Last movie you watched......

That's Michael Parks, memorably seen in the Kill Bill movie(s). Van Dyke Parks is a musician - although Michael Parks did have a top-20 hit with the "Then Came Bronson" theme song.

 

I saw Wreck It Ralph and thought it was clever, although all of the best gags are in the trailers/clips, and the car race conceit at the end seemed a bit of a cheat.

Saw Lincoln this afternoon and was blown away by how engrossing DDL's performance was. I mean he looks just like the guy, and I presume all the tics and tales are historically accurate. An amazing performance, and a great story that reveals a little regarded aspect about American history -- that there's some down-and-dirty dealing to be had, always and by everyone.

Argo remains my movie of the year, and although Speilberg's direction was no doubt instrumental to the success of "Lincoln," I'm going with Affleck for best director, because he managed to take a familiar story and make it edge-of-your-seat riveting...plus, he made the movie look not only like it was portraying 1979...but like it was actually shot in 1979.

 

Saw "Lincoln" on Friday. I thought the performances were magnificent, especiall DDL and Sally Field but really all of them. And the movie is so beautifully shot and you can really see the Spielberg influence because every scene is arranged so perfectly with people in the right spots, etc. And John Williams' music is, as ever, wondrous.

 

Finally watched that "Tree of Life" DVD I got from Netflix in mid-July. I'll be thinking about that for a while.

 

"Jeff, Who Lives at Home" via Netflix. I have to say, through the first 45 minutes of the movie, there were moments in which I wanted to just give up and turn the movie off, but I stuck with it, and the plot points do come together in an emotional and satisfying ending.

 

The thing about Lincoln is that you watch DDL the whole time and see Lincoln. With almost everyone else I see the actors or other parts they have played -- Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Ira Lowenstein from A League of their Own, Lane Pryce from Mad Men, Bruce McGill, Lem from the Shield and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 

Great point there. I felt like I was watching the real Lincoln. When DDL was on screen my eyes were on him. He completely captured the aura and magnificence of the person.

And while I thought Sally Field, JGL and especially Tommy Lee Jones were great, I knew it was them. But not DDL.

The movie itself I really enjoyed. Such brilliant visuals and writing. It got a bit Spielbergian with some scenes and its ending, but that's a minor quibble.

 

"Shotgun Stories."

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn, damn.

Jeff Nichols and Michael Shannon should be required to make one movie a year together.

 

Saw Flight...

Overall, probably a B+. Denzel is great. Not a fan of the ending...

 

The Five-Year Engagement -

Not bad really, probably could have cut a half hour of it during some really, really awkward parts. Also, saw the bar scene with the fiance coming, was just waiting for it to happen.

 

That's funny, because I gave up about 45 minutes in...

 

I can't believe it. Spielberg showed real restraint with Lincoln. If anything, he left it a tad drier than it could've been.

The film captured the Lincoln you meet when you read Lincoln's letters and the accounts of his contemporaries. It tried to give voice to the criticisms of Lincoln. Only a few times did it wander into the sappy territory Spielberg so often falls into (the speech between Lincoln and Mary's assistant on the White House steps just felt forced).

Daniel Day Lewis is so entrancing as Lincoln I would've gladly watched a complete biography of Lincoln at a "Gettysburg" length. Which would be a massive loss at the box office, but...

Casting was pitch-perfect. A few were no-brainers (Straitharn, Bruce McGill, Jones, Hal Holbrook, Jackie Early Haley), but I loved the use of David Stuhlbarg, Tim Blake Nelson, David Costabile and James Spader. Spader and Nelson added laughs I didn't think would be there.

Only a few issues:

I thought the storyline with Robert was weak, and the film just didn't have enough time to go through all the issues Robert and Abe had. It would've been better to just hint at the disconnect rather than try to stuff that complicated relationship into the movie.

I'm not sure about the decision to go all the way through the assassination. Spielberg clearly wanted to get Stanton's "Now he belongs to the ages" in there to set up the ending, but I'm not sure it was worth an extra 10 minutes of set-up for that payoff.