My Stovepipe Hat Off to You, Mr. Day-Lewis

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2013)

"Lincoln" is the kind of movie that it's easy to admire but difficult to love.
It would be easy to dismiss the film as pure Oscar bait, and the Academy predictably ate it up, making it the most nominated film of 2012. But to give Steven Spielberg his due, though his films have frequently been tailor made to the tastes of the Academy, I've never felt like winning awards was his primary motivation for making films. A passion for the story he's telling has always come through, sometimes so much so that it works at odds to the film's success ("Amistad," "War Horse.") In "Lincoln," Spielberg restrains himself admirably, and mostly chooses to leave out the emotional manipulation that can make his films so unbearable. The acting is the star of this movie, particularly that of Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. What Day-Lewis does isn't even acting as the term applies to pretty much any other person in the movie business. He becomes Lincoln, and if the performance isn't as showy as his transformation into Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood," it's no less amazing. Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones are the other two principals who copped Oscar noms, and both are terrific. Nearly everyone else in the world (and that includes James Spader) is in the movie -- you never know who's going to pop up next.
It takes a considerable amount of talent from all involved to make a movie about the ratification of an amendment 150 years ago -- considering we all already know the outcome -- not only engaging but downright suspenseful.
Grade: A-