President’s Day is that magical time of the year. The dates rotate each year, which is sufficient proof of its magic. Maybe it’s February. Between President’s Day, leap years, and Groundhog Day, the time jumping all over the place can be brutal. Even then, Valentine’s Day can feel like a fleeting moment or an eternity, depending on one’s relationship status. And when it comes to the cinema for these days, everyone and their mother knows to tune in to watch Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, and Valentine’s Day is obviously going to be filled with romantic comedies.
For Leap Year, everyone knows to watch the Disney Channel classic, Jump In! But what about President’s Day? Here are 10 movies to watch to remember the individuals who represent the USA and attempt to lead it.
Lincoln
When Daniel Day-Lewis takes a role, he doesn’t just take it, he becomes it. He disappears entirely, and his new character emerges. Lincoln is no exception. With Stephen Spielberg directing, the film tried to be as historically accurate and engaging as possible, and it did decently in both fields. The film explores the thought process and behavior of Lincoln more than it does the events surrounding his life and serves as a showcase for why he is considered among the best US presidents. His unending dedication to serving the country despite his personal issues, major obstacles, and pressure is on full display.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
While Lincoln is a solid movie, for people who will snooze at a 2.5-hour drama, there is the brief and beautiful 1 hour and 40-minute thrill ride known as Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The film takes itself surprisingly seriously (which might hold it back from its full potential), but make no mistake: it’s a fun popcorn flick. The film treats the prospect of Abraham Lincoln being a vampire hunter on the side as if it really happened and is oddly convincing at doing so.
There needs to be one of these films for each POTUS, but with different monsters. Have FDR fight Nazi zombies with some kind of Frankenstein’s monster. George Washington beating up werewolves. JFK unraveling a mummy. One can only marvel at what Teddy Roosevelt would be capable of. Whatever the case, these movies would be better than the Dark Universe.
Olympus Has Fallen
Looks like Aaron Eckhart has played a two-faced politician twice! In Olympus Has Fallen, Eckhart plays President Asher, who is trapped in the White House during an assault by a North Korean terrorist organization. In actuality, Asher isn’t really that bad of a POTUS, and in fact, does pretty well under the circumstances to fight his way out along with his tough head of security (Gerard Butler). The film isn’t that entertaining, so the re-watch value is pretty low, but it warrants at least one viewing as opposed to never seeing it.
The American President
God help the people who watched The American President on Valentine’s Day because they now have one less movie to watch on President’s Day. Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride) is a good director for love stories, and The American President is a cute if somewhat basic entry to his filmography. Michael Douglas plays President Shepherd, who falls in love with an environmental lobbyist (Annette Bening). The film is somewhat over the top in how politics work and can get a bit too simplistic and corny, but again: this is a movie. The suspense of disbelief is fine. It’s idealized and charming, and sometimes pretending like it’s 1995 is fun for 2 hours.
Jackie
For all of the talk of the POTUS, there is always room for discussion for their significant others. Natalie Portman plays First Lady Jackie Kennedy, wife of JFK. That woman endured many awful things-miscarried and stillborn children, her husband’s affairs, and her husband’s assassination, for which she sat right next to. The movie deals with Jackie’s grief and trauma following the tragedy, and the chaos that followed. It serves as an important reminder that a presidential role is not reliant on one person and that the sacrifices made affect the people around them. Likewise, those people can affect the president greatly.
Frost/Nixon
If it wasn’t for The Grinch, then Frost/Nixon would probably be Ron Howard’s crowning achievement. The film is based on a play of the same name, but Howard seemed to have gone out of his way to get the best take of each scene and the acting prowess. The film concerns journalist David Frost’s interviews of Richard Nixon a few years after Nixon’s resignation when facing certain impeachment following the Watergate Scandal.
Both actors, Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, were also the original actors for the stage version, so the acting really is top tier. The film does take a little creative license and have Frost seemingly get Nixon to open up about his illegal activities more than he managed in real life, but it’s not egregious.
Selma
Sometimes in history, there are individuals so powerful and recognized, that they become bigger or equal icons to the sitting president. Martin Luther King Jr. was one such extraordinary individual. Selma deals with the turbulent and violent protests that took place in 1965 demanding the protection of voting rights for African-Americans. The nonviolent protestors were met savagely by the police and state troopers when doing so.
Selma explores the events and circumstances pouring into the tense situation, and touches on MLK’s relationship with the POTUS at the time, LBJ. Thought LBJ was the POTUS that got many bills concerning civil rights passed into law, had it not been for the leaders like MLK, these bills would not have been brought on the table in the first place. The POTUS is not the only leader of the USA.
Vice
Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stepbrothers) is one of the most renowned comedy directors of the millennium. Vice is a hilarious takedown of the ever apathetic and mysterious Dick Cheney. It’s no secret that Cheney was the most influential Vice President in US history, and McKay’s film is a peculiarly styled exploration of his time in the White House. Vice is big, dumb, and loud, but in the best ways possible. Sometimes subtlety needs to go out the window to get the point across.
Air Force One
In the gleeful dumb action movie extravaganza that was the 1990s, Air Force One has one of the best premises in the lot. The film star Harrison Ford as President Marshall, who has to fight off a group of terrorists who have taken over Air Force One. It’s one of the pulpiest and most ludicrous action films of its time, and it’s all the better for it. Any action film that deals with very compact spaces and one individual vs. all tends to be a good starting point and Air Force One soars in its execution.
Independence Day
In a time when people were perfectly fine with watching famous US buildings get blown to smithereens, movies like Independence Day were possible. Roland Emmerich’s crowning achievement, Independence Day was a special kind of movie. A movie that, by all means, should not work, but it does, and on top of that, has no right to be as good as it is. Aliens come to Earth and blow up several sites around the world to cull the human population in order to conquer the Earth. The movie has 90s icons like Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum at their peak level of charisma, but it also manages to get a great performance from Bill Pullman.
Pullman plays President Whitmore, a well-meaning but exhausted POTUS, and an ex-fighter pilot. But when the 15 mile-wide UFOs come to Earth and scorch it, President Whitmore steps up to the plate, and he swings hard. Pullman gives one of the most oddly rousing movie speeches put to screen and is the most patriotic and idealized POTUS there could possibly be. In fact, the film goes so far as to have the president take flight in a jet in a critical battle. And it’s awesome. The sequel? Not so much.
