Spielberg's Lincoln

[Saddletank]

Craig has said Skyfall will be his last appearance as Bond. I thought he played the character extremely well, probably the best Bond after Connery.

[RDBoles]

Saw Sky fall , I thought it was by far the best Bond movie. Going to see Lincoln tonight. Hope it will be as good as it has been hyped to be. Will report my impressions when I return.

[Flanyboy]

Craig has said Skyfall will be his last appearance as Bond. I thought he played the character extremely well, probably the best Bond after Connery.

Pierce Brosnan was my favorite but he got stuck with the worst scripts in Bond history.

Golden Eye was a gem and my favorite Bond movie ever but every other movie of his he was stuck with terrible plots and scripts.

I really like that they reinvented the Bond Universe with Craig, and the linear connection at least between the first two was a nice change of pace. Craig was passable but he also benefited from the restart of the franchise.

[privatewilley]

I agree, it was excellent! Interesting stuff about your correspondence with Tony Kushner. They must have read your book. Any of you who have not read Larry's book should. It awesome!

Saw it Saturday night, and it WAS excellent. The portrait of Lincoln is uncanny, certainly, and I agree that Day-Lewis is a shoo-in for Best Actor. What is also great about the movie is that it's about back-room politics in the days of the spoils system. It's talk-y, but it was immersive for the entire time.
I've been watching the gestation of this movie for about five years, since I was writing my Lincoln book--I actually thought they'd come out about the same time, but Speilberg dawdled.
A few years ago I corresponded with Tony Kushner, the screenwriter--who is the genius behind this movie, in my opinion--and I sent him the chapter in my book about how Lincoln talked (high-pitched voice, ungrammatical, Kentucky accent), sat (feet high up, according to his belief that tall people should keep their extremities above their torso), and walked (he put his whole foot down at the same time). Whether it was my contribution or not, they all showed up in the movie.

[RDBoles]

My report. The movie Lincoln was everything that it was hyped to be. Daniel Day Lewis was superb in the role. Truly any history buff will enjoy this movie. And for those who love movies, this one will be a delight. For the Lost Cause lovers, you will be faced with a truth that will be hard to justify,If you can. My humble report.

[Saddletank]

Sounds like I need to see this!

[Blaugrana]

Release 25 January in the UK, apparently.

[FLGibsonJr]

Excellent movie!!! I would not only recommend it to those interested in the Civil War, but to everyone.

Regards,

[cliometrician]

Just came back from seeing Lincoln and thought it to be excellent. The attention to the smallest detail I especially liked, while the the actors were great, with emphasis on the superior performances of Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommie Lee Jones.

I did not go in with great expectations, even though Speilberg directed it, as Hollywood invariably likes to insert ahistorical scenes ad infinitum. But not so here---very faithful to history.

I have given many speeches on Lincoln that focused on politics in the war, and was gratified to see so much emphasis on the political maneuvering of the day, in a way like I've seen in no other movie. In my last speech on Lincoln my topic was "Abraham Lincoln as Politician,' while Ed Bearss had "Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief." Our opposites were William C. Davis with "Jefferson Davis as Politician," and Steven Woodworth with "Davis as Commander-in-Chief." (Lincoln won the day )

And now an advertisement made purely out of self-interest. If you are looking for a Civil War book to give as a Christmas present, try mine:

David P. Smith, FRONTIER DEFENSE IN THE CIVIL WAR: TEXAS RANGERS AND REBELS

Good gaming to all!!

[Pielord92]

It's a great movie! If you haven't then you should see it.