Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easily Oliver Stone's best work, 20 Feb 2002
By A Customer
He peaked with JFK and has been going downhill ever since, but that doesn't diminish the greatness of this film. Some of the scenes look quite out of place to a native Dallasite (born and raised) but someone who doesn't know what Dallas looks like then OR now won't know the difference. In all fairness, the city has changed substantially since 1963 and I'm still amazed that Stone persuaded the city to paint buildings in Dealey Plaza to look as they did on that day. But I digress. Having read "On The Trail Of The Assassins," the book this film is based on, I was delighted and enthralled to see the characters and dialogue from Jim Garrison's book spring to life. Kevin Costner, though not my favorite actor, manages to convey Garrison's passionate search for the truth, but the real stars in this film are the supporting cast. Tommy Lee Jones is fabulous as the effeminate Clay Shaw, Sissy Spacek is terrific as Garrison's harassed wife, and Joe Pesci is outstanding as the paranoid David Ferrie. Look even more closely and you'll see Laurie Metcalf, who is easily one of the most underrated actresses of all time, anchoring the investigative team in a supporting role that should have won her an Oscar. The cinematography is superb, mixing actual autopsy photos of Kennedy and actual footage of the day of the assassination with live action scenes and stills from the present-day. Everything fits together effortlessly, and though the film easily exceeds two hours and most DVD pressings require you to turn it over halfway through, you'll still be on the edge of your seat, unwilling to even pause it to go to the toilet, because you are so anxious to find out what happens next. Easily the best American political film ever made.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
How to make fact from fiction, 22 Dec 2003
This is one fantastically made film, Stone mixes his own fictional footage with genuine historical footage until you don't know which one is the truth, this powerful movie bombards you with information and will not stop. Throughout the film, Garrison (Costner) and his team put foreward every conspiracy theory known to man (aside from Elvis at the Grassy-Knoll) before deciding on their prefered option and hammering it home in a riveting final court-room scene. I for one don't believe that Lyndon Johnson was waiting for a call from Clay Shaw saying "Kennedy's been killed and I want my money". Oliver Stone is not a historian and this is not history, as Stone said, this film is merely a counter-myth to the myth that is the Warren Report and that is what it does. One only has to watch the trial scene to realise that the Warren Report was fiction and although Garrison's proposition of a government-planned conspiracy is a little off, it does make you think and that is what a good film should do. The supporting cast is excellent with Tommy-Lee Jones earning a Best Supporting-Actor Oscar, the music is superb and powerfully atmospheric. A good buy for anyone who likes to think and an ideal subject for discussion
|
|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive conspiracy angles, 12 Oct 2004
'Platoon' may be more visceral and 'Natural Born Killers' more shocking, but 'JFK' has to be Oliver Stone's most controversial film. Lambasted by many in the mainstream media, it nevertheless raises important and insightful questions about the Kennedy assisination. Throughout the film Stone uses a ton of different fast-cutting cinematic styles, conveying the complexity of the conspiracy inolved. The script is a welter of information and Stone cunningly uses an all-star cast to make the audience more comfortable with what's going on and make us digest the story more easily. Stone wants his audience to relive the experience as much as possible, but the MTV-style of B&W and colour contrast gives a false sense of hysteria.Stone's script also has it's drawbacks. Although piercingly articulate in the characters' analysis of the why's and how's of the assasination, the script descends into cliche when dealing with the drama of Garrison's home-life (presumably a ruse by Stone to make the shady Garrison more human to his audience). Although Stone's critics are many and range from the populist to the academic, few filmmakers can say that they've had a verifibale impact on the politics of their nation. The Assination Records Review Board was appointed by President Clinton and in their final report in 1998, it specifically credited 'JFK' with stirring up public opinion to pressure Congress into setting up the Review Board. Unlike the vast majority of other American filmmakers you have to admit that Stone's movies pack a social and political punch, whether you agree with him or not.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|