Helps to understand and appreciate that period in time

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2013)

Lincoln is a movie that is obviously character driven, and that driving force is Daniel Day Lewis. Is in a sure win for best actor, well, I'm not a professional critic or more importantly a member of the 'Academy' who everyone thanks when they win, but he will be difficult to beat, and the 'Academy' does like him (he's won two already) and Meryl Streep shows that playing a historical character doesn't hurt come nomination time. With that said, you really have to understand and appreciate the period in time and what was surrounding America. There are two reasons I'm not giving this film a 10 rating. The first is that it seemed a little too politically correct at times, and I mean this in the sense that it's just that. Kind of when someone makes a re-make nowadays and they go out of their way to change the original casting concept of the old film and now they feel the need to put in one white guy, one black guy, one Spanish and Asian character either male or female, and then a person who's sexual preference is either bi-sexual or gay. Trust me, I have nothing against any of the above, but when a film tries to hard to be politically correct it's a point off for me. At times, I feel that Lincoln gets a little politically correct at times, and I think this is a result of social pressures or expectations. Things have thankfully changed for the better over time, but there's that 10% politically correctness that knocked a point for me. The other point knocked off is for the pacing. They could have chopped off 10 or so minutes very easily, maybe 15. The reason that I still give the film an 8 is that it is well done, top notch, felt like I was in the mid 1860's, and the acting was amazing. Spielberg has a gift and I hope he never stops making movies.