When my daughter was young our VERY best times together were watching movies on the weekends. It was time that was sacrosanct in our family, and NOTHING was allowed to interfere because I often worked long hours and did not have much time during the week to spend with my little girl.As she grew older she, of course, developed her own tastes and it became perhaps the MOST easily recognized difference between the two of us. Simply put, she dislikes most of the movies that I love, and that sentiment is essentially shared on my side as well.
And to be honest, of the two of us, SHE really has the more highly developed cinematic palate. She likes art films, quirky independent films, and offbeat romantic movies.
In a nutshell, I like to watch things blow up.
In other words I usually go for the big blockbusters, or horror films, like for instance "The Avengers," the new James Bond movie "Skyfall," the "Total Recall" remake, the Wachowski brother's "Cloud Atlas," or the horror film "Sinister."You get the idea.
Now don't get me wrong, I ALSO enjoy other less visually stimulating movies as well, However I usually choose them for my Netflix queue, and watch them while exercising instead of in the movie theater while stuffing my face with movie theater popcorn.
However this last weekend I decided I wanted to see a more mature movie (You know one that my kid would have actually gone to with me if she were still in town), and chose the movie "Lincoln," which is based on the book by my favorite historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin.
I won't go too deeply into the movie (Spoiler alert, the Yankees win the war. You might want to break it to your southern family members gently.), however I will say that it was extremely good and extremely convoluted. I actually learned quite a bit and found myself very caught up by, and entertained with, the process of passing an amendment, which essentially is the focus of the movie.
However there was one moment that almost completely took me out of the movie.
As the Republicans (Who believe it or not were the GOOD guys in this film!) were making political deals in order to get the votes needed to pass the 13th Amendment, I suddenly noticed that the movie audience, made up entirely of middle aged or elderly patrons, were quite literally holding their breath in anticipation of the outcome.
It made me wonder if they perhaps were unaware that the slavery had indeed been abolished and that there was really NO question as to the outcome of this vote. Or did the almost exclusively Caucasian crowd hope that perhaps THIS time the outcome would be more to their liking?
I'm not sure, but it was sort of comical to watch the suspense overwhelm them. I suppose that could be attributed simply to excellent film making of course.
Oh and it was indeed an EXCELLENT movie. The cinematography was gorgeous, the sets stunningly realistic, and the acting was just this side of incredible. Part of me wants to say that Daniel Day Lewis was "unbelievable" but that is actually the incorrect term to use, in that he was actually "believable" instead, and that was what made his performance so remarkable. The man was not simply playing Abraham Lincoln, he BECAME Abraham Lincoln.
All in all it was quite the movie going experience, and I recommend it for anybody who really enjoys historical dramas, good acting, or engaging writing.
I'm not saying that it couldn't have been improved by at least one costumed superhero fighting on the side of the Union soldiers, or a zombie or two livening up the Chamber of Congress, but you know nothing's perfect.
Now if you will excuse me I have an Adam Sandler movie to watch while I work off some of this movie popcorn.
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