I\u2019m not sure that movies watched on an airplane should actually ever count as movies watched but having had the opportunity to watch both \u201cLincoln\u201d and \u201cHitchcock\u201d on a recent flight, I did want to take the opportunity to express opinions about both of them.<\/p>\n
I actually don\u2019t have that much to say about \u201cLincoln\u201d that hasn\u2019t already been said.\u00a0 The movie deals only with the period of time where Lincoln is trying to pass the Thirteenth Amendment and the resulting political shenanigans.\u00a0 (It actually gives me some comfort to watch those shenanigans as it makes our own dysfunctional political gridlock look tranquil in comparison.)\u00a0 The acting is first-rate, both by Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln and by all the supporting actors.\u00a0 (Although I wonder at the casting of Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln\u2014isn\u2019t she much older than Daniel Day-Lewis?\u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting casting decision, to say the least.)\u00a0 Tommy Lee Jones and David Strathairn are both excellent in their roles as Thaddeus Stevens and William Steward, respectively.\u00a0 Our fourteen year old thought the movie was too \u201ceducational,\u201d but I thought it was well-done, with a tone of respect but not worship.<\/p>\n
The other interesting note about \u201cLincoln\u201d is that it is very dialogue-intensive.\u00a0 There aren\u2019t many action scenes, and yet the movie rarely drags and is compelling in virtually every scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cHitchcock\u201d is a movie about Alfred Hitchcock (obviously), but it really is more about the making of the movie \u201cPsycho\u201d and the instrumental role Hitchcock\u2019s wife, Alma Reville, plays in both the making of the movie and in his life.\u00a0 Anthony Hopkins plays Alfred Hitchcock and does a lovely job making you believe he\u2019s Hitchcock without ever descending into self-parody.\u00a0 (Given Hitchcock\u2019s well-known mannerisms, this is no mean acting feat.)\u00a0 Helen Mirren is equally excellent as Alma, a woman who gave up her career for her husband but manages to tolerate Hitchcock\u2019s high-maintenance personality while keeping him grounded.\u00a0 The movie depicts a marriage of equals between two strong and idiosyncratic personalities, who have learned to live and thrive with the constant balancing act their marriage requires.\u00a0 The movie also reveals that \u201cPsycho\u201d would not be the movie that it is without Alma\u2019s assistance and input.\u00a0 The scenes revolving around Hitchcock and Alma\u2019s marriage were the scenes that resonated most with me, but the obstacles they surmounted in getting \u201cPsycho\u201d made also makes for compelling drama.\u00a0 It\u2019s an excellent movie, and I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n
It would very much help to have seen \u201cPsycho\u201d before seeing this movie, or many of the references in the movie won\u2019t make much sense.\u00a0 Everyone should see \u201cPsycho\u201d anyway, even if you don\u2019t like horror movies.\u00a0 It is a classic that rises above the genre.\u00a0 Just make sure you\u2019ve showered beforehand.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m not sure that movies watched on an airplane should actually ever count as movies watched but having had the opportunity to watch both \u201cLincoln\u201d and \u201cHitchcock\u201d on a recent flight, I did want to take the opportunity to express opinions about both of them. I actually don\u2019t have that much to say about \u201cLincoln\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41],"tags":[80,79,337],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-hitchcock","tag-lincoln","tag-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p23QXm-dh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":825,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}