It wouldn't be me, if I wasn't late on my movie updates. It would also help if I made these posts go live instead of letting them sit in draft format on blogger. Oh well, it is better to be late than to not show up at all. November was a slow movie month. I only saw one other movie this month and, with all likelihood, won't see more than two or three movies during December. My budget is very tight and my time is very limited. Still, I managed to keep the November theme of history as I compare a time traveling movie with a historical story of one of America's greatest presidents.
For those who do not know, the 2012 King of the Hill Movie Challenge is my system for determining the best movie of year that I saw. One movie from each month will be selected and, at the end of the year, I will do a tournament style showdown where they will take each other on until the final movie has been selected. Bracket placement will be determined by the number of movies the monthly movie faced and won.
Back to the Future v Lincoln
History is a fascinating subject. Back to the Future plays with the concept of the linchpin and how one small change can result in an entire timeline changing. Lincoln, on the other hand, is a detailed look at the historical details surrounding around one of the toughest fights from one of America's most famous and perhaps most influential presidents of the United States.
The movie is an all star cast with super star director, Stephen Spielberg. The movie focuses not on the civil war, but the efforts of Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) to pass the 13th Amendment of the Constitution through the House of Representatives. The movie shows the great lengths that Lincoln took to pass this Amendment, not because it would end the war, but because it was the right thing to do. Though I am no historical scholar, I can say that there are a great number of people who to this day swear that Lincoln's motivation for the 13th Amendment was to punish the Confederate states and end the war. In Lincoln, this doubt is put to rest. Whether or not it is historically accurate is another story entirely and not one that I am in a position to debate.
Lincoln is a refreshing look at a story of a president that is often overlooked. Lincoln is mostly known for his leading the United States against the rebellion with the Confederate States. He is known for his life and his death at Ford's Theater. But the other work of his is mostly unknown. And this makes Lincoln a nice introduction into the long list of movies of this historical era.
Is Lincoln a better movie than Back to the Future? That's another one of those close calls that is hard to tell. Lincoln is filled with a top not cast and has phenomenal directing. Back to the Future is twenty-seven years old and still perfect. Lincoln has not had a chance to stand the test of time. Lincoln could contain inaccuracies and exaggerations. While it is a phenomenal movie it will need time before it can stand on it's own. And even then, in twenty-seven years, I doubt that it will have the strength to stand the way Back to the Future does.
Winner: Back to the Future
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