The title made me .

It's 2 in the morning, so these are my thoughts in brief. It's good, guys. Really good. Spielberg is, for the most part, restrained and not cloying. The screenplay is pretty phenomenal. The character development of both Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln is just plain great. This Lincoln isn't the perfect hero that history (and his peers) makes him out to be, but Spielberg doesn't just give him a limp and say, "Look, he's flawed!" Lincoln has equal passion and depression, but above all he has hope. It doesn't go out of its way to either glorify the man or point out his flaws. It's just a portrait of him, as he was while he lived.

Daniel Day-Lewis has already won the Oscar. Don't even bother with the nominations, it's his to lose. He plays Lincoln with tremendous, but subtle, physical presence. Also, I wouldn't rule out Tommy Lee Jones for a Supporting Actor nod for his Thaddeus Stevens. Sally Field, also great, doing great work with a character that may have turned one-note in the hands of a lesser actress. And for you Breaking Bad fans, Gale Boetticher himself, Mr. David Costabile, turns in a great supporting turn as abolitionist James Ashley.

Lincoln is a movie made entirely by professionals at the top of their game. There isn't a weak link here. Everything works like clockwork, and the movie has a very natural flow to it. The only glaring flaw is the ending, which feels tacked on, unnecessary, and is poorly executed. Other than that, though, Lincoln is pretty much a triumph for everyone involved. Is it wondrous, revelatory, a sight to behold? No. What it is is 99.9% solid. How many movies this year can you honestly say that about? I can think of few.

Not to spoil anything (because there is a small element to be spoiled), but the way the film deals with his assassination is ham-fisted. I felt a little insulted, to be honest. Which sucks, because everything that comes before it is so damn good. It's one of those things where there's a perfect moment to end the film on, and then there's still ten minutes left. I get that you kind of have to include his death, but surprisingly the movie would have been a lot stronger if it were excised entirely.

a West Wing prequel, eh?

Just watched it. Perfect movie on every level. Legally, historically, politically, story-ly... And with respect to the aesthetics argument I made above? Consider that revoked. It all worked for me within the movie. The trailer just didn't work.

To it's credit, it does not repeat many of the other mistakes of Civil War cinema, but it doesn't get it purely right either.