Lincoln

Lincoln has been as well received as any movie in years. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin book Team of Rivals most consider Spielberg and much of the cast to be Oscar worthy.

The movie, unlike the book, which examines the whole Lincoln Presidency, centers on the last four months of Lincoln's life. At this time Lincoln is working feverishly toward getting the 13th amendment, that which bans slavery, to be ratified by the House, the Senate having previously done so. Lincoln's fear is that with the war coming to an end that the Emancipation Proclamation might be somehow reversed as an executive order under the War Powers Act. He himself admits to the plausibility of it being reversed due to the murky process by which he was invested with such powers.

One would think this would be an easy thing, the North after all was against slavery. However Democrats, still in sympathy, with their Southern brethren, and if not for slavery against anything that might indicate an equality between the races had consistently held any thought of the amendment at bay. With the war coming to an end Lincoln has a limited time frame. He knows he needs to have the law passed before it can be used as a negotiating point for any Southern delegation.

What follows is a legislative battle that most folks today would not have presumed taking place in that long ago time. We have visions of Lincoln being all powerful, at least in the North, when in actuality he was not a popular figure to some, we think of the North holding hands and freeing the slaves in unison, this also was far from the truth. What transpired was bare-knuckled politics. A lobbying group was contracted by Secretary of State Steward to try to convert the necessary lame-duck Democrats ( those who would be leaving office in March of 1965) to change their previous votes. Nothing was above these men. Bribery, Patronage, even blackmail if necessary. It becomes evident that in the case of the thirteenth amendment one must hope that the end justified the means because it was not a pretty process.

In the end Lincoln who, while it had been attempted to insulate him from the dirty politics of the lobbyists) worked hand in hand with them in gaining the votes necessary. Lincoln was a consummate politician. He knew what buttons to push in almost every case. One gets a strong sense of his personality and also the exasperation of those around him. Always quick with a story, sometimes frustratingly so to those who revered him, and wished him to be more forceful he ran the country like I sometimes think I parent. Trying to show examples that deliver the message in a nice way but never being afraid to deliver the message as poison if need be.

Spielberg's direction is flawless, the soundtrack is elegant and the acting is the best you will find.

Daniel Day Lewis might well earn another Best Actor Oscar. None of us ever saw Lincoln in the flesh or even on video but one cannot walk out of the theater without feeling like you saw a genuine glimpse of the man.

Sally Field is wonderful as the harpy wife Mary Todd Lincoln. With stresses all her life the death of her son in the White House two years ago is a sadness that never leaves her.

Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens continues his string of improbable rolls. It has been a long way from Woodrow Call to this but Jones never misses a step.

Hal Holbrook, still alive, I did not know, plays Francis Blair, a pivotal Republican, not in office, but controlling a large block of votes who Lincoln must win to his cause and then manipulate the events and timing of the bill to stay the course and not lose his support.

Everything about this movie is first rate. The only caution I can provide is that because the movie centers on just one short time period, primarily on one piece of legislation, and the battle to get that bill passed, for those without much of an interest in politics, the process as it were, the movie can get long. For those of us who love history, are political junkies and appreciate a beautifully filmed movie it does not get better than this.

My highest recommendation for this movie.

Duel

This Stephen Spielberg movie is one of his most famous early works. Originally aired as an ABC Movie of the Week in November, 1971 the movie was later cut for distribution in theaters overseas. This movie is considered the movie that launched Speilberg on his way.

A very simple movie it stars Dennis Weaver as an electronics salesman named David Mann. Traveling on a two lane highway he comes up behind an old rusty Peterbilt truck which is going very slow and spewing a great deal of smoke. He passes the vehicle only to soon thereafter have the vehicle pass him and then once in front of him slow down again. From that point on David Mann is terrorized by the truck.

My son when watching it with me kept asking me if this was all there was to the movie. Did something else happen? I explained to him that the key to the movie was the suspense. We see Weaver's character talking to himself, we hear this thoughts to himself as he wonders how he can get out of this predicament. As the movie progresses and the car and truck progress up into the mountains and down through the canyons the situation becomes life threatening. The driver of the truck tailgates, eventually pushing and hitting his car from behind. Forcing him to drive down the mountain faster than he can David Mann struggles to keep control of his car.

At one point Mann stops at a diner and goes into a washroom to clean up and settle himself down. When he returns to the restaurant he notices the truck outside and must contemplate that the driver is with him inside. A strong scene develops where he reviews each customer and wonders if indeed that is the driver.

This movie is simple and for those kids and folks who have watched movies in the last twenty to thirty it may not offer enough. Perhaps so, but in some cases less is more and I think that Spielberg has directed a movie here that can only be seen as underrated and under recognized. This is a very suspenseful movie and makes me miss the movie of the week days when we only had three channels and those channels offered some original movies two to three times a week.

Smash

A sad confession has to be made. I have paid more attention to this show than I like to admit. I never watch the show myself I feel compelled to add. My wife watches this On Demand. I happen to be in the room.

Still as we have watched five episodes I must admit to knowing more about the show and it's plot than I would have expected. Created by Stephen Speilberg the show tells the story of the creation of a Broadway play based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

Starring Debra Messing as half of the writing tandem in charge of the play, former American Idol contestant Katherine McPhee as a sweet Iowa girl who is in her first production and Megan Hilty as the blond buxom actress who gains the part of Marilyn the show has some appeal.

My wife loves it and when I find myself asking which gay guy is that, and why is the blonde being mean to Katherine McPhee I know I should just leave the room. The production numbers do not really keep my interest but when Hilty does her breathy Marilyn part one cannot help but notice. She is magnetic.

The writing is sharp, the characters move beyond the basic stereotype and as with anything Spielberg everything is put together well. It is hard to picture the show having a large appeal and I will admit that a play about Marilyn with a similarly featured actress was a pretty smart move. Still it seems likely the show will not survive, my wife will be a bit disappointed and go back to Glee and I will pay better attention to my reading materials on late Sunday afternoons.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters is the movie from that Star Wars, E T period that is often forgotten. A Stephen Spielberg movie, this movie is a sale of obsession. Early in the movie there is a blackout in a small nameless Western City. An electrical engineer is sent out by the power company and has a close encounter with a spaceship.

Played by Richard Dreyfuss he is the hero of the film if there is one. He becomes obsessed with visions, first forming mountains in his mashed potatoes. Eventually he scares his wife and children to the point of leaving as he is fired from his job, and builds a dirt mountain on the families dining room table.

Across the world a French scientist is exploring a phenomenon in India that seems to be related to alien encounters. Deciphering a musical note through some process that I never quite grasped they decipher the code to be longitude and latitude. This site is A Devils Mountain in Idaho.

The government creates a fake railroad spill of dangerous gasses to evacuate the area. Our electrical worker is living an unkempt life obsessing on a picture in his mind. Watching the news he sees his vision, the mountain area that is being evacuated by the government.

He travels to the area, sneaks through the military cordon and is there to witness what happens. We never really see the government folks put together what is to happen but clearly they have a good idea what is to happen.

The ending is neat, the first time I saw the movie I did not see what was coming but now watching it I am surprised I did not see it coming. It is a good movie, a bit dated surely but still entertaining.

Terra Nova

Any show with Stephen Spielberg's name attached to it is going to get attention and this show has. Deservedly so. This show is set in the mid twenty second century and the world has become and enviromental disaster with people wearing masks and struggling to breathe.

Jim Shannon, his wife Elisabeth and their children Josh, Maddy and Zoe travel 85 million years into the past to the Crustecean period. Scientiests had discovered a way to travel back in time without causing a butterfly effect in time, as they are on " a different time stream."

The show was entertaining. Some of the visuals were stunning, a shot of the youngest daughter five year old Zoe feeding a long necked dino some plants was pretty amazing.

The cast features many folks I did not know but it was well acted. The issue for me was mostly that the story itself is not great. It appears that the leader of the community appears to be a good person who genuinley cares about the folks in his community. However at the end of the first episode we see that there is more afoot than we know.

Surely the mystery will unfold. The show is expensive to make so the ratings will need to be good. I plan to watch the show, not sure it is a keeper but worth checking out for a bit. I do not think it will be a hit however. It will get its full run of thirteen episodes as at 4 million per Fox will air them but will have to do well to merit a renewal. I have not seen enough yet to think that likely.

Super 8

Last Saturday my wife and my daughter went to this movie with me. We have heard the reviews and with me a Spielberg fan and my wife a Lost fan it seemed like a story we could agree on.

Plus one thing we can all agree on is that it is not summer unless you go see a pure escapist movie.

In the movie one can certainly see the traces of the fifties monster movie that Spielberg must remember from his youth. In this movie Joel Courtney plays Joe Lamb a 13 year old boy whose mother has been killed in a mill accident four months earlier leaving him with just his Dad Sheriff's Deputy Jackson Lamb. This character is played by the extremely likeable Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights fame. It may be that Chandler is now incapable of playing anyone but an earnest, likable, do the right thing in a quiet unassuming way with as little emotion expressed as possible role but if this is the case there is no doubt that he has the role down pat.

Joe Lamb accompanied by his friends to help his best friend Charles ( played by Riley Griffiths) film a zombie movie for a local film festival. Elle Fanning plays Alice Dainard a girl both the boys admire who ends up playing the female lead in thier movie. During thier filming a train goes by, a crash occurs and the kids are swept up into a plot line right out of the fifties monster movies.

This movie tells us a story, the film centers on buidling suspense in an understated way. There are chills mostly bumps in the night to provide goosebumps but in the end both the visitor terrorizing the city and young Joe learn what he says is true " that bad things happen but you have to go on living. "

A lesson we should all learn. Take your kids, take your family, take your date this is a very good summer movie.