12 Years A Slave

This film is based on the memoir by Solomon Northup of the same title. I had to read sections of it for my Tarantino course in order to understand a real description of slavery in comparison to Django Unchained. Reading Solomon's actual account made me want to see this film more than I had already wanted to.

This movie was really good. It was incredibly compelling and saddening to see the true story of Solomon Northup play out onscreen. Each character is portrayed extremely well, especially the characters of Solomon (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Edwin Epps (played by Michael Fassbender). Epps is the cruel slave owner that buys Solomon, and Fassbender does a good job of making you hate him.

While the movie is long, it never feels long because the plot keeps you interested with all of the events and incidents that happen to Solomon. There are moments where it gets really intense, whether there is violence involved or not. Where violence is involved, those scenes can be tough to get through. The film doesn't hold anything back, and it really shows you the brutality that slaves faced during the time in which slavery was legal in America. This film also tugs at your emotions, you really feel the pain Solomon suffers throughout this movie. The theater I was in was not too crowded, but by the time the film ended, everyone, including me, was crying.

I highly recommend seeing this film. Everything about this movie was well-acted, well-plotted, and well thought out. While it can be tough to get through, it was really worth seeing. If you do have the opportunity to read the book beforehand or just in general, it's very interesting, thrilling, and easy to get through. I recommend this movie for anyone interested in seeing a good movie, anyone who enjoyed the book, and anyone who likes historical/period films.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiw1cYXQw4g

Lincoln

After finishing this movie, I can officially say that I have watched every single Best Picture nominee of 2013. Lincoln was a really well-acted movie, every nominated actor and actress in this movie thoroughly deserved it. It was so interesting to see all the hard work that went into establishing the 13th Amendment, and the intense debate that went on. My only negative on this movie is that it is very much a dialogue-based movie, so there is much action as there is talking. It was hard to motivate myself to sit down and watch it because it was so wordy and 2 and a half hours of talking is sometimes hard to stay awake through. I would recommend this movie if you're into historical movies.

Oscar Nominee: Best Picture 2013
Oscar Winner: Best Actor 2013 for Daniel Day-Lewis

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiSAbAuLhqs