Lincoln

Okay, I will admit it: I cried multiple times during the two and a half hours of Lincoln. I have a weird thing for curmudgeonly old white men screaming at each other in wigs and banging gavels.  It gets me every time. (See my unfailing love for 1776).  Lincoln introduced me to new wig - wearers to love including the straight faced, stoic hot head Thaddeus Stephens.  I think I'm in love.  A person who can be that deadpanned and that biting while fighting for the freedom of his lover has got my vote.  Tommy Lee Jones needs to get the Oscar - he was the most enthralling part of a film drenched in big names.

What I truly appreciated about this movie was that it had a narrow focus.  It started in the fourth year of the Civil War and only referenced the death of Lincoln's son.  So many biopics try to include all factors in the lives of their main characters - it becomes too expansive and too shallow.  This movie focused on a specific segment of the life of Abraham Lincoln - the passing of the 13th Amendment.  Sure, it also addressed his married life and his relationship with his sons and did include a dramatic reveal of his well known assassination, but the main - and best - part of the movie was the political manipulations surrounding the passing of the historic amendment that constitutionally freed the slaves.