LINCOLN

                       JACK'S BACK AND THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL
 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH, AND I LOVE FORT LAUDERDALE!

First off, let me apologize for not posting in over a week, I've been travelling and have kind of lost track of time.  At least that is all I've lost, time, unlike George who I'm about ready to strangle.  Let me explain.

When we were packing to leave for this trip, I reminded George, a couple of times, to not forget our medical supplies, especially the depomedrol, which I have to take if my lungs become congested.  Well, Mac did not forget the liquid prednisone, but he forgot the syringes, which you need to take the medicine.  Thank goodness for George's old nurse, Brenda, who is shipping us some as soon as she possibly can get them out.

We made it to Gainesville without mishap, and all the kids, Savannah, Bryton, and Camden were thrilled to see us, as was my brother Gregg, and his beautiful wife, Allison.  We arrived in time for Thanksgiving dinner, and we felt blessed to be part of this holiday, Allison's mother, Bette, sure makes delicious pies.  Yum.

Mac, Bryton and I went to a Gators Basketball game with my brother Gregg and the Gators won. something Mac and I were relieved to witness.  My brother is a huge fan of the Gators and is rather grumpy if they don't win at whatever sport they're playing.

The temperature has been approximately 80 degrees ever since we arrived, yeah, I know, it's a little hot, but this is something we just have to endure.

Mac and I did not have the lucky ticket for the half-billion powerball lottery, oh well, that probably is a little too much money for me to handle.

Did I tell you that we had an amazing trip to Manhattan?  We really enjoyed the musicals we went to, and it was fun being part of Anderson Cooper's audience for his daytime talk show, too bad the talk show has been cancelled.  The trip was a lot of fun, but I have to say the best part of it was reconnecting with my old high school chum, Darlene.

Darlene, literally hasn't changed very much.  Of course she's older, but she doesn't look it, well, hardly, and I was glad to be reminded how witty Darlene is, a quality I truly appreciate in people.

Here in Fort Lauderdale we are renting a lovely two-bedroom condominium which is just a few blocks from the ocean, every morning, Mac, Angel and I go for a walk on the beach.  Angel got the shock of her life when she went to take a drink from the Atlantic ocean and found it was salt water and not lake water, gosh, Angel can make the strangest face when she tastes something unexpected.

I know I told you in earlier posts that I won't be posting every day, I shall probably post even less while I'm down here in the South, and I hope that you won't give up reading my blog.  Its hard to write about things, when every day you are faced with the status quo.  However, I do intend to maintain my quest in watching a new film every day, and while I may not write about all of the films I watch, I plan to write about the majority of them.

Today, I shall talk about Steven Spielberg's film of "Lincoln." 

Yes, history is alive, and well as the 16th President is brought to the big screen in Steven's Spielberg's film, that is sure to make a fortune at the box-office, and sure to make others fall asleep in their chair, just like I did, but in all truth, I was very tired before sitting down to watch this movie.  However.

The film focuses on the last four months of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, and shows a more private, fragile side of the United States Commander-In-Chief. 

Instead of making a conventional biopic, Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner chose to use a single month of Lincoln's presidency, January, 1865, to examine the character, power and persuasiveness of our 16th and, arguably, greatest president.  By doing so, they reveal much about the man, his time and the difficult choices he had to make.

 

Far from being a traditional biographical drama, "Lincoln" dedicates itself to doing something very few Hollywood films have ever attempted, much less succeeded at, showing, from historical example, how our political system works in an intimate procedural and personal manner. 

That the case in point is the hair-breadth passage by the House of Representatives of the epochal 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, and that the principal orchestrator is President Abraham Lincoln in the last days of his life endow Steven Spielberg's film with a great theme and subject, which are honored with intelligence, humour and relative restraint.

If you are hoping to catch a film with plenty of action, this is not your movie, far from it.  But the film does boast an urgent density of detail, and cunning performances by Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role and Tommy Lee Jones as Stevens.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln is uncanny, giving off the sensation that this is the closest anyone alive today will ever get to seeing to the President walking around and talking to people.  Day-Lewis inhabits the character fully, in his distinctive gait and posture (his back sometimes bending into a question-mark), his reedy voice (given the painstaking amount of historical research that went into the rest of the movie, it must be based in fact,) and the more honest-feeling portrayal of his moral righteousness, which wasn't as arrow-straight as most like to think it was. 

"Lincoln," in this movie at least, was a conflicted, often tortured man, who knew what had to be done and was willing to bend certain rules and obligations to achieve his desired outcome.

"Lincoln" is a civics lesson that frequently brings life to the nation’s central political and moral debate. 

There is no end to this story, which may be why Mr. Spielberg’s much-noted fondness for multiple denouements is in evidence here.  The movie is a symphony of tragedy and hope that celebrates Lincoln’s great triumph while acknowledging the terror, disappointment and other complications to come.

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