Weekly rewind: November 22
BY MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer
Thursday, November 22, 2012
11/22/12 at 7:14 AM
For expanded review, visit tulsaworld.com/movies.
"Lincoln"
Rating: 
(on a scale of zero to four stars)
Daniel Day-Lewis is Abraham Lincoln.
The actor's enormous skill at researching roles precedes him. It makes the high-pitched voice he employs as believable to us as does his tall, gaunt physical resemblance to our 16th president as a man of wisdom and compromise and compassion - but also a man of fierce determination, great sacrifice and pure exhaustion.
Remember how tired Bill Clinton often looked? It's what the presidency does to a person. Imagine any modern president's camera-ready appearance if they were attempting to end a bloody war on our own soil while simultaneously striving to change a national policy as divisive as slavery.
This is the great man's focus in Steven Spielberg's historical epic "Lincoln," and the filmmaker's vision and Tony Kushner's passionate script provides Day-Lewis what he needs to completely inhabit the role.
He makes Lincoln human to all who see him as something more like a marble statue. The actor takes him off the penny and brings him out of the chair at the Lincoln Memorial.
He makes Lincoln a living, breathing man of great humanity as well as surprising humor. Future generations will know Day-Lewis' portrayal as what Lincoln was like as a person. When the actor dies, a photo of him as Lincoln will be the image accompanying his obituary.
This is why "Lincoln" is such a special achievement despite some minor flaws and the director's mostly successful effort to not "Spielbergize" the movie as he did the schmaltzy "War Horse" last year.
Now showing
| Movie | Rating (on 4 scale) |
| Argo | |
| The Sessions | |
| Lincoln | |
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | |
| Looper | |
| End of Watch | |
| Wreck-it Ralph | |
| Silver Linings Playbook | |
| Flight | |
| Frankenweenie | |
| Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 | |
| Skyfall | |
| Alex Cross | |
| Here Comes the Boom | |
| Pitch Perfect | |
| Cloud Atlas | |
| Seven Psychopaths | |
| Hotel Transylvania | |
— MICHAEL SMITH, NOUR HABIB & ROBERT EVATT, World Scene Writers
Associated Images:
Daniel Day-Lewis (center), who plays Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's epic film biography "Lincoln," settled on a higher, softer voice, saying it's more true to descriptions of how the man actually spoke. DAVID JAMES / Associated Press File
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