{"id":5698,"date":"2013-06-10T12:37:37","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T19:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=5698"},"modified":"2021-06-13T15:26:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T22:26:41","slug":"review-killinglincoln-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/06\/review-killinglincoln-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Killing Lincoln Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> is far from a perfect movie but offers some interesting information not many people might know about. The performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson are both respectable especially Johnson who probably deserves an Emmy nomination for his great portrayal of James Wilkes Booth.<\/p>\n

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\nKilling Lincoln (2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/b>History, Drama
\nFox | NR \u2013 96 min. \u2013 $29.99 | June 11, 2013<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Adrian Moat
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Bill O\u2019Reilly & Martin Dugard (book); Erik Jendresen (written by)
\nCast: <\/b>Tom Hanks (narrator), Billy Campbell, Jesse Johnson<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Commentary, Featurettes, UV Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>41.2 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plot Overview: Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> is based on \u2018The New York Times\u2019 best-seller, written by Bill O\u2019Reilly and Martin Dugard, the film tells the story of the events surrounding the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln (BILLY CAMPBELL). While some aspects of the plot to slay Lincoln and cripple the newly forming union are widely known, much more of the history unfolds in this epic account. As actor John Wilkes Booth (JESSE JOHNSON) becomes increasingly obsessed with removing Lincoln from office, a secret plot forms, and ultimately empowers Booth to carry out an even that will change America forever.<\/p>\n

Quick Hit Review: <\/b>When I originally watched Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> back when it originally aired on NatGeo I felt it was a glossy, well-made docu-drama \u2013 although in the featurettes the writer disputes that term \u2013 that outlined the days leading up to Lincoln\u2019s assassination. While the movie itself isn\u2019t the best, it does get bogged down with a strangely choppy narrative, the performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson, especially, makes this an intriguing film presenting information that many may not know about.<\/p>\n

Directed by Adrian Moat, who had previously worked with The History Channel on the \u201cGettysburg\u201d TV movie, and written by Erik Jendresen based, in part, on the bestselling book by O\u2019Reilly and Dugard, Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> is far from perfect but still well done and at least worth one viewing.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Feature Commentary<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Executive Producer\/Screenwriter Erik Jendresen sits down for a law key yet revealing commentary discussing his research for the movie and provides some bits of information. For a solo track, Jendresen is relatively lively and keeps things interesting.<\/p>\n

An Interview with Author Bill O\u2019Reilly (5:04; HD)<\/span><\/b> provides his insights into the book and the importance of Abraham Lincoln. He also discusses the TV adaptation and how it worked.<\/p>\n

Uncovering the Truth: The Making of Killing Lincoln<\/i> (22:22; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 This featurette looks at how the movie was made, providing some behind-the-scenes footage overlapped with interviews with the filmmakers and producers (including Ridley Scott).<\/p>\n

Lincoln in Virginia (0:17; HD)<\/span><\/b> is a short advertisement for the state.<\/p>\n

Promotional Features (TRT 10:26)<\/b>:
\nBecoming Booth (2:39; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Jesse Johnson discusses the character and getting into the role and getting the movement and the voice he thought would match Booth.<\/p>\n

Becoming Lincoln (2:00; HD)<\/span><\/b> is in similar fashion with Billy Campbell talking about getting into character of such a historical figure. Interestingly he got offered the part only 5 days before filming.<\/p>\n

Playing Mary Todd (1:51; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Actress Geraldine Hughes talks about playing the First Lady.<\/p>\n

Directing a New Lincoln Story (2:16; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Director Adrian Moat explains his approach to helming the movie and importance of the subject.<\/p>\n

Killing Lincoln<\/span><\/i><\/b> Preview (1:39; HD)<\/span><\/b> is a vastly condensed version of interviews to promote the movie.<\/p>\n

Previews<\/b> \u2013 Atlas Shrugged Part II<\/i>, \u201cThe Bible\u201d Miniseries, The Oranges<\/i><\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> arrives on Blu-ray shown in its original 1.78 widescreen presentation and a glossy 1080p high-def transfer. Like most projects shot digitally and made for television, KL<\/i><\/b> is smooth as they come with some good detail level and transition, albeit skin tones do have a waxy texture. The docu-drama was filmed with using dark colors like browns and such so it\u2019s not something that pops off the screen exactly but it\u2019s satisfactory.<\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Similarly, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track isn\u2019t the most dynamic I\u2019ve heard but it sure beats the regular television speakers when I first watched this special when it aired. The dialogue levels are nice and clear, especially for Tom Hanks\u2019 narration, and when we do get some other action (horses\u2019 galloping and that gunshot) mostly uses the front and rear channels. This isn\u2019t too bad of a track but given its source, the sound design was minimal.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Killing Lincoln<\/i><\/b> is far from a perfect movie but offers some interesting information not many people might know about. The performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson are both respectable especially Johnson who probably deserves an Emmy nomination for his great portrayal of James Wilkes Booth. The Blu-ray released by Fox has good audio\/video transfers and the features, albeit limited, does lend to some depth on the production.<\/p>\n

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The Movieman
\n<\/i>Published: <\/b>06\/10\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Killing Lincoln is far from a perfect movie but offers some interesting information not many people might know about. The performances by Billy Campbell and Jesse Johnson are both respectable especially Johnson who probably deserves an Emmy nomination for his great portrayal of James Wilkes Booth.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[2110,2111,2109,8],"class_list":["post-5698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews","tag-billy-campbell","tag-jesse-johnson","tag-killing-lincoln","tag-tom-hanks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26567,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5698\/revisions\/26567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}