User blog:Triforcer/Lincoln- Review Roundup



Steven Spielberg directs Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.

With the secret screening of Lincoln earlier in October and the Limited Release showing today, November 9, the consensus that it is a huge contender for the oscar is stirring Hollywood. Generally speaking, all of the reviews were favorable, and those that did have something critical to say about the film still acknowledged Daniel Day-Lewis as having raised the bar of the movie further than the actual script with his acting.

We gathered some of those very reviews right here for you, but be sure to leave your own reviews in the comments below as soon as you get a chance to see it!

Examiner
Score: 5 out of 5

The acting is the best you will see all year, the drama and story are strong and captivating, the humor is fluid and surprisingly abundant, and the whole thing feels incredibly real and authentic. This is what the Academy Awards were made for; to celebrate and reward amazing cinema. This is an incredible moment for everyone involved, but the real winner is you; the viewer.

Entertainment Weekly
Score: A

Lincoln brilliantly dramatizes the delicacy of politics, along with the raw brutality of it. All that's pushing the amendment forward is Abe Lincoln's will, his ability to do anything — even flirt with impeachable deceptions — to fulfill his vision of justice. And that's why he spends the movie alone in spirit. When he bangs his hand on the table, roaring at his lobbyists to procure him the votes he needs because he's clothed in immense power, we're seeing the birth of the presidency as we know it — a force that can shape the consciousness of the world. Lincoln is a stirring paradox, a dream of history as it might truly have happened.

Rolling Stone
Score: 3.5/4

Some scenes of unventilated rhetoric are stagy to a fault, and the script never grapples with how Lincoln's early acceptance of slavery morphed into a zeal to end it. Yet the movie holds us in its grip. Lincoln represents what Teddy Roosevelt defined as "the man in the arena," who even if he fails "at least fails while daring greatly." Spielberg, Kushner and Day-Lewis also dare greatly in giving us this complex, conflicted portrait of a great American leader. The result, glitches and all, is a great American movie.

Rotten Tomatoes
Score: 92% Fresh

Thanks in part to a phenomenal performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln is a witty, dignified portrait of the American icon that immerses the audience in its world and entertains even as it informs.

LA Times
Score: Not Given '''

Hollywood's most successful director turns on a dime and delivers his most restrained, interior film. A celebrated playwright shines an illuminating light on no more than a sliver of a great man's life. A brilliant actor surpasses even himself and makes us see a celebrated figure in ways we hadn't anticipated. This is the power and the surprise of "Lincoln."

IGN
Score: 8.3 out of 10

Overall, Lincoln is an engaging, albeit stagebound drama that finds the heart and humor in Abraham Lincoln as he led the Union during its bleakest days. The film succeeds most as a showcase for all the amazing acting talent involved, particularly the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis. It’s also one of Steven Spielberg’s finest films in years.

Comingsoon.net -Joshua Starnes
Score: 8 out of 10

"Lincoln" may be too procedural, too stagey, and too character-driven for those looking for easy entertainment or the more typical Spielberg experience. But look below the surface and you'll find not just one of his better dramatic attempts from the past decade (far superior to the Kushner co-written "Munich"), but one of the best acted films of the year.

New York Times
Score: Not Given

Go see this movie. Take your children, even though they may occasionally be confused or fidgety. Boredom and confusion are also part of democracy, after all. “Lincoln” is a rough and noble democratic masterpiece — an omen, perhaps, that movies for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Cinemablend
Score: Not Given

The best moments of Lincoln are satisfying and often very funny, but there are no emotional heights or applause moments, and very little of the twinkly Spielberg sentimentality that drowned out War Horse. Lincoln probably could have used a little more of that, actually, but it's very much in-step with its rock-steady protagonist, a man full of funny stories and aphorisms but rarely feeling more human than the marble statue we're all familiar with. For all its period polish Lincoln is almost certainly a Best Picture nominee, but that restraint will probably keep it from winning. As much as I felt truly exhausted by the film at times, I already find myself wanting to see it again for the supporting cast alone-- not exactly the mark of a great movie, but one with strengths that go far beyond its title character.

Indiwire
Score: Not Given

Aided by Kushner's script, 'Lincoln' is seriously muted compared to anything Spielberg has done before. 'The West Wing' by way of a costume drama, it tracks the abolition of slavery as a series of negotiations with major ramifications only transparently stated in the final scenes. 'This is history!' someone actually exclaims. Indeed it is, and with all that talking, 'Lincoln' eventually runs out of breath, but not before making it clear that the 65-year-old Spielberg most certainly has not.

Movies.com
Score: Not Given

Kushner’s script has no trouble eking suspense from known fact (we may have a black president, but you’ll still be biting your nails as the cast announces their votes on the 13th Amendment), but Spielberg’s smallest movie in nearly 30 years is still too big. Had the film buckled down on Lincoln, it could have been a remarkable study of a good man who gamed the system in order to better the world, but the film’s outsized vision makes it feel like a problematically narrow portrait of a nation fighting for the ideals upon which it was founded. Lincoln’s kaleidoscopic approach invites you to question why there are so few roles for African-Americans, or why Thaddeus Steven’s wife is used as a punchline. The movie has the opportunity to be precise, and instead it tries to be definitive.

New York Observer
Score: Not Given

In all, there’s too much material, too little revelation and almost nothing of Spielberg’s reliable cinematic flair. But on the plus side, there is nuance and wit, and Daniel Day-Lewis always makes you care. And you can’t deny the timing of Lincoln. In a divisive election year when the Sunday morning pundits knock themselves out debating whether the political system still works, it’s a good time to revisit a year when it did.

Wikian Reviews
Do you think Lincoln lives up to the hype? Absolutely. Maybe No Way!