Review: Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012) is a mostly engrossing, richly moral inside-baseball political drama.

Lincoln
2012
145 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

In terms of long-gestating passion projects, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (trailer/background) is much closer to Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd than Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York.  In what may qualify as irony, the film is slightly undone mostly by its perceived duty to be incredibly important.  Yes, the film is about an very important person (Abraham Lincoln) during what may arguably be the most important portion of his life (his month-long battle to bring about a constitutional end to slavery), but Spielberg's refreshingly micro-targeted biopic is at its best when it is lightest on its feet, telling what almost amounts to a political caper set at the end of the Civil War. Tony Kushner's literate and thoughtful screenplay (based on a portion of Doris Kearns Goodwin's A Team of Rivals) stages what amounts to a 1860s-set series arc from The West Wing, as a wise president blessed with verbal diarrhea articulates grand ideas and espouses telling anecdotes while those on his staff do the political dirty work to make great things happen. As a look into how politics worked in the mid-1800s, and of course how it still works today, it's surprisingly funny and endlessly compelling.  But the need to create a defining portrait of our sixteenth president creates both needlessly solemn subplots and some narrative repetition that prevents true greatness.    

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln gets a very typical biopic trailer.

Other than the lack of a second act montage detailing Abraham Lincoln's struggles with drugs and/or alcohol, this looks like a pretty conventional biopic.  But of course, A) it's a very conventional biopic trailer and B) War Horse turned out to be a far darker and somber film than it's somewhat upbeat marketing campaign suggested.  Still, and I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong, I can't imagine what new commentary or insights an Abraham Lincoln biopic has to offer at this point in time, especially one seemingly crafted so as to not offend those who understandably revere the man.  At the very least, I can only presume that Lincoln will be a splendid acting treat, with major turns by Daniel Day Lewis and about a bazillion others (check out 1:43, for a look at Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant next to someone who looks *a lot* like Seth Meyers).  The film may turn out to be a haloagraphy, and perhaps there is no fault in that.  But come what may, this one will be worth seeing purely for the performances on display, as well as the sheer fact that Steven Spielberg is still determined to matter this much 41 years after Duel.  I underestimated War Horse.  I can only hope I'm underestimating Lincoln.  Anyway, this one drops November 9th in limited release before expanding on November 16th.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson    

Weekend Box Office: Bourne Legacy tops while The Campaign and Hope Springs debut well and The Dark Knight Rises presses upward.

To the surprise of no one, the top film of the weekend was The Bourne Legacy.  With $38 million, the fourth entry in the ten-year old franchise opened well above the $27 million debut of The Bourne Identity during June 2002, but that's mostly due to ten years of inflation as The Bourne Identity's opening would equal $38 million today.  It's below the $52 million debut of The Bourne Supremacy back in July 2004, and understandably well below the $69 million opening weekend of The Bourne Ultimatum back in August 2007.  This spin-off/reboot of the Matt Damon-led Bourne series showcased Jeremy Renner as a totally different government assassin in the same world as the three prior Bourne films.  Helmed by Tony Gilroy (who had a hand in writing all three prior adaptations), Universal sadly spent $125 million on this quasi-sequel.  So if the film 'merely' approaches the $121 million gross of the first film and earns about that much overseas ($92 million for a $214 million total), it won't be profitable.  The endless loop on USA starting in 2015 won't hurt. The second and third films grossed $176 million and $227 million in the US respectively while earning $288 million and $422 million worldwide respectively (Bourne Ultimatum basically doubled Bourne Supremacy's overseas take).  If the film excels overseas, which it now must, matching the $288 million gross of Bourne Supremacy isn't out of the question (it opened in a few markets this weekend and earned $7.8 million overseas).

John Gosling previews the week's new releases (08/10/12)

This week brings us three major releases, one opening Wednesday, the other two on Friday.

The character of Jason Bourne made his debut in the 1980 Robert Ludlum book, The Bourne Identity. The story opens with Bourne being found with bullet wounds and no memory of who he is or why he has been shot. As the tale unfolds he soon discovers that he is a highly trained individual, possibly a spy or assassin, and begins to piece together the reasons why he was left for dead. Since his debut, Jason Bourne has gone on to feature in two further Ludlum penned stories, along with six written by Eric Van Lustbader (a seventh is due at the end of 2012). The character actually made his screen debut in an extended TV movie in 1988, which featured Richard Chamberlain as Bourne, and Charlie's Angels's Jaclyn Smith as Marie. While there were differences between this version and the novel, it would be a closer adaptation than the next version to reach the screen. Director Doug Liman, a fan of the book since reading it in high school, decided he wanted to adapt it for the screen while finishing up work on his breakthrough movie, Swingers. It would take two years before he could wrangle the rights from Warner Brothers and a further year of writing with Tony Gilroy before a workable script emerged. Liman discarded all but the central premise for his version, contemporising the themes and politics in the process. He also added elements garnered from his father's memoirs, a former NSA operative, who had had dealings with Oliver North - traits of whom would be the basis for the character of Alexander Conklin.

Review: Men In Black 3 (2012) is the best film in the series.

Men In Black 3 (2D)

2012
103 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

I don't know how much Men In Black 3 actually cost.  I don't know the details of the behind-the-scenes turmoil that shut the film down for a period so the filmmakers could frantically rewrite the screenplay.  I don't know what got removed and what got added or changed along the way.  But the highest compliment that I can pay this third installment in the series is that none of the backstage drama shows.  The story makes sense, there are few real plot holes, and the actors exude confidence and charm in a screenplay that balances trailer-friendly set pieces and gags with genuine storytelling and character growth.  The world may not have needed another Men In Black picture, but director Barry Sonnenfeld and writers Etan Cohen, David Koepp, Jeff Nathanson, and Michael Soccio have crafted a shockingly good one, arguably the best in the series.  This is accomplished and polished popcorn entertainment that is refreshingly light on its feet.  For what it's worth, I thought the first Men In Black was somewhat overrated while Men In Black 2 was *slightly* underrated.  Men In Black 3 is the first in the series that I would call almost-great.

Men in Black 3 gets a surprisingly 'okay' full trailer.

After the somewhat overly cryptic first teaser, this full trailer does a solid job of explaining the premise without overtly spoiling much of the plot.  Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones, now 65 years old) is apparently dead due to a ripple in time, and Agent J (Will Smith, now 43 but still looking not a day older than 28, which is how he was when the first Men In Black came out in 1997) must travel in time to the 1960s to discover some world-changing secret that apparently only K knows.  The weirdness of the ages is fully accounted for, as the post-title joke openly acknowledges the weirdness of 44-year old Josh Brolin playing a 29-year old Tommy Lee Jones.  Kudos to Sony for not revealing much more than that.

Everytime I see a link to a Men In Black 3 behind-the-scenes story, I think I'm about to see this...

"We're leaving!"

Scott Mendelson

Men In Black 3 gets an oddly confusing teaser.

Yes, we've heard about the problematic shooting for this third entry, how the film took a giant recess in order to basically rewrite the script, how the costs are now so high that it will be almost impossible to make any money back for Sony even if the film is a monster hit.  But what strikes me about the trailer are two things - A) Will Smith is well-past this kind of material, even if he doesn't seem to have aged much since 1997.  It's no secret that I think he signed on to this project in a panic after Seven Pounds was wrongly perceived as a flop (if you've seen Seven Pounds, you'd be impressed with its $168 million worldwide total).  To be honest, had Smith not felt that he needed some kind of 'box office comeback', I'm sure he would have tried to get his kids to take over.    B) This trailer is actually quite confusing.  We spend the first half with business as usual, and then after a poorly constructed 'time warp' moment, 'J' arbitrarily can't find 'K' (Tommy Lee Jones) only to be informed that he died in 1969.  I certainly have no objections with teasers that only give away the barest hints of story.  In fact if this were a better constructed trailer I'd tell Sony to stop with this one.  But the teaser is actually somewhat confusing in its narrative, especially to those who don't already know the plot synopsis.  Still, Josh Brolin looks and sounds like a perfect 'young Tommy Lee Jones' and Emma Thompson does shine on the rare occasions she gets to play in the broad comedy sandbox (come what may, Junior was quite good).  Anyway, Sony drops this one on May 25th, 2012.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson