Opinion of "Lincoln" (the movie)

[New_Conservative]

I haven't seen it and I might rent it tomorrow...

Thoughts from you guys on the movie?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I only saw half of it, but it was really good.

[NewYorkExpress]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

[Paul Kemp]

It's ok.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Went maybe a bit too far in sanctifiying the person Abraham Lincoln. I left the theater wondering whether Lincoln possessed any flaws at all?

On the other hand, it was a refereshingly old-fashioned, almost stage-like drama with some great performances by the actors.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Absolutely fantastic. Certainly one of my favorite movies.

[TDAS04]

Freedom movie for sure. 

[muon2]

I highly recommend it to everyone who thinks that backroom deals in Congress are somehow new things. And to show that backroom deals can result in good and important legislation.

[Free Bird]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Were you expecting anything else from the pretentious Academy that values muh art and muh social commentary over actual goodness?

[Paul Kemp]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Were you expecting anything else from the pretentious Academy that values muh art and muh social commentary over actual goodness?

What are you talking about?

Lincoln didn't contain "social commentary"?

Argo wasn't exactly an "artistic" film either... although I'm not sure why viewing a film as "art" would be a bad thing. In fact, I would say that Lincoln was trying to be more artistic of the two.

[bedstuy]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Were you expecting anything else from the pretentious Academy that values muh art and muh social commentary over actual goodness?

What are you talking about?

Lincoln didn't contain "social commentary"?

Argo wasn't exactly an "artistic" film either... although I'm not sure why viewing a film as "art" would be a bad thing. In fact, I would say that Lincoln was trying to be more artistic of the two.

Yeah, I don't get that.  The Academy Awards aren't run by a pretentious group of indie film critics.  It's also silly to put "social commentary" and "art" films in the same category.

The Academy loves biopics about historical figures and anything that has an overt, but almost universally popular message, ie racism and slavery are bad, the holocaust was bad, etc.  That's why boring biopics like the King's Speech and the Aviator get nominated.  They also love anything that's a love-letter to the movies, so Argo was perfect because the CIA uses movies to rescue the hostages. 

The Academy does not love small art films or indie films.  Those movies can never win best picture because the Academy Awards is paid advertising by the major studios for the major studios. 

[Maxwell]

I don't feel like it translated well as a film, but Daniel Day Lewis is always great.

[anvi]

I thought it was ok, especially regarding the backroom deals muon2 mentions, as well as the portrayal of Stevens.  At the time, what I didn't like about the movie, despite Lewis' good performance, was the way Lincoln was portrayed as speechifying all the time, to everyone.  I thought that made it too staged and hagiographic.  But, from what I've since read about Lincoln, he really did seem to speechify a lot, so that part may be more accurate than I first thought.  Still a bit too much hagiography.  But it's a good film, for sure.

[Lief 🗽]

Very compelling (the political horse-trading scenes especially; I think the decision to focus it so squarely on the thirteenth amendment instead of turning it into some dumb Lincoln biopic was a very good one) until Spielberg had to go and ruin everything with his goddamn stupid ending.

[Lurker]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Were you expecting anything else from the pretentious Academy that values muh art and muh social commentary over actual goodness?

What are you talking about?

Lincoln didn't contain "social commentary"?

Argo wasn't exactly an "artistic" film either... although I'm not sure why viewing a film as "art" would be a bad thing. In fact, I would say that Lincoln was trying to be more artistic of the two.

By far. I can't see how Argo was artistic at all, either. What a strange comment by FreedomHawk

[Antonio the Sixth]

Very compelling (the political horse-trading scenes especially; I think the decision to focus it so squarely on the thirteenth amendment instead of turning it into some dumb Lincoln biopic was a very good one) until Spielberg had to go and ruin everything with his goddamn stupid ending.

Oh yeah, the movie should have ended with the celebrations of the Amendment's passage. There really was no need to continue up to the assassination we all know about anyway.

[Mr. Morden]

As I recall, Lincoln came out the same year as The Dark Knight Rises.  With Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Robert Todd Lincoln in this movie, I thought it should have ended the same way that The Dark Knight Rises did (spoiler for The Dark Knight Rises follows, but highlight text to reveal):

Lincoln "dies", and Joseph Gordon-Levitt becomes the new Lincoln.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Excellent movie, would highly recommend it.

[DemPGH]

Great performance, obviously, and a sterling drama, but it failed to grab me emotionally. I left the room and came back a few times. I enjoyed it certainly, but it might have resonated more if it had been about his life as a whole rather than the political machinations and so forth, which is what I seem to remember.

[Dancing with Myself]

Decent film but it could have been a lot better. I just didn't connect to the movie as much as I hoped I would or feel emotional at the end about it but it was fun to watch and had some good performances and loved the cinematography.

I have to admit both Lewis and Sally Field owned the screen when they were on.  Their epic argument about halfway through was some of the best acting I have seen on the big screen. I was getting into it and it was awesome to watch.  Sally never got her praise because she was as good as Lewis was.

James Spader, Levitt, JE Haley,  and TL Jones were good too, especially Spader. He had the fun portion of the film.

I need to re-watch it haven't seen it since Christmas 2012.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Very compelling (the political horse-trading scenes especially; I think the decision to focus it so squarely on the thirteenth amendment instead of turning it into some dumb Lincoln biopic was a very good one) until Spielberg had to go and ruin everything with his goddamn stupid ending.

Oh yeah, the movie should have ended with the celebrations of the Amendment's passage. There really was no need to continue up to the assassination we all know about anyway.

I didn't see the ending, but I figured that is how it would have ended. IMO, the movie would have ended with the celebration of the amendment being passed and then skipped ahead to a very brief final scene on the assassination that would have highlighted how Lincoln literally was a martyr for freedom.

[tpfkaw]

The Academy does not love small art films or indie films.  Those movies can never win best picture because the Academy Awards is paid advertising by the major studios for the major studios.

The Academy gave a silent, black-and-white, foreign film Best Picture in 2012.

[Vega]

Excellent movie. I'm not sure how it lost to Argo for Best Picture at the Oscars.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Affordable Care Act, the movie.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Affordable Care Act, the movie.

Hopefully in 2160 a world-acclaimed movie will be made about President Obama's glorious struggle to bring health insurance to the people. The material's definitely there.