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Thirteen Days (Infinifilm Edition)

Thirteen Days (Infinifilm Edition)

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $7.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Long and mostly booring...
Review: This movie could have been soo much instead it is long drawn out and mostly booring! i'll give it 3 stars because it is a learning film but i will give it 5 yawns!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: it was horrible
Review: i thought it was a horrible movie only written to glorify the kennedys

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: How Hollywood should do historical dramas
Review: This movie was a gripping history of the Cuban missile crisis from the viewpoint of an aid to President Kennedy. I was not alive at the time of the Cuban missile crisis so I never really knew what it was like in America at that time. This movie gave me a new perspective on it. I never realized how close we came to a war with the soviets. Most of the history books that I read in high school only devoted a few paragraphs to the subject. This movie chronicled the events and made me feel like I was there. Several times the president has brain storming sessions with his aides and military chiefs and the discussion forces the audience to think about it themselves. At times I thought to myself, what if I was in Kennedy's shoes? what could I do? After seeing this movie, I have new found respect for Bobby and John and I realize what it took to avoid a nuclear showdown.

Some things to consider: This movie isn't a biography of any of the main players in the October missile crisis. With the exception of Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Cosnter's character), most of the characters seem one sided and maybe a bit underdeveloped. This is entirely excusable though because it does not detract from the historical perspective that this movie gives. John and Bobby are such celebrities in American culture that some people might be disappointed that they don't have a little bit more depth.

I give this movie 4 stars because it is definitely worth seeing. This is how Hollywood should make historical works. Pearl Harbor, The Knight's Tale and Titanic have their merits, but they don't capture the broader historic perspective quite like Thirteen Days does.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great performances and portrayal of the Kennedy brothers.
Review: "Thirteen Days" is above all, a long draggy political thriller set during the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s. We all know the ending, but what's great about this film are the brilliant performances glittered in every scene. The visual effects, cinematography, and the editing is a great cinematic example of a Hollywood film we rarely see today. The portrayal of JFK (Greenwood) and RFK (Culp) is brilliant, however Costner playing the role of the president's special assistant O'Donnell can get quite annoying. The Infinifilm special features makes this DVD worth the buy.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Three Words...
Review: "Kevin Costner's Accent."

While the movie was an insightful look into JFK's and RFK's agony that they went through by not engaging an all-out war on Cuba and Russia, I couldn't get over Costner's absolutely horrendous New England accent. I had trouble focusing on the story line whenever he was on screen, and even in parts when they showed him where he wasn't speaking, I couldn't help but think of how he was going to butcher his next line. Was the director too scared to tell Kevin just to speak normally? It would have been a fine performance by him otherwise. The movie rates 3 stars but I had to downgrade it to 2 just because of the "unlistenability" factor that Costner induces every time he opened his mouth.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A flawless political thriller.
Review: This dvd was one of those I've been anticipating for a long time. I was not deceived to say the least. Thirteen days is a great thriller filled with suspens despite the obvious outcome.The director puts you right in the middle of the cuban missile crisis and you become a witness to the complex and often painfull decision making process that took place during those thirteen days, wich must've felt like thirteen...years! Once you get " inside the movie", you'll be breathing heavily until the end. The acting is great, specialy Bruce Greenwood who's a terrific JFK. Last but not least, this dvd is loaded with interesting features you'll be watching, long after the movie is over.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good History lesson
Review: I enjoyed the movie, having lived thru it years ago the near nuclear war hits home more now then at that time. The flight sequences were the best for computer generation I have seen having actually worked on some of that stuff, and they got it about right,amazing. The acting was reasonable and the action builds throughout The lack of total control by Kennedy and associates was presented well. Good thing Bill Clinton was not running that show!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Only wish it had closed caption!
Review: I have to admit that, as a non-native english speaker, the only downside I found (to the DVD, that is, not to the movie) was the lack of any form or availability of subtitles/closed caption. Given the type of deep, political, movie it is, sometimes it becomes hard to follow due to this.

However, for the lovers of the genre, and people (like myself) who respect directors such as Oliver Stone, this Roger Donaldson feature, with classic Kevin Costner acting (he seems to deeply enjoy this type of script/historical period!) and outstanding performances (and resemblances) by Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp (the actors who portrayed Jack and Bobby Kennedy), will keep you on the edge of your couch all the way through, even if you know how events turned out, given the historical nature of the script.

The movie deals with the days of the cuban missile crisis, during the presidence of John F. Kennedy, a moment when the US and the USSR reached one of the peaks of the Cold War, and even were on the verge of the nuclear war.

If you liked JFK, don't even hesitate: get this movie. You'll love it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Political Cat and Mouse
Review: Relive the THIRTEEN DAYS of the '62 Cuban Missile Crisis as President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood), Bobby Kennedy (Steven Culp), and Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) lead the nation against the threat of nuclear invasion with Communist Russia. The two powerhouse countries face off when intelligence discovers the Soviet Union supplying Cuba with nuclear warheads. Following is political gridlock and JFK's struggle as U.S. and world leader.

"Hey wait a minute! I've heard of the Kennedy boys, but who's this O'Donnell fellow?" {History buffs will remember him, but this reviewer made C's in history). He is the Special Assistant to the President and long-time friend of JFK, and depicted as a major player in the decision-making process of the White House triad. If you like a movie with a lot of political maneuvering, then you will enjoy THIRTEEN DAYS.

Costner plays the lead, yet his Bostonian accent is so unnatural that it greatly detracts from his performance; therefore, Greenwood and Culp outshine Kevin in this one. The movie is an interesting historical dramatization and is 2 hours and 27 minutes in length, yet it tends to drag on and on and on. Feel free to get up and wash the dishes, read a chapter from your favorite book, or watch another program, for you will return only to find you have not missed a thing; nevertheless, the political cat and mouse gives this movie flair and style. Otherwise, THIRTEEN DAYS will feel like a thirteen-hour history lesson.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the Best Political Dramas
Review: Roger Donaldson's Thirteen Days which portrays the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, is a political drama that is sure to please those who enjoyed films such as Oliver Stone's JFK, with which it will no doubt be compared. The DVD release is loaded with features for those who want to further explore this cold war confrontation between the superpowers.

Kevin Cosner stars as Kenny O'Donnell who served as a special assistant to JFK. Much has been said about Cosner's attempt at a "JFK" style accent. One wonders why he bothered since the real O'Donnell (as heard in the audio special features) had no such pronounced way of speech. The answer seems to be a desire to link the three main characters in the mind of the audience. Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp are fine as JFK and RFK respectively. Greenwood doesn't really look like JFK but he makes up for this with a great vocal impression of the 35th President.

Thirteen Days does have its share of problems. The black and white scenes intended to remind the viewer of famous photos and news footage don't work especially when compared to the techniques Stone used in JFK to achieve a similar effect. The portrayal of the Kennedys may be a little too sentimental for some. And it seems that in reality O'Donnell did not appear very often on the White House recordings made during the crisis and in fact may have played a relatively minor role. All in all though the film seems reasonably accurate much more so than JFK, which seamlessly mixed fact and fiction.

The video and audio quality here are top notch. The extras are numerous and in this "infinifilm" presentation from New Line Entertainment they can be accessed during or after the film. The features include commentary, deleted/reduced scenes, two documentaries, a visual effects study and DVD ROM capability.

If you are a fan of political drama you will be well pleased with this film and especially with the DVD version and it's array of extras. With his portrayal of thirteen tension filled days at the height of the cold war, Donaldson does a admirable job of reminding us how dangerous a place the world was during that period.


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