LINCOLN

There are plenty of historical movies out there -- and most could learn from Lincoln about how to narrow their focus and make their subject gripping.

Lincoln begins after Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) has been re-elected President and is about to start his second term.  The Civil War rages on, though there are signs that the South may be ready for peace.  However, Lincoln's main focus seems to be on passing the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution -- which would abolish slavery.  Secretary of State William Seward (David Strathairn) wants to wait for passage until later in the President's term, when the House of Representatives won't be so closely split between Lincoln's Republicans and the bitterly-opposed Democrats.  Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) wants the amendment, but he may scare potential supporters by suggesting that "blacks" will then be given the right to vote, work as free men, and even (gasp!) have interracial marriages.  Even Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) fears that the amendment may both tarnish Lincoln's popularity and extend the Civil War; and she fears their son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) will become a soldier and get killed.

Lincoln is a movie about a man navigating between two separate, monumental events simultaneously: ending the Civil War and passing the thirteenth amendment.  The political maneuverings are intense, as every single vote could make the difference and political operative W.N. Bilbo (James Spader) uses everything from appointments to bribery to swing Democrats over to supporting the amentment -- or at least voting absent.  At the same time, the war is on everyone's mind, weighing on them with the cost in American lives and the potential for more bloodshed if the amendment passes.  There always seen to be African-American people around, mostly servants or soldiers, awaiting their fate without having a say in it.  And through it all, Abraham Lincoln wanders, often telling jokes and long stories but always determined to do what he feels history and America demand of him.

Lincoln is an amazing film.  The performance of Daniel Day-Lewis is extraordinary, making Abraham Lincoln a man struggling to maintain and impose his convictions even while surrpunded by perils and doubters.  The rest of the cast is also exceptional, notably Tommy Lee Jones as the idealist whose very passion may hurt his cause but who also knows his way around politics.  This movie is adapted from the book Team of Rivals, and the focus on this pivotal part of Lincoln's life keeps the film from being a padded biopic and rather focuses the audience on the one time of tension when politics and war seemed to conspire against the President.  Director Steven Spielberg combines drama and comedy equally well, getting very human and passionate performances from the cast. Lincoln is a riveting, thoughtful, and thoroughly engrossing movie.

Overall grade: A+
Reviewed by James Lynch

U.S. Marshals (1998)

I've consistently liked the film The Fugitive, and was even a fan of the CBS TV show by the same name that extended it (although I still am annoyed that the show just stopped and never had any ending of some sort). At any rate, U.S. Marshals is kind of a "companion film" to what some call "the fugitive franchise."

Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard who works for the U.S. Marshal service. The beginning starts off with some nailbiting action as a plane full of prisoners, kind of like in Con Air, but this flight is more business class than the chaos of the latter movie. After the plane crash, a prisoner is at large, Mark Sheridan, played by Wesley Snipes. Joe Pantoliano and Robert Downey, Jr. round out the fugitive hunting team that gets hastily organized. However, as the film progresses, we learn that there's more to Sheridan than meets the eye, and this is no simple manhunt for an escaped prisoner, and there are levels of complexity to this prisoner's alleged crimes which are not what they appear to be.

This film stands on its own, but it's nowhere in the same class as The Fugitive, which is a far better film in terms of plot, and pacing. I found myself kind of bored with U.S. Marshals, and the characters are not engaging or engrossing enough. While it was nice to see a reprise of Tommy Lee Jones' character of the Deputy Marshal, in U.S. Marshals it's definitely a little hollow compared to the earlier film.

Overall Grade: C+

Reviewed by Jonas

Love Story (1970)

Once in a while you find and older film that really stands out as a classic. While I was seriously young when Love Story graced the silver screen, it has stood the test of time. Directed by Arthur Hiller, it stars Ali MacGraw, Ryan O'Neal, with a small part by a youngish Tommy Lee Jones.

The premise of the story is a tale as old as time: two young lovers must go up against their disparate social levels. More specifically, MacGraw is Jennifer Cavalleri, a concert pianist studying up at Radcliffe. Her father owns a bakery in Rhode Island, and she is solid middle class. On the other hand, O'Neal is Oliver Barrett IV, and he has a few halls named after him a Harvard. His family has "megabucks" and he is solid upper class. The classes clash when he brings her home to his parents, and she clearly is not good enough in their eyes (we haven't progressed much from Becoming Jane). We follow this relationship through several years as Barrett attends and graduates from Harvard Law, as he is disowned from his parents.

This movie is definitely a tearjerker. While we start at the end, we know that their love did not last, and Jennifer is abruptly taken away from him. While the disease is never stated, I would guess, based on that it was diagnosed from a blood test, her age, and the rapid progression, and no need for surgery, that it was an acute leukemia. Thankfully, great strides have been made in the treatment of that disease, and I have no doubt she would have done much better today.

This film is well known also for its musical theme. I've had "Theme from 'Love Story'" in my collection for years, but never knew where it came from. It's actually a decent song, although it's not exactly a rocking number.

Love Story is a particularly strong film. It moves well, with strong characters that are easy to care deeply about. It is well acted, and well paced. Roughly half the film takes place in New York, and half in Boston, with the outside scenes all shot on location. This attention to detail clearly shows through, and this movie shines from all the polish. While this is an oldie, it certainly is worth seeking out, and it's amazingly timeless. It's easy to see why it was nominated for 6 Oscars, and the musical score won an Oscar award.

Overall Grade: A+

Reviewed by Jonas

No Country for Old Men

The Coen Brothers return to the crime drama with No Country for Old Men, a suspenseful murder-chase story set in Texas in the 1980s.

A stoic Texan named Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is hunting when he spies a number of jeeps in the middle of nowhere. Closer inspection reveals a bloody scene -- several dead Mexicans and pitbulls, apparently shot in a drug dispiute -- along with a massive amount of cocaine and $2 million in a satchel. Llewelyn takes the satchel of money, hiding it in his trailer and telling his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) nothing about what he saw. Unfortunately, a trip back to the scene of the crime exposes Llewelyn to the bad guys, who pursue him. The deadliest and most relentless in Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a quiet, focused psychopath whose weapon of choice is a pressurized air gun he carries around quite freely. Chigurh is also sought by Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a world-weary law enforcement official who's after Chigurh even before learning about the massacre; and Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), hired by the folks who wanted to sell the drugs initially.

Much like the movie A Simple Plan, No Country for Old Men is about a seemingly sinple act that soon spirals out of control. LLwelyn first sees the money as a chance for him and his wife to retire, but soon he's sending her to relatives and jumping at every strange car outside his new hotel room and every footsteps outside his door. There are also parallels between Llewelyn and Anton: Both men are willing to fight and kill for what they believe in -- Llewelyn for his wife, Anton for his twisted principles (such as letting someone live or die based on a coin toss) -- and think they're unstoppable in their quests. Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff is almost an innocent bystander, someone with the power of the law yet feeling like a bystander unable to stop or slow the carnage happening around him.

Joel and Ethan Coen bring a measured, steady pace to their movie that creates an air of realism (no wacky characters like in Fargo or The Big Lebowski) and generate a degree of suspense that becomes almost unbearable. The acting is first rate, with special credit for Bardem for making his killer so chilling, and the final payoff will leave you thinking. If you can handle the violence here, No Country for Old Men is an experience at the movies you won't soon forget.

Overall grade: A-

Reviewed by James Lynch