novel:  "Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian lore of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation....The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky."

This film leaves this film-goer with SOOOO much to think about.  I like that.  I am also likely to go see it again; there is just so much to absorb.  Directing and acting were superb. 

David, this film has you written all over it.  Go see it so we can discuss.  

To everyone else reading this:  Please weigh in with your comments if you've seen any of the films we post.  We'd love to hear more voices!