Lincoln

Finally got around to seeing Spielberg’s Lincoln last night. Some quick thoughts, as I’m a bit too busy today for a full-fledged review –

- Should’ve been titled The Thirteenth Amendment as the film’s main focus is not the 16th president per se, not his political career or his private life, not the Civil War, but the several weeks at the beginning of 1865 where Lincoln fights to get the amendment banning slavery passed.

- The movie itself rates a B+; Daniel Day-Lewis rates an easy A+. The Oscars judged correctly.

- The man who plays Ulysses S. Grant is absolutely 100 percent miscast.

- Man, how painful must it have been for the producer, the director, the screenwriter, heck, most of the creative staff on the film, to have to refer to the Republicans as the good guys and the Democrats as the baddies. But a tip of the hat to them for doing so.

- The two-and-a-half hour run time feels like half that; even better, I wanted it to keep going on and on.

- In addition to Day-Lewis, Sally Field was painfully great; James Spader was funny and brilliantly scummy; Bruce McGill as Stanton should’ve been given more screen time; David Strathairn as Seward less. Just my humble opinion; I guess that’s why Spielberg’s Spielberg and I’m me.

Overall, a good experience. Probably’ll pick it up for keeps somewhere down the road.