I've spent my life writing music that no one will hear

In other movie-everybody-has-seen-but-me news, last night I finally saw Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, staring everyone on the planet.
Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆   3 out of 5 stars.
Brief Synopsis: For the fan of Steven Spielberg's sprawling epics, Daniel Day-Lewis takes us through the last four months of Lincoln's life, focusing primarily on the vote for the 13th Amendment. The dialog was the stand-out star of the film, though it was punctuated throughout by Spielberg's love for the melodramatic and moving. Knock-out performances were given by the approximately one million Hollywood actors involved in the project, though they weren't as breathtaking as all the reviews claimed. The music, composed by John Williams (of course), was the runner-up star of the film, managing an unassuming ethereal backdrop and a poignant plot arc of its own. Overall, I was left a little flat if the intent was to move and inspire me, as the majority of Spielberg's work strives for; however, I loved seeing Lincoln through the eyes of his Cabinet, and the humanizing effect the story had on all of these larger-than-life characters.

( The Acting: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Tommy Lee Jones, Lee Pace, etc etc. )

( Plot and Script: a Writer's Dream )

( A few other thoughts on the cinematography, pacing, and overall composition )

Overall, I did like the movie. I wanted to love it, but you win some and you lose some. I think it's worth seeing for the dialog alone, and the wonderful performances given by Field, Spader, and Day-Lewis.

***SPOILERS: FEW, MOSTLY BROAD DETAILS. IF SPOILERS AND HILARITY ARE YOUR THING, I RECOMMEND Thorin Dreamboatshield: An Unexpected Hotness of Dwarves***

I'm warning you at the outset that this will primarily be a review of the new HFR;RPX technology, the actor's performances, and other filmmaking thoughts of this ilk more so than story line or plot, so if you're not in the mood for cinematography babble you might want to mosey on by.


( 48FPS? But what does it MEAN? )


( All right, you've blithered on about filmmaking long enough, now what about the actual movie? )


( Now, about Martin whats-his-name and Richard Dreamboatenshield (and the rest)... )

I can't really give the film a star rating, as I feel so much of my experience was influenced by the 3D HFR;RPX. It's too hard to disambiguate the two. I will say, however, that I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing it on DVD, and at the very least it's a solid 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

In the grand scheme of things Jackson/Tolkien related, I would say, in order from favorite to least favorite, it falls thusly: 1) The Two Towers; 2) Fellowship of the Ring; 3) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; 4) Return of the King.