Posts Tagged ‘Abraham Lincoln’

THE LEGO MOVIE: 4 ½ STARS. “way weirder than H.R. Pufnstuf!”

lego_a“The Lego Movie” is possibly the weirdest, most psychedelic kid’s entertainment since “H.R. Pufnstuf.”

Released by a big corporation—Warner Bros—and based on one of the world’s most popular toys, it manages to feel as though a kid who threw away his Lego kit’s instructions and snapped the blocks together in random, fun ways made it.

When we arrive at the Lego universe it is ruled by the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell), a tyrant obsessed with perfection and conformity. In his world the radio pumps out perfect pop sings like “Everything is Awesome,” and a group of robotic  “micro-managers” ensures that everything is just so.

To guarantee the world he has created from interlocking bricks stays just the way he wants it, he has a plan to spray the entire thing—Lego people and all—with Kraggle, a super glue that will permanently paste everything it touches into Lord Business’s idea of excellence.

When Emmet (Chris Pratt), a Lego figure who was invisible in life, stumbles across the “piece of resistance” he becomes The Special, the greatest Master Builder in the universe, jopining a group that includes Batman (Will Arnett), a pirate named Metalbeard (Nick Offerman), Abraham Lincoln (Will Forte), Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal) and Green Lantern (Jonah Hill).

With the help of the Master Builders, a loopy wizard named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) and Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) a tough young woman with a sensitive side, Emmet must break free of the chains of conformity and defeat Lord Business.

The first thing you notice about “The Lego Movie” is the look. It’s computer-animated but looks like stop-motion. The film’s handmade composition isn’t slick, but it is playful, which is a perfect compliment to its Lego origins. (It should be noted, however, that the movie in no way plays like a commercial for the toys.) From the crude Lego flames to the awkward way the characters move, the movie is completely consistent in its vision of a Lego world.

The second thing you’ll notice is how off the wall the story is. It’s not just off-the-wall, it’s off-the-planet. Directors and co-writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have taken the movie’s credo of battling against conformity to heart and made a big budget studio movie that bends all the rules. At its heart it’s a simple hero journey, a primal story about good against evil, but frenetic storytelling and inventive twists in almost every scene add a richness that belies its humble toy story origins.

It may be a bit too hectic at times—blame video game influence for that—and a titch too long for little ones with short attention spans, but the overriding message of dancing to your own beat combined with an unexpected and touching live-action section make “The Lego Movie” far more than an exercise in nostalgia for parents who grew up creating worlds from little plastic blocks or a way to sell more toys to a new audience. Instead it’s a wildly entertaining movie that uses the toys as a muse, and does what the toys have always done, light imaginations on fire.

Abe Lincoln in film: From Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure to Daniel Day-Lewis By Richard Crouse Metro Canada In Focus Wednesday November 7, 2012

-lincoln-poster-reveals-daniel-day-lewis-s-eerie-resemblance-be5332adecMark S. Reinhart, author of Abraham Lincoln on Screen claims the 16th President of the United States, “is the most frequently portrayed American historical figure in the history of the film and television arts.”

Portrayed over 300 times on film and TV, Honest Abe has done everything from pardon a sentry who fell asleep on duty in the 1908 short film The Reprieve: An Episode in the Life of Abraham Lincoln, to getting revenge on his assassin in Police Squad to teaming up with Star Trek’s Captain Kirk to explain the concepts of good and evil to the aliens of Excalbia.

In this weekend’s Abraham Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis, the prez oversees the passing of the 13th Amendment, guaranteeing freedom for the country’s slaves and ending the Civil War.

Day-Lewis is a lock for an Oscar nomination, and a favorite to win, but his portrayal stands in the shadow of two movie legends.

Henry Fonda played the title character in Young Mr. Lincoln, a melodramatic and inaccurate chronicle of Abe’s formative years. Wearing specially made boots that made him appear taller, Fonda was honored to play the pres. “I felt as if I were portraying Christ himself on film,” he said.

Canadian-born Raymond Massey, played Lincoln multiple times on stage and film. He was so attached to the character a colleague joked that Massey wouldn’t be satisfied with his Lincoln impression until someone assassinated him.

For a certain generation, however, Lincoln might be best remembered for a speech that began with, “Fourscore and seven minutes ago…” and ended with, “PARTY ON, DUDES!” But Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure isn’t the only movie to take a light-hearted look at the Great Emancipator.

In Coneheads Dan Aykroyd’s character uses Abe’s famous stovepipe top hat to cover his oblong head. One of Brendan Fraser’s seven wishes in Bedazzled is to be president but he soon learns to be careful what he wishes for when he is zapped back into history as Lincoln watching a play at Ford’s Theatre. Abe also gets a laugh in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian when the Lincoln Memorial comes to life.

Perhaps the strangest portrayal came earlier this year. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is exactly as advertised, leading one critic to call it, “a funny, scary, and cheer-worthy adventure that somehow manages to make the 16th President of the United States a bad-ass action hero.”